New ONSC member with my '83 FJ60 "Rusty" (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Apr 18, 2012
Threads
2
Messages
57
Location
Boone, NC
Hey folks! New member here from Boone, NC. Here is my 1983 FJ60 "Rusty"

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Rusty is my second FJ60, I previously owned an '86 for a few years. Here it is on a trip to the OBX about 5 years ago back when I lived in Greenville, NC

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I always missed that truck and regretted selling it but I was young(er) and dumb(er) and wasn't really invested enough to give it the love and maintenance it needed. Fast forward five years and last Thanksgiving I found Rusty over over the mountain in Morganton and bought her from the second owner. With a good amount of deferred maintenance and rust from spending all her life in the NC mountains she was in need of some love. I don't know what my wife was thinking when she encouraged me to buy Rusty but I am sure glad she was into it.

I am certainly a novice at wrenching on Landcruisers. I welcome any and all advice from y'all as I learn in the 33 year old classroom of steel, oil, grease, and busted knuckles. All my cars have been old wagons (a 1985 Volvo 240, a 1986 FJ60, a 1987 Volvo 740, and currently a 1993 Volvo 960) so I have learned a few things out of pure necessity to keep them running. I have also learned so much from reading here on 'mud, it is such an amazing braintrust. So far I have done the following on my 60,
  • oil change
  • spark plugs
  • fuel and air filters
  • stainless battery tray to replace the old crumbling one
  • new speedo cable
  • new shocks, steering dampener, and sway bar end links
  • rewired rear dome light (it wasn't working)
  • new clutch master cylinder
  • pulled the spare down and replaced the busted valve stem (it is the original Dunlop Snow Cruiser bias-ply and it still holds air!)

My goal with this vehicle is to keep it running, make it more functional and safe (we have a baby on the way), and not go broke (I am currently a poor student). I love the stock look of these wagons so I plan to try to keep it fairly original. A am passionate about mountain biking, paddling, and camping so I will certainly be using it to haul bikes, boats, and camping gear on excursion around the western NC mountains and beyond.

I can't wait to meet other Cruiserheads in the area to go exploring with and wrench with. Are there any other members near Boone? What events are coming up that I can get involved in? I look forward to learning from and contributing to ONSC.

-Sean
 
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Hi @Hildebrandt, I'm right down the hill in sunny Lenoir. Mudders are kind of sparse up this way. Let me know if ya wanna get together if you end up down this way.
 
Welcome aboard!! Nice looking 60!
 
Can't wait to meet you Sean! Love the 60, you've got the best color combo right there :grinpimp:
 
Hi @Hildebrandt, I'm right down the hill in sunny Lenoir. Mudders are kind of sparse up this way. Let me know if ya wanna get together if you end up down this way.

Will do, I would love to get together. I head down that way fairly often to mountain bike in Wilson Creek so I will let you know next time. What flavor(s) of Toyota do you own?
 
How are the inner C channels at the rear of the truck frame?

we need more pics of inside and out

The c-channels are fairly crumbly but I have some repair channels from @reevesci that I just painted and plan to install soon.

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Right now Rusty is at a local welder/4x4 shop getting some new metal welded in around the rear wheel wells. One night a couple weeks ago I decided to take the interior out to do some cleaning

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Somehow a simple late night cleaning project turned into this (DS wheel well)

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and this (PS wheel well)

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and this too (cargo area)

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I have so much better airflow now, right? I had known there was some rust around the wheel wells and that there were some small holes because when it rained my carpet would be damp around the rear wheels. What I didn't know was that the PO had used beer cans and some sort of epoxy to seal up rust holes about the size of my hand on both sides. I had never used an angle grinder before but I headed over to Lowes, bought one, and cut out all the rust to clean metal. It was slightly terrifying how much I ended up having to cut out. I don't know how to weld yet but thankfully I found someone willing to weld some new metal in and I can't wait to get her back and will post pics as soon I do.
 
Welcome to the club. Don't fret, the longer you are around LCs the rust will become second nature :)
 
Welcome to the club. Don't fret, the longer you are around LCs the rust will become second nature :)

Thanks for the encouragement! I just checked out your engine swap/build thread, inspiring work! I was thinking about something to add sound dampening and the Lizard Skin you used looks great. My wife calls it building "distress tolerance" when I find new rust spots to fix. I think my distress tolerance is growing :)
 
None of us like it, repairing rust, we just do it out of love for the vehicles. My first car was a 57 Chevy Belair, you could see the ground through the floorboards. Some street signs and tar goo and I was good to go. I've worked on my sheet metal skills a little since then :)
 
The mechanic is probably cheaper and safer than tuition here in Tupelo MS

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Welcome aboard, love the 60 and the love she's getting. I'm game for a Wilson creek, 192 run soon.
 
too funny (also tragic) about the epoxied beer cans.

Will do, I would love to get together. I head down that way fairly often to mountain bike in Wilson Creek so I will let you know next time. What flavor(s) of Toyota do you own?

If you haven't tried Zacks Fork it's pretty nice and easy to get to. I can ride to it from my house on the greenway. I've only ridden it once on my gravel bike that I commute on some times and I made it (I don't really MTB, but would like to more). I work with a guy that lived in Moab for years and he is really into it.

If you see this:

Say hi
 
The mechanic is probably cheaper and safer than tuition here in Tupelo MS

View attachment 1277514
Welcome aboard, love the 60 and the love she's getting. I'm game for a Wilson creek, 192 run soon.

I need to take some classes there!

Agreed on the Wilson Creek run. I should get Rusty back this week and would love to plan a little run down there in the near future, maybe @slceso would join us?

too funny (also tragic) about the epoxied beer cans.

If you haven't tried Zacks Fork it's pretty nice and easy to get to. I can ride to it from my house on the greenway. I've only ridden it once on my gravel bike that I commute on some times and I made it (I don't really MTB, but would like to more). I work with a guy that lived in Moab for years and he is really into it.

If you see this:

Say hi

I have not tried Zacks fork yet but would love to give it a go. Good on you for commuting! Cool to meet another cyclist on here, gravel bikes are perfect for most of the riding around here. I have a cyclocross bike that gets a lot of use on all of the gravel and dirt roads up here.

Your cruiser is a dream! I have enviously eyed a lot of pictures of the elusive diesel cruisers but have never seen one in person. Cool stance too, what kind of lift/tires are you running? Look forward to checking it out in person!
 
I need to take some classes there!

Agreed on the Wilson Creek run. I should get Rusty back this week and would love to plan a little run down there in the near future, maybe @slceso would join us?



I have not tried Zacks fork yet but would love to give it a go. Good on you for commuting! Cool to meet another cyclist on here, gravel bikes are perfect for most of the riding around here. I have a cyclocross bike that gets a lot of use on all of the gravel and dirt roads up here.

Your cruiser is a dream! I have enviously eyed a lot of pictures of the elusive diesel cruisers but have never seen one in person. Cool stance too, what kind of lift/tires are you running? Look forward to checking it out in person!

I can't really claim cycler status. I love to ride, but I am scared of the roads (really drivers) here with no shoulders and the vigilante lane enforcement that I have both witnessed and heard about. I have a deluded fantasy that someday I will do some touring and bikepacking. We moved from IL last year, and there it was easy to put up miles on the generously paved farm roads. Honestly my longest ride ever was 50 miles and I thought I might be permanently crippled after that. I would like to do some gravel grinding or dirt roading too; we are still learning the area. I go 285 lbs (hence the gravel bike), so not too quick when climbing and generally I have pretty poor conditioning. But enough about me.

As far as the HDJ. I don't know much about the pedigree of the lift, but it's 6 inches [holds fingers about 3 inches apart for comedic effect]. I think it is a mix of stock springs and dampers with spacers and such. It has the appropriate drop brackets and adjustable panhards, but not sure about caster correction. The handling is a bit dodgy sometimes, and I have a vibration in the drive train that I think is related to my U-joints. I picked up an ironman 6" that I need to swap in some time. It had all that when I got it. I I stuck with the 35" tires in BFG KO2 (lately have been thinking 37" would fit nice). I have been loving it, but my wife is ready to slay me because I'm back on the forums, accessory shopping and diddling with the truck all the time (ever happen to anyone else?). My one saving grace is that the boys and mom are willing to come along now, so it counts as family fun time!

I tell everybody, "it's a sickness really."

LMK anytime folks are in the area for whatever and I'll try to meetup/host if possible.
 
I can't really claim cycler status. I love to ride, but I am scared of the roads (really drivers) here with no shoulders and the vigilante lane enforcement that I have both witnessed and heard about. I have a deluded fantasy that someday I will do some touring and bikepacking. We moved from IL last year, and there it was easy to put up miles on the generously paved farm roads. Honestly my longest ride ever was 50 miles and I thought I might be permanently crippled after that. I would like to do some gravel grinding or dirt roading too; we are still learning the area. I go 285 lbs (hence the gravel bike), so not too quick when climbing and generally I have pretty poor conditioning. But enough about me.

As far as the HDJ. I don't know much about the pedigree of the lift, but it's 6 inches [holds fingers about 3 inches apart for comedic effect]. I think it is a mix of stock springs and dampers with spacers and such. It has the appropriate drop brackets and adjustable panhards, but not sure about caster correction. The handling is a bit dodgy sometimes, and I have a vibration in the drive train that I think is related to my U-joints. I picked up an ironman 6" that I need to swap in some time. It had all that when I got it. I I stuck with the 35" tires in BFG KO2 (lately have been thinking 37" would fit nice). I have been loving it, but my wife is ready to slay me because I'm back on the forums, accessory shopping and diddling with the truck all the time (ever happen to anyone else?). My one saving grace is that the boys and mom are willing to come along now, so it counts as family fun time!

I tell everybody, "it's a sickness really."

LMK anytime folks are in the area for whatever and I'll try to meetup/host if possible.

Hey if you spin the pedals you are a cyclist :) Your rig sure dwarfs my stock ride height and 29's! I like it. It really is a sickness and this is our support group I guess. Look forward to getting together and speaking "cruiser".
 
the PO had used beer cans and some sort of epoxy to seal up rust holes about the size of my hand on both sides.

Beer cans you say? That's pretty creative. Did my first rust repair in the trunk of an old Buick - completely removed the trunkpan and replaced it with the right and left side of my old stovetop. Pop rivets and silicone finished the job. That was a long time ago - thankfully the holes I'm dealing with are smaller so my rust hole cover of choice is a bit of old license plate and roofing tar. big improvement.

But yeah, you know... welding in new metal is good too I guess.
 

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