Haha been there too! I would love to take a group out to the death valley area!
New Owner Rules
- Thread starter sarca
- Start date
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Tucki canyon is one of the better ones there.
Tucki canyon? Never heard of it will look it up.
A few of my favorites:
Before you do any modification, check it out on someone else truck first. I sold a Fj40 with 36 inch TSL/SX's and was so annoyed when the new owner put 33x10 radials on it and it was suddenly a daily driver again. I regretted doing the mod in the first place and not keeping the truck as it drove great with the smaller tires and shorter shackles.
Always start with the basics when troubleshooting. Compression, leak down, vacuum, spark, fuel...you need all of that to make it happen.
Make sure you have oil pressure after you reinstall your distributor.
Never assume a timing light is accurate and calibrated - torque wrenches too.
Never assume that new parts are good or will fit.
Do not buy parts until you are ready to put them on. If you find out a year later that you got the wrong one, too bad for you.
If you keep putting oil in your transmission make sure it's not getting sucked into your transfer case or vice versa.
Don't power wash the area around the steering box seals (or any other seals)
Don't use thread sealant on brake lines
Don't weld roll cages, seat and seat belt mounts or winch and recovery points unless your a weldor. Stick to rust restoration, rock sliders, bumpers and exhaust while your are learning. If you want to be a weldor, get some schooling. And buy a good welding machine.
Don't mess with more than one thing at a time. Otherwise you will create problems and have no idea where to start fixing it from there. So don't rebuild your carb in the middle of diagnosing an ignition problem. This is especially true if you have never rebuild a carb before. However, swapping on a known good carb is a tried and true way of diagnosing such problems. Especially if it comes off another truck than runs perfectly. Keep known spares around for diagnostics.
If you play with the choke while driving when motor is warmed up and decelerating it will explode the muffler and sound like a gun went off. Sometimes flames will shoot out of the exhaust when doing so.
Don't run with a vacuum leak, it will fry the valves
Keep your intake and exhaust manifold bolts tight.
I can't tell you how many times just dumping the gas out of a truck makes it run better or gets it running again. Use your oil drain pan (added bonus it cleans the pan out) Take the gas to recycling!
If you truck runs like crap and you can't figure out why, look for a crack in the intake manifold under the carb. This is caused by a stuck butterfly valve in the exhaust manifold. It gets stuck open and overheats the manifold, causing it crack.
Last but not least, if you are going to save a bunch of money by working on your own truck, buy good parts and the tools you need to do the job. Cheaping out on crappy parts, trying to reuse old ones and trying to do the job with out the necessary tools is only going the frustrate you.
-Stumbaugh
Before you do any modification, check it out on someone else truck first. I sold a Fj40 with 36 inch TSL/SX's and was so annoyed when the new owner put 33x10 radials on it and it was suddenly a daily driver again. I regretted doing the mod in the first place and not keeping the truck as it drove great with the smaller tires and shorter shackles.
Always start with the basics when troubleshooting. Compression, leak down, vacuum, spark, fuel...you need all of that to make it happen.
Make sure you have oil pressure after you reinstall your distributor.
Never assume a timing light is accurate and calibrated - torque wrenches too.
Never assume that new parts are good or will fit.
Do not buy parts until you are ready to put them on. If you find out a year later that you got the wrong one, too bad for you.
If you keep putting oil in your transmission make sure it's not getting sucked into your transfer case or vice versa.
Don't power wash the area around the steering box seals (or any other seals)
Don't use thread sealant on brake lines
Don't weld roll cages, seat and seat belt mounts or winch and recovery points unless your a weldor. Stick to rust restoration, rock sliders, bumpers and exhaust while your are learning. If you want to be a weldor, get some schooling. And buy a good welding machine.
Don't mess with more than one thing at a time. Otherwise you will create problems and have no idea where to start fixing it from there. So don't rebuild your carb in the middle of diagnosing an ignition problem. This is especially true if you have never rebuild a carb before. However, swapping on a known good carb is a tried and true way of diagnosing such problems. Especially if it comes off another truck than runs perfectly. Keep known spares around for diagnostics.
If you play with the choke while driving when motor is warmed up and decelerating it will explode the muffler and sound like a gun went off. Sometimes flames will shoot out of the exhaust when doing so.
Don't run with a vacuum leak, it will fry the valves
Keep your intake and exhaust manifold bolts tight.
I can't tell you how many times just dumping the gas out of a truck makes it run better or gets it running again. Use your oil drain pan (added bonus it cleans the pan out) Take the gas to recycling!
If you truck runs like crap and you can't figure out why, look for a crack in the intake manifold under the carb. This is caused by a stuck butterfly valve in the exhaust manifold. It gets stuck open and overheats the manifold, causing it crack.
Last but not least, if you are going to save a bunch of money by working on your own truck, buy good parts and the tools you need to do the job. Cheaping out on crappy parts, trying to reuse old ones and trying to do the job with out the necessary tools is only going the frustrate you.
-Stumbaugh
The bouy would of helped moonshine
Here's another good one. Never drive directly into a body of water without first knowing how deep it is:
I remember that in Toyota Trails a few years back
Not sure if I can actually add anything to this thread... certainly not land cruiser specific.... most rules for vehicles are normally the same.
I guess I can add don't over torque a bolt... they might snap.
I guess I can add don't over torque a bolt... they might snap.
and that was pre bouy days.............glad you survived
Lol, yup. The buoy would have helped immensely!
Yes it was, back in 2009. Good times!
If you go to cross a river in a spot that you have done 50 times before, and you learn half way across, it has been washed out, Do not apply heavy throttle. In a crossing in my old rig, i started floating, and reactivity gunned it thinking i was dragging in a soft bottom. However, i was just floating. When my fully locked and spinning tires hit a very firm river bottom, after floating some way, I again rocketed out of the steam and slammed into a pine tree, cutting it down and denting my roof and front bumper.
Last years logans run, my bronco??
In my head we added ground clearance. The doors don't fit now
I just lost all confidence in you leading a group out there.... if that happens we might lend the name "death valley" some credence
you know i'm just busting your balls.... in all honesty i'd love to hit the valley up again...spent many a weekend out there.... although I preferred the coldness of winter trips to the 120+ degrees of some of the summer trips I did.
You go in the spring. 80s in the valley and cold in mtns.
yea that was pretty much completely retarded. I think we had 2 hi lifts under there too. Also, i jacked up the front of my 100 too high one time, while drinking, and could not get the jack to release. I had to just drive off and over the jack to get it down. there is a nice little dent on the underside of my bull bar now. (i had no reason to be jacking. It was on the street in front of my house.)
Sure you did - you were drinking! Can't tell you how many times I broke out the hi-lift for "no reason" when I was a few cold ones in and had nothing better to do. Gets the creative gears turning so I always think I'm going to come up with something. Neighbors must really love me!!
R