Not a build thread

[TheDurangoKidd]

I may have mentioned this but I think I got lucky with this Land Cruiser. I bought it from the original owner. It was originally purchased in Farmington, NM and lived its life in Cortez, CO (the south west corner of Colorado). Spending most of its life in a dry desert environment means it has very little rust, mostly surface rust or the rust has been well hidden (it has been repainted at some point). The one place that is rusty is the bottom of the tailgate. I'd been worried about this for some time and when I ran across

60 Series Land Cruiser tailgate storage mod - https://hfabusa.com/products/60-series-land-cruiser-tailgate-storage-mod?srsltid=AfmBOoodEqVWbxtiLuSM6VtXMyXkAR88Iij8IRw6JFjRDmhfxYVjnsz3

I figured if I'm going to try to fix the rust that I might as well cut a huge hole in the tailgate so that I can see the extent of the problem and have the best chance of fixing it.

I didn't take a good before pic but here is one after I started working on it.

 

[TheDurangoKidd]

I started by cutting a giant hole in the tailgate.

It actually looked better than I expected, the rust isn't too bad.

With a combination of pliers (the fencing pliers worked the best) I unfolded as much of the seam as I could.

After a little wire wheel and POR 15 rust converter it started to look better.

I applied a few coats of POR 15 before folding the seam over.

 

[TheDurangoKidd]

Added a little seam sealer and this little vice did a nice job of folding the seam back over.

Hit it with a little touch-up paint.

Knowing that the new touch-up paint wouldn't blend well with the faded tailgate and that my "body work" isn't perfect and any glossy paint would make it look even worse. I opted for some spray on 3M bed liner. Add a little dirt and you can hardly notice.

 

[TheDurangoKidd]

In August of '24 I went on one last outing into the high country with my brother before an upcoming surgery would prevent me from pushing the clutch and the snow closed the mountains.

At one point I heard that awful crack of metal braking. We determined that nothing was hanging off of the truck so I turned around and found a flat spot to assess the situation. While getting turned around I noticed that the sound was cyclical and did not occur with the clutch depressed. After jacking her up to make sure the axles would stay on, the decision was made to pull the rear drive shaft. I drove home 80 odd miles in front wheel drive with no major drama. Removing the rear diff inspection cover revealed this. I'm pretty sure that bolt aint right. This along with similar issues on the motor have led me to name the previous mechanic Over Torque.

Of course the broken bolt let to this.

And that led to call to Cruiser Teq | Land Cruiser Specialists Powered by Cruiser Outfitters - https://cruiserteq.com/ and PLC - https://www.precisionlandcruisers.com/ which resulted in this.

 

[TheDurangoKidd]

cont


Of course while you have the diff and axles out you might as well turn this.

Into this.

This was a bit of a special occasion. After paying for all of this I have officially paid more for maintenance of the truck than I did for the truck!

 

[brooks202]

Great thread

 

[88Retired62]

Sometimes the cost of a “job well done and peace of mind” are incalculable!

 

[TheDurangoKidd]

I am pretty sure that she does or has leaked pretty much every fluid in her. Axle rebuilds took care of axle seals, knuckles and diff leaks. Transfer case rebuild took care of its leaks. New brake and clutch master took care of those. New radiator and hoses sealed the cooling system. I have yet to address the power steering leak, possible transmission leak, timing cover, oil pan and rear main leaks but I know they're there and I'm working on getting to them. Oh almost forgot last Friday.....



Yep add fuel leak to the list I'm lucky she didn't burn to the ground. She was warming up in the morning, smelled a little gassy, pop the hood to see a drip onto the header and a puff of smoke. Killed the engine and grabbed a fire extinguisher just in case. The cover is cracked just below the top bolt. I have never touched it so I know I didn't over tighten it. And I don't think that its plastic so my superpower of breaking plastic just by looking at it shouldn't apply. On the plus side I called Holley this morning and they are sending me replacement parts. No hassle. No charge. Got to love a company that stands behind their products. Happy Thanksgiving y'all

 

[TheDurangoKidd]

I've been putting off pulling the door cards to investigate why the windows are so hard to roll up and down, the door lock is hard to unlock with the key, the doors don't like to open with the handles and the drivers side speaker doesn't work because I'm afraid the door cards would disintegrate on removal. Curiosity finally got the best of me....


Found more shell casings inside of the door.

I'm really starting to like finding the surprises they PO's kids left for me to find. Spliced a broken wire, "fixed" speaker.

Discovered that both door handles are broken, each have a full width crack through on one side. Ordered replacements.

The drivers window rolls up and down super smooth with the door card removed. I lubed the pivot and reinstalled the door card. It works better but not perfect. The passengers side window is a different story. I'll try to attach a video. Can this be tightened or is a new part required to fix it?

 

[TheDurangoKidd]

I ordered what I though was an OEM window regulator off of Fleabay. Turns out it's aftermarket and does not fit!

With the original regulator on the bench I could see the issue. The recess on the back of the window crank is severely wallowed out. A few love taps with a punch closed it up a bit. Cleaned, re-greased and re-installed. It's not pretty and probably won't last too long but for now the window goes up and down much easier. Maybe it will last until I can get the correct Toyota part?

Sadly I missed SAS, Doc wouldn't ok me to drive a manual and the brakes are giving me fits. The week after SAS I got the ok to drive . Ever since rebuilding the rear brakes last year I have had what I thought was air in the system. The brakes would work great for a few stops then the pedal would go soft, pump the pedal once or twice and they came right back. Then some time later, could be a few stops or a few days and they'd go soft again. I bled they system dozens of times, always with me on the bleeders and a neighbor, friend, relative... pumping the brakes. On a whim I decided to have my helper on the bleeders and me on the brake pedal. I got good pressure high in the stroke but with some force managed to push through (bleeders still closed), then got pressure again, then pushed through again and finally got pressure with the pedal on the floor. I'm no mechanic but that didn't seam right. I used my Mighty Vac on the brake booster. It held vacuum. So I decided to throw some $$$ at it and ordered a new AISIN master cylinder from City Racer LLC - https://www.cityracerllc.com/

Unfortunately my research didn't inform me about the gasket between the brake master and booster Of course no one has one in stock so I bought some paper gasket material and tried my hand at making one. I think it came out ok, Hopefully it lasts. If not, it's not too hard to get to to replace.

Bench bled and installed the master then bled the brakes and I HAVE brakes! Took her on an all day drive through the hills and no problems.

Just for fun I tried to bench bleed the old master cylinder and was unable to get any air or fluid out of the port that is farthest from the mounting/booster side. Just thought I'd share in case anyone else is having trouble bleeding their brakes, it may not be air in the system or poor technique...

 

[TheDurangoKidd]

Totally forgot that I had two new door handles on the shelf. Should have put these in while I had the door cards out to work on the windows. Both handles were broken in the same place. Doors open and unlock with the key MUCH easier now.