NQCruiser's "Chief - the Blackening..."

[NQCruiser]

OK, got another full day in on The Chief today, big love to the wifey that puts up with me deserting her during my very few holidays.

Got a few things close to completed today, wired and mounted my new rear quarter fuse panel which will power all the accessory plugs and lights in the back of the vehicle, ran some more cabling to the other side of the vehicle for more Acc outlets and light panel as well as started measuring up the bracket/mounting plate I'll need to make for the winch control box in the engine bay. It looks like I'll have to pull a bit of the wiring out that I have already done as the actual wires are too small to run good current through them for lights etc. They might work, but I like to put in heavier duty stuff wherever I can. The ones I used were off-cuts from one of our jobs, but I reckon they'd only be good for about 3-5 Amps looking at the size of the core.

Anyway, on to the pics I hear you saying......

Rear Quarter wiring run and Fuse panel installed. I may later add and access door for this, but if I wire it all up right to start with, I hopefully shouldn't need to be changing fuses all that often. The relay is for the reverse light on the rear wheel carrier...

Accessory power plugs (1 x Cig lighter & 1 x 3Pin Accessory from a tractor) as well as the LED light with switch panel....

It's going to be the same both sides, but I ran out of the plates that I had for the actual panels, but I'll be able to do these at home. Also the Battery Tray and Overflow Bottle relocation turned out OK.....

The winch controller box bracket will pick up the two bolt holes you can see between the overflow bottle and the relay on the guard wall. I'll have to make another couple of holes and also maybe pick up a bolt hole on the top of the wheel arch as well to help with any weight/vibration issues. The plug for the winch in/out switch will face rearwards and the cable is alraedy run through the firewall. The cables from the control box (once extended) will then neatly go back through the holes in the guard and come out at the battery and also through the front bodywork to the winch itself.

The rear wheel carrier now has an extra reversing light and will probably end up having a rear spottie as well. I haven't decided how this one will work yet, I may wait until I have a roof rack and mount 1 or 2 spotties from there instead.

As always, my progress is slow, but steady. It is nice to see some of the ideas I've had actually working out. Just more time needed to be spent in the workshop shed to make sure the progress is continual...

I'll also have to make some sort of bracket to mount the number plate off the light pole. Apparently it's a little too stealth for the Funstoppers......

 

[NQCruiser]

OK, basically ordered the new wheels today, went with these from Allied Wheels called "LockJaw".

They're an imitation beadlock rim for about $AUD $170 each. Dear-ish for a steel rim, but the guy I'm getting them off is going to trade all my old ones in as well as a near new BFG AT tyre that I bought which is the wrong size. Getting back to me this afternoon with what the trade stuff will be worth, so hopefully a fairly cheap changeover. Plus then I won't have to bother with offloading all mine on ebay or whatever....

The other one I really liked was this Baja II (U.S. Wheel), but I reckoned that these were going to be a lot dearer again.

 

[goldchaser]

They look good,15 or 16's NQ?

 

[NQCruiser]

16x8's Goldchaser. The tyres are 285/75R16 Cooper STT's, which will be plenty big enough for what sort of work I'll want to do.

The guy ended up giving me $500 for all the other rims and the tyre, so I'll have about a $350 changeover. Wasn't quite what I wanted dollar wise, but it's still cheaper than shelling out for the whole lot new and trying/hoping to get reasonable money for my junk elsewhere. I would have gotten a lot more for the rims on it now had they had the proper LandCruiser offset, but they probably only really suit a Hilux or smaller Jap model. They barely miss the TRE's on the Chief now.

How'd your painting end up on the Sahara? You get it all knocked over in the holiday break?

 

[goldchaser]

16x8's Goldchaser. The tyres are 285/75R16 Cooper STT's, which will be plenty big enough for what sort of work I'll want to do.

The guy ended up giving me $500 for all the other rims and the tyre, so I'll have about a $350 changeover. Wasn't quite what I wanted dollar wise, but it's still cheaper than shelling out for the whole lot new and trying/hoping to get reasonable money for my junk elsewhere. I would have gotten a lot more for the rims on it now had they had the proper LandCruiser offset, but they probably only really suit a Hilux or smaller Jap model. They barely miss the TRE's on the Chief now.

How'd your painting end up on the Sahara? You get it all knocked over in the holiday break?

Thats what im running,exact sizes,tyres and rims,depending on what you were running before your gearing may change a bit.I went from smallish 15inch rims tyres to that,quite a difference in the gearing,when my tyres need replacing im droping down a little to something around 275/70 if possible.
Paint is getting close,all the doors/tailgates/guards are at my mates place,ready for paint,we are painting the roof/front cowl sat morn hopefully,he has a bit on at the moment,ive got to block and final sand the body/roof with 600 then im just waiting on him.

 

[NQCruiser]

Yeah, the ones that are on it now are a 31x10.5R15, so will be a bit of a jump to the 285's. As far as I can tell it will be similar to running on 33's in the old sizing.

 

[NQCruiser]

OK, not a whole lot of progress to report, other than it's stinking hot & humid today and I'll have to wait for my wheels to arrive at the end of the month. All I did today was make my new number plate mount - it's adjustable so if the tyre size changes it can be moved up and down.

Hardly worth a post, but it's still forward progress...

 

[NQCruiser]

Slow progress is still better than no progress at all, I reckon. Finished making the winch controller bracket finally, and mounted it after re-wiring the controller with HD welding cable. I like this spot as it is protected by the overflow bottle and is nice and high - out of reach of water more often.

Wrapped the cables with hydraulic spiral wrap and used a couple of P clamps to secure it to the top of the radiator support panel. Came up well and is quite solid - only had to drill 2 holes in the engine bay for the whole project, but it took me a long time to get the bracket just right. Only thing left to finish this job completely is to find a spot for the handpiece other than the passenger floor. Thinking about pulling the handpiece apart and mounting the switch in the dash, but there could be some circumstances where you want to be out of the vehicle when using the winch. Any thought/comments?

Anyway, it's all about the pics.....

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A/C compressor and Receiver/Dryer get replaced next week with new units, regas the system and then settle on back in the new cool atmosphere...

Wheels apparently showing up "for sure this time" in about 2 weeks. Once arrived, ordering OME suspension and then getting the whole lot finished. I should have been properly driving this thing weeks ago, but it's been raining for about 2 months, so hasn't been as pressing. Now that it's drying up, the track up to the Gorge Weir will be driveable and I plan on having a go ASAP.... Here's hoping...

 

[NQCruiser]

"They're HEEERRREEEE....."

They do serve to illustrate that my suspension is in serious need of upgrade NOW!!! It'll probably have to wait another month or so yet as we are flat out busy, but I am really happy with the look. They are only a fake beadlock - that ring just pops off like a wheel trim ring, but I reckon it looks good, even though it wasn't what I was expecting.

 

[goldchaser]

lookin good NQ,love the wheels but yeah ya need some lift.

 

[NQCruiser]

Thanks GoldChaser, How're you enjoying yours these days now that all the work is done??

I did a few trips around in mine on the weekend and am in love with the new "rubber gearing". I thought that it might be a bit harder to get it moving from a start with the bigger tyres, but it actually seems to have improved that "stammer" that happens when you're in too high a gear. The only other change I noticed was in road noise at highway speed. Obviously much louder with the STT's on, but not till you get up around 100kph. 60 & 80kph they are still quiet.

No rubbing on steering lock-to-lock, but haven't tried flexing it at all. With springs and shocks as flat as mine are, there wouldn't be much point trying really......

 

[NQCruiser]

OK, finally got to do the lift that I've been desperately wanting. Went with OME Heavy fronts and OME Medium rears with new shackles, reused the old bushes (only done 4000km) and new OME NitroCharger Sport shocks with OME Sport Steering Damper. Had to wait an extra week for the front springs to arrive, but went and picked the lot up at once and fitted it all with the help of my wife's uncle (Thanks Colin!).

Had to do some slight modification to the upper shock mounting pins on the rear as they were too small for the bushes supplied with the shocks. All we ended up doing was sleeving the existing pins with hydraulic hard line and the bushes fitted perfectly. Had to file the inside of the tube slightly to get them on, but once started the BFH made light work of getting them all the way on. Also had to rotate and re-adjust the collars on the steering links/rods to fit the larger diameter damper on, but otherwise not too many dramas.

For the first few drives I could hear the dreaded OME clunk, but that seems to have settled a bit with a few kilometres. My wife has even been driving it, which in itself says that he ride and handling has improved. Anyway, I hear you thinking "Just get to the pics already", so here you go.....

Started here.....

Now it's up here...

A first I thought I'd been gipped on the increase in height but I was forgetting about the extended shackles, which made it woeful to steer...

Old height again......

and the new, improved version....

Had to laugh when, due to the change in angle of the driveshaft, a s*** load of grease managed to squirt back out of the nipple and leave a huge pile just where I was bound to roll in it. I was lucky enough to be able to do this job at work on a nice, smooth concrete slab with access to a forklift to lift and lower where necessary. Got the lot done in about 7 hrs. Helped that all my existing hardware was well greased and didn't have to fight too much to get the old gear off.

Also picked up a RedArc Dual Battery Isolation kit and a Rear recovery shackle that will mount in the $75 Hayman Reece towbar I picked up off Ebay. My towbar is all welded up and would suffice as long as I didn't want to be able to use other things in the receiver.... which I do......

Anyway, thanks for looking!!

 

[espdtrd08]

This is the color that I am thinking about buying. Love em!

 

[Granite Grinder]

Nice looking rig!
Did you solve your steering woes?

 

[NQCruiser]

Seems to have Granite Grinder, I think it was the extended shackles that were the difference. At the time they were a neccessary evil to be able to put the larger tyres under it on the flattened stock springs, but now that they're gone it seems to steer and handle heaps better....

 

[NQCruiser]

Since the last update, The Chief has done about 4000km of highway driving and about 300km on the beach at Fraser Island. Everything ran really well and had no major issues, except for the dual battery setup. For some reason the main battery now seems to go flat quite regularly and I have swapped the two batteries around, thinking the older main battery might have been on it's way out - no change.

I'll have to start looking at things like parasitic loads and alternators shortly to figure out what is going on there.

Fraser Island was great for the first couple of days until it started raining, but we drank a tonne of beer and had a great few days just the same. I had been worried that as soon as we hit the sand off the barge that I would sink like a stone with all the gear I had loaded up (2 fridges, 2x swags, 7 cartons of beer, BBQ, Gas Bottles, Tents, 2 x Tables, fishing gear and 2 x 40L water carriers etc...), but we dropped down to 20psi on the barge and drove off like we were on the highway.

The tyres rubbed a couple of times right on the front right inner guard as I was dropping in over the dunes and once when we were bottoming out in a washout going over Ningkala Rocks, but I was the packhorse of the trip and had the two fridges running all the time as well as most of the beer and all of the rum on board - this was my guarantee that I wouldn't get left behind if I got bogged!!!!

Dingoes have caused the closure of a few of the campsites further down the eastern coast of the Island since we were there. They did come into our camp one day and drag a bit of gear around, but no real damage. They are known to bite and attack people occasionally. One guy we spoke to while fishing said that one of their party was taking a crap in the scrub behind the dunes when two of them approached him, growling and carrying on. He stood up, backed away and then bolted - only then realising he had stood in his own crap when in "backing away" mode. You might think this sounds like a funny story, but let me tell you, when there are 15 of you standing around ,drunk as monkeys, listening to this guy you've never met, tell this story and mime the actions - it's FRICKEN HILARIOUS!!!! At one point I thought I'd pass out I was laughing so hard.....

Pic of one dingo - not too scared of us. Luckily Mick was armed with my Swiss Army Multi-Tool..... and a black can full of bravery...

Thanks for looking!!

 

[Granite Grinder]

Awesome pictures!!! Looks like a blast, love the squatting tale... had me laughing. That looks like one beautiful beach, I'd love to be having a beer with ya

 

[NQCruiser]

Granite Grinder, you're welcome anytime mate!!

 

[stocksail]

black & tan love is flowing free in here!

Nice cruisers all!

mine will join in soon

 

[NQCruiser]

Had a bit of service work done in the last week or so to get things rolling again. The issue with the batteries always being flat was the alternator - had some diodes that were dead and the ones that weren't had been replaced in the past with ones that weren't the right size for the job, so it got a rebuild. Cost nearly the same as buying a new one, but the guy that did it reckons they are a great alternator and hardly ever get replaced unless you keep driving them with this issue and wreck them.

I picked it up from the Auto-electrician and drove it home - was only about 500 metres - and came to a round-about. Put my foot on the brakes and ........ nothing........straight on into the round-about in front of a guy in a Hilux (who had right-of-way), thankfully who had working brakes. After some panicked pedal pumping and woeful response, I carefully drove back around to the alternator guy and explained what had happened. We went through everything that they had been through and checked the vacuum from the pump on the back of the alternator - still good. Haven't found the issue yet, and the pedal is steadily improving, but I still don't think it's the way it was originally. I'm going to get it booked in to be looked at by someone who knows how a brake booster is dis-assembled and re-assembled to see if there is a clogged valve or something.

Anyway, after that I brought it around to work to do a full service and rebuild the towbar to allow it to use the Hayman Reece style hitches. I had a home-made one on the Chief when I bought it (good mounts), & I bought one for a 60 Series off ebay for $50, but it didn't suit my 3 peice bumper (mounts in wrong spot), so I cut up the two to make one. A couple of spacers were required, and I now have a couple of skids on the rear in case I have to negotiate any sharp drop-offs. I though about putting some holes for D-Shackles in these, but the recovery point in the Hitch should be enough...

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New Improved Version:

Then in the afternoon I did the service and was in a hurry to get the fuel system bled and had a major FUBAR... One of the delivery valve holders from the top of the fuel pump sheared the thread off where in goes into the injector tube. FFFFFAAAAAAAAWWWWWKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!! (BTW: The new World Record for throwing a 17mm combination spanner while screaming the "F" word is 85 metres and 102 decibels.....)

Toyota Parts gave me prices of about $75 for the tube and $15 for the delivery valve holder..... ex Japan. So I rang around and got the price of $66 plus freight from Queensland Cruisers in Rockhampton. Arrived the next day and had it running in an afternoon. Took it for a drive on the weekend and it seems to be running sweetly again, so it looks like I dodged a bullet. The downside to all of this was that due to the messing around and spending more money than I had budgeted on doing the repairs and servicing, I missed out on the deal of a lifetime on a 12-HT that had been removed from a rig about 5 hrs away - $ 2800 in good condition ...... Anyway, I'll get the next one...