Builds Old Landy: An HJ45 Story/Build Thread (2 Viewers)

[ceylonfj40nut]

Feeling short of grease, we had to get our fill in other ways. Some wicked bbq. This kinda grease did not disappoint. Great joint. I have had Blacks BBQ in Austin. This one is just as good!!

 

[yotadude520]

Just read through the entire build..what an awesome story. It really looks like Old Landy is in good hands and I can't stress enough how cool it is to have your sons in on this! They'll have a lot of fond memories of their pops when they're older.

I'll be following!

(As an FYI - I agree with the medic symbol. I think it would be cool to do something that represents you guys!)

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

Based on what Deo shared on the 81 FJ40 disc brake axle we got, we lucked out getting the beefier parts (knuckles, steering arms, 60 series rotors).

Based on what @Poser had to say in the steering knuckle 101 FAQ (excerpt below, full link here Steering Knuckle 101....(FAQ)) we will swap the knuckle end bits to Old Landy’s existing galvanized axle housings to get it converted to disc brakes in the front. This keeps most of Old Landy’ 1978 original stuff intact.

“1979-1990 40/55/60/62/70 series steering knuckles/spindles/calipers all interchange.

From 08/75-07/80 the rotors and wheel bearing hubs used six 10mm bolts to retain the rotor to the wheel bearing hub, opposed to the 08/80-1990 rotors being retained to the wheel bearing hub by the six wheel studs in addition to two 10mm bolts.

Calipers all interchange through this era of the Land Cruiser; 08/75-1990

40/55 steering arms, while they have the same 'large' pattern where they attach to the steering knuckle, use a smaller tie rod end, so consequently, the hole/taper is smaller on these arms. The 60/62/70 used the same arms with the larger hole for the tie rod ends.”

 

[Michael B]

You will probably have to modify (grind the inside of the knuckle ball) the axel housing to get the larger CV joint to fit . That's a lot of trouble to keep an older housing IMO .

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

True Michael. We need to open up Old Landy’s knuckle to see what it looks like. Need to check if there are any surprises e.g. Spline count/larger birfields. It’s work regardless. We have the 40 series axle as a back up if needed.

Trying to keep as much original metal that has journeyed the world while making it a tad better. The engine swap is “minor”

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

@Cowboy45 and I will kick this around. This will not be a hardcore wheeler. The current birfields have travelled the world without issue. If we keep them we may not need to swap to larger birfields or do it at a later time.

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

Happy new year to all!!!

 

[Cowboy45]

We just spent the last 6 days or so at the barn working on various components that will be going on Old Landy. The first 2 days were spent taking apart the 40 series disc brake axle/taking off the key disc brake components needed to convert Landy’s front axle.

 

[Cowboy45]

We first started by taking off the tie rods and calipers from the axle. The tie rod ends were stuck so we torched them to see if they would expand and come off easier. The brake pads were pretty worn, but can be replaced. The main kicker was the caliper pistons were frozen. We tried to get them off, but we don’t want to risk it so we might be getting new ones.

 

[Cowboy45]

Then we removed the rotor/hub and backing plate. The backing plate was nice so we put it aside to get cleaned up and ready for paint. Taking off the hub and rotor/knuckle job was very familiar to me thanks to @CaptClose who let me do his knuckle job on his very nice 80 at SAS 2. The rotor was thin in some places so we decided to get new ones.

 

[Cowboy45]

Here comes the fun part!! Next, we took off the spindle and the knuckle housing. When takinf off the spindle some water was coming out, but overall both were great mechanically just a little dirty.

 

[Cowboy45]

Out comes the burfield!!!

 

[POTATO LAUNCHER]

You have earned the "nasty knuckle job" merit badge Keaton. That is a huge right of passage of owning a Cruiser. Good Job and Happy New Year!

 

[ceylonfj40nut]

@POTATO LAUNCHER we have all seen many a knuckle jobs. Sorry if it bores those that have. I just have to kick myself that @Cowboy45 is only 13 and it’s his first of many things cruisers. I am thrilled he has the part names and the process down. There is much to learn. A good padawan he is.

He is getting Cruiserfied by us all..

@Cowboy45 hands will be on everything on Old Landy, just like Andre did before he journeyed from South Africa to Switzerland.

There is no better confidence he will get in his rig.

 

[Cowboy45]

You have earned the "nasty knuckle job" merit badge Keaton. That is a huge right of passage of owning a Cruiser. Good Job and Happy New Year!

Haha! Thanks and Happy New Year to you as well!

 

[Cowboy45]

After we took off the various disc brake components we took out the parts washer and got to scrubbing!! Thanks to @Yackster for the tip to use LA’s Totally Awesome as a parts cleaner it worked great! After the pieces were scrubbed we sprayed some rust converter on pieces with minor cancer and then hit it with black paint.

 

[Cowboy45]

We finished up the final couple days working on the engine. We took off most of the main outer components including exahaust manifold, intake manifold, injector lines, bus bar, etc. I do not have many detailed pictures, but I will put some up the next time we go to the farm!

 

[4Cruisers]

The main kicker was the caliper pistons were frozen. We tried to get them off, but we don’t want to risk it so we might be getting new ones.

I installed a set of remanufactured calipers from NAPA on my '86 FJ60 build, along with OEM pads. I was pleased with the quality, you might want to check it out.

 

[fl4031003]

Here is some more Orange to look at,

 

[cruiserjunktion]

I recently added 81+ Disc brake parts to my 74 axle housing. Pics here of the grinding required:

Did you see this one too?

Easy peasy.