Builds Old Landy: An HJ45 Story/Build Thread
- Thread starter Cowboy45
- Start date
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Cheers
We got on the road by about 5p. Rush hour. As we headed out of Seattle, we noticed that Old Landy was fish tailing when at or above 30mph.
We speed dialed our trailer expert @CenTXFJ60 for some guidance. Diagnosis, rear end of Old Land is too heavy. Not enough tongue weight.
We placed Brutus on crawl speed and found an exit. We flipped Old Landy around in the back alley of a premium outlet mall in North Bend, WA, by the docking stations. I don’t think we will ever look at outlet malls the same again.
Old Landy is no lightweight. We tried with two HF 3500 lb ratchet straps to get her back on to the trailer. No luck.
We called AAA. They declined for “liability” reasons. I have a whole new set of choice words for the acronym AAA.
Called three separate tow truck places. 2 conveniently said no. One agreed to come by. No big box stores nearby to get recovery supplies. Yikes. Estimate $250 for 2 minute winch up. They had us over a barrel with cattle prod in hand.
Or did they?
@CaptClose was not ready for a proctology exam. Together with Brutus and a hitch hook + straps, we got Old Landy flipped around.
It was dark, we could test the new configuration in the dark.
We swung Brutus portside and docked at the Edgewick Inn in Nort Bend, WA, a mile away.
@CaptClose summarized the hotel precisely: “I felt like I slept in an ash tray”
We speed dialed our trailer expert @CenTXFJ60 for some guidance. Diagnosis, rear end of Old Land is too heavy. Not enough tongue weight.
We placed Brutus on crawl speed and found an exit. We flipped Old Landy around in the back alley of a premium outlet mall in North Bend, WA, by the docking stations. I don’t think we will ever look at outlet malls the same again.
Old Landy is no lightweight. We tried with two HF 3500 lb ratchet straps to get her back on to the trailer. No luck.
We called AAA. They declined for “liability” reasons. I have a whole new set of choice words for the acronym AAA.
Called three separate tow truck places. 2 conveniently said no. One agreed to come by. No big box stores nearby to get recovery supplies. Yikes. Estimate $250 for 2 minute winch up. They had us over a barrel with cattle prod in hand.
Or did they?
@CaptClose was not ready for a proctology exam. Together with Brutus and a hitch hook + straps, we got Old Landy flipped around.
It was dark, we could test the new configuration in the dark.
We swung Brutus portside and docked at the Edgewick Inn in Nort Bend, WA, a mile away.
@CaptClose summarized the hotel precisely: “I felt like I slept in an ash tray”
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Next morning, we headed out of Northbend homeward bound with a little detour to the Landcruiser Heritage museum in Salt Lake City, UT. What a place. I will let some pics do the talking.
No more fish tailing after we flipped Old Landy around.
The Landcruiser museum did not disappoint
No more fish tailing after we flipped Old Landy around.
The Landcruiser museum did not disappoint
More pics
Where it all started. Love the orange heading on the plaque. Says is it all. Why we love these rigs.
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We left our 401k at the gift shop and headed on our journey home. It was new territory for Old Landy. As we took these roads, I could not help but grin that @Cowboy45 will soon add to what Andres has done, once we get her roadworthy. Perhaps start with a trip to the LC museum.....on her own will and power.
The framed picture on the museum wall means a lot to me for what lies ahead.
The framed picture on the museum wall means a lot to me for what lies ahead.
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!
Ya'll shoulda given me a shout, woulda gladly come by with supplies and winch equipped vehicle. Great story so far!
Epic trip!
CaptClose
SILVER Star
Day 9. Continued
September 9, 2018
It was difficult to leave the Land Cruiser Museum and all of our fellow cruiser friends. We wish we could have stayed, but we had miles of road ahead and another deadline that we would be challenged to meet.
@ceylonfj40nut CD is an engineer of some sort. His company is responsible for the water you drink... More specifically, the water that streams from your faucet. I learned more about city water systems and purification than I really wanted to know. For instance, all water is billions of years old, so you can’t really drink a glass of water that didn’t at least once, have $hit in it. Perhaps even dinosaur crap!
CD swears that city water is clean. He assured me that all the feces is filtered, but for the rest of the trip, I couldn’t help feeling a little bit like Bear Grylls every time I took a sip of water.
The reason I bring this up, is that CD is kind of a big deal to his company, and he had a very important client meeting on Monday morning that he absolutely could not miss. There could be no more mistakes, and no more delays. We had a zero margin for error.
Since we were now on the return leg, and traveling the familiar roads that we covered just days earlier, we decided to focus on the quickest route, rather than the roads less traveled.
We drove straight through to the little town of Edgewood, just past Albuquerque. A nice little town that we hoped was far enough outside ABQ for Brutus and Old Landy to be safe from hoodlums.
I’ve known about Albuquerque’s reputation for auto theft for a while now. I make it a point to never park my Land Cruiser out of my eyesight while I’m there and I never stay overnight.
I did not realize that it was the #1 ranked US city for auto theft for two years running. Way to go ABQ!
Edgewood proved to be safe. We were anxious as we walked out of the hotel toward our parking spot. We were somewhat relieved when we saw Old Landy right where we left her, but we knew that we weren’t out of the woods until we could verify that all the windows were still intact and the doors still secured.
As we were inspecting the vehicles, we heard a shout from around the corner...
“I’VE GOT AN 88!”
We turned toward the direction of shout and identified an older hillbilly type of gentleman. This man, whose name I cannot recall, was short in stature and wore a long salt and peppered beard that, admittedly, contained more salt than pepper. He dressed somewhat disheveled and was holding a stone to his ear in the same manner that an Olympic shot put athlete would. He was not athletic and had a build closer to St. Nick, than Michael Phelps.
Understandably, CD was somewhat concerned about the man holding a stone so close to Old Landy, that he acknowledged him only with a “What?” And the stranger repeated...
“I’ve got an 88”
Of course we thought he was crazy at first. This was an HJ45, never offered in 88. However, upon further inquiry, he did indeed have an FJ62. We continued our cruiser banter for the next several minutes and determined that he had a bad transmission and may be a great candidate for an h55 swap. After giving him directions to this forum, we parted ways. We never found out why the old man was holding that rock. The only answer received was that he collects stones, but there seemed nothing special or unique about the stone....
September 9, 2018
It was difficult to leave the Land Cruiser Museum and all of our fellow cruiser friends. We wish we could have stayed, but we had miles of road ahead and another deadline that we would be challenged to meet.
@ceylonfj40nut CD is an engineer of some sort. His company is responsible for the water you drink... More specifically, the water that streams from your faucet. I learned more about city water systems and purification than I really wanted to know. For instance, all water is billions of years old, so you can’t really drink a glass of water that didn’t at least once, have $hit in it. Perhaps even dinosaur crap!
CD swears that city water is clean. He assured me that all the feces is filtered, but for the rest of the trip, I couldn’t help feeling a little bit like Bear Grylls every time I took a sip of water.
The reason I bring this up, is that CD is kind of a big deal to his company, and he had a very important client meeting on Monday morning that he absolutely could not miss. There could be no more mistakes, and no more delays. We had a zero margin for error.
Since we were now on the return leg, and traveling the familiar roads that we covered just days earlier, we decided to focus on the quickest route, rather than the roads less traveled.
We drove straight through to the little town of Edgewood, just past Albuquerque. A nice little town that we hoped was far enough outside ABQ for Brutus and Old Landy to be safe from hoodlums.
I’ve known about Albuquerque’s reputation for auto theft for a while now. I make it a point to never park my Land Cruiser out of my eyesight while I’m there and I never stay overnight.
I did not realize that it was the #1 ranked US city for auto theft for two years running. Way to go ABQ!
Edgewood proved to be safe. We were anxious as we walked out of the hotel toward our parking spot. We were somewhat relieved when we saw Old Landy right where we left her, but we knew that we weren’t out of the woods until we could verify that all the windows were still intact and the doors still secured.
As we were inspecting the vehicles, we heard a shout from around the corner...
“I’VE GOT AN 88!”
We turned toward the direction of shout and identified an older hillbilly type of gentleman. This man, whose name I cannot recall, was short in stature and wore a long salt and peppered beard that, admittedly, contained more salt than pepper. He dressed somewhat disheveled and was holding a stone to his ear in the same manner that an Olympic shot put athlete would. He was not athletic and had a build closer to St. Nick, than Michael Phelps.
Understandably, CD was somewhat concerned about the man holding a stone so close to Old Landy, that he acknowledged him only with a “What?” And the stranger repeated...
“I’ve got an 88”
Of course we thought he was crazy at first. This was an HJ45, never offered in 88. However, upon further inquiry, he did indeed have an FJ62. We continued our cruiser banter for the next several minutes and determined that he had a bad transmission and may be a great candidate for an h55 swap. After giving him directions to this forum, we parted ways. We never found out why the old man was holding that rock. The only answer received was that he collects stones, but there seemed nothing special or unique about the stone....
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CaptClose
SILVER Star
Before we checked out of the hotel, we queried the front desk clerk for a great place to eat breakfast outside of the hotel. Without hesitation, we were recommended a Restaurant named Denny’s where we could order something called either a Grand Slam, or a Moons Over My Hammy. Immediately realizing that we asked the wrong person, we politely expressed our gratitude and exited the lobby.
CD found a diner named Chili Hills that had great reviews. Deciding that anything is better than Denny’s, we pulled Brutus out of port and proceeded toward the diner.
As we walked toward the entrance, a flyer caught our eye that reminded us of our good friend Jimmy @CenTXFJ60 (who we sometimes refer to as Jimbo) Jimmy loves Mexican food and we took it as a sign that he was with us in spirit.
The food did not disappoint. If you find yourself in this little town and with an appetite, we highly recommend that you choose Chili Hills over Denny’s
After breakfast, the final leg of the trip was ahead and the race for home began.
CD found a diner named Chili Hills that had great reviews. Deciding that anything is better than Denny’s, we pulled Brutus out of port and proceeded toward the diner.
As we walked toward the entrance, a flyer caught our eye that reminded us of our good friend Jimmy @CenTXFJ60 (who we sometimes refer to as Jimbo) Jimmy loves Mexican food and we took it as a sign that he was with us in spirit.
The food did not disappoint. If you find yourself in this little town and with an appetite, we highly recommend that you choose Chili Hills over Denny’s
After breakfast, the final leg of the trip was ahead and the race for home began.
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CaptClose
SILVER Star
There wasn’t much in this leg exciting enough to report, but we were able to capture on film a few state crossings.
Okay ^^^ these frames were from before breakfast.... but the road sign that made us the happiest was that of our beloved Lone Star. If you’re not from here, you might not understand.
Just a few more hours and Old Landy would be home and once tagged, be a true Texan.
But first....
Just one last stop for diesel...
Okay ^^^ these frames were from before breakfast.... but the road sign that made us the happiest was that of our beloved Lone Star. If you’re not from here, you might not understand.
Just a few more hours and Old Landy would be home and once tagged, be a true Texan.
But first....
Just one last stop for diesel...
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CaptClose
SILVER Star
Day 9. Evening
September 9, 2018
CD and I have been promising ourselves a celebratory steak dinner once we picked up Old Landy from the port of Seattle. Each days drive ended too late into the night to ever make it happen, so we decided to celebrate with CD’s family and go out for steaks once we arrived home. A better idea anyway, we thought. After all, this was a total family effort from the beginning. It wouldn’t be right without CD’s family.
After several more hours of driving, we finally pulled in front of CD’s house. Relieved to be home, but sad to be finished, we exited Brutus and began to organize our cargo to disembark for the House. Through the family room window I could see the boys running for the front door like it was Christmas morning. CD’s wife was not far behind them, and in just moments, we would all be walking around Old Landy in awe.
As fate would have it, we arrived too late to go out for steak. However, CD’s wife and his boys saved the day by running to the local market for supplies to prepare a home made steak dinner. It did not disappoint. Truly one of the best steaks I’ve had in a long time.
A strange experience for me to see a modern family all together at the table for a family meal. No phones, no TV droning in the background... it was lovely. Conversations about class work, the happenings of the past week, and of course... Old Landy. I’ve only seen this type of family on TV. I felt a little like Eddie Haskell eating dinner with Ward, June, Wally, and the Beaver. What a special experience.
We read a little from the journals of Andres over dinner. We learned quite a bit more than we knew before, I’ll let @Cowboy45 tell you about that later, but for now Old Landy was home and much happier in much warmer climate. I couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming feeling of accomplishment.
After a few more hours of post-dinner banter, we all retired to our quarters and slept in familiar beds. It would still be another day and night before I would make it home to San Antonio, but for now, I felt at home as I imagined Old Landy did as well.
September 9, 2018
CD and I have been promising ourselves a celebratory steak dinner once we picked up Old Landy from the port of Seattle. Each days drive ended too late into the night to ever make it happen, so we decided to celebrate with CD’s family and go out for steaks once we arrived home. A better idea anyway, we thought. After all, this was a total family effort from the beginning. It wouldn’t be right without CD’s family.
After several more hours of driving, we finally pulled in front of CD’s house. Relieved to be home, but sad to be finished, we exited Brutus and began to organize our cargo to disembark for the House. Through the family room window I could see the boys running for the front door like it was Christmas morning. CD’s wife was not far behind them, and in just moments, we would all be walking around Old Landy in awe.
As fate would have it, we arrived too late to go out for steak. However, CD’s wife and his boys saved the day by running to the local market for supplies to prepare a home made steak dinner. It did not disappoint. Truly one of the best steaks I’ve had in a long time.
A strange experience for me to see a modern family all together at the table for a family meal. No phones, no TV droning in the background... it was lovely. Conversations about class work, the happenings of the past week, and of course... Old Landy. I’ve only seen this type of family on TV. I felt a little like Eddie Haskell eating dinner with Ward, June, Wally, and the Beaver. What a special experience.
We read a little from the journals of Andres over dinner. We learned quite a bit more than we knew before, I’ll let @Cowboy45 tell you about that later, but for now Old Landy was home and much happier in much warmer climate. I couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming feeling of accomplishment.
After a few more hours of post-dinner banter, we all retired to our quarters and slept in familiar beds. It would still be another day and night before I would make it home to San Antonio, but for now, I felt at home as I imagined Old Landy did as well.
CaptClose
SILVER Star
6000 miles, 8 states, 2 provinces, and 2 countries, the end of the beginning was here. It was bitter sweet for me. I want to stay here and help the boys rehab Old Landy, but this is not my project. It’s in Keaton’s hands now and under the guidance of @ceylonfj40nut.
We didn’t know it before we left. As often happens, life is full of surprises. What CD thought he had purchased was an HJ45. However, we would learn along the way that what he bought, was Old Landy.
Kind of like the stories you hear about the dime store painting someone picked up at a yard sale, only to peel back the top layer to reveal a hidden Picasso or Rembrandt. I can’t help but feel that CD and his family really got a Da Vinci.
I can’t wait to see how Old Landy’s story continues. One thing I know for sure, is that I don’t think I’ll be around for the ending. I imagine one day Keaton will be passing it down to his children as Jr. learns how to do his first knuckle job.
With that in mind... it’s time to begin the build. @Cowboy45 will take over the majority of the posts from here. I’ll continue to watch his progress with great interest. Congratulations kid. You have a greater responsibility than you yet understand, but I am absolutely positive Old Landy couldn’t be in better hands.
We didn’t know it before we left. As often happens, life is full of surprises. What CD thought he had purchased was an HJ45. However, we would learn along the way that what he bought, was Old Landy.
Kind of like the stories you hear about the dime store painting someone picked up at a yard sale, only to peel back the top layer to reveal a hidden Picasso or Rembrandt. I can’t help but feel that CD and his family really got a Da Vinci.
I can’t wait to see how Old Landy’s story continues. One thing I know for sure, is that I don’t think I’ll be around for the ending. I imagine one day Keaton will be passing it down to his children as Jr. learns how to do his first knuckle job.
With that in mind... it’s time to begin the build. @Cowboy45 will take over the majority of the posts from here. I’ll continue to watch his progress with great interest. Congratulations kid. You have a greater responsibility than you yet understand, but I am absolutely positive Old Landy couldn’t be in better hands.
I have seen Leonardo`s Mona Lisa twice.
First in the Louvre Museum, Paris
The Mona Lisa Louvre : painting of Leonardo da Vinci - PARISCityVISION
Second at a Duckomenta exhibition.... great paintings.
DUCKOMENTA :
"No reliable record remains of the identity of the sitter for Leonardo da Vinci’s commissioned portrait. The version shown here was never delivered; it remained in Leonardo’s private collection until his death in 1519."
The works of the DUCKOMENTA
All the best Land(y)snail....
..wish you “good duck”
Freedom for all Ducks
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Maybe I missed it but I keep wondering how Landy ended up in Kodiak after Fairbanks.
The PO bought it from the yard in Fairbanks where Andres sold and left it. He then shipped it to Kodiak, AK where he lives to begin a restore on Old Landy that did not happen. PO did take good care of it as it is in great shape which we will document once it hits the barn. The PO will now live through a build on Old Landy through @Cowboy45.
@CaptClose, I hope you can be part of of Old Landy’s life ahead. I am sure @Cowboy45 would like that.
CenTXFJ60
SILVER Star
S
So you guys drove how many hours after that breakfast and neither of you blew a gasket
