Rescuing a 1979 NZ spec? 40 with 2h and h55

[southern jeeper]

I probably should have started this thread a couple weeks ago when I first picked this thing up but I'll start from the beginning. I saw this truck listed on facebook so far out a message to the guy and ended up talking on the phone with him for a half hours or so. He didn’t have too much information on the truck since he kind of happened into acquiring it. Apparently, it had been abandoned on a friend of his rental property and they said he could have it if he got it hauled off. He was saying it was back in the woods and just about had stuff growing out of it, but he managed to cut his way back to it and out winch it out with his truck and in the process he had to relocate a possum out the battery tray that was trying to make a nest. He thought the truck was cool so he didn’t have the heart to scrap it (thankfully) And just started tinkering with it, trying to get various things to work. He was able to get the engine in a running condition with some fresh fluids and a battery with a jump pack. So fast-forward a week or two I text on and off with him and finally find a day to go see it. My first impression was dang this thing is crusty, but he fired it up and I listened to the engine run for a little bit. Everything sounded fine to me granted, I’m not a professional mechanic, but I’ve been around diesels enough to know if there’s something critically wrong. I gave it once over, took a look underneath the frame and transmission and was pleasantly surprised to find the frame was not rotted and also had an h55 with a PTO. The drive train alone sealed the deal for me. I figured worst case scenario I could pull it out and drop it in my 1970 40. Anyways, he offers to let me drive it around the block with granted it didn’t have any brakes but the parking break so that was a little interesting, but I was able to shift through all the gears smoothly and didn’t hear any alarming sounds. After the test drive we reconvened, made a deal, signed the papers, got it loaded, and that’s when my journey with began. More to come.

 

[southern jeeper]

With it being RHD, and also having a 2H. I assumed it was an Aussie import but after getting it back to the house and looking it over further I found something in the engine bay that pointed me towards New Zealand but also back to Australia so I’m assuming it some time in both.

 

[charliemeyer007]

Wow is that a leaper possum?

 

[southern jeeper]

The first task I wanted to accomplish was to get the truck starting under its own power. I started with a new 800 CCA battery but it would the starter would just click but not turn over so I assumed it just didn’t have enough juice. After doing a little research and thoroughly confusing the parts store guy I just got the biggest one that would fit in the battery tray which in my case was a 950 CCA heavy equipment battery. I figured if it was good enough for a tractor it would surely turn the 2h over. Got it installed but still just a click of the solenoid. My next step was checking my battery cables thinking I had a poor ground since it would still start up with a jump from my truck. I cleaned the connections but still no luck. Started thinking it might be a bad ground cable swapped it out with another one I had laying around but still nothing. I pulled the starter out with some help and was able to test it on the bench and got it to work intermittently hot wiring it. I figured it was just about worn out so I order a fresh one and got it installed. New starter works much better and turns the ole 2h over much quicker than the old unit. Task 1 complete: It starts on its own now.

 

[charliemeyer007]

A while back I put on 2/0 copper cables - cranks over much better now.
Back in the mid 80's I took my starter apart. The big copper bolt and contact washer in the solenoid were purity chewed up. I dressed everything flat. I used the file with crocus cloth to clean up the commutator. Starter still there and still works fine.

 

[duncanrm]

Awesome.. there's very few shorties with 2H conversions.. I am keen to own one!

See my signature below for a tonne of useful 2H content!!

 

[southern jeeper]

Now that I had the truck starting on its own, my next order of business was getting the truck stopping on its own. I initially cracked the lines on the break master cylinder, just to see if it could move any fluid, but upon further inspection, it was too far gone so I ordered a replacement. After I got new one in I attempted to bleed the brakes as is and managed to get one of the rear drums working but the other three were seized. Partial success, the truck somewhat stops on its own but still not roadworthy yet. Being cheap like I am I decided to go pull the calipers off my other 40 that’s torn apart. I got them installed and bled so now we have three working brakes. Great success! I am planning on redoing the brake cylinders in the rear whenever they show up but three brakes is enough for riding around on the property for now. Not many pictures of this other than the roached brake master cylinder that’s seized up.

 

[southern jeeper]

Now that the truck was running and stopping on its own, I had a a few other things to address. First being the engine mounts that were busted. They weren’t too bad of an install. The most difficult part of it was just getting the old busted mounts out, and then getting the new mounts lined up correctly, which took a little finagling with a ratchet strap.
Next thing was the alternator as it only had one wire connected and was not really charging well. After doing a little digging I found it needed the key on 12v connected. I did a little testing with the voltmeter found my 12 V wire and spliced it in to the alternator. Now it seems to be charging just fine.
next few things were just some general maintenance items such as a new air filter and fresh gear oil in the transmission. Thankfully, there were no big surprises there.

 

[southern jeeper]

The next item on my ever growing list of things to fix was the radiator. I noticed a new sound while I was driving around the farm and upon further inspection the fan started had rubbing the fan shroud. I tried to give it a little wiggle to get it to back in place but it moved way too easily… something is not right here. Got the truck back to the barn and started tearing back into the truck again. I got the two radiator support rods off and it turns out they were the only thing holding the radiator on the truck. It make the radiator removal quick though. Looking at it further I deduced that at some point in it past life, the welded bolts on the bottom of the radiator support were cut out and replaced with bolts coming up from the bottom. I’m assuming they did this because it would not clear the pto winch input. Anyways one bolt was nowhere to be found, and the other side had be cut off and was stuck between the frame mount and the pto input with no real to get at it without pulling the pto input off.

I thought it shouldn’t be too hard, it’s just one bolt and a shear pin. The bolt came out no problem but the shear pin was another story. I started off with some penetrant (atf and acetone) and a hammer, nothing. Tried hitting it a torch and penetrant, still nothing. Got a bigger hammer, nothing. Tried drilling it, but I couldn’t really get to it well, but still nothing. After all that I noticed the pin was starting to crack and I resorted to chiseling out enough to slide the input shaft out.
After that ordeal with the shear pin I was finally able to get where I needed to properly bolt the radiator in.

This leads to the first custom part of the truck. Since the radiator essentially was just flopping around the canvas pads that it sits on were long gone so I decided to 3D print a set out of TPU. For those unfamiliar with TPU it is more of rubbery material similar but not equal to polyurethane. I’ve seen some folks use it for control arm bushings so I thought it be more than adequate for this application.

 

[southern jeeper]

Radiator support in and bolt clearance below radiator.

 

[southern jeeper]

While I was messing with the radiator I figured it was probably a good time to put a new upper hose on and put in a new a thermostat. Hose no issues there, plug and play item. Thermostat was a little bit of a surprise once I cracked it open. There was no was no thermostat! I guess that would explain why it seemed like it took forever to get up to temp. Anyways got the housing cleaned up and new unit in no issues. Filled it up with some radiator flushed and went to check the cows to get it up to temp. No leaks so im happy.

 

[sadam_husain]

That 40's a long way from home, its got an NZ licence plate

https://www.carjam.co.nz/car/?plate=JC2747

 

[southern jeeper]

That report is really interesting, wish I could figure out at what point the 2h swap was done. Looks like it was originally a 2f that got converted to propane at some point and then ended up with the 2h.

 

[Rigger]

The little guy is enjoying the resto!

 

[sadam_husain]

We didn't get factory fitted H55F's in 40 series out here so someone must have given it an engine and trans swap somewhere along the way

 

[southern jeeper]

We didn't get factory fitted H55F's in 40 series out here so someone must have given it an engine and trans swap somewhere along the way

Yeah I gathered that from this sticker on the window. Not sure if you have heard of the company or if it is even still around.

Another thing that is still a mystery to me is this huge pto winch on the front end. I really couldn’t find much on the web about it or even the company other than that were in the business of refurbishing surplus GMC trucks after WWII.

I would like to eventually go through it and service it and put it back in operation but I have no idea where to begin other than fresh gear oil I assume.

 

[sadam_husain]

Dellow in Oz made bellhousings for engine/trans swaps I've got a dellow bellhousing in my FJ75 between the H55F and LS engine, I originally brought it in a donor BJ40 between a H41 and 305 chevy and its had a few other engine and gearbox combinations as well as those during the 25 years I've had it, when it was in the BJ40 it had a thick spacer block doweled to the back for the extra length of the longer B-Series input shaft, not sure what dellow components would have been needed for your engine trans swap it should have bolted up with all toyota parts. I don't really know much more about Gillies than you do, they were a pretty big NZ company after WW2 they had yards full of surplus US Army trucks from the pacific they brought up in bulk and on sold for rural and construction work in NZ mostly in the 1950's and 1960's, they used to cast and make the PTO winches in their Oamaru foundry in the old days, I can't ever remember seeing many of them around but I believe they made a lot of them, I've got a mate who had and probably still has one on the front of his FJ40

 

[Greek Cruiserhead]

...I don't really know much more about Gillies than you do, they were a pretty big NZ company after WW2 they had yards full of surplus US Army trucks from the pacific they brought up in bulk and on sold for rural and construction work in NZ mostly in the 1950's and 1960's, they used to cast and make the PTO winches in their Oamaru foundry in the old days, I can't ever remember seeing many of them around but I believe they made a lot of them, I've got a mate who had and probably still has one on the front of his FJ40.

Great info, thanks for sharing!