Respect the 40 (1 Viewer)

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samatulich

SILVER Star
Joined
Jan 3, 2012
Threads
18
Messages
638
Location
Valdez, AK
A few weeks ago my brother (@GEMatulich) and I drove from Olympia Washington to Eagle River Alaska. We were in a 1976 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40 that our mom bought new in ‘76. Our parents drove the cruiser through South America between 1977 and 1978. Growing up they would tell us stories of their travels and instilled a love and respect for the 40. My brother and I have talked over the years about making the trek north to Alaska. The cruiser needed work and it was up to me to get it done. I spent the last few years working to get it back on the road. This past winter I finally got it to where I could drive it up and down the freeway, around town and out to the coast without issue. We decided that we had waited long enough and it was time to make the drive. Over the past few months I was busy going over the vehicle and preparing it and ourselves for the long drive ahead.

In preparation of the road trip I checked the compression.
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I also did a vacuum test
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Not bad results for a 40+ year old engine.

With several weeks to go before departing, I replaced the tie rod ends and had the alignment done.

Next I replaced the output seal on the transfer case and installed a bypass hose.
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I serviced the parking brake
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Lastly, I replaced the rear pinion seal and added fresh gear oil to the transmission, transfer case and rear differential.
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Just about ready to hit the road.
 
I went ahead and replaced the interstate battery with a new one. This was for piece of mind, as the old one was reliable, just several years old.
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Now it was time to take it for a drive. My sister recently moved in with me, and for the first couple weeks the cruiser was immobile. So now that I had it back on the road we needed to run it around. She road shotgun on the way out and reminisced about the days when she drove the 40 around topless one 4th of July. We headed for the forest to squeeze off a few rounds.
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She took the wheel for the drive home. I had her stop for this pic(Sunday before we left).
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It was a good feeling letting her drive. She mashed that rig around town during her high school days, running over sidewalks, crashing through trees and attempting the mud bogs at the local monster truck rally.

With a few days before my brother arrived and we departed I still had work to get done.
Out fitted the roof rack with an awning.
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Organized the old, South American, wooden ammo box. If it fits, it ships. We were not going to have a bunch of loose cruiser parts bouncing around in back. We had everything we could think of in that box. Alternator belt, spark plugs, coil, plug wires, cap, rotor, fuel pump and filter. There were radiator hoses, battery cables, fusible link, temp sending units... I had a tackle box full of misc, 6, 8, 10mm bolts with nuts. All from parts taken off the rig at some point in the past twenty years or so. Even had a 2Fhead gasket, intake/exhaust manifold gaskets. The only part I wanted but failed to get before we left was a water pump.
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The evening before we began the drive, my brother and his girlfriend flew down from Anchorage. My house that night was packed. My sister invited some of her friends over, as well as a couple of my friends. My brother and his girlfriend were there too. It was packed. We didn’t get much done that night as far as prep goes, but we ate, drank and stayed up way too late.

Here we are, me, my sister and brother the evening before the trip.
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The next morning was slow. We began to load up the 40.
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It was closing in on 1 in the afternoon when we took this shot
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We pulled out of the neighborhood and headed to the gas station(1300hrs, 0mi). Once we filled up we were on our way northbound l-5.

Here I am getting us through traffic as we near Seattle.
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We stopped in Seattle to get lunch with my brothers girlfriend and her friend from Colorado. They were going to spend a few days in the area, while we began our trek.

While stopped for lunch I gave a local cruiser shop a call. Told the guy what we were about to begin and asked if he had a 2F water pump, no fan clutch, no oil cooler. He took a look and pulled off his shelf exactly what I wanted. Thanks to Torfab for your help, although we didn’t need it, it was a nice insurance policy to have.

We pulled out of Everett, WA and headed for a friends house. My buddy lives in Mt Vernon and asked if we would stop by. We spent a few minutes with him and he saw us off. Next stop was the boarder. We headed for the crossing near Lynden, WA.
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The boarder crossing was uneventful. We were asked multiple questions, and let through. Our next stop was Hope, BC.
 
Awesome. Gutsy. Amazing the OCD that prevents many from getting out with a rig to do its thing. Good on ya! your parents did it right!!

Sub’d.
 
The evening before we began the drive, my brother and his girlfriend flew down from Anchorage. My house that night was packed. My sister invited some of her friends over, as well as a couple of my friends. My brother and his girlfriend were there too. It was packed. We didn’t get much done that night as far as prep goes, but we ate, drank and stayed up way too late.

Here we are, me, my sister and brother the evening before the trip.View attachment 2037559

The next morning was slow. We began to load up the 40.
View attachment 2037561

It was closing in on 1 in the afternoon when we took this shot
View attachment 2037564

We pulled out of the neighborhood and headed to the gas station(1300hrs, 0mi). Once we filled up we were on our way northbound l-5.

Here I am getting us through traffic as we near Seattle.
View attachment 2037565

We stopped in Seattle to get lunch with my brothers girlfriend and her friend from Colorado. They were going to spend a few days in the area, while we began our trek.

While stopped for lunch I gave a local cruiser shop a call. Told the guy what we were about to begin and asked if he had a 2F water pump, no fan clutch, no oil cooler. He took a look and pulled off his shelf exactly what I wanted. Thanks to Torfab for your help, although we didn’t need it, it was a nice insurance policy to have.

We pulled out of Everett, WA and headed for a friends house. My buddy lives in Mt Vernon and asked if we would stop by. We spent a few minutes with him and he saw us off. Next stop was the boarder. We headed for the crossing near Lynden, WA.
View attachment 2037568

The boarder crossing was uneventful. We were asked multiple questions, and let through. Our next stop was Hope, BC.
I'm extremely jealous!! Although, having been in Alaska, I'm really interested in your road trip through British Columbia and the Yukon.
 
I subscribed. I am looking forward to your adventure.
 
Uhhhh.... wished I had found this after you’d finished - so flipping used to FF button on the DVR I guess! :cheers:
 
We are now in British Columbia, a first for both of us. We cruised into Hope around 9 that first night. While there we fueled up, had pizza for dinner, then went to the liquor store for a bottle and ice.
It was around 10 when we left town and headed north on BC-1. We reached camp at 11 that night. We were in Hells Gate, right above the Fraser River.
We found a spot at the end of a gravel road. We set up the awning, laid down a tarp, and unpacked our sleeping bags and pads. Once camp was made, we rolled a couple smokes, had a cocktail and kicked our feet up. It had been a long day.
What we didn’t realize at that point was where we had set up camp exactly. It was dark and quiet. We thought it was a great spot. That was until we laid our heads down to rest. The first of many trains that night came roaring by about 1230 in the morning. The ground was shaking, our heads ringing, “WTF” was running through our minds. Every half hour another train passed by, needless to say we didn’t sleep much that first night.

The next morning we got up, broke camp and hit the road around 7. (0700hrs, 267mi)

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We continued to head north along the Fraser River up to Lytton, BC
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Then we cruised by the Thompson River
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The country was awesome. We just kept on motoring along, with the hand throttle pulled out several clicks, driving was a breeze.

We pulled into 100 Mile House to eat and fuel up. (1100hrs, 414mi)
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After a quick bite to eat, we hit the road. Next goal was to get to Prince George, BC.
 
We are now in British Columbia, a first for both of us. We cruised into Hope around 9 that first night. While there we fueled up, had pizza for dinner, then went to the liquor store for a bottle and ice.
It was around 10 when we left town and headed north on BC-1. We reached camp at 11 that night. We were in Hells Gate, right above the Fraser River.
We found a spot at the end of a gravel road. We set up the awning, laid down a tarp, and unpacked our sleeping bags and pads. Once camp was made, we rolled a couple smokes, had a cocktail and kicked our feet up. It had been a long day.
What we didn’t realize at that point was where we had set up camp exactly. It was dark and quiet. We thought it was a great spot. That was until we laid our heads down to rest. The first of many trains that night came roaring by about 1230 in the morning. The ground was shaking, our heads ringing, “WTF” was running through our minds. Every half hour another train passed by, needless to say we didn’t sleep much that first night.

The next morning we got up, broke camp and hit the road around 7. (0700hrs, 267mi)

View attachment 2037809

We continued to head north along the Fraser River up to Lytton, BC
View attachment 2037812

Then we cruised by the Thompson River
View attachment 2037815

The country was awesome. We just kept on motoring along, with the hand throttle pulled out several clicks, driving was a breeze.

We pulled into 100 Mile House to eat and fuel up. (1100hrs, 414mi)
View attachment 2037866

After a quick bite to eat, we hit the road. Next goal was to get to Prince George, BC.

Great road trip! Keep up the posts ..... and stay safe out there!!!!!
 
We got back on BC-97, headed north. Like I said before, just cruising along, several clicks with the hand throttle, doing about 90 Kilos/hour. Working the wipers, that Bosch wiper motor install paid off big time. Got the Bluetooth speaker blasting Garth, Shania and a little T-Swift or whatever happened to come up. I’m kicked back in the passenger seat. Rolling smokes, keeping a close eye on the gauges, just totally enjoying the drive. That’s when we had our first SNAFU.
We had been navigating mostly by GPS. Looking at the screen, my brother notes that we are going to take a detour up ahead. No big deal. So we exit the highway, and start to climb a short/steep hill. Cool, we make it up the grade no problem. Now were on some two lane forest/country road. We keep on keeping on, as we both are looking for a left hand turn to get us back to the BC-97. Well twenty minutes go by and we never see any turns. So I pull out the paper map and take a look. I see a road sign for Horsefly, BC. What the hell, Horsefly is in the complete opposite direction. So, we pull over, take a good look at the map and realize that the GPS had lost service at some point. We were able to find an alternate route back to 97, it was a 40 kilometer road, all gravel, and wet(it was raining), but it was exactly what the cruiser needed. My brother is smashing along with mud flying, wipers working, we see a deer, then a bear. He hits a pothole going about 40mph, that wakes us both up. We even had to stop when the cattle decided to road block us.
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We make it back to BC-97 and continue on. Overall, not really that big of a deal. But this little detour gave the 40 a little more street cred for the rest of our trip.

We stopped in Quesnel, BC.
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@GEMatulich had about another 1.5 hours of stick time before we got to Prince George. We made it to PG without any issue and fueled up there, switched seats and took off for Dawson Creek, BC.

Leaving Prince George, I was behind the wheel. As I climbed a grade, the cruiser had its first hiccup. As I was accelerating, it hesitated. I let off the gas pedal, and then got back on it. The 40 started to accelerate smoothly, then hesitate. It took me a few tries, but I finally got it up the hill. We figured we were experiencing fuel vapor lock. I had read stories on Mud, and it was in the back of my mind when we left town. Well, we kept going in one direction, no way were we turning around and besides, the 40 seemed to be fine now.

About 140 kilos into the drive, we pull into Tudyah Lake Provincial Park. The weather had been raining on and off all day long, and by this time(evening) the sun began to break through the clouds. We cruised through the camp ground, and parked at the boat ramp. Both of us had to relieve ourselves, so we headed for different trees.
Here’s a shot from Tudyah Lake
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As we were getting ready to climb back in and pull out of there, we noticed 6 Canadians walking towards us. At first they were giving us a hard time. Telling us the route we were on was washed out, that we couldn’t make it Alaska, that our ride wasn’t built for the kind of driving we were going to experience. We had a good laugh and the conversation went from there.

One guy in particular started asking me questions more pertinent about our drive. Where are you headed now? What are you going to do when you get there? Where are you staying? That kind of stuff. I told him we were trying to make it to Dawson Creek that night. We planned on rolling into town and finding ourselves a quiet little place to set up camp. We were unsure of where we would stay and where we would fill up.

The guy stops me and starts to fill in the blanks. You guys are about 300kilos from Dawson City. He say’s that he lives just this side of Dawson, and that there aren’t too many places for us to camp once we’re there. He suggest that my brother and I stay at his place. He mentions that he has plenty of land, a fire pit with lots of fire wood. At one point he offers us the keys to his house. I pushed back at first, no sir we can’t put you out like that. He insists, says his son lives there and he lives in the back of the shop. Just pull on in and setup camp where ever you’d like. Ok, so I decide that having a destination is better than just rolling into town. We exchange numbers, he writes down directions and we say goodbye.

Three and a half hours later we pulled into his driveway. It’s a quarter to midnight and the property is dark, a dog is barking at us. I park the cruiser and tell my brother to wait there, I was going to find his son and introduce myself.

I walk around the shop and see a sliding glass door. Inside I can see a television is on, so I nock on the glass door. Moments later this early/mid twenty something year old young man opens the door is his drawers. I tell him that my brother and I are just passing through and that we met his dad at the lake. He stops me and asks if its ok if he throws on some clothes and meets me at the rig. I agreed and went back to where my brother was. The young man comes out a few minutes later, dressed and totally welcoming. We explained our intentions of setting up camp and that we would be out of there first thing the next morning. He isn’t having that, so he goes inside and grabs the key to his camp trailer. He unlocks the trailer and sets up two beds. He had me pull the vehicle over to the camper and lets us in. My brother and I have been on the road, in a Toyota Land Cruiser, since 7am; you can bet we appreciated having two beds to sleep on.

We unpack our duffle bags, sleeping bags and cooler. I hit the sheets, my brother stayed up for a bit, but eventually we were both sound asleep, its now half past midnight.

The next morning, I hear “you guys awake in there? I’m coming in.” I’m thinking to myself, no we’re not awake, its 5:40 in the morning. He opens the door, and in his hands he has two plates. Both plats have a stack of pan cakes, two hard boiled eggs, hash browns, bacon and sausage. He sets the plates down, then he pulls out to cold Miller Lites(No BS). In a tired state of mind, my brother and I thank him. He tells us to take our time, sleep in and leave when we are ready.

We eventually rolled out of bed shortly after 7. I ate what I could, and my brother took his for the road. The two of us get the cruiser loaded and do our pre-flight check list. Engine oil(add a quart), coolant good, belt tension good, windshield washer fluid gets topped off. We warm up the 40 and say goodbye to the young man. I got to say, that was one of the nicest things I have ever experienced. Both the father and his son were extremely hospitable. If I ever have the opportunity to help someone out like that you bet I will.

We got back on the highway and headed for Dawson Creek (0800, 875mi)
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