Respect the 40

[samatulich]

The cruiser made it back to Eagle River and pulled into my brothers(@GEMatulich) driveway around 6 that evening. Together we unload the rig, washed our clothes and cleaned up our gear. It was around 8 o'clock when we found ourselves retelling the story of our drive up to Deadhorse, that the three of us decided to begin replacing the clutch. We pulled the 40 into the garage and got to work.

We called it a night after getting several smaller tasks out of the way. The next morning we spent running around Anchorage getting everything we thought we would need to replace the clutch. We rented a transmission jack, picked up the clutch kit, shop rags, brake clean... This was the first time any of us had replaced a clutch in a land cruiser. I pulled up the FSM on the laptop, had the haynes out and @ToyotaMatt on speed dial. Matt was a huge help, saved my bacon when we unbolted the rear motor mounts thinking we needed to unbolt the bellhousing. We did have the transmission on the jack, so we did not royally mess up by droping the t-case, trans and engine through the firewall. So we bolted the mounts back on and got back on track. The transmission was unbolted and strapped to the trans-jack by 3 that afternoon. By 5 we had it out and away from the cruiser.

The transmission jack that we rented was rated for a couple tons. It was huge and although it supported the cruisers transmission no problem, it was so large that it took us some work to get the jack out from underneath vehicle.
Once we had it on the shop floor, we carried outside and pressure washed both the trans and t-case. I cleaned up the bell housing from years of grime. The rear main seal fell out when my brother went to remove it and the pilot bearing came our on its own in multiple pieces. It was quite impressive to see what condition the bearing was in and how it had likely been that way since before we left Olympia in June.

While working on the clutch job a fellow mudder stopped by and introduced himself. @Lucas in Alaska, got to see first hand this work we had in-store for us. After B.S.ing and pressure washing, we got back to work.

It must have been after 8pm when we started to put things back together. Installed the new rear main seal and pilot bearing. The Flywheel looked good, considering its age and all. So we cleaned it up a bit before re-installing it. It would have been ideal to resurface the flywheel, but we were on a time crunch as we were leaving for moose camp the next morning. Got the pressure plate and clutch oriented and put in place.

It took the three of us a couple tries to get the transmission lined up and slid into place, by 930 that night we had it bolted back onto the engine.

 

[samatulich]

I cannot figure out why its posting pictures multiple times, this is getting ridiculous.

 

[samatulich]

Around 10pm our other brother showed up. By that time we were starting to get the cruiser put back together. Slowly as the night passed and the clock stuck midnight we got everything bolted back on.
A shot of the flywheel.

It was after 2am when this picture was taken. We were all running on fumes, tired and just trying to get this over and done with.

Pushing 3 in the morning was the moment of truth. With everything bolted together and not a single bolt left in the tray I fired the 2F up. Shifted into reverse and let off the clutch. The 40 lurched backwards and under its own power pulled itself out of the garage.

Exhausted to say the least, the cruiser was back on the road.

 

[cruiserboy14]

I love this thread….

 

[White Stripe]

Their is a pretty awesome cruiser shop in Alaska called cruisers only fyi. Nice job on the clutch

 

[codyaustin5]

Very cool write up! Amazing trip with great detail!

 

[Lucas in Alaska]

@samatulich. It was very nice to finally meet you. I hope to run into you again in the future.

I’m also glad I got to stop by and see your progress on the 40 during the clutch change. I was surprised at how simple everything was. It gave me a lot more confidence to work on mine when I find one.

 

[samatulich]

The trip finished with a several days in moose camp. We had a couple broken wheelers, and the hunting was sloooooow. The moose wern’t moving much and we didn’t see anything legal to boot. It was fun having a couple cruisers out in the bush. We covered miles of trail and here and there we got stuck, but got unstuck just the same. I had a chance to use the new ComeUp Winch and ARB Air Lockers. The winch worked out just fine, the air lockers developed a leak at the connection of the plastic line and differential housing. It was an easy fix, just had to wait to get back to town to work on it.

We came across a sub legal bull that was left.

That thing was gross, but we did take the deadhead regardless. At the end of the hunt we crossed paths with the state trooper and ended up turning the head over for evidence. He was aware of the kill, and there was an active investigation.

After the interaction with the officer, we headed back into town. We had a couple days to clean our gear, pack the cruiser and get to the airport.
During my time in Anchorage, I fixed the air locker leak. Turned out that I needed to use on the fittings that I thought was optional. Anyways, I got everything put back together and the system seams to be working fine.
The 40 was in the care of my younger brother for the next few weeks. He was able to take it out and put a few miles on it while he had the chance.
A few weeks ago the cruiser was dropped off with the shipping company Lynden Transport. By rail and by sea the 40 made its way back to the Port of Seattle. I received a call saying my Land Cruiser was ready for pickup earlier this month. Went up there and hooked it up to the tundra. I would recommend to anyone needing to ship a vehicle to or from Alaska to use Lynden. Incredibly easy to work with and very reasonable price.

Sixty miles later and I had my cruiser back in front of my house. In all, the 40 covered over 6,500 miles. Mechanically we had to replace the fuel pump and clutch. Other items replaced, spark plugs, air filter, oil filter, and fuel filter. Installed a rear ARB air locker, ComeUp Winch and brush guard. We were able to wire up a switch and relay to get the auxiliary lights to work. It was fun, had a great time with my brothers and good friend. I got to see some beautiful country and drive along some wild roads and highways. A trip that took years to make happen. Thanks for reading and following along. Respect the 40.