ROTW Rotw

[coiled40gary]

tailgate end (finally)

Then I looked through a JCWhitney catalog and found some weather stripping that looked like it would work. And it had a slip on edge, so I would not have to use weather strip cement to hold it on, which I usually have mixed results from.

I also added a long small strip of steel to cover the seam between. This strip i welded to one side, and put a strip of straight sticky on one side weather strip. I added a straight gate latch to hold it closed, becuase it was simple, I spent a lot of time planning out all these variation on those cam latches, then went simple.

I bought a spring loaded latch to hold the long side closed to the bed, but have not installed that yet, as the tire carrier holds that side closed very well.

I welded some weldon pin hinges to small reactagle plates, drilled one to match the stock hinge mount bolt pattern, and welded the other to the tailgate frame.

You can also see that with a 35" tire on the carrier, I have 4" of clearance for the other door. This 35 sticks 2" past the side of the truck. A 37 will stick out 3" and have 3" of clearance. So I can move the tire over 3" on the carrier, and it should not sticj out, and I can still open one side. Or so t he plan goes.

I think in this shot you can also see where I took some cheap blue plastic tarp, cut and folded to make a slip over cover for the seats, and since I don't sow, I used grommets to hold the folds together that shap the covers. These grommets also make nice air escapes, so the covers slip on and off easily, and roll up and slip under or behind the seat. After all I do live in Portland Oregon, rain is unusual in the summer, but unheard of .

gary

 

[coiled40gary]

rear suspension...

Here are some shots of the rear suspension (plus a few other deveations from stock).

I think the pictures show more than I can explain, so I will just shut up (waiting for the cheers to die down so we can move on).

gary

 

[coiled40gary]

suspension continued...

Integral to this whole suspension is a massive center skid plate. The four rear control arms and the two front control arms connect to the center skid plate. This skid plate prevents access to the gear boxs even for simple things like draining fluids. Sure you can drill hole in the right places for the fluids to drain through, but sometimes, as much as most of really try to avoid it, you have to get at the gear boxes for real work. To remove the skid plate, you have to lift the frame so both axles hang free. Then you have to unhook six control arms from the skid plate, each is cotter keyed, and double nutted, and access to these is blocked by the skid plate. Then the axles have to swing outward to pull the control arms from the skid plate. Then remove ten 1/2" bolts to the frame, and whar-lar.

So, knowing that the arrival of my long awaited Orion box would be one of those times I wanted to make it easier to get at, and pulled the tub to make that work easier. And luck would have it (the good kind for a change), after two years of waiting, the Orion arrived while I still had the tub off (yet another story). Anyhows, I cut a big hole in the center of the skid plate, the entire center actually. Then I cut the remaining skid plate in half, so I could drop the front or the rear control arms (or both) without disconnecting them. Then I added another pair of 1/2" bolts to the frame, so each half is held up by six bolts. Then I gussetted the length across the back between the control arm mounts to try and make that stronger, and I added a length of square tubing between the front control arm mounts to make that end stronger. Then I made a new skid plate that covers what is left of the original skid plate, from 3/16 plate, and is held in with sixteen 3/8" bolts to return the integrety that was lost by cutting the center out of the original. I welded the sixteen nuts in place to make life easier, and welded 1/4 bar stock down the bolt lines with holes in them for the bolts to act a counter-sunk protection for the bolt heads, and stiffeners for the new skid plate (as if that was needed).

Now 1 minute with an air ratchet, or five with a hand ratchet, and I have full access to the gear boxes and anything else up there, and the backs of the control arms. I can now drop the control arms without disconnecting them. These changes not only made installing the Orion possible, but paid off again when one of my control arms broke, and I had to put new ends on all of them.

gary

 

[coiled40gary]

Front suspension...

Here are some shots of the front. The double shot is older, before I had to take it to W for a new front housing with the knuckles rotated 16 (? memory is not what it used to be... or maybe it is, high school in the 70 can be hard on... something) degrees. Anyways, it shows the bent up panhard rod to get around the pumpkin, shows the drag link running at the same angle (or would if the camera were angled right), and shows the two front links. Also shows the angle on the lower front drive shaft u-joint that I had to get rid of. Don't look too awful, but when this suspension starts to droop, the joint would lock. I think that lower u-joint is from an 80 so it would have the right yoke for the diff from an 80, but the top u-joint is one of those from a Toy PU that has greater range than the LC u-joints.

Then there is a shot showing the control arm and spring/shock attachment to the axle housing. That top attachment for the control arm is a caster adjustment, which is a nice thing that they designed in a few degrees of caster adjustment. But of coarse, I'm pushed to max adjustment at 6 degrees. If you look too close, you will see that the bracket is seperated from the housing, which is why it is apart for that picture. The last picture is my repair of that problem. Again, some 7018 because I was able to pre-clean the area pretty well. Had it had to have been a trail fix, I would have used 6011, and whipped it.

Speeking of welding rod, any of you heard of Eutectic? I started using Eutectic 680, and really like it. And the specs are pretty impressive. Got it from my father-in-law, it is all they use for maintenance in the copper mines anymore.

gary

 

[Adventure Teq]

That is freakin bad ass man. You've done a lot of nice work. The tailgate kicks, the plate underneath kicks, pretty much the whole thing kicks ass.

 

[74fj40]

very cool, lots of flex

 

[Boberino]

That control arm set up with the skid plate is pretty cool.
Did you have interference problems when you were building it?

 

[Ullr]

Great rig! I really like your tailgate design, do you find it works well with just the one hinge per side?

 

[coiled40gary]

Dude that is sick!!!!!

Same cruiser for 25 years, that is just awesome.

Ya I'd be interested in the rack. Got any closer pics of it, mounting etc...?

Tell us the "long story" about the XCL, and show us some pics of the door build.

HawkDriver,
I intend to own this truck for the rest of my life, they are built to last. A standing joke amoung my friends is that they feel sorry for the grave digger when I die, because he will have to dig one very big hole. I tell them they will know my time is near when I put in the satin, diamond tuck head liner. Other then the wearing out of hydraulic cylendars and the like, the only Toyota designed part I've broken was a birfield shortly after getting it. Any other problems I've had over the years have been self induced. Before it, I owned a brand new CJ7 Renegade with every "heavy duty" option, and rear limit slip. On that rig, something broke every time I took it out, nad it lasted 11 months, the LC replaced it.
My thoughts of owning it for ever were shaken when it was stolen from the parking lot of a Cascade Cruiser club meeting. I went looking for it, and found it in the parking lot of an apartment complex, half stripped.

If you are really interested in the rack, pm me.

Well I'll pass on typing the long story, but I hope I provided enough to answer questions without boring too many.

gary

 

[coiled40gary]

That control arm set up with the skid plate is pretty cool.
Did you have interference problems when you were building it?

Boberino,

Not sure what you mean by interferance problems, the original suspension was pretty much completely removed. This started as a kit from Warn, so it was designed to "fit", though that was a relative term. I also had to fill out a work sheet with measurements and weights as part of the suspension order. The one who built mine up was one of the people involved in the original prototype testing, as Warn in local here. And because of delivery timing issues and other things, mine wound up being built up with some of the prototype parts. Not wanting to get into the "long story", I will just say that even though Warn only sold through their own approved installers, and did not allow someone like me to buy a kit myself; Warn had enough issues with the installations that they terminated production after the first run of 12. They had good success with the Jeep kit, but the LC kit took a lot more engineering to install properly.

Did I sufficiently avoid your question?

gary

 

[coiled40gary]

Great rig! I really like your tailgate design, do you find it works well with just the one hinge per side?

IanB,

Yes, the single hinge approach works well for me. The hinge is rated for up to 400 pounds each, so they are strong enough, though pressing all your body weight out on the end of the door should probably be avoided as there is a bit of leverage there; the finge would not be the issue, but the bolting to the body would. If you were going to hang weight on the doors, I would use two hinges, but for just the doors, this is fine. The single hinge allowed me to not drill any new holes in the body, and avoided the issues of aligning the hinges to each other, which is more difficult when they are welded on.

gary

 

[coiled40gary]

Hello all,

I would like to thank everyone for the kind words. All I hear around here is "Working on the truck again?!", "Your still working on that?!", "What are you fixing now?". My neighbor across the street, who owns a Lexus, the LC one, actually came over and said he sees me working on the truck a lot, and he wanted to know if he should get rid of the Lexus before he started having problems. And asked me if he should get a Cherokee instead.

Anyways, it is nice to know that someone out there appreciates what I've done. Here's hoping to meet you guys on the trail some day .

So thanks,
gary

 

[Adventure Teq]

My neighbor across the street, who owns a Lexus, the LC one, actually came over and said he sees me working on the truck a lot, and he wanted to know if he should get rid of the Lexus before he started having problems. And asked me if he should get a Cherokee instead.

Kind of funny, what'd ya tell him?

Anyways, it is nice to know that someone out there appreciates what I've done. Here's hoping to meet you guys on the trail some day .

So thanks,
gary

I already plan on stealing your 70/30 tailgate idea when I build my expanded metal gate. And I don't think I'll ever forget that guy who owned his cruiser for 25 years. So yeah, you could say your efforts are appreciated. See ya out there

 

[camcruiser13]

that tail gate is pretty sweet i need to get me a different one.

 

[Adventure Teq]

Gary?


You still out there????


Come back Gary...

 

[coiled40gary]

Gary?


You still out there????


Come back Gary...

Yes...

gary

 

[coiled40gary]

Hello all, just joined the list again. Not sure where to make my reintroduction, but I found this old thread, and thought it would be efficient, and hopefully not too in appropriate. Sorry for the non-technical content, but it seemed the best thread to tack onto if anyone remembered me.
Thank you Brain for sending the password reset link to my new email allowing me to keep my old username.

I got hung up with a job that had a 120 mile a day commute, 12-18 hour work days, and a good bit of travel for a month at a time. Living on 4 hours of sleep a day cost me all of my hobbies, and a good bit of my health, so after 16 years of that, I retired and trying to recoup my life. The job was extremely challenging and rewarding, doing all the software, UI and controls, for new custom machines that assemble or test a variety of things that had not been done before. I managed to get my name on two patents for developing the controls and calibration process to simulate a heartbeat for functionally testing replacement heart valves on one of the projects (how far can you push a high school degree anyway).

The LC has been parked and deteriorating this whole time, it still has 16 year old gas in the tank :-(.
With all the new things I had to figure out the last 16 years, the brain dumped what I thought I knew about LCs.
So, I signed up here to try to regain some knowledge, and learn all the new stuff, what better place to learn all things LC .
I will be taking the tub off again, and start with redoing all the wiring. I have to fix the two burned out locker motors and rebuild the Orion, it started slipping out of gear on the down hills in 2H before I parked it. I will also be looking for some hub centering wheel spacers, I believe all my tire hop problems with the USA6x6 wheels are due to not centering when mounted, as other wheels do not have the problem. Are there any good kits for rebuilding the Orion box?
I have a lot of catching up to do...

Thank you all for your patience,
gary

 

[EWheeler]

Hello all, just joined the list again. Not sure where to make my reintroduction, but I found this old thread, and thought it would be efficient, and hopefully not too in appropriate. Sorry for the non-technical content, but it seemed the best thread to tack onto if anyone remembered me.
Thank you Brain for sending the password reset link to my new email allowing me to keep my old username.

I got hung up with a job that had a 120 mile a day commute, 12-18 hour work days, and a good bit of travel for a month at a time. Living on 4 hours of sleep a day cost me all of my hobbies, and a good bit of my health, so after 16 years of that, I retired and trying to recoup my life. The job was extremely challenging and rewarding, doing all the software, UI and controls, for new custom machines that assemble or test a variety of things that had not been done before. I managed to get my name on two patents for developing the controls and calibration process to simulate a heartbeat for functionally testing replacement heart valves on one of the projects (how far can you push a high school degree anyway).

The LC has been parked and deteriorating this whole time, it still has 16 year old gas in the tank :-(.
With all the new things I had to figure out the last 16 years, the brain dumped what I thought I knew about LCs.
So, I signed up here to try to regain some knowledge, and learn all the new stuff, what better place to learn all things LC .
I will be taking the tub off again, and start with redoing all the wiring. I have to fix the two burned out locker motors and rebuild the Orion, it started slipping out of gear on the down hills in 2H before I parked it. I will also be looking for some hub centering wheel spacers, I believe all my tire hop problems with the USA6x6 wheels are due to not centering when mounted, as other wheels do not have the problem. Are there any good kits for rebuilding the Orion box?
I have a lot of catching up to do...

Thank you all for your patience,
gary

I have to say, one of the best thread from the dead resurrections I've seen with the actual OP resurfacing almost 20 years later. Welcome back, and I hope you can start enjoying your toys and free time again. Look forward to seeing more!

 

[pbgbottle]

Nice thread bump loved the ROTW. threads. I just fired up my old 28ft sea ray it had been sitting for 21 years in our barn
200 litres of old fuel. Small block 350. It fired right up and ran beautifully. I couldn’t believe it no witerizarion ever done. I was just amazed the motor wasn’t seized. Cool welcome back. I myslef don’t post much anymore. My truck has sat in my garage the past “7-8 years and only gets driven once a year if I’m lucky. Dang.

 

[Rock_Hugger]

Welcome back, looking forward to seeing the rebuild progress.