September POTM - Cruiser Guy, Guatemala

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While working on the '45LV today I came across the other PTO driveshaft that I knew I had. I didn't think that Kief shorted me that badly :) Guess what was on it?? An original '55 PTO bearing mount!! Naturally, the first thing I did was remove my custom made mount (even though it works just fine it's not OEM) and installed the OEM mount.

Here's some photos of the mount alone as well as the mount with the shaft in it and the extra '55 shaft with my mount that I created for a '55.

Now I have a '55 shaft with my old custom made mount available. What I'd like to do is swap it with someone who has a shaft for the '45LV. What I have available is the '55 shaft c/w bearing/stub shaft for a 3 speed tranny without the end joints as well as a '40 series stub shaft/bearing. What I want is a '40 series shaft with the bearing/stub shaft and the winch head joint where the shear pin goes into. I'll be posting this in the "For Sale section too. The shaft is easily lengthened if you need it for a 4 speed or another engine.
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I was installing the door handle weatherstrip pads and decided to find out why the passenger door lock button doesn't stay up when you lift it up. I found that a small spring is missing from the passenger door latch. I also lost the stupid window crank retainer spring.

There is a picture of the drivers side latch with an arrow to the spring as well as a picture of the passenger side without the spring.

Does anyone have a spare of either of these springs?
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Most likely have both. Will look tomorrow after work. Pheww...almost wish you hadn't brought this thread up again. It's like several others...it leaves me choked up at the skills levels.
 
Eric Ellis said:
Most likely have both. Will look tomorrow after work.
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That would be great if you had those. If you do I can pick them up when I see you in June.

cruiserbrett said:
Hi,
I was wondering how you like the 3B turbo in the FJ55? I am thinking about sourcing a 3b or maybe even a 13b-t for the FJ55 with the way gas prices are in the states these days. Diesel is more expensive than premium right now, so some of the economy factor is out the window, but in terms of drivability how do you like the small diesel in the Fj55?

What kind of mileage do you get?

Does it pull well in 4th gear? I am thinking of an H55F, but want to make sure the 5th gear is worth the cost, at least on the flat freeways?

How is it on hills? i am used to a tired F motor, so slow(45-50mph) on hills is not an issue, just dont want to be doing 20mph in 2nd on steeper freeway grades...

One last question, do you think an intercooler is worth the effort? I think with a little work, maybe moving the rad back a few inches, it might be pretty easy to accomplish.

Thanks for your time! BTW I love your FJ55. I have a 72, but it will be similar to yours, in the fact it will have OEM A/C, PTO winch, 3b(or 13b-t), and nebula green. Hope you dont mind!

-Brett
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Brett, actually, I think the FJ55 performs much better than the BJ60 with the 3B and the turbo. Some of that is no doubt due to the fact that the 3B in the '55 is a fresh rebuild while the BJ60 has over 300,000 miles (510,000kms). I assume that you're reasonably familiar with Interstate 5. I was able to pull most hills there in 4th at 50 mph on the way down here to Guatemala (stock tire 275/75/15, 3.7 gears and fully loaded). I had to keep my eye on the boost and pyro gauges because the truck had more to give but I did not want to blow the engine! I think the H41 is a better match than the H42 was and that would mean that the H55 is probably a good match too.

Fuel mileage is probably in the 25mpg range (lower if you are pushing it and higher if granny is driving) depending on how hard you push it and how fast you go (I haven't actually measured it but it is similar to the BJ60). The 3B likes lower rpms better for economy.

It could easily take an H55 with the 5th gear with the pull it has.

As for the intercooler, I'm toying with that idea as well I just haven't moved ahead much on it yet. Maybe I'll crawl through some wreckers this summer when I'm in Canada or the states and see what I find. There is plenty of room to move the radiator back to accomodate an intercooler as there are only 4 cylinders there!
 
The Pig is looking great Charles!
I'm also considering transplanting the 3B and 5 speed out of my 60 into the 55.Just need that shop space.:DNothing like a 55 with diesel power and the fuel economy to boot.
Keep up the good work.
See you in a couple of months.
 
The FJ55 is officially "Chapin", that is it is now Guatemalan! We got Guatemalan title and tags a couple of weeks ago. Today I took the '55 to it's first auto show, a show to raise funds for an old folks home here in Guatemala. Here's a few poser pics. A couple with a Toyota Stout and one with some old Jeeps and Willy's in the background.
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I didn't like the holes in the bumper and the ghetto licence plate mounting (two holes torched in the bumper), so I did something about it.

This past week we took off the bumper and welded up all the PO added holes. I sandblasted and painted an OEM licence plate holder and then cleaned up and painted the bumper. Here's a picture that I took tonight after getting the bumper and everything back on. We'll be looking totally OEM soon! I'll have some daytime pictures later.
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Are those the same type of holders that I see on some 40's like mine...sort of a T stand? Or are they different?
 
Eric, the exact same holder as what the '40's came with. This is one I got off Kief's '55 carcass in Oregon. It just needed a bit of sandblasting and a few minutes with a hammer and vise and it's like new!

Here's a daytime picture.
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oldfj40 said:
Your piggy is looking better and better in every picture.Keep up the great work.

:cheers:
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Steve, missed you at "Cruiser Days". What happened?

Now that we're back down south I can start putting on some of the bits and pieces I picked up on the trip. Watch for updates in the next few weeks.
 
cruiser_guy said:
Steve, missed you at "Cruiser Days". What happened?
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I recently made a move to the interior.Lots of room to work on the cruisers now.Unfortunately,I was about a week late getting my latest Pig ready to bring down.Next year there may be a couple of 55's at 'Cruiser Days'.
Looking forward to updates on your 55 here.

:cheers:
 
cruiser_guy said:
I was installing the door handle weatherstrip pads and decided to find out why the passenger door lock button doesn't stay up when you lift it up. I found that a small spring is missing from the passenger door latch. I also lost the stupid window crank retainer spring.

There is a picture of the drivers side latch with an arrow to the spring as well as a picture of the passenger side without the spring.

Does anyone have a spare of either of these springs?
Click to expand...

Thanks Eric.

I now have a passenger door lock button that stays up or down as necessary and the crank handle is also firmly attached once again.


Thanks to Kief I now have the OEM rear passenger area floor mat and I've put that in as well so the silver "Second Skin" sound deadening material is not so obvious. It should also help a little more on the sound as it is a little more mass there to help kill off sound.

I still have the cargo panels to go in and the steering box that will be rebuilt to help tighten up the steering. I picked up a new set of tie rod ends and the drag link at SOR and I found a steering damper from another mudder. The center arm was done last year. The steering damper will go in last so I can be sure I've got it all taken care of.

Still looking for a set of good drivers and passenger door interior trim panels without speaker holes. Even if the wood backing is bad I'll still take them.

Any ideas on pulling the arm off the steering box? I've tried whacking it with a "pickle fork", soaking it with WD40, heat and so far I am unsuccessful. My next thing to try is a press but I don't want to break anything. This extra arm will go to help another piggy owner who is searching for the arm for his piggy (we have to keep the piggy karma going).
 
I finally got the steering box rebuilt (I ended up using parts from both a spare I got stateside as well as my box), pulling the pitman arm can be a real pain even with a picklefork. I found both the steering box on my truck as well as the spare had no oil left in them! I'm pretty good on checking the oil but the steering box....

Piggy owners with "armstrong" steering may want to check the steering box oil level!

Anyways, I took up some slack in the box, I swapped out the drag link with a new one and I changed out the two "U" joints in the intermidiate shaft as they had a little play as well. How critical is the slip yoke on the intermediate shaft? I cannot separate them so consequently there is no play either!!

It seems a fair bit tighter already. I'll take it in for a wheel alignment and have them swap out the relay rod ends and tie rod ends (all the dust boots are dry rotted and blown anyways) as well and then we'll see how it is. At that point I'll put on the new damper.

Here's a few pics of the day's work.
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cruiser_guy said:
How critical is the slip yoke on the intermediate shaft? I cannot separate them so consequently there is no play either!!
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Based on the advise of others I beat apart the intermediate shaft and it now slides and still has no play!! Tomorrow, TRE's!!
 
Now steering is all basically new from the "U" joints on the intermediate shaft all the way to the TRE's and steering stabilizer.

Next on the list is the install of the 40 gallon tank and the water separator at the frame rail. Maybe this weekend.
 
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