The (2nd to) Last Hurrah... a 2007 HZJ105 - 'Missus White'

[John Young]

The sound environment inside the truck is completely changed. And the doors close with a very satisfying 'thunk'. Close to but not quite equal to a g-wagon.


The attention to detail on the sound insulation has been pretty amazing.

The interior is starting to go back in.

There was a hole in the passenger seat that has been dealt with to a point where I am happy. And the vinyl on the side of the drivers seat that had failed has been replaced.

And I got an ornament for the hood which I have taken to the powder coater to be made semi-gloss black

It is really coming together!

 

[John Young]

I have to share some of the progress stage photos of the interior items.

This is the center console AFTER a professional cleaning I had of the truck when I first got it. (Cleaning was done with all the parts in place just to get most of the dust and grime out from the reachable surfaces).

Pretty disgusting, right?

 

[John Young]

Ta-Da!

We are going to put some fabric or leather inserts into the two storage areas. But what a difference!

BTW, I changed the title of this thread just now because about a month from now, right after this truck goes in the shipping container, I should be taking delivery of . . . another 105! This one is blue from 2003, likely another ex government truck, and I am hopeful will end up being a pretty low mileage truck, just like this one. It will be my daily driver for as long as I am in Dubai.

 

[John Young]

I had supplied the guys with an OEM Aisin winch with brackets out of either an 80 or a 70. At this point I am not sure which. We are getting down to the wires on shipping to Canada and I got a message saying that the winch was not working. I decided to make one last expensive purchase for the truck, an winch pulled off of a new 70 series pickup that got stripped down to be turned into a light armoured vehicle. I -suspect- that the reason they come with winches is that Toyota may only sell new LC pickups with the heavier duty front suspension if you get the winch. Hence the availably of brand new Aisin winches.

You sometimes see them advertised in the classifieds.

F"or sale 2022 Land Cruiser 79 series OEM winch + OEM winch remote + OEM winch cover Never been used asking 4200 negotiable للبيع ونش شاص ٢٠٢٢ اصلي مع الريموت والغطا جديد مش مستعمل مطلوب ٤٢٠٠ وقابل للتفاوض"

I wrote my friend up on Sharjah and he and his team set me up with a very nice clean one with all the wiring and control wand.

That's my 80 there on the left.

I got an emergency kit for a 200 to throw in the back of the 105 along with a new jack.

Here is the winch in the back of the Holy Truck

 

[John Young]

This same salvage yard had leaf and coil spring pulls from new trucks

Does anyone happen to know if these springs can be used in a mid 90's troopy or LC pickup? My troopy drives like a lumber truck

And there was a used Dobinsons set of springs on the pallet

And mixed in were a couple of sets of Chinese bead lock rims

 

[John Young]

Oh and here is a nice new bottle jack for the 105

And the 200 series emergency kit

I wandered around and looked at a lot of stuff

I also got some 79 series carpet sets. They work pretty well in an 80 and more importantly they are so much better than what I had.

That rubber matunder it is actually another 70 series floor mat.

You can tell this is my daily driver right now.

 

[Andrew S]

John, any idea of the part number for that emergency kit? I don't have much chance of finding one locally as you did, but I'd like to look into ordering one via Partsouq or Impex.

Quite the score of parts you're able to round up, nicely done!

Andrew

 

[John Young]

John, any idea of the part number for that emergency kit? I don't have much chance of finding one locally as you did, but I'd like to look into ordering one via Partsouq or Impex.

Quite the score of parts you're able to round up, nicely done!

Andrew

Hi Andrew,
I pulled it out of the back of the truck to take a closer look:

It appears to me that this is not official Toyota Corporation kit. I'd hazard that these were commissioned by the local exclusive Toyota distributor, Al Futtaim Motors to meet local car registration requirements. You have to have a reflective triangle to pass registration inspection here. Al Futtaim sells Land Cruisers as a high-end vehicle for the most part and probably decided it was unseemly that a new owner of an expensive car would have to go out and buy something just to register the car.

I've bought several of these. I don't think they are anything particularly special, but they are kind of fun and 'Middle East-y'. Given the fire extinguisher they cannot come with me by air so I will put this in the back of the 105 before it goes in the container.

 

[Andrew S]

Thank you for the details, John. I have everything included in that kit onboard already, so I'll keep looking for other kits.

I agree, your kit is a great addition for your vehicles given their pedigrees.

Andrew

 

[OEMGUY0720]

Hey John, curious to know what the weight (in Lbs) capacity of the OEM winch? And are you also getting a front OEM bumper with the winch provision opening and cover? Thanks.

 

[John Young]

Hey John, curious to know what the weight (in Lbs) capacity of the OEM winch? And are you also getting a front OEM bumper with the winch provision opening and cover? Thanks.

I don't know, sadly. I do know I can JUST barely lift it alone, but it really takes two guys to do it and move it anywhere. I'd guess well over 50kg / 120 lbs. The reason I keep buying these is that they are truly heavy duty. A lot of the pulls go to flatbed trucks that use them day in and day out to haul stranded cars up onto the flatbed.

 

[John Young]

So today was fun! I posted earlier about the winch challenge. It turned out that the old winch I had was bad. Rather than try to fix it, because time is short, I went up and got a brand new OEM Aisin winch from a salvage yard and a couple of days ago I dropped a brand new OEM winch from a 70 series at a really great place. The boss called me last night to say that they could modify the old winch plate and brackets from the non-function winch and make a very strong mount in the right position for the holes in the new OEM bumper that came with all the necessary openings. This morning I was invited to come and take a look at their mockup:

Their 'mockup' was better than a lot of the finished work I have seen lately!

Here it is on the 105 fitting like a glove:

For their finished work they are going to laser cut and bend plate to replace the pieced together ends you see here. I could not be happier about what I am seeing. I was quite worried about it.

I have asked them to make two sets of what they are laser cutting so that we can do exactly the same implementation on the new truck which should come in a few weeks. I had searched high and low for an OEM 105 winch mount and this will be as good or better than the factory part, I think.

 

[D21FJ60]

View attachment 3332568

ooooooooo

 

[John Young]

We are getting close and racing the clock to meet a shipping date.

Just made the decision to keep the sideboards in aluminum but spruced up just a bit.

I asked friends and family and the consensus of Western friends and family was keep it aluminum. The consensus of my Arab friends was to black out with raptor. Interesting difference in taste.

And meanwhile I am making preparations to receive the new blue 105. I borrowed some rims and tires to put it on temporarily.

I don't have AC in the pickup at the moment. Just have not gotten around to it. And it is starting to get pretty warm in Dubai....

 

[John Young]

Today was a very big day. I finally was able to take a good look at the 105 just as we were readying to ship. More of a race to complete than anything.

I had not changed the oil in about 5000km, and it was going to be the first oil change since the car had been returned to service after languishing nobody knows how long in a government storage yard. So I first saw the completed 105 in the fancy washing and oil change place next to Mall of the Emirates (you know, the crazy mall with the full-sized ski slope in it).

 

[John Young]

Fancy!

 

[John Young]

All Mr. Toyoda fluids in crhankcase, diffs, tranny and transfer box

 

[John Young]

The derusting and undercoating was spectacular!

 

[John Young]

Clean enough for you?

I always tell every garage I work with that I want things as clean as they can be made because likely I will be the next guy under there working on it. SebSports has really taken this to heart.

 

[John Young]

I love this! Especially when I think about Canadian and Alaska travel.

This is the pile of parts left over; some of which I overbought, some of which were errors on my part.

So after driving the 105 back to the SebSports I collected the license plates and went to the Road and Transports Authority to turn them in and exchange them for an export certificate. The registration on the truck had expired and this then required an 'export test'. Even though you are not supposed to do it I snapped a photo:

There was no Plan B if it did not pass the test...

The truck did pass and after paying a traffic fine I did not know about for failing to signal a lane change when using another truck, and a modest export fee, I had the export certificate!

Hurray!

And the back to SebSports for some final fettling

Here is one last photo of the inside:

There is just something that makes me so happy about this photo. Mr. Toyoda provided a special place just for the factory winch controller. The Toyota engineers were really thoughtful about what they were building into their work trucks, which is what this is, at bottom. And I am so glad to have a place to put the winch controller bag where it won't get lost.