The geriatric 80. “Rustfree”

[40LandCruising]

What's the pro tip on removing the bracket piece thingy on the bottom of the doors when removing the flares?

Just drill out the rivets, just be careful to not go through the metal on the other side. It’s pretty easy, 5min job.

 

[40LandCruising]

Well apparently I’m a lot worse at updating this than I thought. But I’ll catch y’all up.

So after bolting on the 33s, It seemed fitting that I had to test them out, of course this resulted in me getting High centered within 10 feet of the trail head but otherwise a great shakeout. And a muddy time

 

[40LandCruising]

The next order of business was of course to test the flex. So I found a loading dock behind my favorite Waffle House and made the most of it.

 

[40LandCruising]

So I was picking up the old 1F block out of my 40 and as I was backing the 80 up, I started hearing this awful noise. Upon investigation we discovered my top caliper bolt on the DS front had completely removed itself. You can see where the caliper dragged along my rim. I was waiting on the correct bolt from Toyota so I had to do a temporary fix.

 

[BILT4ME]

Your bumper / recovery point bolts will work as a replacement for those caliper bolts in the field.

Also, you may want to seriously consider changing your brake hoses sooner than later. The exterior of the hose in that pic is already delaminating.

 

[40LandCruising]

After fixing the caliper, I took the 80 down to Uwharrie to really test it out. I was super impressed with the capabilities of the truck and it was a great trip except for slicing a brand new tire.

Your bumper / recovery point bolts will work as a replacement for those caliper bolts in the field.

Also, you may want to seriously consider changing your brake hoses sooner than later. The exterior of the hose in that pic is already delaminating.

Thanks for that bolt info! I have a spare now I keep in the console but if I loose it I’m happy to know about the other options. And I have replaced those hoses as of now.

 

[40LandCruising]

More pics from the first Uwharrie Run:

 

[40LandCruising]

And now the upgrades really start! I purchased a new to me Iron Pig Offroad, Dual swingout rear bumper from @concretejungle and got that installed! With some help from my dad and my friend it went on without too much trouble. The bottom is slightly dented from coming down on rocks so it took a little bit of fighting to get onto the crossmember but all in all we got it on. As of this post I still haven’t gotten it leveled properly, not exactly a priority but definitely needs to be done.

*Fun Fact* This was the first Iron Pig DUAL swing out FJ80 bumper ever made.

 

[40LandCruising]

And now came the Lift! They are 850J with a 30mm spacer front and 863s in the rear. And OME Nitrocharger shocks all the way around. Got the Lift used off of @NCTrey133 when he upgraded to A Dobinson lift. Getting those J shocks in the front was quite the truck and even disconnecting everything we ended up having to use a spring compressor to get them in. The rears were way easier and went in quickly.

Also installed a dobinsons sway bar drop in the front.

 

[40LandCruising]

With the 40 being rebuilt in the garage, I figured the 35s shouldn’t go to waste so I made good use of them!

 

[40LandCruising]

And time to test out the 35s! I got it all together just in time for ONSC Carolina Relic Run and man did it do great. I went places triple locked 80s spun in and I have to credit the wide super knobby tires. It was slick as snake snot from all the rain and it was tricky. The only issue I had was the 35s stuffed into my fender and chunked, on the drivers side actually tore the fender a little bit, just some minor trail carnage.

 

[40LandCruising]

With some upgrades done, maintenance was in order. I knew I needed to do a knuckle rebuild an brakes since I bought to 80. But on the way home from Reloc Run it got bad. I was having trouble keeping in a lane the whole way home and over the next few days it only went down hill. The brakes started grabbing and would slingshot me across the road, and when I stopped it dove heavily passenger. Because of this I dove straight into my knuckle rebuild. Turns out the issues were because my passenger side outer wheel bearing literally exploded. I mean completely dead, chicklets all inside the hub.

This also cause friction and heat on my birfield, killing it.

 

[40LandCruising]

I also discovered the passenger side hub had been disassembled before and reassembled improperly. The axle nuts had been installed with a chisel, the Star washer wasn’t being used, and 3 of the 6 cone washers on the hub were missing.

After removing the axle nuts, I realized my spindle had been killed by a combination of the birfield rubbing and the threads being wiped off by seized nuts being removed.

 

[40LandCruising]

The condition of the passenger side greas was surprisingly still greasy, this seal was the one good thing about this side of the axle.

The drivers side though was the complete opposite. It was easy to dissemble and u molested, but you could say the seal had gone, there wasn’t any grease left.

 

[40LandCruising]

Knuckle rebuild tip, if you have to replace parts like I did, and we used parts like I did, watch the drive flanges. I learned that different years had different thickness drive flanges and if you use the wrong flange this will happen.

 

[concretejungle]

darn, that stinks. Hey, best way to learn though is by fire they say.

 

[40LandCruising]

darn, that stinks. Hey, best way to learn though is by fire they say.

Yeah, I made sure the new wheel bearings were super grease packed and luckIly I had the correct flanges.

 

[40LandCruising]

Well when I did the knuckle rebuild, I also went ahead and did a full front brake job because it was dearly needed, and this is where problems arose. I put NAPA rotors, calipers, pads, and soft lines on the front. I then bled and bled and bled and couldn’t get any brakes. I tried bleeding the LSPV repeatedly and tried bleeding the master. After a few days without luck I was beat and dropped it off at the shop. After not touching it for 2.5 weeks, they finally got on it. They decided the master was bad and replaced it. This helped a little but still not great. It made it so the 80 would stop but not that well. The rig had also mysteriously started running horridly when I drove it to the shop so I asked them to address that as well. They replaced the plug wires which helped but still not great. After researching on mud I unplugged the O2 sensors. It now runs perfect, and while the CEL is on for the sensors I couldn’t care less. It also helped the brakes because there is more vacuum. However, the brakes still leave a lot to be desired.

 

[40LandCruising]

So I have done some major upgrades to the 80 since my knuckle rebuild. This is all in the past now but how about that 4X6Labs bumper!

 

[40LandCruising]

This was back in June but the first time I really stretched the 80s legs on its 35s. It kicked butt except for the awful fender rub from having to run wheel spacers. Also the smashed fender is from a telephone pole jumping out at me leaving the racetrack one night.