The Honey Badger (Story/Build of my FJ62)

[Kleatus]

So this followed me home. There was haggling, a compression test at the point of sale, and we left with the LandCruiser and a refridgerator. Craigslist sometimes works like that.

Old ARB and cupped out dry rotted Super Swampers.

It was in the single digits that day, and the heat didn't work. It went maybe 60 mph tops on the way back to Omaha.

It ran like crap and had a lot of miles... and no compression on one cylinder, and numbers were not impressive on the others. It also shook bad. Real bad. But, it wasn't a total rust bucket. There was surface rust on the back half of the frame, but a good bit of the factory paint was still there. Win.

Hmm....whats that green stuff on top of the head and this grey stuff in the intake runners..?

Oh yum, this one has black stuff too!!

This needs to come off...

 

[Kleatus]

Ooof... this valve is done!

So are the rest of the exhaust valves...

The cylinder survived unscathed somehow.

Yum!

 

[Gundo]

Guessing it’s not high performance lubricant. Uggh.

 

[Kleatus]

Well this head is done.. multiple cracks...

3/8" from the bumpstops. I guess that explained the harsh ride...

 

[Kleatus]

A replacement head was procured from a mud member, hot tanked and checked for cracks, machined down 0.035", and installed after new exhaust valves, new stem seals, and a valve job.

Yes, thats a Fram filter. They're the cheapest you can get. I scrubbed the engine down with diesel fuel inside the side cover and in everywhere I could get to and let it run out the drain plug. Lots of nastyness came out. Lots. I planned to change the oil and filter right after starting it, and again on rapid but diminishing intervals thereafter to make sure I didn't have anything floating around.

Ahhh, thats better. Results were very consistent across all cylinders, and once agian it was running on all 6! (After who knows how long..?)

 

[Gundo]

Are these blocks tough or what? That’s simply amazing.

 

[Kleatus]

Are these blocks tough or what? That’s simply amazing.

My assumption is that somebody got it hot. Real hot. The block took some pain too, there are 2 cracks in the water jacket as well. They weep just a tad, a little more when you're pushing 240-250F temps.

 

[Gundo]

My assumption is that somebody got it hot. Real hot. The block took some pain too, there are 2 cracks in the water jacket as well. They weep just a tad, a little more when you're pushing 240-250F temps.

Must have almost melted down to be that hot.

 

[Kleatus]

After it was running and driving, I turned to other areas. Much of the vibration was traced to the rear driveshaft being assembled out of phase. The front was as well. The heater not working turned put to be from the replacement motor being wired backwards. If there was something to be screwed up or backwards, it was on this truck.

The suspension needed help in a bad way. The answer came when I took my intern from work on a junkyard trip to find something or other for his Jeep that I was helping him with. 10 feet past the gate was a Kia Rio. One of its rear springs laid beside it, the other came out by hand. For $10 I took them home. I trimmed them a bit and heated the bottom end to remove some temper, and welded the tail of the coil to the U bolt pad on the axle. The top end and the isolator fit perfectly around the bump stop.

I gained about 1 1/2" in the front and it rode 1000x better.

In the rear I made up some brackets to mount airbags.

The saggin' wagon had some relief.

 

[Kleatus]

You can accomplish quite a bit on a budget if you're careful. The brakes were glazed and needed some help too.

 

[NookShneer]

After it was running and driving, I turned to other areas. Much of the vibration was traced to the rear driveshaft being assembled out of phase. The front was as well. The heater not working turned put to be from the replacement motor being wired backwards. If there was something to be screwed up or backwards, it was on this truck.

The suspension needed help in a bad way. The answer came when I took my intern from work on a junkyard trip to find something or other for his Jeep that I was helping him with. 10 feet past the gate was a Kia Rio. One of its rear springs laid beside it, the other came out by hand. For $10 I took them home. I trimmed them a bit and heated the bottom end to remove some temper, and welded the tail of the coil to the U bolt pad on the axle. The top end and the isolator fit perfectly around the bump stop. View attachment 2570456

I gained about 1 1/2" in the front and it rode 1000x better.

In the rear I made up some brackets to mount airbags.

The saggin' wagon had some relief.

When I met you we took a ride in each other’s trucks. Talking about suspension I mentioned this treatment. You said that was on you rig and I laughed for 20-30 seconds. It’s genius.

 

[Kleatus]

When I met you we took a ride in each other’s trucks. Talking about suspension I mentioned this treatment. You said that was on you rig and I laughed for 20-30 seconds. It’s genius.

You can't laugh too much. It was on there for probably 20k miles.

Spoiler alert - the above is taking place some 6 years ago. @NookShneer has been asking why I never had a build thread... more catching up to come.

 

[Kleatus]

After it was starting to take the form of a trustworthy vehicle (with many other minor repairs and refurbishments not mentioned) I wanted to protect it a bit better.

I started cleaning. Scraping. Brushing. Washing. I found a lot of good original frame paint under the grime. I took out all the bolts I could see and cleaned and anti-siezed them. (Thats the yellow paint marks).

 

[Kleatus]

While under there cleaning, I saw an out of place shape on the bottom of the muffler at a seam. Poking out of a rust hole in the muffler was the missing piece of exhaust valve!!

The state of my catylitic converters was no longer in question.

 

[Kleatus]

After all the cleaning, I got to work with a wire wheel, wire brush, sandpaper, etc. and removed all the scale and gunk that I could and scuffed all the good paint.

I got some Chassis Saver and coated everything in the silver, then the black gloss.

It was a muggy day in Nebraska, and cure time was short. Best to apply this stuff on a warm dry day, if your climate allows..

At this point I was driving the cruiser a bunch more, and enjoying the heck out of it.

I'd thrown some 16x6 wagon wheels on it with 235/85R16 all seasons. Great size that worked well.

 

[Kleatus]

The first "big trip" after getting it on the road was going down to St. Joseph MO to pick up this beagle/husky pup. Some of you may recognize a much larger version of him (@gt7058a your chip eating dog buddy). He is of course named Cruiser. My first beagle/husky was Clutch, years before. It was a friend in college who adored him so much she was always looking for another one for their family, and let me know there was a litter available.

 

[Kleatus]

Moved from Nebraska to the Hudson Valley in NY and went all over the NE in it.

 

[Kleatus]

At this time I knew the cats were junk and the exhaust in general was in poor shape, along with the 02 sensors.

The cats had been reduced to this. Must have gotten cooked pretty good...

I assembled some parts and built a new 2 1/2" exhaust.

I also added a bung to use a wideband in.

More better. It breathed better and pulled better at higher RPMs without being loud.

 

[Kleatus]

Let's switch coasts now and fast forward to Washington state.. time for an actual suspension.

5 years later I still really like these shocks but as my wagon has put on weight I wosh I had an extra leaf or two on each corner.

The Badger gets a new Tough Dog suspension

Since there doesn't seem to be a ton of info or end user reports yet out on there on the 60 series Tough Dog suspensions available from Trail Tailor ( @reevesci )I will post up, since I just installed one. My 1989 FJ62 is my DD, and has a lot of miles. Rolled over 391k as of this morning to be...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[Kleatus]

As it got heavier and I was wheeling some more, and in preparation for the 2nd solid axle summit in Colorado with some of my new friends through the Seattle Cruiserheads, I installed some 4.88's.