Builds The "Red Rocket" Troopy (6 Viewers)

[nuclearbeef]

Most all of my electrical system is now functioning... other than my gas gauge. It is just stuck at 1/4 of a tank all the time. Is this possibly a common issue or would indicate something I need to look into? I don't understand why swapping the engine would have any effect on the gas gauge. I ran out of it on my drive home, first time ever in the troopy cause the gauge has always been off (reads empty at 16 gallons instead of 21) Well I figured I had a bit more to go but was WRONG. Luckily as the engine was sputtering going down the road there was a gas station on the other side, engine died fully and I hopped the median using the rest of my momentum to glide into the station, then pushed it to the diesel pump lol. What luck. Filled it up, primed the system got it running and bled the injectors, good to go.

When I changed the transmission on my Troopy, the fuel gauge quit working.
Since the wires from the sender to the gauge run through the transmission harness, I was sure I screwed something up, but turns out it was the sending unit that had coincidentally crapped out at the same time.

I figured out a quick way to test whether the gauge or the sender is messing up.

Undo the plug on the wires that run between the fuel tank sender and the transmission wiring harness.
Put a jumper wire between the two terminals on the transmission side plug, creating a closed circuit to the gauge.
The gauge should move to "full" when the key is on because the gauge reads "full" with 0 resistance.

You can also measure the resistance between the two terminals of the plug on the fuel tank side.
I don't remember the correct values, but mine was open. No continuance.
New sender fixed my issue.

(FIXED) BJ75 Troopy, swapped transmissions, now fuel gauge dead

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[robmobile73]

excactly, its been done that way by many a shade tree fabricator.

Bro I really appreciate you replying to that. I just thought that s*** up, but if you are confirming I'm right then I will use that method in the future. Thankyou.

 

[RHINO]

Bro I really appreciate you replying to that. I just thought that s*** up, but if you are confirming I'm right then I will use that method in the future. Thankyou.

its a thing, for adaptor plates and more commonly for fabricating a custom bellhousing, me and the globb actually talked about it a bit just in case he wanted to try making his own bellhousing.

 

[robmobile73]

Put about 80 miles on it now. Wiped it off this morning, wiped it off 10 miles in and it hasn't leaked any noticeable since then. Not getting my hopes up and still need to drive it a lot more. Lots to do in the 3 days before I leave for college lol.

I have never filled an old gear case of any type that didn't leak around the shaft seals a little bit. You may find that once the oil has dropped below a certain level the leak really slows down or stops. You however may still have plenty of oil for the tranny to be OK as the gear surfaces still rest in oil and sling it around. FYI military has 3 terms for fluid leaks: Class 1 the surface is wet with oil but drops havent formed(not really worth worrying about), Class 2 drops form but you can't see it drip( you need to monitor fluid level and guages), Class 3 you can watch it drip(seal is blown, oil is overfilled, something is not assembled properly, you need to fix it now unless it's an emergency situation worth breaking the truck over)......................It sounds like you may have leaked below the seal level and are now at a point where it's not leaking much and you can merely add to it periodically. How often and how much oil periodically is??time will tell. My BJ 73 T case, tranny, and both diffs leak a bit at the shafts. If you service it and fill them they drip for awhile and stop. Let a year go by and check them and generally 1/2 quart or less to top off and then they leak for a week and stop mostly. First time I serviced it my tranny was perhaps 2 quarts low on gear oil and probably hadn't been serviced in years. I was concerned. It just turns out that that is the way it is at this point. It just leaks a little during use.

 

[theglobb]

Had to have put 300-400 miles on it now. Averaging 26.4 mpg, pretty dang sweet. Some drives I'll go for hours and its bone dry, sometimes its a little wet, atleast the clutch isnt slipping... yet. At this rate I think I'm gonna send it up to my college in 2 days.

When I changed the transmission on my Troopy, the fuel gauge quit working.
Since the wires from the sender to the gauge run through the transmission harness, I was sure I screwed something up, but turns out it was the sending unit that had coincidentally crapped out at the same time.

I figured out a quick way to test whether the gauge or the sender is messing up.

Undo the plug on the wires that run between the fuel tank sender and the transmission wiring harness.
Put a jumper wire between the two terminals on the transmission side plug, creating a closed circuit to the gauge.
The gauge should move to "full" when the key is on because the gauge reads "full" with 0 resistance.

You can also measure the resistance between the two terminals of the plug on the fuel tank side.
I don't remember the correct values, but mine was open. No continuance.
New sender fixed my issue.

(FIXED) BJ75 Troopy, swapped transmissions, now fuel gauge dead

forum.ih8mud.com

Sweet, thanks for the heads up, sounds easy enough. I'll mess with it tomorrow, would be pretty interesting if both our senders died by chance when changing the transmissions

I have never filled an old gear case of any type that didn't leak around the shaft seals a little bit. You may find that once the oil has dropped below a certain level the leak really slows down or stops. You however may still have plenty of oil for the tranny to be OK as the gear surfaces still rest in oil and sling it around. FYI military has 3 terms for fluid leaks: Class 1 the surface is wet with oil but drops havent formed(not really worth worrying about), Class 2 drops form but you can't see it drip( you need to monitor fluid level and guages), Class 3 you can watch it drip(seal is blown, oil is overfilled, something is not assembled properly, you need to fix it now unless it's an emergency situation worth breaking the truck over)......................It sounds like you may have leaked below the seal level and are now at a point where it's not leaking much and you can merely add to it periodically. How often and how much oil periodically is??time will tell. My BJ 73 T case, tranny, and both diffs leak a bit at the shafts. If you service it and fill them they drip for awhile and stop. Let a year go by and check them and generally 1/2 quart or less to top off and then they leak for a week and stop mostly. First time I serviced it my tranny was perhaps 2 quarts low on gear oil and probably hadn't been serviced in years. I was concerned. It just turns out that that is the way it is at this point. It just leaks a little during use.

I was thinking this could have been the cause, so I overfilled it by about half a quart just to see. Results still hold. Pulled the fill plug just to make sure it hadnt had all leaked out and it came jumping out of the fill. Time will tell, I'll have to always keep and eye on it.

Planning to take it out on the beach as the final stress test for it before I send it 300 miles to the mountains.

 

[OGBeno]

Win bro.

**** it. Drive the **** out of it.

It’s an appliance.

You ain’t gonna get laid with a Prius.

You are absolutely going to get laid in a Troopy.

 

[bj70bc]

^^truth

the prius might actually get you to getting laid tho

 

[saltycoconuts]

^^truth

the prius might actually get you to getting laid tho

Until you show up in a Prius

 

[robmobile73]

You really might be in luck this fall. When I owned my 123 series Mercedes I was really lucky. Now you have that and the troopy. You are able to penetrate into multiple demographics with those rides....... And the non deodorant using hippie granola eating pajama pants in public wearing environmentalist social justice women who want us all to be miserable may avoid you because you drive a smoky diesel.

Your mpg with the new engine sounds awesome. Are you calculating for odometer error due to bigger tires? My 71 Chevy with 4bt got 22mpg.

 

[bj70bc]

you just need a sticker on the prius that says
'my other toyota is a landcruiser'

 

[theglobb]

Got it out on the beach today, I actually aired my tires up to 45 psi to stress test my cooling system. It was a very hot day with very soft sand, even then it only got up to 195f with no radiator shroud or overflow tank... I guess that's what happens when you install a massive box truck radiator. EGT's maxxed out at 800f which I was very surprised about. The 3B would be running 1100 all day long up and down the beach. Overall just so much powerful, and that's with the tires aired UP!! Before I couldn't even go on the beach without airing down to 25psi. I figured I'd also really be able to stress test the clutch and see if it was slipping at all, from everything I can tell its not.

Drive the f*** out of it.

That's the plan, I'm interested as to where and when something will blow up on me.

And the non deodorant using hippie granola eating pajama pants in public wearing environmentalist social justice women who want us all to be miserable may avoid you because you drive a smoky diesel.

Your mpg with the new engine sounds awesome. Are you calculating for odometer error due to bigger tires? My 71 Chevy with 4bt got 22mpg.

I don't know man, all the hippies absolutely love the old 300d's, I get more compliments from them then any other group when driving it, then I feed them more fuel for my entertainment by saying its running on used vegetable oil. Funny every time.

Yes it is calculated with the odo error. Pretty amazing a troopcarrier with a 40 year old mechanical diesel in it outperforms most modern SUV's/Crossovers/Trucks with all their fancy BS electronics and emissions systems. I hope to get some new tires soon. These are old dryrotted ones that were on my moms 4runner when she got new tires. I'm thinking 33x9.5 would be absolutely perfect but the kenda kleevers I'm looking at only offer them in 15in wheels. I know the 70's are weird with what wheels you can put on them. Maybe I'll just settle with 33x10.5R17. Will be real fun with no power steering.

 

[bj70bc]

product testing!
awesome, just killer
that engine sounds so snotty, def a bit growlier than the 3b

 

[Roastchestnuts]

Got it out on the beach today, I actually aired my tires up to 45 psi to stress test my cooling system. It was a very hot day with very soft sand, even then it only got up to 195f with no radiator shroud or overflow tank... I guess that's what happens when you install a massive box truck radiator. EGT's maxxed out at 800f which I was very surprised about. The 3B would be running 1100 all day long up and down the beach. Overall just so much powerful, and that's with the tires aired UP!! Before I couldn't even go on the beach without airing down to 25psi. I figured I'd also really be able to stress test the clutch and see if it was slipping at all, from everything I can tell its not.

View attachment 3398964





That's the plan, I'm interested as to where and when something will blow up on me.

I don't know man, all the hippies absolutely love the old 300d's, I get more compliments from them then any other group when driving it, then I feed them more fuel for my entertainment by saying its running on used vegetable oil. Funny every time.

Yes it is calculated with the odo error. Pretty amazing a troopcarrier with a 40 year old mechanical diesel in it outperforms most modern SUV's/Crossovers/Trucks with all their fancy BS electronics and emissions systems. I hope to get some new tires soon. These are old dryrotted ones that were on my moms 4runner when she got new tires. I'm thinking 33x9.5 would be absolutely perfect but the kenda kleevers I'm looking at only offer them in 15in wheels. I know the 70's are weird with what wheels you can put on them. Maybe I'll just settle with 33x10.5R17. Will be real fun with no power steering.

you should get 255 85 16s I wonder if the kendas come in that size. its like a 33x10.50. The ones I had on the prado were 235 85 16s and I thought they looked good on the prado but I bet the troopy the 235 size would look small. Stoked to see everything doing well on the troopy.

If you run across a kid named Wyatt Giagu at App say hi to him. He helped me out at surfcamp all summer and its his freshman year up there. He is a good kid. His car here all summer was a fj60. It was his dads technically though.

 

[FJBen]

Agree with what @Roastchestnuts said. 255/85r16. Great size. I had those on my cruiser first and they are a great size.

The weight rating is perfect for a big heavy troopy.

 

[sark]

I swapped my 285/75R16 ko2’s over to 255/85R16 Yokohama MT’s. So far, they seem to work well bead-balanced.

 

[theglobb]

product testing!
awesome, just killer
that engine sounds so snotty, def a bit growlier than the 3b

I'll do a walk around and startup video sometime

you should get 255 85 16s I wonder if the kendas come in that size. its like a 33x10.50. The ones I had on the prado were 235 85 16s and I thought they looked good on the prado but I bet the troopy the 235 size would look small. Stoked to see everything doing well on the troopy.

If you run across a kid named Wyatt Giagu at App say hi to him. He helped me out at surfcamp all summer and its his freshman year up there. He is a good kid. His car here all summer was a fj60. It was his dads technically though.

Agree with what @Roastchestnuts said. 255/85r16. Great size. I had those on my cruiser first and they are a great size.

The weight rating is perfect for a big heavy troopy.

I swapped my 285/75R16 ko2’s over to 255/85R16 Yokohama MT’s. So far, they seem to work well bead-balanced.

View attachment 3399152

Good to know about those sizes. In my opinion, the only inferior metric way of sizing things are tires. The Americans made it so simple, 33 inches tall 10 inches wide lol. Always gotta use a tire size calculator when talking about tires. Did a quick search, since I'm always on a tight budget I'd have to stick with 17" tires, and honestly will probably go with something from Affordable Retread Tires - Car, Truck & RV Tires - Tire Recappers Nashville - https://www.tirerecappers.com/. However since I work at a shop up in Boone we have certain brands that'll give us discounts. Would be great to get a name brand tire for decently cheap that I can mount and balance myself, I'll have to ask around once I start working up there again. I just don't know what my selection would be for sizes. Time will tell.

 

[FJBen]

I'll do a walk around and startup video sometime




Good to know about those sizes. In my opinion, the only inferior metric way of sizing things are tires. The Americans made it so simple, 33 inches tall 10 inches wide lol. Always gotta use a tire size calculator when talking about tires. Did a quick search, since I'm always on a tight budget I'd have to stick with 17" tires, and honestly will probably go with something from Affordable Retread Tires - Car, Truck & RV Tires - Tire Recappers Nashville - https://www.tirerecappers.com/. However since I work at a shop up in Boone we have certain brands that'll give us discounts. Would be great to get a name brand tire for decently cheap that I can mount and balance myself, I'll have to ask around once I start working up there again. I just don't know what my selection would be for sizes. Time will tell.

Personally, save up and stay away from Recappers. Imo, just not worth it. If you want to, places like discount tire or the like do financing at zero percent for like 9months -12months and with your side gig of drunk taxi should be able to pay off in no time.



If you are on 17s, you have a ton of tires to choose from. I run 285/75r17s, good size but you can find plenty

 

[prwillard2]

I have 285/55r16 Falkon MTs.

Love them and they are not loud at all.

Please save up and buy quality tires. Never skimp on what goes between you and the ground.

 

[Felde]

Congratulations
The Red Rock Troopy is back!
Happy to see you happy.
Enjoy it now!
Cheer Ralf

 

[nuclearbeef]

I'll do a walk around and startup video sometime




Good to know about those sizes. In my opinion, the only inferior metric way of sizing things are tires. The Americans made it so simple, 33 inches tall 10 inches wide lol. Always gotta use a tire size calculator when talking about tires. Did a quick search, since I'm always on a tight budget I'd have to stick with 17" tires, and honestly will probably go with something from Affordable Retread Tires - Car, Truck & RV Tires - Tire Recappers Nashville - https://www.tirerecappers.com/. However since I work at a shop up in Boone we have certain brands that'll give us discounts. Would be great to get a name brand tire for decently cheap that I can mount and balance myself, I'll have to ask around once I start working up there again. I just don't know what my selection would be for sizes. Time will tell.

I’ve had 2 sets of retreads on my F250.
First set was great. Lasted 70,000+ miles with no problems.

Second set, I lost 2 tires while driving Memphis to Denver to pick up my Troopy. That set had <20k miles