Builds The Rustbucket: 1988 HJ61 frame off project (3 Viewers)

[hj 60]

Thanks, I hope we can warn others to not drill that hole.
The chassis was to be expected, still possible I think, I am about to finish welding in a 13x7cm x4mm plate to cover a hole in the chassis.
Just cut out the rot and see what can be welded back, the top seems to be in better shape than bottom in mine and the bottom horizontal strip is maybe 6 mm (?) so boxing it in again should be fine, it looks pretty bad but someone already did some welding it seems.
Almost funny to use the grinder trough the thin rust and then going up it starts to grip on thicker steel:

Rotten shock tube is also no surprise for you I think but the pile of work is pretty high.

 

[mongoose2231]

Courageous, courageous indeed!!!

 

[Kmonty66]

Is that an opportunity to put in some shock hoops?

 

[HoJo 61]

Courageous, courageous indeed!!!

Exactly, that's what i hear all the time.

Is that an opportunity to put in some shock hoops?

Yes, if it was the green Cruiser.

 

[HoJo 61]

Got the engine and trans lifted off today, and removed rear axle with leaf springs outta my way too.
Leaf spring pins came out much easier than what i thought, some hammering and twisting and off they went.

Tomorrows plan is to start welding in new steel, starting from front to back.

And the garage owner got stuck AGAIN, so, HJ to the rescue!

 

[CenTXFJ60]

Hojo, you are a huge inspiration to guys like me. It’s a certain kind of sickness that drives you to take on this project. I have the same disease and feel everything can be resurrected. With help from @roma042987 i went into Canada and picked up my first complete 61. Was sold to me as a good running low mileage (180kilometer) truck but considered a parts rig due to the rust. As mentioned above I’m an optimist and feel she can be brought back to life. Unfortunately due to engine issues we barely got her over the border and had to leave it with another mud member @Kleatus until I can get her down to TX. this one also has the factory locked axels . Just wish it was a lefty like you guys get. Here’s a pic where she’s packed into the Ferry heading from Canada back to the US.
Look forward to following your progress. Thanks. Jim

 

[HoJo 61]

Thank you Jim, you just made my day with your kind words.
I can say same to you, your Frankenstein Cruiser build and other projects (+ your sons) has been huge inspiration for me. Keep them coming, i'll follow them like a hawk.
Nice to hear i'm not alone with my disease, i see rust as opportunities! Fixing a Cruiser would be too easy if there were no rust to fix.
Bummer about your HJ experience, do you know what happened? Hope it's something simple to fix.
I have a lefty, you have a high roof. High roofs are my weak point.

 

[HoJo 61]

Well, i was too exhausted to update here so here goes two days worth of pics.
I got the front/mid inner frame sections done. No wonder the frame slowly rusts away as it can collect buckets of dirt inside the channels. Dirt mixed to water and road salt is a perfect combination to kill a Land Cruiser, or any vehicle. Remember to was your frame rails!

I have come to a conclusion i have to build the last frame half from scratch.
There is simply not a single hard spot left. Ok, maybe i can re-use body mounts.

Transmission crossmember brackets had to go out of my way, both sides.

Rust and crap inside.

Cleaned and new nuts welded in before burning in new steel.

Replacement piece with nuts on the backside.

In with new, and booger welds.

 

[HoJo 61]

Left side wasn't any better. Actually it was a bit worse.

Somebody has been here before. Removing this patch sealed the decision to make a whole new rear half of frame.

That's not worth patching anymore.

I didn't even bother opening the other side anymore.

Here we go. I will take a trip to local steel supplier tomorrow and pick up some 100x50mm U-beam.

 

[DevonBen60]

A great result Jim, congratulations. It always looks easy when you watch a master at work

 

[DevonBen60]

Shame about the other side but it will be better than new when its done!!

 

[HoJo 61]

Shame about the other side but it will be better than new when its done!!

Exactly. That's the intention of building rest of the frame out of new, raw steel. Hope it lasts another 30 years then.

 

[HoJo 61]

Yeppers peppers, got something done today too.
Typical luck of mine striked again. The steel store was out of 100x50 U-beam, so i bought some 100x100x4mm instead. Cut it in half and ta-da, we have 100x50 U-beams!
Fabricating something from scratch is pretty time consuming job and even simple looking things can take up hours of work time. Just like these two pieces shown below. Crazy.

Next few days progress will be from very minor to none as we have to build a woodshed (finally) and move our firewood in to it. And probably make some new firewood too.

 

[hj 60]

So you wait for the trees to grow?

 

[HoJo 61]

So you wait for the trees to grow?

Haha!
Well, yea... the woodshed is up and filled with dry wood and i have been building the HJ for a few days now.

I took a step or two back and reworked the rear frame rails. I wasn't happy with the straight cut i made earlier. They just looked unfinished and horrible. Still not perfect but a lot better than what they used to be IMO.
I'm going to insert new shock tube between frame rails tomorrow and probably start welding everything fully together.

 

[tmxmotorsports]

Props to you nice work

 

[TLC Norway]

Congrats on the beautiful rust pile!! That's goona be one good looking solid cruiser! Glad you decided on building a new rear frame, soo good in the long run!

Did it come with power door locks? If so, im very interested in seeing the components from the 24v system, (probably resting in rear left quarter) and how its all hooked up. I took out my realys and fuses for the whole thing, as it was drawing too much intermittent power, leaving me stranded once.

good luck, neighbor!

 

[HoJo 61]

Congrats on the beautiful rust pile!! That's goona be one good looking solid cruiser! Glad you decided on building a new rear frame, soo good in the long run!

Did it come with power door locks? If so, im very interested in seeing the components from the 24v system, (probably resting in rear left quarter) and how its all hooked up. I took out my realys and fuses for the whole thing, as it was drawing too much intermittent power, leaving me stranded once.

good luck, neighbor!

Thanks neighbor! I was balancing between two options i had, either find a good frame, which would be PITA to find in the first place, or rebuild the existing frame myself. I came to a decision it would be faster to start building one myself than waste time for finding a replacement. PLUS solid frames in this part of the World are hard to come by due to road salt.

This Cruiser did not come with any unnecessary power options. However, my other Cruiser has the central locking system.
Would a wiring diagram help anything? Of course i can take you pics from where the relays are if you need some.

 

[HoJo 61]

By the way, this day didn't go as planned. Or, it did until i ran out of welding gas.

But i got the shock tube made at local-ish jail, for free.

Also, i picked these up locally for 60€ two weeks back. Does anybody know the original color code for white paint? I'm going to sandblast and repaint these.

 

[HoJo 61]

I've had busy week but still got something done.
I'll let the pictures to do the talking this time, nothing interesting to say about welding and grinding anyways.

Well, one milestone behind as you can see.

Had to weld two patches in.

This piece of rust is going to recyclers once i have all the needed brackets and stuff cut off.
Crazy how heavy this part is, probably 2x heavier than the new one.