What did you do to your pig today?

[Pathfinder]

Pathfinder,

Hopefully it looked worst than it is. Could be a side cover gasket, etc. If you threw a rod, type thing, you would've heard it go.

Hang in there!

Thinking its the side cover gasket and main seal. Do not think it was a rod as there was no visible cracks etc... and no nose before/after.

That said I would not put anything past this cruiser....

Its been one small thing after another. (Rant over - just want to DD my 55 and since I am still base-lining these small things just take their toll on my sanity)

 

[scrapdaddy]

Pathfinder,

I had a side gasket blow on my old 55, the night before I was to take my Son to Co. for his 21st birthday.

Yeah, it's messy, but with any luck, it won't be the main seal. As with anything old, including us, you'll always have small things to fix. Just Life!

 

[nuclearlemon]

front main isn't bad, but rear main is a pita with having to pull and then restab tranny.

 

[nuclearlemon]

That's a good question about the lug nuts. I need to double check. I've had mags before with the special nuts but I don't believe the wheels are that style

if those are the rims i'm thinking of (they look like it in the picture), they do require a shank style lug nut. if the surface that the lug nut sits agains is flat, it requires the shank, if it's dished inward, stock nuts will work.

 

[hermosa11]

fan/heater

today I completed the rear heater re-build/paint. That was fun and I was inspired by the other 2 people who did theirs. I also got the cooling fan on the motor re-painted after stripping it, and various other small parts cleaned.
H

 

[missrenaissance]

Painted the engine bay. Not a big thing but it makes me feel better to see it look pretty. I'll ignore the rest of the rust/paint issues for a moment. Installing the new battery box tomorrow and hopefully start wiring everything up from the new(er) fuse box

 

[Satanic mechanic]

I'm going to see why the transfer case shifter won't move and start mocking up dual exhaust

 

[Satanic mechanic]

I must say everyone here is doing great jobs on their 55s. Keeps me motivated!!!!

 

[LAMBCRUSHER]

I placed the blue sticker with "14" on it to my rear license plate next smog in t-11 months and counting

 

[hermosa11]

floored

Today we got the floor dialed in with nmr (No More Rust)…
Got lucky when I pulled the wheelhouse covers off as the mount area for the rear seat latch mech was NOT rusted through! by the way, anyone interested in that front seat? its like a velour and vinyl, but I have an black on black front seat instead. I think it's from a later year.

 

[SKULLYOTA]

Found out a good way to convert all of my side/maker lights on my 55 to LED, using the 3/4 inch round lights from the parts store or Low Range Off Road. I found the idea from PARANOID56 on pirate4x4, worked great on he bib lights on my Pig's 69 grille.... these pics are from pirate, i didn't take pics of mine yet.

taken from PARANOID56's build on Pirate:

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/toyota-land-cruiser/526443-71-build-up-rebirth-camotoy-d-11.html

 

[onemanarmy]

cool...thanks for the link

 

[nuclearlemon]

Found out a good way to convert all of my side/maker lights on my 55 to LED, using the 3/4 inch round lights from the parts store or Low Range Off Road.

are those the truck-lite 33s? i have those in my 80 liftgate and love them

 

[SKULLYOTA]

are those the truck-lite 33s? i have those in my 80 liftgate and love them

The ones I used were Optronics i believe...Oreilly carries the red and amber ones, the clear ones i have only seen on Low Range's website.

they're bright, and will last forever compared to rusted/corroded factory bulb sockets.

 

[nuclearlemon]

truck-lite does red, yellow, blue, green, purple and clear. I've got the clear and red in the 80. plan on adding a bunch to the pickle and my brothers rig too. small and bright. loving leds and the fact that you can use tiny wire and no relays even on the big stuff!

http://www.truck-lite.com/webapp/wc...01&productId=57964&langId=-1&catentryId=57978

 

[shmukster]

New bumper for the creamsicle

Well, finally finished the rear bumper for the 55. Found a piece of 2 x 6" rectangular tubing at work- damn heavy piece it's 3/8" wall! Trimmed the ends and closed it in. Milled some nice brackets that fit inside the frame rails and get bolted to the rails. The end of the bracket with the hole for a shackle is milled to 3/4" thickness and sticks out through the bumper. I milled 13/16" slots in the bumper itself and slid it over the brackets, up against the crossmember and welded the brackets to the bumper. The bumper also has four holes drilled and tapped 12MM and four bolts through the crossmember really secure it to the truck. It really came out nice- I'm happy with it.

Also finally got the driver side front shock mount built and installed. When I did the Scout PS install I removed the ioriginal upper shock mount. Made this one up in removeable form in case I ever need to remove the Scout box- it bolts to the 3/4" mounting plate I welded in when doing the Scout install. One upright had to be dimpled to clear the fitting (currently unuised) on the box that was for the hydro assist on the 55 the box came from. All in all I'm pretty happy with the way it worked out and looks. Let me know what you think. Gary S

 

[nuclearlemon]

very nice job on the bumper....the silver looks slick with the orange

 

[Pathfinder]

very nice job on mount and bumper. i think I'm finally begining to understand why my projects take 4x as long and I end up cursing a whole lot more than I should....

Your shop is SICK!!

 

[scrapdaddy]

Gary,

Nice job on the bumper. I find myself going back to look at your wagon and thinking how beautiful it really is. I hope mine gets close.

 

[shmukster]

Stuff

Guys- thanks for the compliments. The shop where the pictures was taken isn't mind- it's a friends' where I do any fab work. I'm also lucky enough to be able to do some "government" work at the steel mill where I work. Those who have been in my garage can say it's small but organized with a lot of parts hanging all over the place!

Ron- your 55 will be awesome. I saw it at gary R's in vermont years ago when I picked up a doubler from him (7 below that day as I recall!!!) and thought it was going to be a tremendous 55. You'll make it that way, just takes time. I was fortunate enough to find a solid truck that needed just the right type of work done to it, and at just the right time. Doesn't always work like that! Gary