What Did You Do with Your 80 This Weekend? (160 Viewers)

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What do you run for terminal blocks? Mine are getting fuller and fuller
Mil-Spec, but I only attach the required items that need to be wired directly to the battery. For my small installs I have ran a power wire via a breaker to a Blue Sea fuse holder and from there I source power for my smaller stuff.
 
More of a summary of the week than the weekend. I finished my 2500 mile sling shot from Orlando to Bozeman, MT. I arrived 1 hour before the boy landed so timing was good. Along the trip I averaged 16.1 Mpg which on 315's and loaded with front and rear bumpers was pretty nice. We started our slow trip back to Florida. Stopped off in Yellowstone to see what all the fuss is about.

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Words are hard to find to describe the beauty of this part of the world.
I even got to see one of these.
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We camped in Yellowstone but it was a last minute thing and was more like a camp ghetto. Never seen so many people squeezed into a campsite before. We don't have a particular route or plan to follow but obviously there are a few "must do's" along the way. We continued south and decided to run the Kokopelli trail. I had done this trail solo about 8 years back and thought it would be a good "starter" trail for the lad. Its strange how your memory remembers some things and forgets others. I don't remember there being so much paved road and I am sure the past 8 years have not helped the condition of the proper off road portions. We camped on one of the overlook sites with no one around for miles. No moon, so we got a spectacular show of the Milky Way.
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We took the detour for the "Top of The World" which was a blast. The lad drove the whole trail up with me playing spotter. We took the right hand side route at the loop because we heard it was "easy" - it was freaking brutal. We assumed we had been given bad instructions so took the other side of the loop on the way down. I now understood how the other side was described as easy. My 4x4 labs sliders and rear bumper took a real pounding. The trail should have a height restriction like you get a theme park with the height referring to your tire size. This is a 40" minimum trail. Not sure how my 315's managed to drag our arses off that mountain but we made it.
View attachment 3938323View attachment 3938324Today has been more serene with a quick run around Arches National Park.
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Was hoping tomorrow to run the Imogen Pass but I am hearing it is closed due to a landslide.

This is my '96 Cruiser which was rescue from Portland, Maine. A lot of effort has gone into restoring a sad, neglected truck but with a lot of help from some forum champions she has turned out remarkable and battlefield ready - with some battle scars to prove it.
Sounds like you are having a great trip princess time spent with your son!!

IMO Top of the world trail is not that bad. Just ran it in a couple of months ago at Cruise Moab. We ran it backwards, up the left side
With 4 rigs smallest tire was 33” and biggest was 39s and we ran all the optional lines.
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The 60 had no power steering and was on 33s
😎😜
 
Kayaked Mendenhall lake for probably the last time while the ice reaches the lake. Although it remains an enormous glacier and a huge tourist draw, Mendenhall has receded/retreated dramatically in the last few years. Third photo is the glacier face 10 years ago from my canoe, last is the remaining face today.

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Finally getting around to taking pictures of the cleaned up wiring and the little project I tackled today.

Here is a comparison from the original ground from Warn. I looked and the best I could tell the original is 2 gauge I bumped up to 1 gauge not a big difference.

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Here is the ground installed using the original bolt. Getting the boot over the small red wire was hindering the final result of the boot covering the bolt. But with a little elbow grease and cussing I got it.

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House battery cleaned up. I am running an Optima SC34DM due to it's reserve capacity.

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Here is my starting battery with the winch connected and properly grounded out. For my starting battery I am running an Interstate MTZ-34R due to the higher CCA.

Before anyone asks how I am charging the batteries properly. I did the GM diode trick and have been running it this way at least a year and I do also have a 1 gauge wire directly from the alternator to the positive side of the starting battery.

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And earlier in this thread I mentioned I would post pictures of the cleaned up wiring for the ML ACR and fuse.

This really doesn't give you an idea of what it was like before. I had a 1/0 gauge wire in the fix and everything now is 1 gauge for the dual battery and now the winch.

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Here is another look at the ML ACR wiring and how I have the fuse installed. The bracket was fabricated using piece of cardboard.

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Started yesterday. Time to replace the spark plug tube seals in the valve cover along with a few gaskets, grommets etc.

First step is to remove a bunch of stuff to get easier access and then pull the valve cover.

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Removed the old seals and tapped in the new.

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I used an old seal as a 'tool' to tap the new seals in. Cleaned out the groove and installed a fresh valve cover gasket (not installed yet).

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Valve cover back in place. Replaced the dizzy rotor and put on a new cover and gasket. New plug wires going to go in also.

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Some of the new parts. Did this job 10+ years ago, hopefully I'm still capable of doing this job again in another 10 years :)

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Need a few more bits and will start to put things back in place over the next days as I get time. Will flush the coolant system and replace brake pads and flush.

Should all be good to go for late summer/fall camping trips.

cheers,
george.
 
Installed an Apex 12000lb winch on a HF universal winch plate. It took some cutting and drilling but it's in! The control pack is going to take a bit more fiddling to get in a permanent spot. Right now it's just sitting in between the coolant overflow tank and air filter box. I'm thinking about getting a thin piece of sheet metal bent to attach to the inner fender well to hold it. I installed with the intention of re-attaching the factory bumper but I'm liking the look as is.

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Installed an Apex 12000lb winch on a HF universal winch plate. It took some cutting and drilling but it's in! The control pack is going to take a bit more fiddling to get in a permanent spot. Right now it's just sitting in between the coolant overflow tank and air filter box. I'm thinking about getting a thin piece of sheet metal bent to attach to the inner fender well to hold it. I installed with the intention of re-attaching the factory bumper but I'm liking the look as is.

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That looks great, almost stock.

For the Apex 12K Winch solenoid pack, I removed it from the housing. You can get smaller generic housings on Amazon, but I didn't think it is needed.

The housing isn't really waterproof anyway, but the solenoid pack itself appears to be. I tucked it behind my bumper. I still need to extend the wireless switch and connector.

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Knocked out the coolant system this morning.
New yota rad
New yota thermostat and gasket
Asisn pump from rock autos
New fan blades Asian from rock autos
I rebuilt a black hub years ago with 13k weight, still running strong so left it alone.

Before here in the early summer temps around d 100 dry heat old stuff I was hitting 200s with ac on and no ac long drives close to 200 on hwy.

Now seeing a constant 182 to 184, no long hwy or grade climbs yet, expect to see big difference there. Last winter climbing grades to the ski resorts I was seeing 190s to 200s as well.

Water pump looked original, as well as the thermostat, no idea on what brand rad it had in it, but was at least 10 years old. Fan had damage on it as well.View attachment 3938038View attachment 3938045
I put this next to Radiator Cap instead of Writing in back of Manual

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Installed an Apex 12000lb winch on a HF universal winch plate. It took some cutting and drilling but it's in! The control pack is going to take a bit more fiddling to get in a permanent spot. Right now it's just sitting in between the coolant overflow tank and air filter box. I'm thinking about getting a thin piece of sheet metal bent to attach to the inner fender well to hold it. I installed with the intention of re-attaching the factory bumper but I'm liking the look as is.

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I moved mine up into the eng. bay. I don't want it getting wet.
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(False alarm everyone)

MAYBE? Killed a timing chain. :doh: :flipoff2:

Better here than on the trail. I have to come clean and admit that I reused the chain when I rebuilt this long block. Oops :rofl:

Thinking out loud in this edit: aren’t most MUD members pulling the engine when it’s TC replacement time? I love falling into the while-I’m-in-there rabbit holes (pinching pennies during the rebuild if it wasn’t obvious) but I likely don’t have anything to address in the rotating assembly, compared to an engine that hasn’t been open in 200k miles and just lost a chain.

Are people pulling engines because the head is that bad to pull while it’s in the engine bay? I’m hitting the search bar after I post this edit, before anyone tries to say that thing we like to say :flipoff2:

Hope you’re all having a good monday!
 
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That looks great, almost stock.

For the Apex 12K Winch solenoid pack, I removed it from the housing. You can get smaller generic housings on Amazon, but I didn't think it is needed.

The housing isn't really waterproof anyway, but the solenoid pack itself appears to be. I tucked it behind my bumper. I still need to extend the wireless switch and connector.

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Very cool! I might look into doing this. The control pack seems unnecessarily large for sure!
 
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Killed a timing chain. :doh: :flipoff2:

Better here than on the trail. I have to come clean and admit that I reused the chain when I rebuilt this long block. Oops :rofl:

Thinking out loud in this edit: aren’t most MUD members pulling the engine when it’s TC replacement time? I love falling into the while-I’m-in-there rabbit holes (pinching pennies during the rebuild if it wasn’t obvious) but I likely don’t have anything to address in the rotating assembly, compared to an engine that hasn’t been open in 200k miles and just lost a chain.

Are people pulling engines because the head is that bad to pull while it’s in the engine bay? I’m hitting the search bar after I post this edit, before anyone tries to say that thing we like to say :flipoff2:

Hope you’re all having a good monday!
Man I have never heard of a chain breaking on a 1fz! How are you determining that? Sorry to hear!
 

A good read if you want. Talks about the value of the beloved 80 still going up, in fact going up more than predicted. If that's a good thing or bad thing is up to debate. View attachment 3936604
Yeah, saw this article a few days ago and read it out loud to my wife to defend my "investment," lol. But seriously, nice to see interest on the rise and the value of our rigs increase...not so nice for those just looking to join the community on a budget.
 
Man I have never heard of a chain breaking on a 1fz! How are you determining that? Sorry to hear!
I pulled it out of thin air for sure - zero diag as of right now. It just died on the highway like every other time I’ve had a belt go out. I thought that happened with these? This is my first time driving something with a chain vs a belt. I don’t hear any crunchy sounds when I crank her over - sounds like I’m on the wrong train of thought? About to go check basic electrical
 
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MAYBE? Killed a timing chain. :doh: :flipoff2:

Better here than on the trail. I have to come clean and admit that I reused the chain when I rebuilt this long block. Oops :rofl:

Thinking out loud in this edit: aren’t most MUD members pulling the engine when it’s TC replacement time? I love falling into the while-I’m-in-there rabbit holes (pinching pennies during the rebuild if it wasn’t obvious) but I likely don’t have anything to address in the rotating assembly, compared to an engine that hasn’t been open in 200k miles and just lost a chain.

Are people pulling engines because the head is that bad to pull while it’s in the engine bay? I’m hitting the search bar after I post this edit, before anyone tries to say that thing we like to say :flipoff2:

Hope you’re all having a good monday!
How much more could the cost of a timing set have possibly been when you already had the motor torn down??
 
I spent 2.5h yesterday trying to change the oil/filter as a part of baselining my new to me 80. Oil was easy. Filter's still in there. :confused: Tried every trick in the book and it just wasn't my day. I think the PO must've tightened the old one to 200 ft/lbs or something. Back at it this afternoon.
 

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