What have you done to your Land Cruiser this week? (45 Viewers)

[bikersmurf]

This will be a little helpful, but in the end probably not. I just finished my 2nd Scout steering conversion. My 1st one was on my trail 40 using the ford shock tower and a lot of domestic parts. The 2nd one was done on my street 40 with light 4wheeling in mind. On both, I used a lot of parts I've already had collected thru yrs of 4 wheeling, and owning and parting out 40's. On the 2nd conversion, I concentrated on using as many stk tres as I could. In the end, all my tre's are stk. Usually folks get a relay rod/drag link for a stk end on 1 end and a domestic end on the other, thru the various vendors on this sight. When scouring thru my old parts I found a relay rod that was longer than the stk 40(approx. 30") and shorter that a stk tie rod with the older stk 17mm threads. This is the probably not helpful portion for you, because I have no idea what's off of. I even asked 1 of the Land Cruiser gurus on this site, when he stopped by to pick up some parts, and he had no idea what it would of been off of. Maybe someone else knows. Anyways, I cut it to my needed 34". The rod had stk left hand thread tre, which attaches to the tie rod and I purchased a right hand thread 17mm x 1.5mm tap and proper drill bit for the stk tre to attach to the pitman arm. I considered to do this with a tie rod, but the larger tap was considerably more than the 17mm tap. I found that a j**p YJ power steering pitman arm fits the Scout box and drops down for MY 4" lift. The tapered hole in the YJ arm hole is larger than the 40 TRE taper, so I did the starter bushing trick in the pitman arm hole, so it would fit the 40's tre taper. FYI, for search purposes, I've not put together a build thread, but have many post on scout & fj60 steering conversion threads, along with altering a stk fender so it was not so butchered to clear the box. .
View attachment 1963989

FYI, there’s a GM tie rod that has metric threads to match OEM Toyota tie rods... and a taper to match the Saginaw steering arm. I was told about it in the mid ‘90s and it was from a newer truck at the time. It’s angled down slightly which also works well for the conversion.

Now the Problem is that these days, without a year, make, model, & VIN... the GM dealer can no longer help you find it... I’ll have to ask google... perhaps Justin posted it somewhere... after he told me

 

[MartynFJ4071]

I’ve just got the rear axle together. I had to pull it all down as I pieced it together wrong the first time. Note for those who don’t pay attention: the axle oil seal goes in after the bearing.
Felt like a real idiot as I replaced brand new seals and bearings twice.
It’s a two step process. Two steps backwards in my case.
Here’s a feel good photo to end on.

 

[airon23]

I’ve just got the rear axle together. I had to pull it all down as I pieced it together wrong the first time. Note for those who don’t pay attention: the axle oil seal goes in after the bearing.
Felt like a real idiot as I replaced brand new seals and bearings twice.
It’s a two step process. Two steps backwards in my case.
Here’s a feel good photo to end on.
View attachment 1965616
View attachment 1965617

Looks great though

 

[Marn0]

Wifey got her birthday and Christmas present today. She was super excited!!!
She doesn't know how lucky she is!!!!!

 

[wngrog]

Tearing into Project Patina for a new header and some Saginaw

Anyone here done a Saginaw keeping the early-68 steering column and shaft? I really, really want to keep my old stuff from the firewall to the wheel.

 

[Jdc1]

Tearing into Project Patina for a new header and some Saginaw

View attachment 1966094

Anyone here done a Saginaw keeping the early-68 steering column and shaft? I really, really want to keep my old stuff from the firewall to the wheel.


View attachment 1966095

You’ll need an anchor plate from Kurt, an adaptor for the inner shaft to intermediate and a support bearing for the inner shaft at the end of the outer column housing.

Similar to this but instead of the rag joint adaptor, you’ll go into a ujoint for the intermediate shaft and the outer column will be welded to the anchor and bolted to the firewall. Some have made a spacer at the steering wheel to support the inner shaft at the top of the column and to keep it from slipping down into the turn signal.

 

[1911]

View attachment 1966010
Wifey got her birthday and Christmas present today. She was super excited!!!
She doesn't know how lucky she is!!!!!

Nothing says "I love you" like a roo-smashing front bumper!

 

[secretsquirrel]

changed its location

 

[Hip2bSquare]

Since my engine is out of the way I decided to rebuild the front axle. I thought I had bad bearings in the differential, but the pinion gear was toast. So good decision on the rebuild. Anyway......finally got everything back together and my new wheels and hubs installed. Now I can have my son push me back and forth in the garage so I can pretend I’m driving it.
I’ve never done any car projects like I’ve taken on with this 40. So far it’s going pretty good, but when I tried to install the new hard brake lines on the axles and knuckles......I was almost ready to list an ‘78 project truck on the classifieds.

 

[Dizzy]

You’ll need an anchor plate from Kurt, an adaptor for the inner shaft to intermediate and a support bearing for the inner shaft at the end of the outer column housing.

Similar to this but instead of the rag joint adaptor, you’ll go into a ujoint for the intermediate shaft and the outer column will be welded to the anchor and bolted to the firewall. Some have made a spacer at the steering wheel to support the inner shaft at the top of the column and to keep it from slipping down into the turn signal.

View attachment 1966123

View attachment 1966125

Isn't there, typically, something like an Ididit collapsible intermediate shaft that will take the body / frame flex and keep it from pulling-pushing the Saginaw box in lieu of a rag joint?

 

[Dizzy]

Pulled and inspected the entire wiring harness. Rodent damage was pretty much limited to the zones around the two main grommets at the firewall. Basically, the alternator white wire received a spliced-in section, as did the turn signals on the passenger side. This was quite a relief; I thought that it would have been much worse

 

[John in Utah]

Weekend trip to look for rocks somewhere between Salt Lake and Reno. Not much success, but time spent in the desert is always time well spent as far as I’m concerned.

 

[Jdc1]

Isn't there, typically, something like an Ididit collapsible intermediate shaft that will take the body / frame flex and keep it from pulling-pushing the Saginaw box in lieu of a rag joint?

Yes, Grogan was asking about the column. I’m sure he has the rest of the details figured out.

 

[BIG RENO AL]

Changed the oil.
Such a simple thing but the positive impact was practically immediate. A couple of weeks ago I drained a little over a quart out from a fairly fresh oil change even then and added Marvel Mystery Oil. The engine was having trouble after that. Spitting more condensation, making more noise especially in the rockers and the number 6 cylinder spark plug was getting clogged with oil.
So I drained that all out and replaced with Valvoline VR1 and some Lucas heavy duty oil stabilizer. Darned if all my issues didn't clear up. I have no doubt hat MMO is great for lots of things, but my engine was not appreciating it. I'm amazed what an effect the oil has on proper performance.

 

[firefighterjed]

I picked up my fresh wheels. Now I’m concerned that they’ll sit too far in for my liking. The aftermarket 8” wagon wheels are wider and nice and deep, which I think looks cool. OEM wagon are narrower may make the fender flares (PO add on) look silly.
Tires are 31x10.5

 

[Marn0]

Took the lad fishing on the river for the night

 

[1911]

... may make the fender flares (PO add on) look silly.
Tires are 31x10.5

They don't need any help or excuses to look silly. Not slagging your truck; I just hate fender flares. PO put the exact same ones on mine too; I took them off at the first chance.

 

[firefighterjed]

They don't need any help or excuses to look silly. Not slagging your truck; I just hate fender flares. PO put the exact same ones on mine too; I took them off at the first chance.

Wish it were so easy.... PO cut the fenders behind the flairs.

 

[imyahucklbrry]

Wish it were so easy.... PO cut the fenders behind the flairs.

I disliked the flares as well... not painted just yet but here’s my ‘cultured‘ redneck answer to said problem!

 

[thecrazygreek]

You can push out the rear wheels to match the fender flares by adding a 2 inch (ish) spacer. Otherwise the ass end of your cruiser will look like it has an overbite.