What have you done to your Land Cruiser this week? (35 Viewers)

[65swb45]

25 years you say... dang, I guess it’ll be time to replace the lower hose again soon. The upper is only a couple years old, but I replaced the lower in ‘92-93.

That sounds familiar! I think I did my lower hose in my ‘68 roadside, in ‘92 or ‘93, on my way to Glamis. 8 at night... in a bank parking lot somewhere east of Riverside.

Took all the food and drink out of the ice chest, drained the radiator into it, changed the hose. Looked hella funny holding the ice chest over the radiator in the bank parking lot while I refilled it, wiped out and refilled the ice chest.

It was a long night. Lost my headlights outside of Indio two hours later.

 

[4x4veteran]

That sounds familiar! I think I did my lower hose in my ‘68 roadside, in ‘92 or ‘93, on my way to Glamis. 8 at night... in a bank parking lot somewhere east of Riverside.

Took all the food and drink out of the ice chest, drained the radiator into it, changed the hose. Looked hella funny holding the ice chest over the radiator in the bank parking lot while I refilled it, wiped out and refilled the ice chest.

It was a long night. Lost my headlights outside of Indio two hours later.

No head lights are fun.
Around 1971 I was pulling my buggy toward the dunes with my 56 Chevy PU when the generator went out at Brawley.
It was close to midnight and luckily the bearings were not bad enough that it wouldn't turn so still had water pump and luckily there was a bit of moon so I could see with out lights so kept rolling.
Probably startled a few drivers coming the other way because I turned off the headlights to conserve electricity would turn them on when an approaching car was close to me.

Getting ready now to go out and pull a front brake cylinder on the land Cruiser to make sure what size cup I need for the rebuild.

 

[65swb45]

Went to tighten up the wheel bearings on the 45 last night before another impending Death Valley adventure and found there was no more adjustment. And the grease was black. So I made the executive decision it was time to retire the 55 year old bearings.

Looked at the grease on the outer axleshaft and couldn’t not take a peak inside the knuckle. 5 minutes later, it was a full knuckle overhaul.

 

[rkymtnflyfisher]

Went to tighten up the wheel bearings on the 45 last night before another impending Death Valley adventure and found there was no more adjustment. And the grease was black. So I made the executive decision it was time to retire the 55 year old bearings.

Looked at the grease on the outer axleshaft and couldn’t not take a peak inside the knuckle. 5 minutes later, it was a full knuckle overhaul.View attachment 2128391

Proof that it happens to the best of em!

 

[65swb45]

Proof that it happens to the best of em!

...and more often to the daily drivers.

The backspacing wheel thread the other day reminded me of my own, special tie rod situation. I had W from Over The Hill 4x4 bend up my knuckle arms when I put the 5” lift on the 45 to help with the steering geometry. You can clearly see the rise of the knuckle arm in the previous photo. Well, W didn’t tell me about the ‘side effects’ of bending the arms. Once out of the relatively safe ‘ tuck’ inside the backing plates, the arm, and consequently the tie rod end, was now out in the ‘bulge’ of the tire sidewall. D’oh.

Such is actually the case for all histeer arms.

Consequently, I was in a bums rush to find some longer wheel studs that day so I could drive my cruiser back home again. And I’ve had a 1/4” wheel spacer on since then. Close to 15 years now.

I ‘think’ I remember repacking the wheel bearings once since then.

 

[4x4veteran]

Went to tighten up the wheel bearings on the 45 last night before another impending Death Valley adventure and found there was no more adjustment. And the grease was black. So I made the executive decision it was time to retire the 55 year old bearings.

Looked at the grease on the outer axleshaft and couldn’t not take a peak inside the knuckle. 5 minutes later, it was a full knuckle overhaul.View attachment 2128391

Have the brakes off and looking at the front axle and there is some leakage at the joints.
Thinking I should have a look inside before I put everything back together.
Probably won't though. I get depressed when my rig is down more than a day.

 

[letterman52]

Steering column getting some fresh paint as well as the products for the color buff arrived.

 

[Rooster47]

I remember hearing about this "W" years ago...

 

[Dagha Boy]

Not me and not this week. But too good an illustration of what a Land Cruiser is capable of to ignore.

And something for the boys in Mississippi to aspire to. 536kph - 335mph.

 

[AndersN]

Wrestled a set of brand new 7.50r16 Dunlop SP Qualifiers onto my stock split rims. I picked up a set of takeoffs from a 79 series and used the new outer rings as mine were toast. Hit them with some rustoleum and went to work.

Before

After

 

[David70FJ40]

Made a 120 mile round trip to a car show at a Chevrolet dealership which was sponsored by the local DAV chapter. There were 154 cars there, with a few exceptions most looked like they had just come from a new car dealers lot. I had the only Land Cruiser, the only Toyota and only one of two foreign manufactured vehicles there. I watched as the DAV judges looked over my truck and for the most part gave it nothing more than a cursory glance and went on to the others quickly. Oh well, still had a lot of fun driving the 40.

 

[Dirtygumboots]

Finally had time to pull the radiator, water pump and the rest of the heater. Hopefully it will all go back in smoothly and run cooler.

 

[letterman52]

The start of a whole lot of sanding and buffing.

 

[ibinazbass]

@David1947 is that an FJ60 power steering box on your rig?

 

[letterman52]

The dash is shinier than a wet Jolly Rancher! I needed it polished so the install of the steering column could begin.

 

[hooter]

Drive shaft mania.....

I have pressed, whacked, tapped and cussed my way through drive shaft rebuild/ujoint replacement

small ones are for PTO shaft with original brass bushings.

hOOter

 

[4Cruisers]

Drive shaft mania.....
View attachment 2129694
I have pressed, whacked, tapped and cussed my way through drive shaft rebuild/ujoint replacement

small ones are for PTO shaft with original brass bushings.

hOOter

That reminds me. I was thinking of using the low-mileage (~66,000) driveshafts from my '76 FJ40 for my '71 FJ40 build, but then thought "Why not keep both FJ40s on the road, for at least a while?" I originally only ordered two Matsuba U-joints from Cruiser Outfitters so I could install FJ62 yokes on my extra set of FJ40 driveshafts to match the '85 split transfer case front output flange and rear parking brake drum. So I need to order two more, along with the split transfer case 3:1 gear set.

What did you paint the driveshafts with? They look great!

 

[hooter]

I

What did you paint the driveshafts with? They look great!

I have a very understanding auto body/painter who likes for me to dribble parts to him instead of filling his shop with a whole truck.
Short answer I don’t know. I’m not smart enough to paint. I think it’s just a single stage catalyzed paint.

 

[FJ40 351c]

8 new plugs in the 351 and off for a pink slip (hopefully) later in the week.

 

[Bripars40]

Stared at it yesterday and then hacked into the rusty floors today. Still have more to cut out. Probably going to replace the main beam with some 1x3 HSS.