What have you done to your Land Cruiser this week?

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I had to repair the lid for my air filter box. In the 1980’s I had modified it to fit a Man-A-Fre Rochester carburetor (it never fit well) and it finally broke apart yesterday. I went back to the OEM carburetor about 20 years ago. It’s not a pretty repair, but it works.

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I cleaned and rebuilt my old fuel bowl tonite. Looks pretty good now! I kinda like the glass bowl version vs. the new, spare one on the right. Now I have to figure out where I put the bracket.
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I scraped out the varnish with my thumbnail.
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There's still a little cleaning to do, but it looks much better than in the first pic...
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Now Under the 40.

Last week…
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Only a few miles on this rebuilt axle.

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Painted and ready to install.


The spring shop sold me 3/8” centre bolts. I found that my original ‘74 leafs were slightly smaller than that, probably 5/16”. Because I’m a big believer in beef, and I’d already made collars the bolts to snuggly fit the axle and castor wedges, I drilled the spring leaves out to 3/8”.

On the first pack, I put a C-clamp on the end of the second leaf on each side, cut the head off the previous centre bolt, drove it out, and drilled it out to 3/8”… no problem. On the second side, I did the same thing, but the bit would only go through 3/4 of the pack. After 3 batteries in my Milwaukee (only 10* F right now) I broke the bit… :( so I took off the clamp, separated the leaves, and was able to get the broken bit out. With the leaves separate, I was able to finish off the last two holes easily. Because these springs had been sandwiched together for 35+ years, they were quite easy to pull back together with the centre bolt. In retrospect, I should have separated them as soon as progress going through the pack came to a halt.

With a little luck I’ll make more progress today. Normally it’s 30-50* here in winter. Although I hate working outside in 10* weather… it beats rain any day. :D
 
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The grinding, welding, grinding and banging continue on Wilbur, The Forest Pig…aiming at the Drivers side rocker next…as well as continued play digging out old filler and shrinking - stretching, pulling panels back in shape to guarantee minimal filler as it comes back together. All inner and under surfaces are proving to be far better than I’d feared. This truck has had a rough life…still smiling as I straighten it all out. Rebuilt 1F, Holley 500, new header…all new brakes and 5 new 33’s on XD wheels. I’ll be blasting and powder coating the 5 original steel wheels as well. 🤙🏽✌🏽

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I built some new battery cables last nite from 1/0 welding cable. I'm using marine terminals for now, as the wingnuts make things easier to remove while I'm troubleshooting my lights. I'll probably swap over to MilSpec terminals when I've figured it all out. I have a new starter ==> frame ground strap on order, but think I'd rather build a cable for that too. Can someone tell me what size wire to use? Almost forgot: I have new copper lugs on order for the alt cable too. The old one was corroded badly. I'll splice in new wire and shrink tube the junction. BTW, the battery is a Duracell Grp 27 AGM with dual posts Marine battery I picked up at Sam's Club. I originally bought a 31, but it bumped against the alternator.

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Had to go to the store yesterday to get some more soda and snacks to sit out the storm.
It was something like -1.
The first two pics are my half mile driveway.
The next two are the top of the steep hill on the paved road.
The last one is three vehicles at the bottom of the hill on my way back from the store.
I was asked for a pull but didn't have chains on so didn't want to risk it.
Was advised by the cop not to try to go up so told him if I didn't make it he could just leave me there.
Getting around the truck higher up was a bit worrisome.
The road is the only road in and out.
There are some other ways but serious four wheeling on a good day.
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4x4veteran said:
Had to go to the store yesterday to get some more soda and snacks to sit out the storm.
It was something like -1.
The first two pics are my half mile driveway.
The next two are the top of the steep hill on the paved road.
The last one is three vehicles at the bottom of the hill on my way back from the store.
I was asked for a pull but didn't have chains on so didn't want to risk it.
Was advised by the cop not to try to go up so told him if I didn't make it he could just leave me there.
Getting around the truck higher up was a bit worrisome.
The road is the only road in and out.
There are some other ways but serious four wheeling on a good day.View attachment 3533958View attachment 3533959View attachment 3533960View attachment 3533961TopView attachment 3533963
Click to expand...
Looks pretty treacherous.
What's your preferred approach for gearing on the steep ice there?
 
I can only remember back in Vermont on ice frozen roads…. Don’t let it slide because once it starts, you're out of control. Some flat land roads…not a big deal but on those mountain twisty roads…I have seen the worst possible outcomes..and it’s a long way down
 
45Dougal said:
Looks pretty treacherous.
What's your preferred approach for gearing on the steep ice there?
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I was in two wheel going out but engage the fronts up the hill.
I try to use higher gears in ice and taking off.
Low gears and you tend to spin wheels.
Going downhill, Get religion and pray.
Once again use higher gears and stay off the brake as much as possible.
If you do start to slide don't press the brake harder or you get crooked.
I really don't know.
 
4x4veteran said:
I was in two wheel going out but engage the fronts up the hill.
I try to use higher gears in ice and taking off.
Low gears and you tend to spin wheels.
Going downhill, Get religion and pray.
Once again use higher gears and stay off the brake as much as possible.
If you do start to slide don't press the brake harder or you get crooked.
I really don't know.
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Thanks yea I was curious because generally I'd adopt similar, but also considered using 4Low and no gas. Just chugg up and down. Never tried it.

Haha, well I'm not one for fairy stories either, so I'll just blow gently on the brake pedal and be ready to drive off road I guess.
 
MatthewMcD said:
Curious,

Looking at your mirror arms, is there a reason they are not mounted the same? I have to install mine and this beautiful photo caused me to question the mounting location.
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Its an early fj40. I think it only came with one driver side mounted to the side of the fj40. so I attached the passenger to the wind sheild frame as to not drill holes. I could be wrong. If I did not take the top off so much I would get the early door mounted ones. I feel like those would actually work better haha.
 
Roastchestnuts said:
I snagged some cool fog shots this morning before work. everywhere else it seems its snowing and all we got is some spooky fog hah.
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Great shoot as always. It is time to print the FJ40 photo book.
 
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