What have you done to your Land Cruiser this week?

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Having some more fun with my touch up paint, I decided to take off the hood spear and the driver’s side windshield hook, both of which had lots of small chips of paint missing around them. It was obvious that the spear had not been removed in 56 years, and I’ve seen way too many spears with broken studs to even consider turning the nuts. Took a cutoff wheel and ran it down one side of each stud through the nuts and voila! One spear removed intact.😊
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Cleaned and ready for paint.
Reinstalled
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Through the course of events, the wheel lock key gets lost… I never liked having these lug nut locks but the truck had them on it when I had gotten it. While I had guarded that key like it was solid gold, it still wound up gone.

I purchased and returned 7 different master key sets to remove and replace this one lug nut on each wheel but none of them ever fit. I was always led to believe if you lost the key, you’re F’ed. Not true

I Tried the nut extractor 22mm… from Amazon…same day delivery. It hammered it on for a good bite and they screwed right off. Not F’ed anymore


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Thinking last night about these locks. They are only a deterrent for some a$$hole with a tire wrench. A smarter a$$hole with intent on stealing wheels just needs a breaker bar, a set of extractors and a small sledge hammer. Here in the overpopulated northeast there are way better things to latch onto…😂
 
40 years ago I had a friend who had a super-clean 280Z who bought some fancy tires and wheels for it. He lived on a busy street in Reseda.
He wakes up one morning a few weeks after buying the tires and rims to find his car sitting on the ground!

What my friend ended up determining was that the thief undid all the lugnuts and, when the time was right, just shook the car from side to side until the wheels fell off!
And, being on a busy street, nobody heard anything unusual when the car hit the ground!
 
Funny but I called them cinder blocks too…. My friend in construction corrected me….” Concrete masonry units”. CMU
 
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knuckle47 said:
Thinking last night about these locks. They are only a deterrent for some a$$hole with a tire wrench. A smarter a$$hole with intent on stealing wheels just needs a breaker bar, a set of extractors and a small sledge hammer. Here in the overpopulated northeast there are way better things to latch onto…😂
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Our upstanding citizens aren’t bothering with anything that’s not cash or guns. Good Guys show just had 80 trucks broken into at the Hotels.
 
knuckle47 said:
Through the course of events, the wheel lock key gets lost… I never liked having these lug nut locks but the truck had them on it when I had gotten it. While I had guarded that key like it was solid gold, it still wound up gone.

I purchased and returned 7 different master key sets to remove and replace this one lug nut on each wheel but none of them ever fit. I was always led to believe if you lost the key, you’re F’ed. Not true

I Tried the nut extractor 22mm… from Amazon…same day delivery. It hammered it on for a good bite and they screwed right off. Not F’ed anymore


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With an impact and the right deep socket… :D

It doesn’t even damage the nuts. I’ve had the same set since 1992. I know that they’ll only take an extra minute or two for a pro… but a pro will find an easier target with fancier rims and tires. Up here tires are often twice the price of what they are south of the border.

I’ve never lost the key… but did have to replace it once after a shop installed the nuts with an impact and the key. Problem was that I didn’t discover the damage to the key till months later when I was swapping tires… and by then it was hard to prove they had F’d it up.
 
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Mine are splined and a deep socket came with the nuts and studs. Socket has a lot of surface area. Don't know what the theft deterrent is exactly and don't want to find out.

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Jdc1 said:
Our upstanding citizens aren’t bothering with anything that’s not cash or guns. Good Guys show just had 80 trucks broken into at the Hotels.
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That’s why it’s a good idea to boldly advertise what kind of gun they’ll find in the truck under the seat by putting huge stickers in the back window. Maybe they aren’t a fan of that brand and they’ll skip over it!
 
Skreddy said:
That’s why it’s a good idea to boldly advertise what kind of gun they’ll find in the truck under the seat by putting huge stickers in the back window. Maybe they aren’t a fan of that brand and they’ll skip over it!
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lol- That makes complete sense.
 
I do not even plan to spend the money on a paint job or worry about the rust under the rear doors.

My goal is have it running and reliable.
 
charliemeyer007 said:
When your rig is showroom new looking - it will attract all people; both: the good and the bad, perhaps even the ugly! All my stuff is old and broken looking - I almost never take the keys out of the iggy or lock the doors.
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The thieves are targeting pickup trucks. Doesn’t matter what condition, they’ll sweep a hotel lot of every truck, leaving anything that’s not cash or a personal defense item.

Google- Columbus, OH car break ins. It’s getting out of control.
 
Power steering gear box input shaft seal started leaking so I replaced it without removing the box and that worked out fine, way peezy..... But then the whole top end of the box started pissing!! 😡 Ordered a gasket sill kit a decided with much thought it was much easier to pull the fender assy and pull the box out for teardown....see how this works out. Thankful just a few bolts for easy access.

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Buffchief said:
Power steering gear box input shaft seal started leaking so I replaced it without removing the box and that worked out fine, way peezy..... But then the whole top end of the box started pissing!! 😡 Ordered a gasket sill kit a decided with much thought it was much easier to pull the fender assy and pull the box out for teardown....see how this works out. Thankful just a few bolts for easy access.

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Nasty inside!!!

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