What have you done to your Land Cruiser this week?

[rainingagain]

I’m by no means a body guy but the half dozen or so vehicles I’ve needed filler on (and another dozen motorcycles) I’ve always used rage gold.
I use thin, smooth cutting boards from the dollar store to mix it on and spread it from. Don’t mix too much because when it starts to kick, it’s done and just toss it. Better to mix a few baseball size batches than one big batch that hardens while you’re trying to work it.

With the thin cutting boards (like 1/8”) you can feel the heat from the chemical process. Pretty crazy.

A bunch of us shade tree body guys chiming in but at least we are consistent. When I was wrenching, I was also the paint and body guy for fixing things that didn't go through insurance - say when an operator in a skid steer doesn't notice an S-10 parked behind them. Or the bosses truck when he hits his garage at home cause he had a few to many.

I typically went with the Evercoat products like Rage because that's what the shop bought. I also used my fair share of 3M on personal stuff. But yeah, it really is about getting the mix right, if it's a new product, playing with it, and taking your time.

Beat the metal back into shape, a coat of bondo, sanded and then a top coat of a glazing putty to fill any pin holes.

I should also note since this sort of aligns with wheeling - I used Evercoat Everglass on all my lowriders and mini trucks. Yes, I'm telling on myself here. They typically had air ride or hydraulic suspension and would be put to some serious flex stressing. Everglass has small fiberglass strands. Standard stuff would sometimes pop if you were lazy on you metal work.

 

[kenjera]

Its been a day... began by rustproofing the tailgate hinges & ran out of paint, so l decided to change the water filters as those that were painted dried & the water valve seized up and wouldn't flow, to get things moving l decided to start the truck, pop out to get more paint & a new water valve, l went back into the house to get my gear & as l walked past the window leaving the house l seen the truck free wheeling down the hill into a stone dyke...it demolished the dyke...and in the process it scraped off more enamel paint than my grinders managed so far...other than that the trucks fine. Before.... Behind the tailgate on the (old) 1st pic is the intact dyke.....2nd whats left...3rd the bumper paint removal advance....

 

[Pighead]

Its been a day... began by rustproofing the tailgate hinges & ran out of paint, so l decided to change the water filters as those that were painted dried & the water valve seized up and wouldn't flow, to get things moving l decided to start the truck, pop out to get more paint & a new water valve, l went back into the house to get my gear & as l walked past the window leaving the house l seen the truck free wheeling down the hill into a stone dyke...it demolished the dyke...and in the process it scraped off more enamel paint than my grinders managed so far...other than that the trucks fine. Before.... Behind the tailgate on the (old) 1st pic is the intact dyke.....2nd whats left...3rd the bumper paint removal advance....

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So, next project is the parking brake?

 

[kenjera]

So, next project is the parking brake?

The handbrakes been done twice in 1 year..the garage renewed the set up early last year for me, worked great for 6mths & stopped working when l stripped it down l found the shoe metal was soft & the retaining hole had ovaled & spat the hardened retaining pin out, l then replaced the shoes with terrain tamers own, l know the cables needing the drum end spring cutback an inch as its not adjusting properly, its on my to do list.......its a steep slope & the wooden chokes l use meantime didn't hold it... its a hassle but l'll get to it...hopefully this coming week when l'll be under the truck rewiring the rear loom.. weather permitting...

 

[Pighead]

Our local brewery ( they also make ciders and meads ) is about a 2.25 mile drive by the Pig odometer. They had a sorta car show, of course I attended. They let us park on the lawn, which meant that we could walk around with pint glasses in hand and look at our neighbors cars up close. So we did. There were no trophies.

 

[Ackcruisers]

Installed 2 degree front caster shims for my OME 2.5” CS001F suspension with 33” tires. The steering was pretty good without the angle change but what a solid and noticeable improvement with the shim. This calibration had a nice return on my wrenching time with an immediate payoff. Thanks to @cruiseroutfit who supplied the pins, shims and UBolts. For those considering this, the CO part numbers are below.

UCB8 - Center Bolt
UBOLTKIT40AFTE - U-Bolt Kit
SUSCW2PAIR - Steel Caster Shims

 

[MatthewMcD]

I’m by no means a body guy but the half dozen or so vehicles I’ve needed filler on (and another dozen motorcycles) I’ve always used rage gold.
I use thin, smooth cutting boards from the dollar store to mix it on and spread it from. Don’t mix too much because when it starts to kick, it’s done and just toss it. Better to mix a few baseball size batches than one big batch that hardens while you’re trying to work it.

With the thin cutting boards (like 1/8”) you can feel the heat from the chemical process. Pretty crazy.

As I was relearning how to use body filler, I discovered this product Clean Sheets for mixing body filler (and epoxy, spackle, and anything else). Makes mixing and clean up super easy.

 

[MatthewMcD]

Replacing my door window track weather stripping runs with new track from City Racer and window felts. The biggest pain is removing the glass, but boy is it nice and snug now. Also got to evict a few more bugs and treat some rust spots. Unfortunately, they only had one of the outer felts, so I need to find one more.

 

[rlong]

As I was relearning how to use body filler, I discovered this product Clean Sheets for mixing body filler (and epoxy, spackle, and anything else). Makes mixing and clean up super easy.

I have/had one of these I picked up in the auto paint store years ago, they are great! Tablet of heavy treated paper, mix and apply from tablet then throw that sheet away! I need a replacement mine got wet at some point. Thanks for reminding me!

 

[JKIII FJ40]

Went for a drive, lost power on acceleration. This was one of the days I detested the Holley Sniper. Its happened several times over the last month but then clears up, the last two times I changed fuel filters as I thought that was the issue and it went away. It started acting up again this past week, basically intermittent power loss. I checked my fuel filter and it was brand new and clean. Went for a drive on Thursday and Friday with no issues. Took off today and made it 3-4 miles away and it started acting up again. In the past occurrences, I lost power when shifting in to the 3rd. My fix was to downshift and run the RPMs up and get it to recover to get home.
Today, I wasn't so lucky. I limped it home and was able to check the bore and noticed irregular injector spray pattern with 60 lbs PSI fuel pressure. After some research, I deduced by the randomness it was the famed injector clips failing. I tore the cover off and one connector was loose. I put zip ties on and now its running great. In the pic below was the first attempt to correct the issue, I have since changed how I zip tied the connector on.

 

[kenjera]

Replacing my door window track weather stripping runs with new track from City Racer and window felts. The biggest pain is removing the glass, but boy is it nice and snug now. Also got to evict a few more bugs and treat some rust spots. Unfortunately, they only had one of the outer felts, so I need to find one more.
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Try GoodState....on ebay.au.... Viktor has a wide range of Landcruiser parts, he will ship to you.

Replacing my door window track weather stripping runs with new track from City Racer and window felts. The biggest pain is removing the glass, but boy is it nice and snug now. Also got to evict a few more bugs and treat some rust spots. Unfortunately, they only had one of the outer felts, so I need to find one more.
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Try GoodState/UK...on ebay... he has a range of genuine toyota cruiser parts..he might have it or be able to get it for you...and he will ship.

 

[65swb45]

Started the next project, which was dropping the aux tank. We put it in for the P.O. at my shop approximately 30 years ago, and it hasn't been out since. While the tank stopped the rust in the rear sill from progressing, it probably wasn't a good idea to wait 30 years to drop the tank. No visible leaks, but deeper pits than I expected. And since I've had the truck for 16 of those 30 years, that's on me. It will get a good coat of rust converter before it gets reinstalled.

I'm on the fence about tackling the rear sill, even though it's very accessible right now, because I have less than five weeks until I go wheeling again, and two other projects that I'd like to get done before the trip.

 

[mdsims]

Took it grocery getting! Felt good, first real drive in 6 months. Both axles rebuilt, new brakes plumbed and new suspension. Rode nice! Also found a few more items to add to the fix it list.

 

[CruiserTrash]

Try GoodState....on ebay.au.... Viktor has a wide range of Landcruiser parts, he will ship to you.

Try GoodState/UK...on ebay... he has a range of genuine toyota cruiser parts..he might have it or be able to get it for you...and he will ship.

I’ve seen Good State Parts on social media and wondered about their legitimacy. They look a bit more “real” than the very obvious scammers, but they don’t seem to have a presence here in the US, where I’m at, so I wasn’t really sure. Thanks for letting us know they’re reputable!

 

[numby]

Had to rebuild my rear wheel cylinders (see this post) because one froze up a few months ago and finally got time to take things apart. Since I couldn't get the right rear passenger side (called the "bottom" for some reason) adjuster nut to spin and loosen the shoe there was no way I could get the drum off. I finally used @65swb45 's trick and drilled out the upper shoe pin from the rear of the backing plate. I got lucky when the drill bit grabbed hold of the pin head well before I was through. The pin spun in place and popped out of the hold down spring inside the drum assembly. I still couldn't get the drum off because the frozen adjuster nut was putting pressure on the lower shoe...but it gave me an idea.

I didn't have a good drill angle on the lower shoe pin which is directly opposite the spring pack and seat. I could have removed the seat/u-bolts and probably gotten a decent angle but, since the the upper pin came free with a twist I thought I'd try to spin the lower one as a short cut.

First I slipped a stiff putty knife behind the pin head. Then I slid a forked trim removal tool under that and pried the head up which allowed me to grab the shank with a pair of small needle-nosed vice grips. Unfortunately I couldn't get the pin to rotate far enough to slip through the slot in the retainer that was still holding the lower shoe to the backing plate. I may have been spinning the retainer with it but there was no easy way of knowing. So I grabbed a hack saw blade and cut the head off in less then a minute and was able to get the drum off.

Prying the head up...

...and cutting the head off.

The culprit.

No exterior leaking. Just a slight failure of the interior seal that allowed a micro layer of rust to form. Once removed from the vehicle I could almost turn the adjuster nut by hand. There was no discernible pitting so I rebuilt it. We'll see if I assessed correctly or not in a few weeks when it goes back on the road.

 

[charliemeyer007]

I bought a small can of real Red Rubber Grease, I do the sides of the piston and adjuster plus the adjuster screw. It was on ebay from england.

 

[numby]

The failed cylinder was installed straight out of the box so probably got a quitting time dab of lubricant. I'm probably lucky it lasted as long as it did.

I use red rubber grease on everything except the adjuster screw. I use a non-melting caliper/shoe grease on those as they're outside the end seals. The factory manual specifies non-melt on the adjuster screw/bolt threads and rubber grease on the pistons/cups/etc.

 

[jesus888]

Thanks for the tips and anecdotes. All very helpful tips.

I was leaning towards aluminum and then topping off with rage evercoat (if I ever get around to doing anything about the body). I’ve got some friends with some hammer and dolly skills, but understanding where to cut reliefs and massaging and shrinking metal just isn’t one of the ways my brain works.

I’ve got a decent amount of experience mig welding thin sheet metal (at least a few thousand stitch welds).

On topic for the thread, I lost my locking gas cap on Monday. I had some plastic and a bungee cord, which worked for the 50 or so miles I needed to drive the rest of the evening.

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Funny story... I did the same thing driving my 40 to Florida to see @cruisermatt ... realized at the 3rd and final gas stop after I filled up that I couldn't find where I put the cap... thought about it, talked to 2 friends (both more mechanically inclined that I) and both said... "it'll be fine, just don't fill it up all the way..." which of course was impossible bc I just discovered it AFTER I filled it up all the way... anyway, between the pending heat stroke and the white knuckle driving on the interstate for 6 hours, I said F-IT... apparently I likely drove off from the last gas station without it (I'm 95% sure I left it on top of the tire when I was pumping gas), and I didn't catch on fire... #fullsend

 

[65swb45]

Funny story... I did the same thing driving my 40 to Florida to see @cruisermatt ... realized at the 3rd and final gas stop after I filled up that I couldn't find where I put the cap... thought about it, talked to 2 friends (both more mechanically inclined that I) and both said... "it'll be fine, just don't fill it up all the way..." which of course was impossible bc I just discovered it AFTER I filled it up all the way... anyway, between the pending heat stroke and the white knuckle driving on the interstate for 6 hours, I said F-IT... apparently I likely drove off from the last gas station without it (I'm 95% sure I left it on top of the tire when I was pumping gas), and I didn't catch on fire... #fullsend

I did mine on the first of many drives to TX for the Lone Star Roundup in 2005. Somewhere between Tucson and Las Cruces. Traveling in a soft top 40, the canvas acted like a bellows and pulled ALL the fumes into the cab! Well, through Pirate 4x4 I had befriended @tornadoalleycruiser and @Texican , both of whom were going to be at the Roundup…and both of which had given me their cellphone numbers. I called them both and told them what happened. By the time I got to Roundup, there were THREE gas caps waiting for me.

 

[charliemeyer007]

I leave the key/ring in the cap - hard to drive away with the cap on top of the gas pump with the keys in it.