What have you done to your Land Cruiser this week?

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Ackcruisers said:
View attachment 4063868I just took the alternators to AutoZone to test. They have a pretty sophisticated machine (for free) to analyze the Alternator. They told me not many people use the machine anymore (most people just throw the alternators away and buy new). I laughed and said you haven’t met the FJ40 community - we restore and repair everything.

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I've got to find a shop around that still tests alternators. I picked up a used alternator, was told it works, but don't know if I should use it or keep running my 120 amp alternator that likes to eat bearings every now and then. I bought it as it in '96 as a core out of an '89 Caprice Classic Cab (ex-cop car). It has been a great alternator, but one of these days it's going to need more than just new bearings and it also has a crack in the rear housing (because someone dropped it). Almost 30 years and 6 bearings later it still is a kick ass alternator.
 
bhsdriller said:
Only downfall seems to be that you can't fully open the hood and rest it on the roof which can be nice for more access
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The struts pop off easy enough, but when I designed my setup, I made it so the hood opens a foot or so higher... haven't felt the need to open it higher yet. Besides, I've always been slightly concerned that a gust of wind will catch it and bring it down on my head when it's just leaned against the top of the roof.
 
Nearing the end of the build on the white 77, the weather was decent enough to have it outside. I also brought the older brother out for a side by side comparison. Both have a 2”(ish) lift, the white one needs the springs broken in.
I took both for a spin around the cul-de-sac a couple of times before putting them back in the garage.

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Just refreshed the steering on Larry with a lot of new components. Tie rod, relay rod, & drag link with new ends. Drag link rebuild & center arm rebuild as well. I used OEM Toyota ends and they came with the rod assemblies as well which was a nice touch.

All new ends from Toyota & a JointFuji drag link end. Rebuilt the center arm with a JointFuji rebuild kit. Does anyone know the torque spec for the center arm nut & clamps for the tie rod/relay rod?

I plan on resealing/possibly rebuilding the steering box next. I have the OEM seals & an OEM rag joint in my parts pile.
Here are the Toyota & JointFuji part numbers I used:

Steering stabilizer: 45700-69015
Driver side tie rod end: 45046-60H01
Passenger side tie rod end: 45046-60H02
Driver side relay rod end: 45046-60H03
Passenger side relay rod end: 45045-60H00
Drag link to center arm end: 45047-60H00
JointFuji Center arm rebuild kit: ST60021
JointFuji Drag link rebuild kit: ST60010K

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JKIII FJ40 said:
Nearing the end of the build on the white 77, the weather was decent enough to have it outside. I also brought the older brother out for a side by side comparison. Both have a 2”(ish) lift, the white one needs the springs broken in.
I took both for a spin around the cul-de-sac a couple of times before putting them back in the garage.

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What brand canvas top do you have on there? Looks great. I’d be curious to see how it’s fastened on the interior.
 
aaron9252 said:
What brand canvas top do you have on there? Looks great. I’d be curious to see how it’s fastened on the interior.
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Its a bestop softop. Attaches to cleats on the side. Not the best soft top but there are some advantages. You can roll the back window, pin up the rear and sides and fold it back like a heep. It was a old spare I had laying around.
 
Scored some used 4Plus rocker protectors, I’ve always worried about taking a hit here on the couple times a year that I wheel her hard. These were previously powder coated so they need some TLC, plan is to paint them mustard to match the truck before installing. I’m sure glad I pulled the old side steps as they were hiding some rust that needed attention. I’m not going full resto where the rust was since it will be covered by the sliders, but I nuked the rust with a wheel and CLR before cleaning, priming and painting. More to come.

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sadovnik said:
What product do you plan on using for the color-matched undercoating?
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Found out they use SEM 2k urethane chip guard. Hopefully this isn’t a mistake on my part 20 years down the road.

I’m generally in favor of paint only for 2 reasons. 1) ease of future repair 2) originality. However… the shop does a lot of restorations and they’ve been in business for 50~ years so they say this is the way to go for long-term durability, I’ll trust they know better than I do. A bonus is that it requires less labor than paint because they won’t go through the multi-stage process on the underside. No need for all that filler, sandable primer, color, clear process.

Other parts are now on to CRE321 Sandable primer process.
 
So I finally got my HJ45 in the workshop this winter, and started doing a few jobs.
I need to remove the NS front wing for painting, which necessitates removing the aircleaner...

I pulled the (oil bath) aircleaner off and started cleaning it up with two goals - firstly to paint it up and make it look nice, and secondly to convert it to a dry filter (in the hope of slightly more performance from my H and maybe even less smoke). I'm looking forwards to hearing some opinions on that..

I assumed that the aircleaner housing should be black. After de-greasing it, and washing away most of the thick tar-like underseal that a PO had applied liberally to everything, it looks like this...
Question - should it be khaki / beige, or was this just a factory primer??

Beer and baby monitor are how we roll in the workshop on a monday night.

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Took the ‘76 up into the Mtns. Some fun snow wheeling above 7000 ft
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A few months back I saw a MP ad for some 60 series parts in the metro Detroit area. Fast forward to this last weekend while I was on AF drill.

The guy selling parts has an 83 fj60 engine I wanted for our 72 fj40 we bought years ago for our daughter.

In a 3-way parts trade I sold the guy’s cousin a set of 60 wheels to roll that cash into the cost of the engine.

I’ll pick up the engine later when my backyard freezes again and I can sneak it back from another drill weekend .
 
Roastchestnuts said:
Hahaha I did ask the people of mud in this post - I need some welder input from you guys. - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/i-need-some-welder-input-from-you-guys.1374288/page-3#post-16185652

The consensus from everybody was to get a millermatic 211 bassically. I might get the cheeper millermatic 142 or the hobart 140ez now and pick up a 240 volt welder in the summer when I have a little more cashflow. I have heard both good and bad about the autoset. I think I would really use it though. I have not purchased anything yet. But will this week sometime. I need to start working on the passenger side of the fj55 project. I appriciate your input!
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Just catching up on this thread but I also highly recommend the 211. I’ve used it on both voltages and it is a very impressive machine with a small footprint but somewhat hefty price tag.

I’ve found a couple on Craigslist over the years, folks going in whole hog and chickening out I guess.
 
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