What have you done to your Land Cruiser this week? (16 Viewers)

[trainbufftony]

There's always a better way to redesign the circuit.

I fundamentally disagree.
The system works perfectly as designed.
You start switching bulbs out then yes you need to redesign it.
Once you've done all that, you've spent significant money to make an LED flash with the same brightness and frequency as the original. You could just replace the light bulb, save your money, and your time, and redesign something that doesn't work.
Not everything that is made to bolt on your vehicle makes it work better. It's design purpose is not "to make a landcruiser better" it's "to separate morons from their currency."
It's important to realize that most of the crap on Amazon is actual crap, which someone else is going to have to un-do.
Just run the stinking bulbs.
Buy a box, not a blister pack, and you'll have your blinkers fixed for under $10.

 

[SergP]

Sometimes parts from Mercedes work too....with some adjustment of course.

 

[Polecat]

I fundamentally disagree.
The system works perfectly as designed.
You start switching bulbs out then yes you need to redesign it.
Once you've done all that, you've spent significant money to make an LED flash with the same brightness and frequency as the original. You could just replace the light bulb, save your money, and your time, and redesign something that doesn't work.
Not everything that is made to bolt on your vehicle makes it work better. It's design purpose is not "to make a landcruiser better" it's "to separate morons from their currency."
It's important to realize that most of the crap on Amazon is actual crap, which someone else is going to have to un-do.
Just run the stinking bulbs.
Buy a box, not a blister pack, and you'll have your blinkers fixed for under $10.

I think the point is that load resistors defeat one of the main purposes/advantages (lower energy draw) of LED bulbs.

While I wouldn't say the system works perfectly as designed, I don't think anyone here is saying the incandescents aren't ok. In my opinion though, they're exactly that - just ok. Yes - they work. Yes - it costs more money to make it better (in my opinion) with LEDs, but isn't that true for a lot of what's talked about around here?

 

[Polecat]

I had lots of issued getting the flashers to flash at the normal rate Rapid Flashing Issue. I made some changes to the wiring(PO didn't have the the front turn signals wired properly) after this post and want to go back to see if these load resistors are still required. I have the flasher upgrade installed in my truck that uses a solid state flasher.

View attachment 3662983

This is good to know. I was just looking at a picture of this and was starting to wonder if the addition of the ground indicated this was a solid state flasher. Thanks for jumping in

 

[hanzo111]

Anybody care to share a photo of a 40 Series flasher?

I’ve been modifying original 60 Series flashers for use with LED bulbs for a while now, so they flash at the right speed. I just picked up a 1969 40 and I’m still pretty new to this world. Maybe I can modify these for LED bulbs though. I will say I tried on a late 70s mini truck and it wasn’t possible - there’s two relays and a bimetallic strip that actually makes & breaks the contact. I can tune a relay or oscillator circuit response speed, but without a full blown metallurgy study and access to manufacturing for bimetallic strips … not much I can do. Too bad the aftermarket flashers I’ve opened up are hot garbage inside.

When I built my land rover defender I switched to LED lights all around.
I used one of these to control the flash rate. Not sure if it will work here or not?

 

[knuckle47]

@Polecat i went to take a photo by the flasher is tuck up high behind the dash cluster… I can hear it clicking but cannot see it even with a very bright light. I did pull the rear directionals (1156) and replaced the original incandescent….. it works!

 

[wchevron]

This one is for the tech fans out there







View attachment 3662426

You couldn't get that to fit in the radio opening

 

[antFJ]

You couldn't get that to fit in the radio opening

Haha probably could have - they make ones that fit into the single din, but i like the ability to keep my head up and not look down... and it covered all the cracks in my dash pad

 

[CruiserTrash]

When I built my land rover defender I switched to LED lights all around.
I used one of these to control the flash rate. Not sure if it will work here or not?
View attachment 3663044

There's definitely solutions out there from Amazon and other places. I've bought a few to check them out, and as somebody with a background in electronics, I immediately identified that they're full of total dogsh*t inside. They'll probably work for a while, and they're cheap enough to replace if they go bad. That's fine. I'm kind of a nut for originality though, so when I cracked open the original flasher in my 60 I saw what I expected to find: really great build quality. I also knew the type of oscillator circuit and was able to tune it for LEDs pretty easily. I like sticking with my modified OEM unit. Now, whether or not the 40 Series flashers can be modified - and what changes those went through over the years - remains to be seen.

 

[CruiserTrash]

I fundamentally disagree.
The system works perfectly as designed.
You start switching bulbs out then yes you need to redesign it.
Once you've done all that, you've spent significant money to make an LED flash with the same brightness and frequency as the original. You could just replace the light bulb, save your money, and your time, and redesign something that doesn't work.
Not everything that is made to bolt on your vehicle makes it work better. It's design purpose is not "to make a landcruiser better" it's "to separate morons from their currency."
It's important to realize that most of the crap on Amazon is actual crap, which someone else is going to have to un-do.
Just run the stinking bulbs.
Buy a box, not a blister pack, and you'll have your blinkers fixed for under $10.

I totally agree. And disagree.

The incandescents work ok in the circuit - as intended. Given the choice between load resistors and and incandescents, I'll take the original bulbs all day long.

These old trucks typically suffer from undersized wiring and low output alternators, however, and the four blinker bulbs can cause a significant system-wide voltage drop at idle (like sitting at a stoplight waiting to turn). LEDs are a big help here but obviously introduce new problems. Hence accommodating the circuit in a way that makes them work ... without the solution being a load resistor.

 

[Polecat]

There's definitely solutions out there from Amazon and other places. I've bought a few to check them out, and as somebody with a background in electronics, I immediately identified that they're full of total dogsh*t inside. They'll probably work for a while, and they're cheap enough to replace if they go bad. That's fine. I'm kind of a nut for originality though, so when I cracked open the original flasher in my 60 I saw what I expected to find: really great build quality. I also knew the type of oscillator circuit and was able to tune it for LEDs pretty easily. I like sticking with my modified OEM unit. Now, whether or not the 40 Series flashers can be modified - and what changes those went through over the years - remains to be seen.

There have been a handful of 40 series flasher relay part numbers over the years

81980-20030
81980-20040
81980-20060
81980-30040
81980-36040

ALL of them have been replaced by 81980-12H04, which is the part pictured in @FJ40Savvy's post on the previous page. He indicated that's a solid state flasher. Assuming that's true, those seem like the answer.

 

[FJ40Savvy]

The thing that gets me about load resistors is that you're just immediately wasting all the energy savings from the LEDs as heat due to the current through the resistor. May as well leave the incandescent bulbs in at that rate. Sorry ... I hate load resistors. There's always a better way to redesign the circuit.

I chased this issue for a couple hours, tried many things as listed in the post and still had rapid flashing signals. Note: This is with incandescent bulbs not LED bulbs. I’m wondering if the re-wire on the front lights fixed the issue. Now I need to try to disconnect the load resistors to see if the rapid flashing still exists. Update to follow.

 

[CruiserTrash]

There have been a handful of 40 series flasher relay part numbers over the years

81980-20030
81980-20040
81980-20060
81980-30040
81980-36040

ALL of them have been replaced by 81980-12H04, which is the part pictured in @FJ40Savvy's post on the previous page. He indicated that's a solid state flasher. Assuming that's true, those seem like the answer.

I can only find that part number (11980-82H04) on CCOT's website. Not in the EPC or elsewhere that I can find, maybe I missed it.

 

[Polecat]

I can only find that part number (11980-82H04) on CCOT's website. Not in the EPC or elsewhere that I can find, maybe I missed it.

I think that's CCOT's part number. Toyota's is 81980-12H04. Pretty sure they're the same thing.

 

[pb4ugo]

Here's a pic of a mid 70's FJ40 flasher. I think they're mechanical. I ended up going to the an electronic flasher because they sense small ampereage. I bought 1 from Azone They're available with a report or not. I wasn't adapting LEDs, I was going to a smaller wattage bulb. If you search here, I think you'll find others were adapting led's also.

 

[clrussell]

Triple digits and I still choose to drive the one with no ac.

 

[Pitter Patter]

Triple digits and I still choose to drive the one with no ac.

View attachment 3663251

Love the patina on that 40

 

[clrussell]

Love the patina on that 40

Every time I drive it someone asks me if I’m going to paint it.. not anytime soon

 

[FJ40Savvy]

I chased this issue for a couple hours, tried many things as listed in the post and still had rapid flashing signals. Note: This is with incandescent bulbs not LED bulbs. I’m wondering if the re-wire on the front lights fixed the issue. Now I need to try to disconnect the load resistors to see if the rapid flashing still exists. Update to follow.

The re-wire of the front turn signal pods corrected the rapid flashing issue, I removed the load resistors and the turn signals have a normal flashing rate.

The PO had not connected the two wires (turn and running) in the front signal pods. I had signal lights but no running lights. The running light lead was connected to ground. While correcting the wiring, I noticed that one light was brighter than the other. I used the bright one for signals.

 

[charliemeyer007]

Japanese and German parts might be ok, but I wouldn't add any Italian parts to the mix or it might try and Axis up to rule the world