What have you done to your Land Cruiser this week? (12 Viewers)

[hairy_apple]

Been working out little electrical bugs and issues. Sill fighting gremlins. But fixed or just band aided a few today. I've got some weird shorts going on causing some funky issues. I have 12v to ONE ground wire but not others? It was causing some strange stuff to happen.. like if you turned heater on with the engine running, it wouldn't work...but you turned the key to shut down the engine, and the heater came on an the engine stayed on. Pushed in the switch to turn off the heater and the engine shut off with the heater. Turn the heater on with the Ign on.. but the engine not running, and nothing. WTF!!!! I couldn't find what was going on, so I ended up just cutting the ground, and grounding the heater to the body and now it's working correctly.

Nothing has ever worked quite right since the fire... I really guess I need to rewire the whole thing, I just don't want to. All the important stuff works fine, it's just gets gremlins sometimes and is a huge PITA to track them down and fix or bypass them. This is actually the first one I had to totally give up and bypass the problem with.


Started reorganizing some stuff, changing things around. Moved my straps inside the cruiser into a bag, hate to give up inside storage but my cruiser lives outside and the strap was growing grass out of it. I am getting a basic plan down how I want to set up the inside now that I am keeping the that I am keeping the hardtop on year round.

 

[lostmarbles]

Figured I've got no alternative that to start MAKING a replacement cap for my coolant reservoir since they no longer seem to be available (and since I'm a fussy bastard)..

The plastic is a bit like my aged skin (contusions, flakey/crusty bits, etc etc that threaten to release fluids that should ideally remain contained within):

Damn... Everythings shut now for the Xmas break and I need some "barb elbow connectors" to finish this off.....

 

[78fj40mg]

Figured I've got no alternative that to start MAKING a replacement cap for my coolant reservoir since they no longer seem to be available (and since I'm a fussy bastard)..

The plastic is a bit like my aged skin (contusions, flakey/crusty bits, etc etc that threaten to release fluids that should ideally remain contained within):

View attachment 1009504
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Damn... Everythings shut now for the Xmas break and I need some "barb elbow connectors" to finish this off.....

Hey Tom it looks great so far!

 

[roma042987]

Figured I've got no alternative that to start MAKING a replacement cap for my coolant reservoir since they no longer seem to be available (and since I'm a fussy bastard)..

The plastic is a bit like my aged skin (contusions, flakey/crusty bits, etc etc that threaten to release fluids that should ideally remain contained within):

View attachment 1009504
View attachment 1009513
View attachment 1009514
View attachment 1009515
View attachment 1009512

Damn... Everythings shut now for the Xmas break and I need some "barb elbow connectors" to finish this off.....

hey tom did you miss my link?

 

[RolandFJ40]

For whatever reason, putting my foot on the pitman arm like in the pic and tapping slightly on top they literally fall off. I did two times and had both off within a minute. That was after bending one cheap puller from HF and heating...

 

[lostmarbles]

hey tom did you miss my link?

Yes! And I feel such an idiot for missing it too Roma..

That's about an hours work there in turning up that cap..

And now I've just gone and ordered one of those caps from Cruiserparts.. (It's not the same but it sounds like it fits OK.)

But you never know, maybe I'll end up liking my home-made one more ...It's certainly much more solid/long-lasting so far.. I guess how good it turns out to be depends on what I can find in the way of barbed elbow connectors...

Thanks for your help!

 

[Solace in Solitude]

Yes! And I feel such an idiot for missing it too Roma..

That's about an hours work there in turning up that cap..

And now I've just gone and ordered one of those caps from Cruiserparts.. (It's not the same but it sounds like it fits OK.)

But you never know, maybe I'll end up liking my home-made one more ...It's certainly much more solid/long-lasting so far.. I guess how good it turns out to be depends on what I can find in the way of barbed elbow connectors...

Thanks for your help!

That's the spirit, Tom!! I like what you did - I'm sure it will be better than what you could buy!!

 

[joyRidaz]

Refurbished mirror arms, and installed new mirror heads:


Prior to installing my new mirror heads(CCOT aftermarket) that Santa brought, I decided it would be appropriate to do some refurbishment to my existing mirror arms.
Basically just sanded them really good, and then painted them with Rustoleum's Professional High Performance Aluminum 7515 spray paint.

I wasn't sure about this color but it seemed like the best one that Lowes had on hand, but I was very pleasantly surprised once applied. It really lays on nice, and dries fast. I am really thrilled with the color, not sure what the purists will think, but surely is a major upgrade for my truck.

I'm considering doing the bumper in the same color, but will need to do more research.

Here's some before and after shots, I'm pretty happy with the end product. Except for the screw that snapped during the re-installation.

Before:

After: Pls excuse the scratch on the DS arm, messed it up during the insall...

Here's the paint I used:

 

[tls3601]

Nice work joy, I have also had great results with Rustoleum Charcoal Gray enamel gloss paint. Made my OEM turn signal housing look new again after one of the PO's painted the housings white!

 

[Solace in Solitude]

Refurbished mirror arms, and installed new mirror heads: [/ATTACH]

Great job!!

How do those CCOT mirrors compare, size-wise, to the OEM mirrors? They look to be the same size and shape...

 

[Racer65]

Great job!!

How do those CCOT mirrors compare, size-wise, to the OEM mirrors? They look to be the same size and shape...

I had the CCOT mirrors at one point but went back to OEM. The size is similar, but the issue for me was the quality of the mirror itself. It didn't provide the depth and clarity of the Toyota mirrors, and that bugged me during daily use.

 

[Solace in Solitude]

I had the CCOT mirrors at one point but went back to OEM. The size is similar, but the issue for me was the quality of the mirror itself. It didn't provide the depth and clarity of the Toyota mirrors, and that bugged me during daily use.

Thanks Racer! My mirror backings are cracked and crumbling and I really would love to have a slightly larger mirror - but clarity is really an issue for me - it's hard enough to see clearly in my OEM mirrors.

I'm considering trying to refurbish what I have with heat-formed ABS or Kydex or something - e.g. try to re-encapsulate the mirrors to save them from themselves...

 

[joyRidaz]

@pngunme - to answer your question, the size seems spot on. I can't comment on visual clarity at this point, just installed them. I'll post findings after some decent usage.

Some notable differences between the ccot and the previous one (oem? Not sure)...
1) ccot one is a slightly different shade of gray, maybe due to newness vs aged
2) ccot one has a very faint logo above where it connects to the ball joint. Looks like a manufacturers logo
3) original/existing mirror has a circular blind spot mirror, maybe an add-on from PO.. Can anyone confirm if that was oem?
4) ccot one seems to have sharper plastic edges, less rounded. Only noticeable to the touch not to the eye.
5). New mirrors are not limp, cracked, and nonfunctional like the old one. More importantly there's now two vs one, so the state won't give me paperwork and fines .. Previously I only had a floppy drivers side mirror and an arm without a mirror in PS
6) free poster!

Overall I'm happy, especially given the price difference, but my rig isn't a frame off. Function over form at this point for me...

Btw, I couldn't figure out the trick to installing onto the ballpoint... I heated the plastic with a hair dryer and still was very rigid. I ended up separating the plastic by wedging in a chisel and plyers enough to get it to fit over the ball

Hope this helps

 

[skidplate]

I removed the door panels of my '75 and cleaned out all the gunk that was in the bottom of the doors, cleaned out the drain slots , treated inside doors with rust converter, and lubed all window and door lock linkages. All smooth operation now.

 

[lostmarbles]

@pngunme - to answer your question, the size seems spot on. I can't comment on visual clarity at this point, just installed them. I'll post findings after some decent usage.

Some notable differences between the ccot and the previous one (oem? Not sure)...
1) ccot one is a slightly different shade of gray, maybe due to newness vs aged
2) ccot one has a very faint logo above where it connects to the ball joint. Looks like a manufacturers logo
3) original/existing mirror has a circular blind spot mirror, maybe an add-on from PO.. Can anyone confirm if that was oem?
4) ccot one seems to have sharper plastic edges, less rounded. Only noticeable to the touch not to the eye.
5). New mirrors are not limp, cracked, and nonfunctional like the old one. More importantly there's now two vs one, so the state won't give me paperwork and fines .. Previously I only had a floppy drivers side mirror and an arm without a mirror in PS
6) free poster!
Overall I'm happy, especially given the price difference, but my rig isn't a frame off. Function over form at this point for me...
Btw, I couldn't figure out the trick to installing onto the ballpoint... I heated the plastic with a hair dryer and still was very rigid. I ended up separating the plastic by wedging in a chisel and plyers enough to get it to fit over the ball

Hope this helps

When I bought new OEM they cracked on the corners within just weeks (perhaps even just days) of installation and exposure to the sun..

So if those CCOT ones don't do that then that's got to be a big plus for them...

 

[HJ45-PU]

I have bought my self or to the garage a new clip plier.
Last time I hold on for half an hour at one side to get this f... clip on again.
And at last the 55mm socket for the nut at the front axle.

 

[murf]

Went to Red Creek

 

[HJ45-PU]

Nice, very nice.

 

[oestlarsen]

If nobody said this type of puller is much stronger, i bought a fairly generic one off amazon and and it kicked a name brand 3 arm on in the backside.
I believe the magic word is "bell puller" then the size you need

I should warn you it makes a heck of a noise when i popped off finally.. it was nearly a time to wish i had brown pants on

Bought the OTC bell puller, a beast. It did not fit correctly with fender so the arm was cut/sacrificed to remove the box :-(

Once out...not sure I can get that puller to fit smack center on the shaft (your picture above has the bolt against a nut, not the center of shaft)

That done, next PIA was the center arm rebuild cap. OMG, if you are using a kit, suggest installing the housing so you can apply pressure to spring when threading the new cap.

it is in!

 

[lostmarbles]

Fitted stainless steel wheel nuts today (or "stainless steel lug nuts" to speak the language of the majority here I guess).

So my BJ40 has gone from these OEM lug nuts (which are open-ended and were originally just lightly electroplated which made them prone to rust):

(Note: I hot-dipped these nuts in the above photo)

To these chromed steel ones (because while hot-dipping my originals, my local hot-dipper happened to drop about 10 nuts into the bottom of their molten-zinc tank):

(I prefer the closed-ends of these nuts over OEM but chromed-steel is notorious for rusting.)


To finally these JEEP polished stainless-steel nuts:

(A JEEP product that's actually superior to all the nuts I've run before I believe ... And I hope I don't get thrown off the forum for saying this )