Working on Bill, the New To Me 60k mile FJ60 (1 Viewer)

[t6dpilot]

So I figured it was time to start a thread about my first foray into LC ownership. We purchased this 1984 FJ60 here and it has amazingly only 60k miles. First owner bought it in CO Springs and moved it to his ranch in NM. Used it at his airport and what I assume as a ranch work truck. Second owner used it as a hunting truck in NM also. I think it spent most of its time on dirt and gravel roads by the amount of dirt and dust everywhere. And I mean everywhere.

It arrived a couple weeks ago and I have been going through it to see just what we have. Original paint with its share of small dents and dings from a working life. Definitely not a pampered garage queen, but it appears all there and unmolested. Like I said it has dirt in every nook and cranny, but the interior is pretty clean where you can see it. It is where you can’t see that needs to be cleaned. Each area will be taken apart and thoroughly cleaned and I have already spent many hours doing just that. Sadly, the front seats were in bad shape according to the PO and he replaced them with aftermarket ones. I have to assume that was due to the frequent in/out and short jaunts.

Here are a couple gratuitous pics post first wash after arriving on an open trailer.

 

[t6dpilot]

Truck is in pretty good shape overall and has no rust or rust repair. Some things I am disappointed in, but since I didn’t drive it prior to purchase, I take responsibility for.

Pulls to the right a little even though a new OME suspension was installed and aligned.

Slight shimmy at speed.

Leans left despite new springs and shocks.

Steering wheel cocked left - just a relay rod adjustment.

Right bumper pushed in so it just touches fender. I’ll bet a PO bumped a tree at some point. Hopefully can straighten and maybe rechrome, but it really is OK.

It has a rear main seal and transfer case leak that I knew about and plan to maybe tackle myself. The pull and shimmy has me baffled since the tires are new also. Quick measurement of the alignment checks out, so some suggestions here would help. Want to get these two issues squared away first.

Cleaning continues and I started with the interior plastic - dirt in places where you need detail brushes to get at it. I guess that’s what living on dirts roads gets you! Popped off the rear hatch cover plates and detailed that (sorry no pics), but it’s spotless now. I’ll eventually pull the lock cylinder and clean/lube that. Dash area done and door panels will come off next. Working on the engine compartment now. Oof, it needs a good scrub! Needs a new hood pad too - anyone sourced the Cruiser Parts one? They say it’s OEM Toyota.

Some progress pics before and after. All the rubber had years of caked on dirt that required a deft touch with a razor blade to remove.

 

[t6dpilot]

Making some engine compartment progress. Hood latch done. I cleaned all the way down the the inner chassis and inside the front of the fender. Yes, I also scrubbed very carefully each vacuum line and removed the little holders that keep them organized. Wiped down the non-vac hoses with Product 303. Will wait until it’s parked for the season and remove the fender cooling fan to get that aft portion of that area.

 

[EscapeWagon62]

Looks solid and welcome to the insanity.
As for the pulling there are a few things I‘d look at
1. Check your front brakes. Pads are inexpensive but don’t buy cheap pads. When you inspect them, if the pads on either wheel are not worn evenly on both sides of the rotor you likely have a brake caliper sticking. That can cause a pull. Many aftermarket and rebuilt options available.
2. Check your tie rod ends. One side may be worn OR both sides are not tightened evenly.
3. Center your wheels and then look to see that your steering pitman arm is centered. If its angled left or right it can cause Pulling. If your steering wheel is significantly off center they may have connected it to the drag link without adjusting it properly so your wheel is off and your steering arm is t aligned.
All easy fixes.

For your lean....many of the rigs lean but there are a number of threads on OME where they were installed backwards etc (arrows on the springs mean aim that toward the pivot (vs shackle) and it does not mean “this end forward”.

If its just a little lean and you are OCD like me....I put a spacer under the high side which oddly enough lowers that side. Mine sits flat left to right now.

Welcome aboard.

 

[ryanCA]

Beautiful
My twin !

is it lifted? Looks lot higher than my stock one

I need to clean my engine ... but I am scared to spray water on it
How did you do it ?

also looks like both fo your snake blinders are missing

one of mine was missing - I sourced one here

 

[Gretsch]

Pulls to the right a little even though a new OME suspension was installed and aligned.

Slight shimmy at speed.

Nice rig. What do the wheel bearings feel like? With the front wheels off the ground and hands at 12 and 6 any clunky movement from the wheels trying to wobble them? With hands at 3 and 9 any movement from the wheels indicating worn TREs? They are supposed to pull right a little bit. Hard to tell sometimes with the crown of the road if its pulling or just road crown.

Mine had a shimmy too when I first got it. After new TREs, knuckle rebuild with new Trunnion and wheel bearings, no more shimmy. Since tires are new you can assume I guess they are balanced correctly, but that can cause shimmy as well at certain speeds. How do the knuckles look? Caked with grease? You may want to just book time to tackle that job. Cruiser right of passage.

Cruiser lean is very common. Mine has a slight lean even with new suspension. Its bugs me but not enough to do anything about it. You can get add-a-leaf kits to level it out side to side or do what @EscapeWagon62 suggests and put a spacer on the high side which has the effect of lowering the truck on that side. Seems counter to what you would think but it does work. Toyota even sold kits I think to level these trucks out at one time. Known issue even to them.

Great truck and welcome aboard.

 

[t6dpilot]

Thanks for the replies guys. Glad to have found my way here. A very helpful and welcoming group, for sure. So to answer some questions... The tie rod ends were replaced in May along with a bunch of other work. That included a 2-1/2" lift with new 31" tires, front end alignment, and I have to assume a wheel balance. They also repacked the wheel bearings during the suspension install. Not sure why they did just that and not replace them. Has me just a little suspicious. Were they trying to correct a pull at that time cheaply since the owner didn't want to pay for a full knuckle service? I will never know... So I will check for a dragging brake - I thought that could be the issue too. I also suspected wheel bearings and will check those too.

The knuckle looks pretty good and is not caked with dirt. I'll get some photos of both of them and the front steering components as well. Maybe you all can spot something with those. I have relegated myself to rebuilding the knuckles since I like to know that this area is clean and in good shape. Nice to know it is a LC right of passage. The good news is that the rig drives pretty good other than this issue. Doors close with a solid clunk and there are no annoying rattles or squeaks. Pretty tight actually.

Ryan, I used Simple Green diluted 50/50 with water. Sprayed liberally on really dirty areas and sparingly on the electrical connections. To clean I use a small handled brush for larger areas and a detailer's short bristled paint style brush. Works well for getting in tight areas. The hoses that have years of caked on dirt do not clean up well using the brush. I have found that ScotchBright makes quick work of them. Wipe down when finished scrubbing - no water. I finish off the black plastic and rubber with Product 303, which is a marine protectant. Way better than an ArmorAll style of product.

Also, yeah I am missing the snake binders. I would like to source a pair, but am not keen to pay an arm and a leg for them since they are unobtainium any more. I guess I'll put up a WTB ad in the parts section. Any intel on the Cruiser Parts hood liner? Is it really an OE part?

 

[EscapeWagon62]

Not sure if the Cruiserparts.net one is OEM or not but the OEM one is, unbelievably, still available from Toyota!
I out one in some time back along with OEM clips. I didnt want to risk rattles with aftermarket clips.
Part number 5334190A00
About $200
Search for FJ60 Hood Insulator

 

[Kanatii]

She is a pretty one!

Sounds almost exactly like what I'm going through right now. I inherited my grandpa's farm/hunting truck with only 42k miles on it, and while the interior is pristine, it is very dirty underneath.

I'm in the midst of taking pretty much everything off the bottom (exhaust/spare/fuel tank) and the bumpers and radiator so I can lift it up and scrub/pressure wash it from bow to stern. Are you using warm water to help break up the grease and grime?

I'm not sure if mud daubers are a thing in that part of the world, but down here there is mud packed into every orifice they could find.

 

[t6dpilot]

Kanatii, currently using just the Simple Green and a variety of brushes. I have used mineral spirits on a couple of spots, but find that if its too thick, then a plastic scraper works good on unpainted areas. On a few areas where the mud is thick, I am waiting until warmer weather and will use a hose.

Have fun with the process. It's a good way to get to know your rig.

 

[ryanCA]

Ryan, I used Simple Green diluted 50/50 with water. Sprayed liberally on really dirty areas and sparingly on the electrical connections. To clean I use a small handled brush for larger areas and a detailer's short bristled paint style brush. Works well for getting in tight areas. The hoses that have years of caked on dirt do not clean up well using the brush. I have found that ScotchBright makes quick work of them. Wipe down when finished scrubbing - no water. I finish off the black plastic and rubber with Product 303, which is a marine protectant. Way better than an ArmorAll style of product.

THanks. I have simple green, 303, scotchbrite at home. So I can start it over winter break. THe wipe down is what I was concerned with. Since you use no water - I will try that method!

Thanks

 

[Apagee83]

Nice rig you got there. Definitely a super find with the low mileage. I would suggest to bag the alternator and distributor when cleaning up the engine area for safe measures and any other electrical components you deem necessary. The inside of the chassis tubes of mine were full of sand and GA red clay when I got it. I parked the rear facing downhill and pressure washed from the front and side openings multiple times to get them cleaned out. Luckily where I live we never see snow and do not have to worry about treating to prevent the devastation from salt. Sounds like you are on your way to having a beautiful head turner. Good luck!

 

[t6dpilot]

Thanks. I too have frame rails full of NM dirt. Trying to figure a way to clean those. May try your method. I am overall pretty pleased with it, but still run into head scratching stuff. Here are pics of the knuckle areas. What do you think - look OK or plan a rebuild soon? Now look at the tie rod ends. Do they look 6 months old to you? I don’t know... Maybe with that fresh surface rust they are. Hmmm.

Good idea on bagging the distributor and alternator.

 

[Kanatii]

I'm using a hydro-jetter kit with my electric pressure washer I bought off Amazon originally for hydro-jetting my septic lines.

It works great for cleaning the frame rails out.

 

[Gretsch]

TRE's will rust like that if not painted. I think they say you need to paint them before install. Part of the install process. I painted mine before install and no rust to this day. Maybe just hit them with some Fluid Film to slow down the rust.

Knuckles are definitely not the worst I have seen so I would say you are prolly good there for now. You prolly do want to see what kind of grease is in the knuckle cavity and what condition its in at some point just to know. I would just plan on doing it. You can pull the plugs on the knuckle and take a look inside to get some initial idea. The wetness you see on the drivers side could be gear oil leaking out from the diff seal (internal to the knuckle on these) and contaminating the grease inside. Sometimes the oil from new grease can separate and leak out onto the outside of the knuckle making it look like an axle seal leak. Might be able to do a sniff test to tell which it is. Mine was much worse when I got it and ran it that way for a year so I don't think there is any hurry for you. Just check your oil level in the diff to make sure its filled properly. Looks like maybe a front engine oil leak going on somewhere unless that's just residue from your cleaning on the front axle. Don't take any of this as any sort of criticism on what you bought. They all have leaks here and there. Even low mileage ones. Its just part of the deal. Still looks solid to me so great find. So starts the journey. Enjoy it and congrats.

 

[t6dpilot]

Great info. Thanks Gretch. I don’t think the front is leaking only the rear main seal. That may be residue from cleaning. I’m OK with leaks. Heck I am a long time early air cooled P car guy. We are always chasing drips. Looks like Gibbs to the rescue for the TREs.

 

[t6dpilot]

Cleaning continues... still a long way to go for my OCD tastes. The fuel hose and their protective rubber boots were caked with a thick layer of hard dirt. Took me almost 3 hours for those two long one and the short one. Jeez. Some polishing compound took off the brownish crud on the inner fender. I’ll go farther down after I remove the washer bottle to install a new antenna. The battery will come out too so I can get under it.

AC doesn’t work and I think there was a leak a long time ago from the line going to the h/e in front of the radiator judging by the amount of crud there. There is no voltage at the compressor so need to get up under the dash to check that connection.

So I jacked up the front right and left. No play top to bottom. Left to right had a tiny bit but the steering arms seem to move with it so don’t think bearing are causing the pull. BTW I drove on the left side of the road to test the crown theory. Nope still pulls. Time to let a professional look at it.

Question- how do the plastic blue harness anchors come out? They do not seem to want to pop out.

 

[georgebj60]

For the blue straps, you need to push the middle 'pin' through from inside the fender well, then it'll come out. But since they're old plastic, they're easy to break. Fortunately, new ones are fairly inexpensive and still available.

 

[t6dpilot]

Now I know why my hood insulation pad was destroyed. Couple NM residents. Got my new hood pad yesterday and will install after the holidays. In the meantime, here is a before shot and the two little buggers who ate it. Probably got sick from the material they ate.

My OCD also requires that the hood gets detailed before pad installation. And a new OEM antenna to replace this aftermarket one. I am sure that was very useful as it was a backcountry rig and didn’t have to worry about the manual one snapping off.

 

[t6dpilot]

Got a chance to work on the rig some more. Removed the battery tray and bracket to strip and refinish. Muriatic Acid to clean up the rust and finish off with Wurth underbody coating. In inventory from the P cars and seemed a better choice than simple paint. Should hold up better too. Got a chance to clean and polish (yes, polish) the fender area here. Didn’t make the AC hoses perfect since I may be changing those out.

Then over to the other side to remove the cooling game so I could scrub under there. Looks much better now. And removed that ugly second antenna base that was in the fender there. I’ll just plug it now and have it repaired when I get the rocker fixed.

Finished it off by installing the Trail Tailor fender splash guards. Looks much better. What’s next...? Maybe start work on chassis cleanup in conjunction with a good buff of the exterior paint. I was thinking of my options on the surface rust on the front suspension components you can see in my photos posted previously. Rust converter on them followed by paint or remove, strip, and prime/paint?