Builds Workingman's Troopy - 1995 HZJ75 (4 Viewers)

[Tennessee Jed]

Why do we do these things? I'll try to keep this picture heavy but I thought I should sort of record my little odyssey as it unfolds.

I have an FJ Cruiser - now for sale, by the way - that I was about to officially sort of marry, and make my forever truck. I love driving it - it's extremely comfortable and agile and I love the 1GR engine, truly a million mile engine if you take care of it. I was about to lift it, get tires and wheels, armor, winch, the works. Then Toyota announced they were re-introducing the Land Cruiser to America and rumor was that it would be a more back to "first principles" kind of rig - and I thought well, I better save this FJ as is and keep it stock so I can trade it in, if the new one is "all that". But as it turns out, the new one is not what I dreamed of, nor could it be (in the real world) - but the ensuing months made me realize that I'm not getting any younger and I wanted THE ONE - one Cruiser to rule them all - that I couldn't upgrade from, that would do absolutely everything I wanted, no apologies, no weak spots, no CV boots, no semi float axles, no electronic 4WD Vulcan mind meld crap. Just nuts and bolts.

And I found this Troopy for sale on Mud. 1HZ - for me, the perfect engine - still being made for God's sake! Left hand drive! Low miles! Bumpers (even a Kaymar)! Winch! Lift! Roof Rack! It even came with my kind of Troopy interior - useful but spartan. Plus it had that famous Toyota deep cushion upholstery and Big 6 power, just like in the old posters!

I had driven Troopies in Kenya and they effectively snuffed out my love for Land Rover about 20 years ago, showing me the True Path. I saw them come and go here and on Bring a Trailer. No way I could ever afford one of those $60K dream machines, but this one was just barely affordable for me, so I pounced.

I didn't see any way it could be improved. I'm not a turbo guy - I guess if it had a factory 1HDT in it that would be fine, but I prefer boring reliability over neck snapping performance. So I got official clearance from management and the deal was done.

 

[Tennessee Jed]

So after nearly a month of red tape and waiting, shipment is arranged and finally the truck shows up in the Tractor Supply parking lot.

The driver looked like Genghis Khan and spoke not a single word of English. He jumps down out of the cab and points at my new baby and gives me the thumbs up and a big smile. I wish I had gotten pictures, but I was all-a-flutter as they say.

He starts to undo the binders then stops and hold his hand up - the universal sign for STOP. He points at the rear axle. Then he takes his phone out and Temujin says something into it which I took to be "Conan - what is best in life??" but translates out in Cyrillic letters as "NO BRAKES". He points again at the rear axle then makes the right foot stomping signal - the universal sign for no brakes. Then I notice that the rear axle hard brake line is bent at a 90 degree angle - probably not the way it was designed. Then he points at the ground and sure enough, there are drops of brake fluid. He then continues to point in a dot dot dot manner, back in the direction of Texas, signifying that there was a trail of brake fluid all across the fruited plain. OK - be calm - don't cry.

I looked at him - saw the Russian letters - and I said "You from Kyrgizstan?" and he stopped like he had a stroke, his eyes got wide and he grabbed both my shoulders and said "KYRGIZSTAN!" and gave me a shake which I guess means I have a standing invitation for tea if I get over that way.

No brakes. I can't drive it home like this. So I just parked it - luckily the E-brake worked great. I was only about 500 yards from the garage where we usually get all our major car work done. So I got up early the next morning about 4, nervous as a cat, and drove it without brakes over to the garage and parked it and left them a note.

 

[Tennessee Jed]

So, long story short, new rear hard line was made (OEM one is en route from Megazip now, couldn't get it locally). Also it needed all front brakes, calipers, the works. I had all the parts and dropped them off which surprised them, all those candy cane boxes falling out of the sky like that.

Brought it home and fell immediately in love. Kinda loud, kinda slow, kinda stiff - kina like me. But I knew this would be a long process of refresh-to-vation starting with a rear pinion seal.

I also wanted stock steel OEM wheels. As luck would have it, Cole at OTM Cruisers (just east of Birmingham) had a set of new wheels on site, and said he'd love to slap in a rear pinion seal while I waited. So I took the opportunity to make a day trip down there.

 

[Tennessee Jed]

I can't say enough good things about Over The Mountain Cruisers. I pulled in and in about 30 seconds Cole and Joseph tore into my truck like a hen on a june bug.

I had new OME shocks from Cruiser Outfitters and they had those in in about 20 minutes, then for good measure put in new rear U joints.

OTM is a great resource for Cruisers here - ACC in Atlanta is a well known standby but there's nothing else in a reasonable driving radius around here. I think they had 3 of every kind of Cruiser here in various states of total restoration or basic repair.

And this is just what was inside - there were lots more outside including a really sweet 73 that Joe Katana brought in from the Netherlands.

 

[Tennessee Jed]

Original shocks - I don't know how old they are but I compressed them to the floor with 2 fingers and buddy, they stayed compressed.

 

[Tennessee Jed]

The Troopy had not had functioning air conditioning in many years - no one, neither of the 2 previous PO's had ever known it to work, no one knew why.

OTM did a vaccuum test - check. It had a dye leak fluid in it so they put on a belt (no belt in forever) and started the truck. As soon as they put a can of freon in, the RPM's immediately jumped up and it started blowing cold. One can wasn't enough so we waited for 2 more and fully pressurized the system.

No dye leaks anywhere that we could see. It was blowing ICE cold. So cold it almost hurt. I was ecstatic. So I paid them and off I go with AC so uncomfortably cold that even in the Alabama heat I had to set it on the lowest setting or crack a window.

That lasted about 45 minutes - I heard a chirping sound, then the temp slowly started increasing. Deciding it was nice while it lasted, I turned it off and drove home with the windows open.

When I got home I raised the hood. The belt was loose - obviously the tensioner couldn't hold. So I have all that and a new pulley ordered.

Also there is a leak where there was none before - the green wet area. It was originally completely dry there.

Apparently there are O rings under that top cover - change those out, recharge the system, and it should work great.

I also ordered another Collector/Accumulator.

But at least one of my bigger worries - no AC - seems to be partially addressed. It can work - we can rebuild it.

 

[Tennessee Jed]

New OEM wheels - and busted wheel studs. One on every corner, and two on the right front. Sourcing them now.

 

[Tennessee Jed]

Oil change. Mobil Delvac full synthetic 15w 40. Note to self: get a bigger drain pan. This is not a Tacoma.

Rear diff fluid change. I'm kinda concerned, there was a mound of shavings on the magnet. But I'm going to get an E locker in a few months so it's all good. Front diff fluid was golden clear and I left it.

Also new mirrors both sides. Hard to overstate the difference this makes.

 

[Tennessee Jed]

Tomorrow is hub studs and nuts as well as new longer sway bar links from Cruiser Outfitters. Good get this stuff knocked out so I can get on the road for Wind Rock.

 

[Bama4door]

@Tennessee Jed great to meet you Ryan, thanks again for coming down to Bham! This Troopy is the real deal, would love to have one one day.

The new steelies look way better, post up some more pics of the whole truck!

 

[RHINO]

those mirrors make all the difference.

 

[janyyc]

Awesome! Looking forward to seeing what direction you take this in, thanks for taking us along for the ride.

 

[Tennessee Jed]

@Tennessee Jed great to meet you Ryan, thanks again for coming down to Bham! This Troopy is the real deal, would love to have one one day.

The new steelies look way better, post up some more pics of the whole truck!

Glad I went ahead and did the wheels! Otherwise would never have discovered the broken and corroded studs, or the spacers on the front and not on the rear. No wonder there was a shimmy, 90% gone after the new stabilizer, now 100% gone as near as I can tell.

 

[Tennessee Jed]

Ok ready for the meet and great I think. New wheels and studs. No spacers. Now zero shimmy at any speed. Took a joy ride just for fun.

These phones cameras are so distorting. Look how tiny that rear wheel looks. I guess it's time to whip out the Nikon.

 

[Tennessee Jed]

Just got back from the 70 series Meet and Greet - what a great time. Not much going on but some quick updates to catch up.

Got LED reverse lights and interior dome and cargo lights from Odd Iron - only to discover that my front dome light doesn't work at all - the fuse is fine, but I'll have to get my multi meter off the boat and see what's up. But the LED kit from Odd Iron fits perfectly. The rear cargo light itself is useless - old and crusty - so I ordered a new one.

Replaced the small bulb that lights up the heat/AC slider control area - disassembled the panel and popped in a new bulb replacing the little green cover on it. Sorry no pic.

The reverse lights are amazing - the night time photo was worthless but you can easily see the difference compared to the red tail light.

 

[Tennessee Jed]

Nightmare on Elm Street with this freakin fuel filter. What does the odometer say? That's how many K's ago it was changed. Nice and shiny now though.

But to my confusion the sediment/water alert isn't plugged in to anything? And I don't see anything to plug it in to? Gonna have to track that down.

 

[Tennessee Jed]

What's next on the Price is Right - oh yeah. A tiny matter of a rusty driver's side floor pan - as in bad. You can't exactly throw a cat through the holes, but you could push one through with a stick. (Sorry cat lovers.)

I found a real old time body shop - one that actually works on sheet metal, not just swaps panels for the insurance company. Gonna go down there next week for a Spa Day.

I got a replacement floor panel from Cruiser Utes and Parts in Australia - great customer service, fast shipping (got here in a week) and the panel is high quality. Heavy, very stiff steel. Fits very well. They have a ton of stuff for our trucks, highly recommended. Cruiser Utes & Parts: Your Online Landcruiser Parts Specialist - https://www.cruiserutesandparts.com.au/

 

[desmocruiser]

Very cool, Somehow I missed most of this during the event!

Troopie is looking good! Congratulations!

 

[Tennessee Jed]

Teaser - got my delivery of my new Koito headlight kit from VintageTeq. SO NICE and shiny - heavy glass lights. (Thanks to @ToyotaMatt.) Went to put them in and discovered that now that I have headlights, I need EVERYTHING ELSE. Trim ring on the front, retainer ring on the back, screws, bolts, springs, this, that, the other thing...

But it'll be so worth it. If you're thinking of doing this, check out your current light set up and make sure it's not all barnacled together like mine was - I was able to order every single item from my local Toyota parts crone. Except for one item (of course). They had one rear retainer ring (that the bulb sits in) but the other was NLA, discontinued, etc. So I got it coming from Megazip.

I'll list all the part numbers when I get everything and do the install. The one they didn't have at Toyota was one of the ones marked with the hand cursor on it.

 

[Tennessee Jed]

Very cool, Somehow I missed most of this during the event!

Troopie is looking good! Congratulations!

Thanks man! I thought I'd run into you but I had to leave Friday night due to weekend obligations. I hope to get up into the mountains with the Appalachian Cruisers group in future.