Well, its on...

[upcruiser]

Finally. Just ordered up a new (used) front axle for my 80 and a set of good used exhaust manifolds as well. Looks like the FJ80 will be coming back out of the barn from its 2 year hibernation this month! Now I just can't wait to get back from California to get it all together and see just how bad gas can get in two years sitting in a fuel tank.:Wow1: It's a 3FE right? They love that stuff with no octane.

Other stuff I'm hoping to do immediately include having a custom dual fuel tank setup designed by a local fabricator. This would include a replacement of the current tank plus a new custom rear secondary tank mounted where the factory spare was. The new exhaust manifold will connect up to a new custom exhaust I'm having a local shop build for me as well. I'm going to pull out the current bed setup and build a new two person sleeping system in the back of the truck with storage beneath accesible by hinging trap doors. Also looking to pull the trigger on a winch finally as well. Haven't decided on which to go with. Hopefully I'll have it dialed in and together completely for my late July trip to Colorado. Looking to do 2 weeks connecting some alpine routes and visiting friends.

Anyway, thought I'd share the happiness. Can't wait to get 'er out on/off the road.

[adventureduo]

Congrats dude! I bet your excited.

Im out of it... what happened to your axle to prevent you from enjoying your rig currently?

[upcruiser]

I neglected doing my birfield service and put it off waaaay to long. A seal failure caused a mixing of diff oil and birf grease causing a catostophic 3rd member failure. Basically all of the internals of the axle were wasted. I sourced a used 80 series axle that has 30,000 miles on it since a service and picked it up. Additionally, my job gave me a company vehicle that along with my packed travel schedule made it unecesary to fix it right away. I was able to take insurance off of it and save it till I had more time. With my new position I took at work, I'll have a lot more freetime in between work jaunts now, so I'll be able to enjoy more overlanding, but also loose the company vehicle. So, the cruiser goes back on the road and I'll use it as my daily driver along with the 944 untill I can find a nice economical and pratical car to pick up and save the other two cars for their special uses.

[adventureduo]

Right on, that is really good news then.

[Northern Explorer]

Where are you having your fab work done??? (dual fuel tanks)

[upcruiser]

A place down near Traverse City called Wheelock Welding. They do good work and put the dual tank in my father's F350 and it turned out great. It works out well since I have a pole barn where the cruiser is stored near there. I'll probably get it on the road, have them take measurements, bring it back up to Marquette for a couple of weeks, then take it back down when the tanks are ready. That's my intent, not sure if it will work out like that or not though.

For the exhaust I was going to have EQ muffler in Marquette do the work. Those guys have helped me out huge in the past and are really affordable.

[zimm]

so I'll be able to enjoy more overlanding, but also loose the company vehicle. So, the cruiser goes back on the road and I'll use it as my daily driver along with the 944 untill I can find a nice economical and pratical car to pick up and save the other two cars for their special uses.


now isnt the time to loose that company fuel card!

[upcruiser]

Unfortunately, I didn't have a fuel card. Although, any work related travel I was reimbursed for. It was nice though to have a new truck with now payment of insurance to worry about. I definately put some use on it!

[upcruiser]

I should probably update as well. I didn't end up ordering the exhaust downpipes as I was originally quoted $250 for the pair, but apparently that was a mistake and they were $250 a piece. So, I'm still trying to figure out that solution, but $500 for a used set seems steep. I'm this close to pulling the trigger on a Warn 8000 and some synthetic line as well. I probably will wait till the truck is on the road to buy it though in case I have some unforeseen issues. The axle arrives next Thursday with a fresh rebuild, so that is nice. Unfortunately, I'm in Cali till the 26th and am anxiously awaiting the opportunity to get it swapped. :jumping:

[Desertdude]

how smart of you to stash the LC until you were ready again...

http://www.cruiserparts.net/

may have exhaust parts for you

[upcruiser]

That's the place that I talked to actually. I ordered the axle through them. Orginally they thought they had a hub to hub front FJ80 axle with 30,000 miles on it since its last service. Apparently that didn't exist in their inventory. I ended up with one with overall fewer miles and they went and serviced the axle for $200 extra. That's a good deal in my eyes as I'd rather pay that then go through the mess to do it myself.

[Desertdude]

Small world :) sounds like you got a great deal.

Oleg has a few 80's parting, out he may have something - http://www.irbisoffroad.com/

[upcruiser]

Actually, I'm pretty sure it was you who had recomended LandCruiserparts awhile back. The axle arrived today, unfortunately I'm in San Diego at the moment(actually its pretty nice to be here).

I also ordered up a shiny new Warn 8000 tonight. Pecking away on the 'ol checklist. Anyone know if you can squeeze a Warn 8000 on without removing the bullbar on an FJ80?

[pskhaat]

Get someone to help (maybe two), but yes you can get a winch on there. I put my w12k on mine with the bar still on. PITA to get the bolt holes lined up, but it did work.

Advice, go buy some extra-long mounting bolts of the same thread pitch/diameter (don't remember off top of head). You can use those long bolts to secure the winch in the proper position from a greater distance away, and then use the provided bolts to mount.

[upcruiser]

Get someone to help (maybe two), but yes you can get a winch on there. I put my w12k on mine with the bar still on. PITA to get the bolt holes lined up, but it did work.

Advice, go buy some extra-long mounting bolts of the same thread pitch/diameter (don't remember off top of head). You can use those long bolts to secure the winch in the proper position from a greater distance away, and then use the provided bolts to mount.

That's some good advice, I'll heed it no doubt.:wavey:

[dieselcruiserhead]

Kristian, if you need a gas tank for any reason I have one for a '93, should be the same I think... Cheers! Andre

[upcruiser]

Kristian, if you need a gas tank for any reason I have one for a '93, should be the same I think... Cheers! Andre

Really? That might be tempting. What do you want for it? Might be a more cost effective way to go then fabbing two new tanks. My current one is leaking near the top of it and needs to go.

[dieselcruiserhead]

I was think $250 or so? Not sure if this is too much.. It is complete with everything, sitting taking up space.. Would rather get rid of it then let sit around.. I'll PM you my # if you want to call me.. Cheers, A

[upcruiser]

Well, it's alive! I travelled down to the cottage where I had the rig in storage. Tuesday morning bright and early I got to work on it. The replacement axle was waiting there for me in all its newly serviced splendor. The guys at Land Cruiserparts.net were great and it arrived 2 days earlier then I expected it to. It took me about 3.5 hours to do the swap which I thought was good considering I was using all hand tools. The only really PITA part was monkeying with the sway bar mounts on the new axle. They were pretty badly bent and one of them had been partly cut by a torch from its previous disasembly. I was afraid it would break as I was trying to staighten it. Luckily for me it didn't, nor did any fastners over the process of the swap. Also on the plus side, I was surprised to find that the axle came with not only the rotors but the calipers as well with fairly new looking brake pads.

After completing the axle swap and bleeding out the brakes, I installed a fresh new Optima yellowtop and turned the key. It fired right up, after 2 years and 1 month of sitting dormant in the pole barn. Gotta love the 3FE and its ability to burn though 2 year old gas without a hiccup. haha

I gave it a good bath to wash off the seemingly inch deep dust that had settled upon the rig and it looked like new again! Felt good to be back behind the wheel I'll tell you. I made the 5 hour drive back north to Marquette with the windows down, sliders open, and sunroof back the whole way on a beautiful 75 degree late afternoon/evening. God I love this truck.

Stuff that needs immediate attention though. Exhaust, its going in next Monday to have some new braces made since my last Utah trip really did a number on the system. Also my downpipes are pinholed badly and I'm hoping they can just touch it up a bit for me, versus dropping $500 for a USED set.

Winch, still waiting for my Warn 8000 that I ordered from the Winch Depot to arrive. I'm going to swap out the line for synthetic, but it won't be for a couple of months likely. I'd really like to keep it light. Scott had a great thread he wrote awhile back on this subject.

Bike mounts, I'm going to figure out a way to mount my Thule bike mounts on the roof in conjunction with the Conferr roof basket. For long trips I prefer to put my bikes inside to shelter them from the weather but I locally it is easier usually to just put them up top. My thought is to utilize one of my old Thule bar/towers and place that at the front edge of the sunroof. I'd put the fork mount on this and have the back wheels rest in the basket. The other use of the front bar would be....

Limb wires. Planning on running them from the bull bar up over the front Thule bar, then back to the basket. The basket runs from the rear of the truck up to the edge of the sunroof. With the the how heavy and thick the vegetation is in this region it should help out nicely.

Rear bed reconfiguration. For the July trip to Colorado I will not be travelling solo like I usually am. Currently I have a one person berth built into the passenger side of the truck. It measures exactly 6' long and is just wide enough to sleep on comfortably. This leaves me plenty of room, both under and next to the bed for other items like bikes, gear, etc. Since I have so many different uses for the truck, I'm trying to keep it as flexible as possible. Therefore, I'm leaning away from building rigid storage compatments, and am going to keep it open and pack it with soft bags for various things and partition things off as I need them depending on the trip. For the bed upgrade I'm planning on engineering a flip open action second layer to the current bed. So when not sleeping on it, it folds on top of the present bed. Then when needed it can be folded out. I haven't quite got my head around how yet though. My whole philosophy with this truck is keep it simple, and this will abide by that as well.

Stereo. I still have the factory system in it, and while I am no audiophile, the quality of this system and its blown speakers drives me nuts. I'm hoping to upgrade.

[ChuckB]

I think that your FJ80 is absolutely sweet!! Your rig actually has me thinking about picking up an FJ80 and possibly doing a H55F swap. Especially now that my wife won't let me drive the 100 any more... :( I know that buying an FJ(no Z) 80, goes against just about everything people will tell you on mud, but I'm ok with that :ylsmoke:

[upcruiser]

I think that your FJ80 is absolutely sweet!! Your rig actually has me thinking about picking up an FJ80 and possibly doing a H55F swap. Especially now that my wife won't let me drive the 100 any more... :( I know that buying an FJ(no Z) 80, goes against just about everything people will tell you on mud, but I'm ok with that :ylsmoke:

Thanks Chuck, I appreciate it. The H55F swap is something that I'd like to do down the road someday. I'm planning on keeping this truck for the long haul so it is in the longterm plan. I'm trying to retain as much stock componentry as possible along the way too. For doing something as radical as a tranny swap, its cool that I could keep it in the family with the H55F. As far as the FJ vs FZJ bashing on mud, these are the same people that say you can't get by without 37's and a 12,000 lb rated winch either. The 3FE is great on everything other then freeway driving. I have no problems with it but I could see it being frustrating if I was needing to drive freeway speeds frequently, especially in altitude and in the mountains. For two lane roads and crawling around offroad loaded down, it is the proverbial tractor motor.

Update for today, I got the limb wires installed. I'll post up some pictures tonight if I can borrow Dana's digi cam. They turned out pretty good I feel and I coated them in black rustoleum paint as well for added weather protection. We loaded up the canoe (and the cat) and went for a little paddle nearby, then took the back route home through some unimproved tracks with some thick brush in some sections that gave the limb wires a bit of testing.

Next up, rigging up a way to carry the bikes on the roof.

[adventureduo]

I'd like to see your limb risers.

I have them on my rig and have used them twice in SoCal. lol

[ChuckB]

Thanks Chuck, I appreciate it. The H55F swap is something that I'd like to do down the road someday. I'm planning on keeping this truck for the long haul so it is in the longterm plan. I'm trying to retain as much stock componentry as possible along the way too. For doing something as radical as a tranny swap, its cool that I could keep it in the family with the H55F. As far as the FJ vs FZJ bashing on mud, these are the same people that say you can't get by without 37's and a 12,000 lb rated winch either. The 3FE is great on everything other then freeway driving. I have no problems with it but I could see it being frustrating if I was needing to drive freeway speeds frequently, especially in altitude and in the mountains. For two lane roads and crawling around offroad loaded down, it is the proverbial tractor motor.


That's really cool, I didn't realize that you were thinking about doing the 5spd swap as well. Any thoughts on doing a toybox while you're in there?? I'm sure its pricey but it would be really cool with the manual to be able to crawl and not worry about the clutch too much. I don't have any practical experience but, from the little bit of wheeling that I have seen, it looks like having the super low gears with the manual tranny is the way to go in the more technical terrain. It's probably not quite essential for expo type driving though.
I agree about mud, there is a ton of information there, but the mob mentality is kind of in effect in the 80's section. Luckily, now I'm to the position were if I want to cruise the freeway at full speed, I'll just take the 100 and set the shocks to "super comfy" on the dial and make sure I don't spill the latte. I still browse the 60 section a lot, I like it in there much better even though I'm 60-less now.
If I do end up with an FJ80 its not going to be a DD, so freeway speeds will be what I want them to be, just cruisin. Plus from what I read it sounds like the H55F really wakes up the 3FE so it could only be a step up right?
Which reminds me... what tire size are running 33x? or 35's I can't tell from the few picts I have saved on my computer of your 80 :smiley_drive:

[upcruiser]

Like I said, the tranny swap would be down the road a few years and haven't really given much more thought then, yeah, I want to do it. I heard that the 3FE wakes up a bit too from the swap as well. Not sure what else I would do along with it at the moment. One nice thing with the auto tranny is that I can really creep over stuff in 4lo.

I'm running 33x12.50 BFG Mud Terrain KM's on 15's.

I tried to snap some shots using my gf's cell phone and to say they came out crappy is an understatement. I was trying to show the limb riser wires I installed, but they are barely visible. I need to invest in a digi cam....:( Anyway, here's some shots that the wires are barely visible in, including one from a little canoe outing from yesterday, yeah we brought the cat.

[Desertdude]

Your rig is so cool, it comes through even on a cell phone photo :)

[ChuckB]

Your rig is so cool, it comes through even on a cell phone photo :)

:iagree:

[dieselcruiserhead]

I have driven a FJ62 with a H55F conversion. Literally *night and day* difference in terms of power...

[ChuckB]

I have driven a FJ62 with a H55F conversion. Literally *night and day* difference in terms of power...

Stop teasing me :sombrero: Kristian is a lot farther along than me, I don't even have the rig yet. I am still in the dreaming stage...

[pskhaat]

I have driven a FJ62 with a H55F conversion. Literally *night and day* difference in terms of power...

That's the only way to describe it. I have an H42 behind my 3F-E and the 3F-E is truly awakened.

[kcowyo]

Your rig is so cool, it comes through even on a cell phone photo :)

:iagree:

I'm a big fan of the red/merlot/burgandy 80's. Yours especially. :bowdown:

[upcruiser]

I really dig this ruby red color too. I've had a lot of red cars over the years. two maroon Troopers and my FJ60 was red. Thanks for the compliments!

Since my last post I installed one of my Thule bars and towers up near the front edge of the sunroof along with two fork mount bike clamps. I also rerouted the limb wires up and over this which makes them a bit higher off of the front edge of the roof which is probably better. With the current setup of the spare tire in the basket, I can now carry my canoe and two bikes with no problems. I can't carry my jerry cans though with the canoe which is ok because I won't be doing any long trips with the canoe anyway.

I also went throught and repainted the blacked out grill and light surrounds since they were rock chipped and the chrome was starting to come back out in sports. Additionally I painted the rear bed for the truck since I never painted it to begin with and it was starting to yellow.

The exhaust got some attention today. I had a local shop make me some new support brackets and they were able to weld in a replacement section of stainless for a cracked joint. Also was able to get some tack welds on some pinhole leaks in the downpipes, though they are really bandaids and I'm in the need of a replacement set soon. FJ80 exhaust systems are NOT cheap, even used from what I've been finding.

One thing I'm looking to make also that I didn't mention is a screen insert for the rear slider windows. I'm planning on making two frames that are the same shape as the window opening then glueing screen between them. For installation, I'd use velcro so they pop in and out easily and allow for ventilation on the buggiest of nights. Along with that project, I need to come up with some curtains. If anyone has made curtains for their rig and have some shots, I'd be into checking them out to steal ideas.

Still awaiting the winch as well.

[pskhaat]

As for the FJ80 exhaust systems: did you go stock stuff or have someone do a custom job? The custom jobs aren't too bad $-wise, probably a lot cheaper than getting the stock routed pipes.

[upcruiser]

Its all still the factory system except where I've had repairs made to it previously. The stainless portion of it is still in great shape but the downpipes to the cats are pretty rough. I'd imagine making custom downpipes would be tricky, especially when you have to incorporate cats and O2 sensors.