Bought an FJ62...

[John E]

Got a call from Richard while on my motorcycle trip, seems the head gasket is blown on the FJ.

So much for getting a few more thousand miles out of it before considering a diesel swap.

Had him go ahead and redo the gasket and the valves, hope to be picking it up by this coming Tuesday.

The transfer case work will have to wait until next month as the gasket job sorta blows my monthly Cruiser allowance for June.

Anyone have an idea what an 3F engine with over 200,000, new head gasket and valves might be worth when it's time to yank it and put a diesel engine in it's place? I'm sure I won't be able to get back the cost of what I've had done to it so far but I'd be curious as I've never priced a used 3F before.

Onward...

[John E]

good news is, the FJ is gonna have a new head, valves and clean fuel injectors, the bad news is that it's gonna cost me a few bucks more than I hoped.

Turns out the head itself is cracked, so it's off to Specter Off-Road for a reconditioned one and while we're at it, lets pull the injectors and have them flow tested and cleaned. Hopefully this will put an end to the engine issues for a while.

As these things seem to work out, I grabbed a multi-day commercial for a company I can't name for a product I can't mention that should pay well enough to mostly cover the head work so I can still plan on getting the transfer case re-done as I had originally planned. That will be done later this month if all goes well. I'm also heading out of town for a few days on the DR so I won't be needing a rental car while the FJ gets finished up. A bit of joy in the midst of large repair bills and inconveniences.

Onward...

[John E]

has arrived. Catching a local train in a little while to go pick up the Cruiser. New head gasket, new head, valves, etc. had the fuel injectors cleaned and flow tested when the head was being rebuilt too.

Hopefully this will take care of the motor for awhile, I'm still planning on replacing the water pump and all the hoses and belts myself along with the radiator repair. The transfer case rebuild will have to wait til next month. Slowly but surely the FJ is getting rehabbed. I might be driving it up to Montana late this summer to work on a film for a couple of weeks, need it to be as reliable as possible for that obviously. Luckily the producer will be paying for the fuel...

Onward...

[John E]

the FJ is back in my driveway. Newly rebuilt head, valves, oil and filter, gear oil in the transfer case, some new spark plugs, couple of new hoses, clean fuel injectors, etc.

Runs very well, unfortunately all that work didn't result in better fuel mileage.

Glad to have it back, now I can get to work on the cooling system and maybe some of the interior issues that I've been putting off.

Onward...

[John E]

should it take me to completely service my front axle including the hubs, knuckles, etc?

I've got an email out to Kurt at Cruiser Outfitters for a complete kit including bearings.

Could I do it all in one day? I've got a pretty decent set of hand tools and an 1/2" electric impact driver as well as some air tools, ie, 3/8" ratchet and 1/2" impact wrench. Need to get a better, taller set of jackstands.

Anyone who's done it looking for something to do...???? I'll be happy to provide the food and drinks and the reciprocate the labor.

Planning a trip up to Yosemite at the end of the month, really want to try and get it done before I leave on 07/30.

Any hints, tips, advice, or warnings are appreciated.

I've already heard that I'll be going thru a lot of paper towels...

[cruiseroutfit]

Thanks again for the order John.

Plan on a full day for the axle overhaul. Literally 6 hours disassembling and cleaning and just a couple hours to put it all back together. Have lots of paper towels ready to go, its messy

[John E]

Doing business with you Kurt. Thanks for the super fast handling, already got the shipping notice from UPS.

I'll be picking up a couple rolls of cheap paper towels when the commercial I'm working on wraps.

[burnoil]

A knuckle rebuild is not difficult, just time consuming. Plan on 6-8 hours and if you've never done it before, possibly a whole weekend if any gotchas pop up. It is very sloppy and messy cleaning out all of the old grease. Cruise over to ih8mud and there are a few very detailed how-to instructions floating around. Good stuff over there along with opinions.

[irish_11]

There is a video series on Youtube showing you step by step the process for the tear down and rebuild. Also check out MUD there is a ton of info on there.

[John E]

Appreciate the info.

Hoping to attack the grease demon this Sunday.