LJ70 Build Thread!

[Red Oktober]

excellent installment as per ususal Ben ...

if there was an award for the "thread of the year" this should be it.

 

[Roger Fairclough]

Just a couple of points Ben.

Firstly, I suggest you remove the plastic trim around the rear door hinges. I found on mine that they attract mud and water and that combination attack the grease in the hinges. You can drill and tap 6mm x 1mm holes in the hinge and fit grease nipples and pump a little grease in at each service and that will give you easy opening back doors.

Secondly the front shocks. Check the threaded section for damage or a build up of paint. Either can create the feeling that you have reached the threaded section limit. Each shock should have two end washers. These should be shaped to enclose the rubbers. The rubbers should also be shaped to fit inside the washers. The two washers in the middle fit either side of the axle mounting and should also be shaped for the rubbers plus a central turn down/up to slip inside the axle mounting. Do a dry fit. Measure the threaded section on the shock. Assemble the two rubbers plus the four washers and tighten until you have compressed to 75%. If available, use a suitable washer to simulate the axle mount. Now measure the length of threaded section used and calculate how much threaded section left. There should be a minimum of 4mm to allow for "nipping up " in the future to allow for the rubber loosing some compression thickness.

Motors looking good Ben.

Roger

 

[John_McCartney]

Good tips Roger. Just saved my rear door hinges in that way a couple of years back.

 

[Ben]

excellent installment as per ususal Ben ...

if there was an award for the "thread of the year" this should be it.

thanks Carl, im glad your enjoying it.

i so cant wait to see this finished so i can have my evenings and weekends back.

nearly there though now, and ive got a few great trips coming up.

Just a couple of points Ben.

Firstly, I suggest you remove the plastic trim around the rear door hinges. I found on mine that they attract mud and water and that combination attack the grease in the hinges. You can drill and tap 6mm x 1mm holes in the hinge and fit grease nipples and pump a little grease in at each service and that will give you easy opening back doors.

Secondly the front shocks. Check the threaded section for damage or a build up of paint. Either can create the feeling that you have reached the threaded section limit. Each shock should have two end washers. These should be shaped to enclose the rubbers. The rubbers should also be shaped to fit inside the washers. The two washers in the middle fit either side of the axle mounting and should also be shaped for the rubbers plus a central turn down/up to slip inside the axle mounting. Do a dry fit. Measure the threaded section on the shock. Assemble the two rubbers plus the four washers and tighten until you have compressed to 75%. If available, use a suitable washer to simulate the axle mount. Now measure the length of threaded section used and calculate how much threaded section left. There should be a minimum of 4mm to allow for "nipping up " in the future to allow for the rubber loosing some compression thickness.

Motors looking good Ben.

Roger

thanks Roger thats a big help.

 

[Ben]

so this week i need to get it finished!

so last night i began cleaning the axle and any visible rust under the front end of the truck with a hand wire brush. ive had to stop using the wire brush in the angle grinder because its given me really bad white finger and now i keep waking up with a numb hand and pins and needles, which im hoping wont be permanent.

i got half way through cleaning the loose rust off when Mitch turned up with a bottle of rust killer that hed had in the shed for ages and not told me about as apparently its very expensive. £140 a bottle.

this is the stuff.

i then said he should try a bit on my axle.

i then some how managed to blag him into painting my entire front axle, both battery trays, fuel filler neck and any rust underneath the truck.

i got to work early today and my axle looked black after the rust treatment had been on it all night.

as did underneath the truck on the bits hed done.

before i could paint the axle i had to repair the holes in the axle that had been caused by the loose shock, which had elongated and enlarged the holes.

washer ready to weld on.

to save time i decided to spray everything.

axle.

and arms got another coat.

battery trays and clamps, fuel filler neck, and front engine guard all got a coat.

then tonight was spent undersealing the front end and inside the front wings, dirty horrible job but one that needed doing.

my plan is t get the front axle and the other bits back on tomorrow, which will leave friday evening free to build the spray booth ready for getting the truck sprayed on saturdayl

 

[Red Oktober]

soon be able to get out there and enjoy the fruits of your hard graft .....

 

[Trevor]

I think once it's all done, we have a potential winner for Miss Lincomb 2011 Serious overhaul Ben and makes great reading.

 

[Ben]

thanks lads.

so thursday night i didnt finish work till 8pm, so i only managed to do an hour on it.

firstly i dragged the front axle back in place. bolted the radius arms to the axle and then managed to manoeuvre it into place until the arms were located back in the mounts on the chassis.

then last night, i bolted all the steering bars back on and panhard rod.

followed by springs and shocks.

i then took my exhaust off as i was intending on putting my standard one back on.

but then i remembered why the old one came off, as the back section is rotten. so i put my little exhaust section back on.
one thing i did do though was to put some washers between the bell housing and exhaust bracket, to move the front down pipe, further back. im hoping this will be enough to stop the tyre catching the pipe on full lock at full articulation.

so front wheels back on next.

next i fitted the fuel filler neck. i used a 3 way poly tube connector, so that i can do away with linking the 3 pipes coming from the tank through the rotten holed pipes there meant to go through, on the filler neck. hopefully it will still run ok.

it was starting to get dark at this point, so i decided to concentrate on getting the spray both built, as i had to go and find the metal frames and poles that wed found that i thought might work for a spray booth.

poles and frames found and brought back to the shed, me and Mitch set about fitting it altogether. we then covered the top in a big tarp i had off a job a few weeks ago. we then used clear polythene around the bottom and on the front and back.

rigged up some festoon lighting.

so back to the truck. new clutch slave cylinder had arrived.

old one off, ready for the new one to go on.

after fitting the new one and then trying unsuccessfully to bleed the clutch for 20mins i realised clutch fluid was leaking from below the actual clutch slave cylinder. i tried tightening the bolts up where the fluid was leaking but this made no difference.

so i undid the 3 10mm bolts and had a look behind the piece thats leaking. looks like the gasket has failed, so next job is to make a new gasket.

its a bit annoying though because i probably didnt need to spend £20 on a new clutch slave cylinder, but i guess the old one can be kept as a spare.

 

[Gav Peter]

Are you in the spray booth today dude? Happy spraying if you are

 

[Ben]

Are you in the spray booth today dude? Happy spraying if you are

yes mate and wished id had my respirator with me, that polyurethane paint dont half give off some vapours and fumes.

spraying all done.

 

[Red Oktober]

Cool .... yes .. polyurethane paint does wiff a bit ...

what color have you done your 70 in

 

[Ben]

same colour Carl.

had a very busy 16hour day working on trucks today!

i got to the farm for 7am and made a start on trying to fix my leaking clutch cylinder.

i was thinking of using instant gasket, but once i had a proper look at it i decided this wouldnt be suitable.

so it appeared to be leaking from the bottom bolt hole.

so i decided the best thing to do would be to get it off and on the bench.

unbolted it.

and used an old bottle to collect any leaking fluid, to save it going all over the floor.

got it on the bench.

the damaged paper gasket is where it was leaking from.

i didnt have any gasket paper, so i decided to have a tidy up and get the truck out of the workshop.

bit cleaner.

the lads turned up to carry on with the body work. they needed to rub the whole thing down with warm soapy water and wet and dry paper.

while they did this i went out and bought some gasket paper and a few other bits i needed.

when i got back i cooked some food.

while the lads continued to sand the truck down and get the primer nice and smooth.

so i drew around the flange to give me the shape of the new gasket, on the gasket paper.

cut it out with a pair of scissors and then used a paper hole punch to punch the bolt holes.

cleaned up the 2 mating faces with some emery paper.

and bolted it back together.

by this point the lads had finished rubbing the truck down, so i gave it a quick blast over with the pressure washer to remove any residue from the sanded down primer.

i then fitted the clutch cylinder assembly and with some help, bled the clutch.

i then drove the truck into the spray booth, and we began masking up.

a couple of areas needed a tiny bit of primer.

i then gave the lads a hand with spraying the truck.

once that was done i helped Mitch fix his truck ready for a laning & camping weekend were going on in a few weeks time.
last time we tried going laning in Mitch's truck a few weeks ago, we only got 2miles up the road and the front diff exploded and burst the casing open.

so we got Mitch's in and began stripping it down. so front axle off.

holes in the axle.

pieces of metal out of axle casing.

one destroyed diff.

so the answer to fix this:-

one of these weld on diff covers.

1 ashcroft air locker built up into a new diff.

ashcroft CV's.

end caps.

air line and switches.

theres also 4 new shafts. all these parts are guaranteed with up to 35" tyres. only thing missing is the compressor which apparently is on back order.

so firstly i cut the old pan off the broken axle.

comparing the old with the new.

Mitch cleaning up the axle ready for me to weld on the new ring that the D44 cover bolts to.

a few rare photos of me working away.

so welding the new cover on.

checked the new diff fitted properly, before fully welding the new cover on.

we then got the landy axle all painted up. tomorrow morning should have the axle back on with the new diff and CV's and shafts. then we can get that out of the workshop and mine back in ready to fit the inner wheel arches, battery trays and batteries, snorkel. winch tray and front bumper.

i did take a few pics of the truck in the spray booth after the topcoat had gone on if anyones interested?

 

[sae70]

i did take a few pics of the truck in the spray booth after the topcoat had gone on if anyones interested?

Yes Please

 

[Red Oktober]

i did take a few pics of the truck in the spray booth after the topcoat had gone on if anyones interested?

Yes please ...

 

[Ben]

here you go..........

fuel cap.

near side rear quarter.

i feel a bit like a kid on christmas day, i just want to tear off all the paper and see what ive got but ive got to wait till tomorrow when the paint should be a bit harder.

its difficult to say at the moment how good a colour match the paint is until i strip off all the paper and masking tape. but i will be adding a pin stripe where the new and old paint meets. im thinking either black or silver, although im swaying more towards silver. my mate did suggest yellow as it goes well with blue.

 

[Red Oktober]

WOW .... looks great

can't wait to actually see it at the lincomb meet. (although we haven't been added to the list yet even though we've paid up)

a yellow pin stripe would stand out well on a blue truck .....

 

[Gav Peter]

BOOM!!! Great days work dude.

Good luck choosing the pinstripe colour

 

[hairyguy4]

would love to have the room to do all this to my j70 , that diff over if bloody awsome! do you reckon that could be fitted to our cruiser axles? ie are the landy diff pans the same size as ours?

 

[ModelMakerMan]

If you machine polish the whole car with a good cutting compound like G5 you should be able to blend the old and new paint to a point where you wont be able to tell its been sprayed so you wouldnt need a pin stripe.

Tbh Ive been watching this thread and cringing every time I see someone spraying Polyurethane 2K without a respirator, I spray it everyday at work and wouldnt dream of not using a respirator, ideally an air-fed mask should be used as this stuff is really bad for your lungs, has been proven to cause asthma, lung cancer and other respiratory problems.

The truck is looking awesome, hats off youve done a mega amount of work in a very short period of time. Fancy doing mine next?

 

[Ben]

would love to have the room to do all this to my j70 , that diff over if bloody awsome! do you reckon that could be fitted to our cruiser axles? ie are the landy diff pans the same size as ours?

i will check for you tomorrow as weve got a spare one as the powder coating was damaged on it when it arrived.
they do look really smart but......................................i dont think there really necessary on a cruiser. there only needed on landys because the axle casings are paper thin. i read some where that the steel is only 1.3mm thick.

If you machine polish the whole car with a good cutting compound like G5 you should be able to blend the old and new paint to a point where you wont be able to tell its been sprayed so you wouldnt need a pin stripe.

Tbh Ive been watching this thread and cringing every time I see someone spraying Polyurethane 2K without a respirator, I spray it everyday at work and wouldnt dream of not using a respirator, ideally an air-fed mask should be used as this stuff is really bad for your lungs, has been proven to cause asthma, lung cancer and other respiratory problems.

The truck is looking awesome, hats off youve done a mega amount of work in a very short period of time. Fancy doing mine next?

thanks mate. i am now thinking of not having a pin stripe and just polishing the original paint to match the new as theres not much difference in colour.

no sorry, i never want to work on another truck ever again after this.

i feel exhausted form all the long days. cant wait to get it off road and have some fun in it now.