LJ70 Build Thread!

[Ben]

was out working on my truck by 7am today!

i do like how she sits on the wide 12.5" x 35" x 15" tyres and rims.
looks better than on my other set of wheels and tyres which are a bit narrower at 10.5" x 35" x 16".

did a bit more sanding.

painted the guard and recovery points.

bit more filling.

the reason the rear quarter got so badly damaged by the rear bumper, was because the bumper wasnt attached properly.

the 4 bolts holding the recovery point and bumper in place, were almost loose because the thread in the captive nuts had stripped.

so i want to make sure it doesnt happen again.

so to fit this in place i needed to get the backing plate in position, but it wouldnt fit in position due to 3 captive nuts on the bottom of the rear cross member getting in the way.

a lot of drilling, chiselling, and grinding later they were off.

backing plate needed a tiny amount grinding off the bottom.

it then fitted perfectly.

spotted 2 captive nuts at each end of the chassis cross member that i intend on making use of then i refit the bumper.

so with the recovery points 4 bolts, 2 other bolts underneath, and now another 2 bolts each end, that will mean the bumper will be held on by 10 bolts, so hopefully it wont move again, even when hitting rocks hard!

i then came in and got changed ready to go to the 4x4 show.

when we got there we were greeted with a carpark almost full of lamerovers!

but did spot a few nice 80's in the carpark!

had a look around, and spotted Mike Hatton's Isuzu. he had labeled every single mod on the truck in pen on the body work, which i found funny.

best of luck to Mike in the competition.

only spent about an hour there and by that point id seen everything!

defiantly less there than last year, and although ive said it before i shall say it again. im not going again!

if it wasnt for the fact it was 30mins from my house i doubt id have gone this year.

saw a few more cruisers on the way out.

so what did i buy..................................

well a tree strop from goodwinch.

id seen these in the back of a magazine and thought they looked good! no need for D shackles, simply put the strop around the tree and clip my big competition style winch hook through the triangles on the strop.

and my mate bought me a replacement wheel from silverline, to replace the one he destroyed when he failed to tighten all the wheel nuts.

while at the show i had a chat with Paul at westcoast off road centre. i asked him about castor correction bushes for my 70, and he said hed never fitted them to a 70. i told him the steering some times feels a bit vague and twitchy.

he then asked if id tightened up the steering box. i told him i hadnt and he explained that theres a 17mm nut on top of the steering box, undo the nut, and then turn the bolt in the centre with a screw driver, before then tightening the nut back up.

had a look when i got home.

there it is.

it was a bit of a pain to do, but i got there eventually.

drove to my mates to get the paintwork done and realised i must have tightened the box up too much, as the steering was very heavy.

so got some primer on.

he then tells me hes used the wrong primer, and this stuff wont have fully gone off for 4 hours!
so wont be able to top coat it today.

so i came home.

picked up 80 litres of fuel today. should keep my truck running for a few weeks.

fitted the steering guard and recovery points.

hoping to get the rear quarter painted soon as i want to refit the back bumper.

 

[Red Oktober]

Most excellent ben ... looks proper bob on now mate

 

[Roger Fairclough]

Ben.

To suggest that tightening up the steering box is better than castor correction bushes is sheer lunacy.

The steering box will wear in the position of greatest use i.e. straight ahead. If you take out any slop in the straight ahead position, the box will bind in the left/right positions.



Roger

 

[Ben]

thanks Carl.

Roger, am i right in thinking youve got castor correction bushes on your 70?

can i ask where you got them from please?

westcoast do ironman ones for £80ish +VAT. im also going to give Devon4x4 a a call and see how much they want for a set.

im thinking of taking my spare set of radius and trailing arms to the local freindly garage, i found who pressed my rear wheel bearing, and getting them to press out all the old bushes for me and press in the new ones.

also thinking of changing the panhard rod bushes at the same time.

i looked at the ones milner sell but IMHO they seem too hard and i cant imagine they will flex well, or last a long time, but i may be wrong.

im thinking of going down the Ozzy made super pro route.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Toyota-Landc ... _996wt_698

i thought changing all the wheel bearings might make the truck feel better on the road, but if im honest it feels like a death trap still!

the steering wheel vibrates and the whole truck shakes.

cant find anything loose underneath, all wheel bearings are now good, wheels all balanced, tracking seems ok, but i will get it tracked after i fit all the new bushes!

going to change the suspension to either old man eum or dobinsons when i export it.

 

[AndyCook]

good progress

your "rug/carpet" looks much posher than mine!
i use one the mother-in-law gave us, but she saw in then garage when she visited once...

 

[Roger Fairclough]

thanks Carl.

Roger, am i right in thinking youve got castor correction bushes on your 70?

can i ask where you got them from please?

westcoast do ironman ones for £80ish +VAT. im also going to give Devon4x4 a a call and see how much they want for a set.

im thinking of taking my spare set of radius and trailing arms to the local freindly garage, i found who pressed my rear wheel bearing, and getting them to press out all the old bushes for me and press in the new ones.

also thinking of changing the panhard rod bushes at the same time.

i looked at the ones milner sell but IMHO they seem too hard and i cant imagine they will flex well, or last a long time, but i may be wrong.

im thinking of going down the Ozzy made super pro route.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Toyota-Landc ... _996wt_698

i thought changing all the wheel bearings might make the truck feel better on the road, but if im honest it feels like a death trap still!

the steering wheel vibrates and the whole truck shakes.

cant find anything loose underneath, all wheel bearings are now good, wheels all balanced, tracking seems ok, but i will get it tracked after i fit all the new bushes!

going to change the suspension to either old man eum or dobinsons when i export it.

Yes, I have c/c bushes. I bought them from Frogs Island @about £70.

Shake is caused by imbalance, so look at wheels and propshafts for possible causes. 35" tyres on 15" rims will do you no favours. I suggest you borrow a set of standard tyres and rims and check them out for decent running behaviour.

In the UK, the need for 35" tyres is very dubious. If your on a track that needs them, then the track has been badly damaged and needs to be left alone to recover or be repaired. You are going to extremes to gain, in reality, very little. With all the kit you are putting on your motor, the weight has been steadily increasing and this will also create imbalance and poor handling.

Roger

 

[Ben]

good progress

your "rug/carpet" looks much posher than mine!
i use one the mother-in-law gave us, but she saw in then garage when she visited once...

thanks Andy.

its horrible stuff to have to work on gravel, but my little prayer mat does help!

i bet that was awkward for you!

Roger, going to jack it up tomorrow and see if i can see/feel anything that could be causing the shakes and wobbles.

i have driven no tracks that require 35"s. i run 35"s because i like them and i think they look good on the truck. i also understand that by running tyres this big there will be negative effects on the road, but thats the price im willing to pay.

 

[Anders Ernst]

Yes, rather no handling at all than going down a tire size

Looks good, and I can also just envy your carpet, even though I have recently gotten acces to 500m2 of fully insulated and heated, newly built garage with all requirements

 

[Landcruiser Power]

Hey ben I run Nitrocharger Sport Shock Absorbers made by OLD MAN EMU, in my truck made in Oz work real well here in NZ, Hows you're steering stabilizer? Is it shot as when I put bigger tires on my truck had the same problem and I found that was the problem.

 

[Chris]

Ben how did you get on with the new discs that we [strike:bc4pofsr]battered on[/strike:bc4pofsr] carefully installed? Do they feel OK under braking? A bit of a daft design I thought.

C

 

[Ben]

Yes, rather no handling at all than going down a tire size

Looks good, and I can also just envy your carpet, even though I have recently gotten acces to 500m2 of fully insulated and heated, newly built garage with all requirements

yes i quite agree, and if anything i want to go up a tyre size or 2!

your very lucky to have such a nice big workshop.

its raining very heavily here, so doesnt look i will be able to do much on my truck today.

Hey ben I run Nitrocharger Sport Shock Absorbers made by OLD MAN EMU, in my truck made in Oz work real well here in NZ, Hows you're steering stabilizer? Is it shot as when I put bigger tires on my truck had the same problem and I found that was the problem.

it is pretty shot, and i do want to replace it.

i want one of the sprung return to centre ones.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Tough-Dog-RT ... 2557wt_982

Ben how did you get on with the new discs that we [strike:3q3dvqkl]battered on[/strike:3q3dvqkl] carefully installed? Do they feel OK under braking? A bit of a daft design I thought.

C

there perfect thanks Chris!

they feel a thousand times better than they did. im going to change the rear shoes soon, but the ones that are on have still got a little bit of life left in them, so going to wear them down a bit more before fitting the new ones.

im also going to knock up a little extension bracket for the rear brake biased valve, to compensate for the suspension lift, as Roger mentioned in the thread below.

viewtopic.php?f=22&t=13921

 

[ModelMakerMan]

Get that steering damper changed, it will dramatically improve the handling and fix a lot if the steering wobble.

Ive heard that the 70 and 80 series castor correction bushes are the same.

 

[John_McCartney]

I can confirm that - replaced my completely shot one with a new genuine Toyota part - can now drive down a straight road without constant jiffling with the steering wheel.

 

[Ben]

thanks guys, i plan on replacing the steering dampener and fitting castor correction bushes.

so this morning the rain stopped and i managed to do a bit.

after jacking the rear of the truck up and checking to see if any thing felt loose and checking if the wheel bearings had any movement, which they didnt, i moved on to the front.

the front wheel bearings also felt perfect with no movement.

but i did spot that one of the bodylift spacers was slightly loose, in that the spacer could be turned by hand.

the nuts hadnt come loose, so i can only guess that the rubbers have compressed slightly over time.

after tightening them i checked all the others and found the back 2 felt a little loose aswell.

so tightened both sides up.

i then checked and inflated all the tyres, as the wheels and tyres have been in my shed for about 6 months unused.

i then slackened off the steering box a little to make it a little looser.

i then drove to my mates and it didnt really feel any better.

still got a bit of vibration and shake on the steering wheel. but its strange because its not constant and isnt even speed dependant, but when the death wobble starts its like one of the wheel is having a spasm and the steering wheel shakes very violently.

anyway....................................

got to my mates and put some fine surface filler/stopper on a couple of areas.

sanded it down.

and on with the blue top coat.

refitted the light and drove home.

i wanted to get the rear bumper fitted, but family commitments meant that the rest of the day was spent eating a beautiful roast dinner and drinking plenty of beer, oh and spending time with the family.

started a new thread for my next project. im building a pig!

viewtopic.php?f=19&t=13981&p=113633#p113633

 

[Roger Fairclough]

Steering dampers are designed to suit the vehicle as built, in this case, by Toyota. Even in standard form, the LC has big wheels/tyres and sudden variations in road surface---ridges, potholes, drain covers etc---can promote an imbalance cycle that can increase in tempo and cause sudden and violent tremors. The standard damper will cope with this, but increase the wheel/tyre combination and the standard damper may be hard pressed to cope. The more worn it is, the less it will cope.

Another factor is the caster angle. This is designed to create a degree of self centering, so that when you want the wheel to straighten up after a bend, it will do so automatically, whilst you just control the movement. The standard caster angle on the LJ/KZJ is 4deg.5 mins plus or minus 30mins. If you increase the lift by 50mm, you reduce this figure to approx. 1 deg. This virtually destroys you caster angle and creates a vagueness in the steering because you have reduced your self centering motion to virtually zero.

This is why you need caster correction bushes.

I suggest Ben fits the bushes and checks all the other suspension rubbers very carefully. I found that one of mine on the back axle had deteriorated badly and needed immediate replacement. It was not noticeable on normal checking, but a tyre lever with force behind it should prove if they are OK.

Roger

 

[Ben]

thanks Roger.

did you fit castor correction bushes on the rear axle aswell, or just the front?

ive noticed whenever i fit or remove the panhard rods that there a bugger to get on or off and are almost constantly slightly twisted to get on. im presuming this is because the axle has obviously twisted slightly when the bigger springs have gone on. so im thinking if i fitted castor correction bushes front and back, then the panhard rods would bolt straight on easily.

 

[Roger Fairclough]

No, you don't fit caster correction bushes to the back axle.

At rest, the rubber bushes at each end of the two panhard rods should not be under any twisting strain. To achieve this, you assemble the rods into position, lower the car onto it's wheels, bounce it up and down a few times on it's springs, and then torque up the bolts. You also need to do this to the single bushes at each end of the trailing/leading links.

Roger

 

[Ben]

ok thanks Roger.

i called westcoast today and if i go for ironman castor correction bushes and steering dampener, im looking at about £200 with VAT and delivery.

not sure if i want to buy anymore ironman products as ive not been overly impressed with my 2" suspension lift kit, and i want to change it at some point.

i called Devon 4x4, and after speaking to 4 different people, i got a price of £118 for the castor correction bushes + delivery.

there superpro bushes, and when i asked about the other bushes for the radius arms, trailing arms, and panhard rod's, he said he didnt know and some one would call me back which they didnt.

he also didnt know if they sell tough dog products or not.

going to try calling Devon 4x4 back tomorrow and see if i can speak to some one who knows what there talking about.

 

[sae70]

Have you had the Caster, Camber and toe checked to see how far out of tolerance they are Ben?

 

[Roger Fairclough]

Have you had the Caster, Camber and toe checked to see how far out of tolerance they are Ben?

An increase in ride height will affect the caster angle, but the camber and tracking will not be changed.

Roger