OK time for some pics....................................
I picked up some oil and fuel filters.
Some genuine seals for the axles so I can change the rear wheel bearings and strip and re-grease the fronts.
Wheel bearing kits and UJ's.
A word of warning to any of the Aussies on here buying these wheel bearing kits, they always used to contain Koyo bearings (like Toyota fitted in the factory) but now they've switched to cheaper Korean bearings. I opened up the boxes on the counter of my local bearing place to check and told them I needed Koyo bearings. They managed to find some kits with Koyo bearings but I had to pay slightly more.
I cut and bent some alluminium for the storage boxes inside the rear quarter panels.
Welded up the corners.
Test fitting.
Fitted my roof rack.
The next morning I drove LJ to work.
Alternator died on the way.
So left it on charge all day.
My awning arrived.
After work I drove to the local motor factors and bought some fuel hose.
I got LJ on the hoist.
And started dropping all the oils.
Engine oil was a year old and of course very dirty.
Rear diff oil was very clean and didn't really need changing.
Front diff oil was very dirty, no water or mud but maybe grease ingress from the cv's/hubs.
Also worrying a little bit of swarf. Could just be left over from past failures though.
Since the engine conversion/the new exhaust the fuel lines were very close the exhaust down pipe, so I've wanted to change them for a while.
New hose and clips.
My plan was to run them along the other chassis leg instead.
Riv-nuted some holes in the chassis to give me something to bolt the clips to.
Dropped the transferbox oil.
Looked reasonably clean as well.
Same with the gearbox.
Terrible pic I know but its meant to show what has to be the easiest way to put oil into all the diffs and boxes. 44 gallon drum with a really quick hand pump on it.
Dropped the hoist and put some engine oil in.
Moved LJ to next to my welding bay to begin mounting the awning.
I cut and drilled some spacer blocks.
And bolted them to the awning.
This is how they would attach to the roof rack.
I've never owned an awning before but I must say I'm impressed! Will be great for cooking under and will provide some much needed shade from the scorching Aussie sun!
Batteries had been on charge again as I'd started the engine a few times and was conscious of my 20min drive home with the lights on and a dead alternator.
The next day I got to work early and had half an hour before work started and 20 mins at lunch time to clean the roof rack up ready for powder coating.
This air tool worked brilliantly to remove and surface rust, weld splatter and grind marks. Leaving all the metal shiny and smooth.
I started making a press tool which will enable me to press the old rear wheel bearings off.
Drilled some 70mm holes in my 2 pieces of steel.
So one piece of 12mm thick flat, one piece of 6mm and a piece of galvanised tube.
In position to be tack welded together.
I turned the amps up to maximum on the big 3 phase welder and fused the 2 together.
Didn't weld the other piece on yet as I want to drill the 4 holes for it bolt on to the drum brake backing plate, but this is how it will go.
So yesterday morning (Saturday) I made an early start on LJ.
Alternator first. My boss had told me to remove it and bring it in and we can put it on the test bench and work out what needs replacing.
With the airbox removed I immediately spotted what could be the cause.
The nut was missing off the tensioner.
My multimeter wasn't working properly so I went out to get a new one. I wanted to buy a decent Fluke one but they didn't have any, so I will keep this one in LJ and buy a Fluke one for my tool box.
Fitted a new nut on the tensioner and re-tensioned the belts.
Voltage before starting the engine.
And with the engine running.
So that wasn't the problem.
Alternator off.
The starter motor has been working fine but I bought a re-build kit for it years ago and the auto electrician at work said he loves rebuilding 1KZ-T ones as there dead easy and to bring it in and he will re-build it for me.
So I decided to remove that next, easiest way is through the passenger wheel arch.
Found that the starter motor was loose and the top bolt must have been missing.
But looking at the pic below you can see the remains of the bolt still threaded into the bell housing, so the head has broken off.
Rebuild kit.
Ready to go to work.
I wanted to strip the front hubs down next to inspect and regrease everything.
I left the front hubs for now and concentrated on the tie rod ends. Only one actually needed replacing but I decided to change them all for new anyway.
My good mate Nelson who many have you have met and who is flying out to come on the Simpson trip as my co-pilot recently told me an absolutely awesome way to split ball joints!
Get 2 similar sized hammers and smack each side of the ball joint at the same time and the ball joint will pop straight out with no damage to the ball joint, rubber or thread!
Works amazingly well, thanks mate.
Steering bar off.
Even worked faultlessly with gravity acting against the ball joint.
This is the standard configuration with the steering damper behind the axle.
But as I've pushed the axle forwards 50mm and the spring perches on the axle back 50mm it now wont work in this configuration.
New tie rod ends.
So I'm thinking of putting the steering damper in front of the axle like on the 80 series.
So I need a tie rod end with a mounting point on it for a ball joint and I've got an 80 series steering damper chassis mount off Karl that I can bolt/weld to my chassis.
Now interestingly some of the tie rod ends I've got say FJ80 on them, in fact the 2 that I've brought to go on the steering bar in front of the axle. So I'm thinking 80 series may/should have the same size thread as on my 70 series steering bar, but why don't these FJ80 ones have a mount for the steering damper? Left hand drive one(s) maybe?
The only one that is 70 specific is the one that goes behind my axle in standard form to mount the steering damper to.
Got the first bar in the vice and after measuring the center to center points of the track rod ends so I can fit the new ones and get the bar the right length I could start removing the old ones.
Sadly the one I actually wanted to fit, the one with the mounting point for the steering damper wouldn't fit as the thread is a different size, so I will need to source and 80 series one if its the same size thread.
I got the draglink completed and ready to go back on, its just the steering bar that I cant do without the 80 series tie rod end.
I will keep these 3 old ones as spares as theres nothing wrong with them.
So they've gone in the spares box ready to be hidden away some where out of the way in LJ.
I spotted an oil leak on the floor in the morning.
And with the starter motor removed it was clearer to see where it might be coming from.
Need some help with this one please guys, especially some of you 1KZ-TE experts.
Looking through the passenger wheel arch.
Its leaking oil some where and I'm 99% certain this isnt from spilling any when changing the oil and filter as its been leaking round her for a while now.
Should there be hoses on these 2 outlets and if so where should they go to?
Any idea where its leaking from?
I did a bit more on the front hubs.
I couldn't do anymore on the hubs as I need some petrol to clean everything up with, so thats a job for today. I also forgot the seal fitting tool from work so cant finish it yet anyway.
I removed the 2 brackets from the awning and will drop them off for electroplating and powder coating tomorrow, along with the roof rack.
The rear quarter panel storage/panels next.
But first I wanted to do a tiny bit of rust treating.
Now I know the body on LJ wont last forever, but if I can get another 5-10 years out of it I will be happy. I'm thinking it might be cool to drop a ute cab on the chassis eventually with a tiny tub/tube rear end.
Super light coiled all round, short wheel base 79 series.
Of course no good for camping but should have a duel cab 70 by then for that.
Anyway back to the job...............
So rust treating first.
I will also spray a load of Dinitrol cavity wax in there to hopefully fight the rust.
So back to the storage boxes.
Needed to remove some from them as the panels actually slope in at the top slightly.
Marked where the panel needed cutting.
The box will need welding to the back of the panel.
I added some holes where the cabin vents are.
Riv nutted the body where the panels will mount.
And drilled the panel to bolt through into the rivnuts.
Other side.
I put one of the old panels on top of the new one so I could drill through to mark where the fixing holes needed to be.
Didn't take many pics as it was completely the same process as the other side, but this is what I ended up with.
So tomorrow I will take them to work and weld the boxes on to the backs then I will send them to be powder coated black. I will also source some nice stainless steel dome head mounting bolts for them.
I had a measure up for the drawer fronts next.
Also need to get some latches for them.
I'm keen to make use of some of this previously wasted space down the sides of the drawer system and I'm thinking it would be a good place to store items not used very often such as spare parts.
I've also started sorting out some of the things that will live in LJ permanently.
The small drawer will always have all my recovery gear in and I also need to sort the tools out that I want to carry. I want to get away from carrying one bit rattly tool box and instead will use things like tool rolls to carry spanners, pliers, screw drivers etc. should pack better and obviously not rattle as much/if at all.
Lots still to do but I am making progress.
