LJ78 Build Thread

[Ben]

Thanks guys.

Will do Rich.

Decided to leave the front locker for 2 weeks until my wife is back, as shes going back to Tassie for a week and I dont want to be without a car, as I'm not sure how long 360 Gearbox & Diffs will take to fit the E locker.

Update coming..............

 

[Ben]

Easter 2018 High Country Day 1.

On Good Friday Jiri and Aneta arrived at my house at 7am in their 70 series Troopy and we set off for Briagalong, from there we would head North into the High Country.

We stopped on the first dirt road to air down the tyres, lock the hubs and so I could chain my mudflaps up.



We then set off into the forests and mountains.



We crossed many rivers.























In the afternoon we looked for a camp site.

However most of the main camp sites were full and in National Park, where dogs arnt allowed.

Luckily Jiri had found a perfect spot on a previous trip, an unofficial/wild camping spot that proved to be perfect!

I mean who wants to go into the wilderness and camp, surrounded by hundreds of strangers?

That was the experience the vast majority of campers in the High Country would have had over the weekend as all the official camp sites were full!





Day 2.

The next morning we awoke to more perfect weather!





And a very happy Lexi.





By 9am we had cooked breakfast, packed up the camp and were ready to hit the tracks.

I told Jiri over the radio that the muddy puddle in the track was OK to drive through and he would be fine!



Well it turned out it wasnt and he got stuck!

So I turned around, hooked my winch up to him and winched him forwards!

Much safer and more controlled than a snatch recovery.



It only took a few minutes and we were soon on our way.





















We headed for The Pinnacles look out.



We really hoped the view would be amazing, because at this altitude the sky was perfectly clear!



But unfortunately it was a bit cloudy up at the look out.







Trig point and bush fire watch tower.







My friends Aneta and Jiri.



One of me.



And one of the 3 of us.

 

[Ben]

We walked back down to the car park and then headed for one of my favorite tracks, the infamous Billy Goat Bluff Track.



We would be driving it in the slightly easier direction, heading mainly down, but its still challenging in places, especially on the busiest weekend for 4wding in the whole of the year, in the High Country!



Its a very steep track with lots of loose rocks.



This section is very narrow as it winds its way along the ridge of the mountain with almost sheer drops on each side.



But the views are truly spectacular.





And that clear blue sky was a perfect back drop!



With no room for other vehicles to pass I had to be quick getting these pics before more 4wd's would reach this point.









We continued our way down.





I had to move over to let a group of vehicles coming up, pass us.

So I drove down into one of the drainage channels on the side of the track that had been conveniently bull dozed into the track just in front of me.

They passed OK and I attempted to revers back onto the main track, only I couldnt!

And every time I attempted to my wheels spun and the vehicle slid closer and closer to the sheer drop on the side of the track.

Now had I had working diff locks I'm certain I could have reversed straight back onto the track, easily.

I explained to Jiri and Aneta over the radio that I was struggling and they soon proved what truely awesome people they are to travel with!

Aneta came running down and assessed the situation and then pulled my winch rope out and across to the other side of the track to a tree. I threw her the tree trunk protector and she rigged it all up and then hung on to the winch rope to take up the slack as I winched in.

Meanwhile Jiri removed the Maxtrax from his roof and brought them down to put under my passenger front wheel to help get that wheel out of a hole as I winched in.

*I couldnt grab many pics as we had vehicles further down the track waiting to come up, so the whole recovery was done in minutes.



With the recovery done we were soon on our way again and I stopped a bit further down where it was wider and flatter.



We carried on and I stopped at the top of a steep climb to get some pics of Jiri coming up to the helipad (cleared mountain top)







We then ascended down the last steep section of track.

On the way we passed a broken down vehicle, the only broken down vehicle we would encounter on our 4 day trip. The brand of this vehicle we would only see 4 of all trip, out of hundreds of Toyot's, Nissans, Mitsubishi's etc.

Can you guess what brand it was???














Of course...........A lamerover!



I stopped and offered assistance,they thanked me for stopping, but said it had just overheated and once it had cooled down it should be OK to continue on the track.



We reached the bottom of this amazing track and had a little break.





Then headed off towards Talbotville, through grassy planes in a beautiful valley.







I went across this bridge and then Jiri said, did you not want to drive the river crossing?



So of course I had to turn around and drive the river crossing!





We then headed up the Crooked River Road, through its multiple river crossings.









I was a bit surprised to see the cops!



We stopped at one of the river crossings for some lunch.

And Lexi had a swim.







We then started the Crooked River Track which crosses the Crooked River 24 times!















With the Crooked River Track completed, we drove up a very steep rocky track that just kept climbing higher and higher.



As we got higher the views got more and more spectacular.



As the days had been so dry and warm and the tracks having seen so much traffic, dust was an issue!

At times we were driving a few kilometers apart to try and stay out of the dust.

 

[Ben]

We headed back through Talbotville which was once a thriving Gold Rush town but is now little more than a large flat grassy area next to the river that has been turned into a large camping area.

We crossed the river and headed out along Pioneer Racecourse Road, a track named after a horse racing track that had been constructed on on the large flat grassy areas which are now either campsites or private farm land.

All the campsites were full so we kept going until eventually we found another unofficial camp site and our nearest neighbour was a good 4-5k's away!

We all pulled together and soon the old camp fire had been emptied of ash, rocks had been collected to go around the fire pit and a mountain of fire wood had been dragged over.

The fire was soon lit.





The OZ Tent proved to be perfect for this type of trip and by not setting all the annex and front sections up it meant the tent was up and ready to use in minutes.





The firewood was also much better at this camp as the wood at the previous camp had been a bit damp.



Dinner was soon cooking.



Lamb shanks, mash potato and carrots.



Day 3.

The next morning the fire was soon roaring again.







While I was lighting the fire and getting ready to cook breakfast a white ute turned up and a guy in full on forest camo got out with a rifle.

He was a deer hunter and asked if we minded him parking at our camp site while he goes off to try and get himself a bambi.

Of course I didnt mind and I wished him good luck in his hunting.



I cooked breakfast.



Sausage, egg and melted cheese in toasted brioche buns washed down with a litre of tea!



Lexi had a good play with Jiri, who she loves!





We packed up camp and headed off up the dusty mountain tracks.





The next track we drove down proved to be insanely steep!

To the point of being in 1st low the whole way down and still having to carefully dab the brakes.



















The next track proved to be even more extreme with huge loose rocks all the way down.









At the end of that track we dropped down to a beautiful big river crossing.















We were now driving up along the Humphrey River, which we would cross 17 times!

We chose to avoid Wonnangatta altogether and head North West this way instead, mainly for all the river crossings, but also because we knew it would be extremely busy with hundreds of people camping there.

 

[Ben]

We briefly left the forest and found ourselves in another open valley.













We stopped on another heli pad as we headed for a high perched lake.





We soon arrived at lake Cobbler, which I was pretty surprised to find so high up in steep mountains.

There was a nice old hut.



Overlooking the beautiful lake.







It would have been a beautiful spot to camp and we were all hoping for a swim.

But it was very busy and as it was National Park, Lexi wasnt technically allowed.

So we kept moving.

We got stuck behind this impressive vehicle for a while, before he kindly moved over and let us pass.





I then spotted a perfect camp site for us.

I was a bit worried it might be cold as it was right on the top of a mountain, but I need not have worried as it wasnt too windy and the temp never got that low.

This was our favorite camp site.



The fire was soon lit and tents/swags pitched.







And diner cooking.



Same dinner as night 2.



Day 4.

The fire was soon lit.





And as I made breakfast the sun arrived.





Again sausage, eggs and melted cheese on brioche buns with a litre of tea.

Well actually 2 litres of tea, because the first litre went down so well!





The fuel gauage had been showing empty in The 78 for the past hour or 2 the previous day, so I poured the 20 litres of fuel I had been carrying in a jerry can into the fuel tank.

(Must get myself a jiggle siphon to make refueling easier when on trips. )



We packed up camp and continued with out journey.







Lots more river crossings.



Bit of flex testing to see how those new springs were looking.



Lots more river crossings.

















And a bit more flex testing.





And soon we reached Mansfield State Forest, which would be our last state forest/national park of the trip.

 

[Ben]

Soon we found out path blocked by fallen trees.

I suspect the Suzuki 4wd club had been through as there was gaps between the fallen trees, but not big enough for full size 4wd's.

Something the Suzuki club our renowned for, they cut gaps just big enough for their little vehicles knowing bigger 4wd's wont fit though.



I decided to drag the first one out of the way, but as I wasnt sure how much force it would take, I put a jacket over the strap to hopefully dampen any breaking force should it snap.

But I need not have worried because the tree moved very easily.



With that one moved I needed to turn the car around and winch the next one out of the way.



Jiri helped me rig up a snatch block so that I could use my winch to winch the tree away from us.





With everything rigged up ready, it was time to get everyone well out of the way so I could safely begin winching.



That worked well and we could then pack all the recovery gear away.











We found a very modern looking hut and stopped for a look.









It looked remarkably good for 11 years old!



The axe on a chain outside was a nice touch!





It was now mid day on day 4 so we headed down and out from the mountains.





We could see a bush fire burning in the forest below us, we would later learn this was a controlled, planned burn off.





As we finally reached bitumen for the first time in 4 days we aired up the tyres, unlocked the hubs, cleaned our lights and windows and I dropped my mud flaps back down.





And headed for home.





I got home at 4:30pm and Lexi was absolutely exhausted!

She slept for pretty much the next 3 days!



Here is a couple of pics that Aneta kindly sent me.



Big splash!!!









It was a truely amazing trip and it felt awesome to be back in the High Country!

It was exactly 3 years since I'd last done a High Country trip and I had forgotten just how much I love it! For me it is the ultimate 4wd destination anywhere in Australia!

The endless mountains, forests, rivers and thousands of kilometers of tracks make for the perfect 4wd camping destination!

And it was great to travel with Jiri and Aneta, they are both very laid back and easy going, but when work needs to be done they both jump straight in and get on with it.

We have already started planning our next 4wd adventure which will be to Big River in 3 or 4 weeks time.

But this time we will base camp off one of the main dirt entry roads in the forest and then my wife and baby son can come too and Jiri and I will go off in the day to drive some tracks, then come back to camp for lunch and then probably go again in the afternoon. It should work well.

 

[StarCruiser]

Looks like a cracking trip there Ben.

Now, tell me this, Australia is home to about 98% of the world’s creepy crawly things that can kill you just by looking at you. You never seem to mention these. Do you just not encounter these or did @Scott just bring them all over here in his 105 he imported?

 

[AndyCook]

Brilliant, good to see the trails again, recognise some of the trail names from your previous trips . Camp spots look good too.
These trails seem much better than they ones you drove up on Gold Coast, are they a long drive from home ?

Going to start prepping my hilux this weekend for spring trips, once I have stopped playing with my Golf R

 

[Victor]

Looks like a cracking trip there Ben.

Now, tell me this, Australia is home to about 98% of the world’s creepy crawly things that can kill you just by looking at you. You never seem to mention these. Do you just not encounter these or did @Scott just bring them all over here in his 105 he imported?

My main concern with this, do the bambis also want to kill you in Aussieland?

 

[rob rule]

All Good. Amazing watching from afar seeing how many things are common. Take the refuelling via Jerrycan for instance. We ended up putting the Jerrycan on top of the open rear door spare tire and using a tube syphon into the fuel tank. Same end result.

 

[Ben]

Looks like a cracking trip there Ben.

Now, tell me this, Australia is home to about 98% of the world’s creepy crawly things that can kill you just by looking at you. You never seem to mention these. Do you just not encounter these or did @Scott just bring them all over here in his 105 he imported?

Thanks Rich.

They're out there and I do some times worry, but only about snakes!

We have deadly spiders here but no one has died in Australia from a spider bite for almost 40 years, so there not really a concern.

Crocs are only up North in the tropics so I wont worry about them until if/when I go to Cape York.

Sharks are only in the ocean and I tend to avoid the ocean anyway.

Scorpions are also found throughout Australia, but they are relatively harmless and so I don't worry about them.

No its snakes I'm scared of and I've seen a few over here over the years and they're bloody quick and can be aggressive!

When we did the Simpson Desert trip a few years ago a snake slithered right through the middle of our camp in the desert one night, right through 10-15 people who were standing around drinking, cooking and chatting.

We didnt all see it, but one of the guys filmed it and got some pretty good footage of it.

We showed the footage to one of the rangers a few days later and he confirmed what we had suspected.............

It was an inland Taipan, the worlds most venomous snake and had it bitten any of us, we would have been dead with in 10 minutes!

So when camping I am careful, particularly when walking in the bush, going to the toilet and collecting fire wood.

The vast majority of people who do end up getting bitten are young males who try to catch/kill a snake they spot. The best advice if you see one is to leave it well alone and give it space, but obviously a lot of people dont do this and end up in trouble.

Brilliant, good to see the trails again, recognise some of the trail names from your previous trips . Camp spots look good too.
These trails seem much better than they ones you drove up on Gold Coast, are they a long drive from home ?

Going to start prepping my hilux this weekend for spring trips, once I have stopped playing with my Golf R

Thanks mate.

Yeah the 4wding here is a million times better than up in QLD!

Up there you generally have to pay and go to a 4wd park!

The edge of the High Country is about 2 hours away, but on this trip we drove the motorway down for about 3-4 hours and then entered from the bottom and headed North West towards home, so when we came out we were only a few hours from home.

We are also lucky enough to have lots of state forests much closer!

Toolangi, Gembrook, Wombat, Talarook and a few others are all within an hour from us, so perfect for a day drive!

The Golf looks nice, good to see you having fun in it.

My main concern with this, do the bambis also want to kill you in Aussieland?

All Good. Amazing watching from afar seeing how many things are common. Take the refuelling via Jerrycan for instance. We ended up putting the Jerrycan on top of the open rear door spare tire and using a tube syphon into the fuel tank. Same end result.

Thanks Rob.

I'd rather siphon it with a jiggle siphon, just didn't have one for this trip. Must get one before the next trip.

 

[Paddler Ed]

Looks a good trip Ben!

We've just come back in from the local State Forest (where we went with Scott) where we'd been out with a few friends, didn't do much apart from chill out - mainly because the others were running awnings and swags, whereas we had the camper trailer.

Dog is knackered here as well, she's been running and swimming everyday!

 

[Ben]

Thanks mate.

Was an awesome trip!

 

[yota_lj]

Really nice trip Ben and as usual really good reportage....every time is like been there with you!

 

[Ben]

Thanks mate, I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Little update time................

I cut and welded some 3mm checker plate to the rock sliders.

Not only will this provide a lot of grip when standing on them but it will also stop mud spraying up the sides of the car as much.









Next I made the clamps that would clamp around the chassis rails to attach the rock sliders.

There are at least 4 or 5 different ways of attaching rock sliders to the chassis, but this is the way I consider to be the best. They require minimal bolts using this method making fitting and removing them quicker and easier and I believe this is one of the strongest methods of attachment.

I cut, marked, center punched and drilled some 50mm x 6mm flat.



Then got them into the bar bender for bending.



Sadly my chassis rails are slightly too wide for the bender to bend a perfect U shape.





So they didnt come out perfect.



So I had to finish them off in the vice.



All done!



The very front brackets needed to be slightly different due to the shape of the chassis, there is no where to slide a U shape section around the chassis.

So I chose to make them similar to the rock sliders I made for my LJ70, like this.

These will pick up on the body mount and clamp around the chassis and bolt through a convenient hole in the body mount.



I welded some captive nuts on just to make fitting even easier.



Found some bolts.



All assembled ready to bolt on to The 78.





I bolted them all on and then drove The 78 in to the factory after work, to weld the rest of the rock sliders to them.





I supported the rock sliders on axle stands and once I was happy with the position cut and tack welded in some tube to connect the rocksliders to the chassis clamps.



Sadly the front radius arms get in the way when fitting/removing the rock sliders on the ground. So ideally they need fitting on a hoist or with the car jacked up.

A forklift is perfect for this!





Due to the position of the exhaust I had to make the front mount out of round tube.



Turned the car around and did the same on the other side.



I pulled that side off and then fully welded them.





So not only did I have to use tube on the front, drivers side mount.



I also had to notch the next leg along to give clearance where the exhaust goes over the chassis rail.

The joys of having a 3" mandrel bent exhaust system!



The other side was much simpler.



I knew before I started this project that we didnt have any 32mm round tube, which is what I used on the rock sliders on LJ.

I could have bought some in but decided to just use what we had instead.

This would mean my High Lift jack adapter would be too big.

So I decided to make a new one, a better one!

I cut, drilled and notched a piece of box section.



My original one, from the UK was made with 4" box section which was completely unnecessary.

So I chose slightly smaller box section (75mm I think it was)



My solid bar had to obviously be slightly smaller to fit the smaller tube in the rock sliders.



I believe it will still be strong enough.

New one has 20mm bar old one has 25mm.



Test fit.



The old one just had a bolt to attach it to the Hi Lift, but it had been long since lost.

With the new one I drilled a bigger hole so I can just use a standard 50mm towbar receiver hitch, pin. Always useful to have a spare pin in the car anyway, and now I will have.









I welded the 20mm bar on.

Then 2 days after dropping it off at the powder coaters and $80 later I had them all back, all shiny in satin black!











Fits beautifully and will give me a nice secure jacking point.

I only change wheels with a Hi Lift when on trips, I dont mess around under the car in the dirt winding the silly little standard jack up and down. Oh no......... I use the High Lift and jacking the car up and down takes seconds!

But having secure jacking points and an adapter like this is essential to do it safely!

High Lift jacks can be very dangerous, but used with respect and with these proper jacking points its very safe!






I'm dedicating one of my 3 days off this weekend to The 78, so I will get the rock sliders fitted and get a few other little jobs done.

 

[clivehorridge]

Thanks mate, I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Little update time................

I cut and welded some 3mm checker plate to the rock sliders.

Not only will this provide a lot of grip when standing on them but it will also stop mud spraying up the sides of the car as much.

View attachment 142979

View attachment 142980

View attachment 142981

View attachment 142982

Next I made the clamps that would clamp around the chassis rails to attach the rock sliders.

There are at least 4 or 5 different ways of attaching rock sliders to the chassis, but this is the way I consider to be the best. They require minimal bolts using this method making fitting and removing them quicker and easier and I believe this is one of the strongest methods of attachment.

I cut, marked, center punched and drilled some 50mm x 6mm flat.

View attachment 142983

Then got them into the bar bender for bending.

View attachment 142984

Sadly my chassis rails are slightly too wide for the bender to bend a perfect U shape.

View attachment 142985

View attachment 142986

So they didnt come out perfect.

View attachment 142987

So I had to finish them off in the vice.

View attachment 142988

All done!

View attachment 142989

The very front brackets needed to be slightly different due to the shape of the chassis, there is no where to slide a U shape section around the chassis.

So I chose to make them similar to the rock sliders I made for my LJ70, like this.

These will pick up on the body mount and clamp around the chassis and bolt through a convenient hole in the body mount.

View attachment 142991

I welded some captive nuts on just to make fitting even easier.

View attachment 142992

Found some bolts.

View attachment 142990

All assembled ready to bolt on to The 78.

View attachment 142993

View attachment 142994

I bolted them all on and then drove The 78 in to the factory after work, to weld the rest of the rock sliders to them.

View attachment 142995

View attachment 142996

I supported the rock sliders on axle stands and once I was happy with the position cut and tack welded in some tube to connect the rocksliders to the chassis clamps.

View attachment 142997

Sadly the front radius arms get in the way when fitting/removing the rock sliders on the ground. So ideally they need fitting on a hoist or with the car jacked up.

A forklift is perfect for this!

View attachment 142998

View attachment 142999

Due to the position of the exhaust I had to make the front mount out of round tube.

View attachment 143000

Turned the car around and did the same on the other side.

View attachment 143001

I pulled that side off and then fully welded them.

View attachment 143002

View attachment 143003

So not only did I have to use tube on the front, drivers side mount.

View attachment 143004

I also had to notch the next leg along to give clearance where the exhaust goes over the chassis rail.

The joys of having a 3" mandrel bent exhaust system!

View attachment 143005

The other side was much simpler.

View attachment 143006

I knew before I started this project that we didnt have any 32mm round tube, which is what I used on the rock sliders on LJ.

I could have bought some in but decided to just use what we had instead.

This would mean my High Lift jack adapter would be too big.

So I decided to make a new one, a better one!

I cut, drilled and notched a piece of box section.

View attachment 142970

My original one, from the UK was made with 4" box section which was completely unnecessary.

So I chose slightly smaller box section (75mm I think it was)

View attachment 142971

My solid bar had to obviously be slightly smaller to fit the smaller tube in the rock sliders.

View attachment 142972

I believe it will still be strong enough.

New one has 20mm bar old one has 25mm.

View attachment 142973

Test fit.

View attachment 142974

The old one just had a bolt to attach it to the Hi Lift, but it had been long since lost.

With the new one I drilled a bigger hole so I can just use a standard 50mm towbar receiver hitch, pin. Always useful to have a spare pin in the car anyway, and now I will have.

View attachment 142975

View attachment 142976

View attachment 142977

View attachment 142978

I welded the 20mm bar on.

Then 2 days after dropping it off at the powder coaters and $80 later I had them all back, all shiny in satin black!

View attachment 143007

View attachment 143008

View attachment 143009

View attachment 143010

View attachment 143011

Fits beautifully and will give me a nice secure jacking point.

I only change wheels with a Hi Lift when on trips, I dont mess around under the car in the dirt winding the silly little standard jack up and down. Oh no......... I use the High Lift and jacking the car up and down takes seconds!

But having secure jacking points and an adapter like this is essential to do it safely!

High Lift jacks can be very dangerous, but used with respect and with these proper jacking points its very safe!

View attachment 143012

View attachment 143013


I'm dedicating one of my 3 days off this weekend to The 78, so I will get the rock sliders fitted and get a few other little jobs done.

Making things of beauty as usual Ben, respect...

(not to mention all the great photos...)

 

[Ben]

Thanks mate.

 

[StarCruiser]

On the subject if Safety with the Hi Lift Ben, what’s to stop the pin on your adapter rotating in the hole and the truck falling off the jack? Ok you’d chock the wheels and as long as the truck stayed put that would be ok but is this enough? Sometimes this is a feature that’s necessary of course, such as jacking out of a hole then driving purposely off the jack.

 

[Ben]

TBH Rich I wouldn't even chock the wheels, I'd just leave it in gear with the handbrake on.

I think the fact the jacking points are so close to the wheel being raised, the other 3 wheels will remain firmly on the ground.

Now if the jacking point was in the center of the rock slider then I would totally agree with you because then both wheels on that side would be getting raised at the same time and that could be dangerous.

Had the High Lift jack points on the rock sliders on my LJ70 for years and I've always changed wheels like that without issue, but I am always very careful and treat the High Lift jack with a lot of respect!

The second you become complacent with potentially dangerous tools like a High Lift, is when accidents happen!

 

[clivehorridge]

TBH Rich I wouldn't even chock the wheels, I'd just leave it in gear with the handbrake on.

I think the fact the jacking points are so close to the wheel being raised, the other 3 wheels will remain firmly on the ground.

Now if the jacking point was in the center of the rock slider then I would totally agree with you because then both wheels on that side would be getting raised at the same time and that could be dangerous.

Had the High Lift jack points on the rock sliders on my LJ70 for years and I've always changed wheels like that without issue, but I am always very careful and treat the High Lift jack with a lot of respect!

The second you become complacent with potentially dangerous tools like a High Lift, is when accidents happen!

You mean you still have your own front teeth then Ben?