Dubbeltjie, FJ40 Land Cruiser Restoration 2014

Time has marched on with a number of rebuild projects completed but sadly very few Blog posts submitted to record my progress.

I am proud that I am now have a fully restored rolling chassis with all hubs, brakes and brakes lines, wheels, springs completed and rebuilt.  Every little nut, lock washer, washer and bolt has been de-rusted or replaced - every brake-line replaced or de-rusted.

Brakes calipers cleaned and ready for installation

I rebuilt the front and rear brakes as well as front hubs.  All new seals, gaskets, grease and all the rust removed either using my sand blasted or good-old elbow grease.  All parts have been repainted with an agent to prevent rust and then finished off with an anti-rust paint.

All new brake cylinder kits - genuine Toyota - installed front and back.  I replaced some of the brake lines which turned out to be easier to do than expected.  I bought the metric steel brake lines from my local parts store and purchased a brake line bending tool.  Using the tool to bend the pipe worked like a charm.

Check out the "new" rolling chassis....I also had the rims power coated to the Toyota original gray color - they turned out great.

Over the last few weeks I have moved onto the engine.  My goal is to strip it down completely so that it can be repainted.  I also want to replace the main front seal as well as check the timing wheel to make sure that it is still solid - if not I will replace it while it is easy to access.

When the previous owner purchased Dubbeleltjie he had Daniel Edone of Wimberly Four Wheel Drive overhaul her from top to bottom.  Daniel is well known in Land Cruiser circles and is a fundi on all things 4-wheel drive.  He has since sold his business which was located in New Braunfels Texas.  He did the following around 05/28/2005.  Odometer reading at the time was 197,392 miles at time of purchase was 194,376.

New Parts:

• Exhaust manifold and gaskets
• Replaced belts and hoses
• New "e" brake cable
• New front brake pads and rotors
• New fuel filter
• New plug wires and plugs
• Flush brakes
• New rear main seal
• New clutch and bearings
•  Resurfaced flywheel
• New distributor cap and rotor
•  New Australian ABR Bull Bar
• New tow bar
• New tires
• Recovered front seat bottoms
• Adjusted valves
• New cover gasket
• New side cover gasket
• New sleaves
• New pinion seals (all 4)
• Replaced door gasket
• Replace mirrors
• Muffler repair by Ron Culler Auto
• Minor electronic tune
• Align front end
• Replace PVC

Mechanical work completed by Wimberly Four Wheel Drive:

• Rings, bearing and valve job - includes resurfaced manifold, rings, valve guide, seals, hone cylinders, oil filter, coolant, spark plugs and gaskets
• Replaced knuckles seals, bearings, plus wheel bearing grease (both sides)
• Other parts: rear main seal, throw-out bearing, pilot bearing 
• Replaced transmission transfer case seals

Here a few photos I took of the engine prior to being stripped:

Hornets nest of vacuum hoses

Engine exposed after removing the fender

Making progress

 Here's a video of the stripped engine ready for cleaning and painting

Dubbeltjie, FJ40 Land Cruiser Restoration

The day has finally arrived that I moved from tear-down to rebuilding - I am going to love this part.  But it is slow progress.  Last weekend I rebuilt all the springs which were original Old Man Emu springs that I had grinded down and repainted.  I highly recommended anyone doing this take lots and lots of photos during the dis-assembly part - it makes the assembly part so much easier.  They are now ready to be installed.

I had to buy new shackles and shackle bushes.  I spoke with ARB for guidance and eventually landed up buying all the replacement parts from Man-A-Fre.  One of the complexities was the frame - my Land cruiser is a 1981 but I bought a 1979 frame - and per my earlier blog there are some differences.  The shackle bushes on the frame side are are smaller - I think 20mm whereas the ones on the spring side are larger - around 30mm.

After painting the each leaf I installed the appropriate yellow synthetic parts, cleaned out any rust in the eye of the main leaf.  Inserted the bushes after applying some synthetic grease and I was done.  One unforeseen challenge was the center bolt that holds the spring together.  It was larger in diameter than the ones I removed.  I therefore had to drill out the holes to fit the new bolt - got it done but destroyed a number of drill bits in the process.  Man this is tough steel.  Between running to the store and assembly it was an all day project.  Here they are:

Using the photos made the assembly a cinch!

Ready to be installed!

Stripped all the oils of the "U Bolts" using brake cleaner and painted them with Rustoleum satin black paint.

Grinded the spring hanger plates, sprayed them with rust protector and they are now ready for painting.