Lando the FJ80 Build and Adventure thread

Not sure what a POWERMIG is.  Mine is just a 110V from HF that I bought about 25 years ago.  They were Italian made then.  It looks almost identical to the current ones they sell that are from China. 

Yeah, I just mounted it on the vent at the back.  At first, I just stuck it up against it on the outside to see if it would work.  Later, I mounted it there on the inside.  I think I have it blowing in versus blowing out.  I'd have to look.  I mounted it inside maybe 15 years ago.

fzj80s are awesome, good choice for a build/rig.

In reply to Dr. Hess :

My welder is a chepo Italian POWERMIG ASTRO POWER 130. I got it second hand, but I assume it is a Harbor freight special.

i assume you've read and looked over the 80 section at ih8mud.com?

anything you'd ever want to do to your 80 has been done and documented there.

Your MIG is probably very similar to the HF MIG I have.  No hinges on the side cover?  Just kinda squeezes and fits?  The newer Chinese ones have hinges.  There's web sites out there dedicated to these things, mods, hot rodding, repairs, etc.  The only other thing I've done is replace the feed liner thingie.  I got a Miller branded metal one, but I still didn't like how it fed.  I now have a piece of Teflon (PTFE) tubing that I bought from McMaster and it feeds super smooth.  Really improved the welding.  I do have to be careful not to punch a hole through it when I change spools, but that's a small inconvenience for the better welding experience.

Yep, that sounds like mine.

In reply to onemanarmy :

Yeah, I have been lurking over on the mud mostly. I posted my roof rack tool mount and was told that I was going to kill somebody when they or the stock rack fail and my shovel goes through somebody's windshield. . I may stick to lurking.

I addressed a few little issues on Lando over the weekend. First was the power windows, they are SLOW when it's cold, and one of the rear windows had fallen off the regulator from one of the kids playing with it several months ago. I had tried to reattach the regulator to the window using silicone and adhesive with no success. A new rubber channel piece and some effort to shove it onto the glass solved that.  

The slowness is caused by the rubber tracks the windows ride in getting old and hard. The correct fix is to replace them at $140 each, but I took the cheap way... pulling them out, cleaning the crusty dirt out and lubing them. 

I also took care of a power steering leak at the pump. Lucky it wasn't the pump or the high pressure line leaking, just the low pressure line from the reservoir to the pump. The o-ring that seals the connection was not so rubbery any more. I replaced the rubber hose too for good measure. Total cost: $9 including a quart of fluid.

Last I pulled the heater blower fan which squeaked like  crazy when the fan was on low. A bit of 3 in 1 oil on the bearings seemed quieted it for now. I'm glad they didn't build the car around the blower motor, 15 minutes to pull it, lube and reinstall.

I got a pair of recovery tracks for my birthday earlier this month, and this weekend I made up some mounts to hold them out of my extra roof rack mounts. I still need to sew up the straps. The mounts are basically two posts made from a carriage bolt threaded into the Yakima mount and a tube. I made them tall enough to fit 4 tracks.

Also my roof looks awful. I may paint it white this summer.

MAXTRAX!   Those things look pretty useful in practice. I can't decide if I'd rather have a set of 4 Maxtrax or a winch. It's about the same cost if I go with a used winch.

In reply to ultraclyde :

They are X-Bull recovery tracks which are a clone of Treads. They are less than $100 per pair compared to $300 plus.

I got my straps seen up last night and threw the tracks on the roof so I could hit the mall. I ran into some mud along the way. 

Looks good. I'll be interested to see how well they work. 

Have you ever been stuck in the driving you've done with it so far?

Not yet, but I have been hesitant to push it into difficult terrain when out exploring by myself. I need to find a group to run with.

The mud I got into this morning was pretty deep, but I was able to back out without getting the tracks out.

I've been doing the same thing. Last thing I want to do is get stuck alone.

These Land Cruisers are full time 4wd, but in the US spec vehicles the center differential only locks when you shift in to low range.  The rest of the world got a button on the dash to lock it on demand. Luckily the US trucks retain the wiring and all that is needed is to dig out the plug:

And install a switch like this:

I also took a look at my rear defroster which does not defrost at all. I have power and ground to the rear window, but it appears that each of the defrost lines are degraded and have gaps in the circuit in several spots. I will start a separate thread about repair options for it.

My 98 LX has a center dif lock button.

I think people have successfully soldered over the cracks on those defrosters.  Might try some google-fu.

Goodies from the postman! TJM springs and Fox shocks. I scored a good price from a fellow who was further upgrading his suspension. These should be good for about 2.5 inches of lift. One of the front shocks needs to be rebuilt. I'm still debating on whether to try to rebuilt them myself or send them in to Fox.  

What part of Washington are you in? There was an active overland 4x4 community in the "southern end" of the Seattle area when I lived there.
 

I'm in the southern part of the state by Vancouver.

Finally an update. The lift is on, and it really improved the ride and look of Lando. The springs we're supposed to give 2.5 inches of lift, but I ended up about 3.5 inches over the original springs. I guess they had really sagged over the years.

The shocks turned out to be quite the ordeal. One of the used front shocks was blown and I took them to a friend that rebuilds motorcycle shocks to replace the seals and recharge them with nitrogen. The fill Port for the gas charge is located under the stud on the top of the shock, and they apparently use a whole bottle of red thread lock on each shock. He was not able to get them apart but found a shop in Utah to do the job for me. He shipped them out, but what arrived was an empty box. Thanks UPS! 

I ordered a new set of front shocks from Amazon and got to work on the rear axle. When my Amazon delivery arrived there was 1 shock in the box, along with a shock shaped hole. At this point UPS has 3 of my shocks, and I have a car that has the stance of a 70s muscle car. I promptly ordered another shock from Amazon, and since it was due to arrive in a few days, disassembled the front. With my stellar luck with shipping this turned out to be a mistake.

The replacement replacement shock ended up being delayed in shipping, and that left me with a disassembled suspension, and 3 days until a week long camping trip that I needed to drive my truck to. I finally gave up on mail order parts and found a shock from the local off road shop.

This should have been the end, but I came down with kidney stones after picking up the shock, and ended up reassembling everything on pain meds.   Fun!

New shocks vs old, a bit more travel!