What have you done to your rig today?

[J1000]

I've spent about two months now with all of my stuff out of my garage covered by a tarp in the backyard but I think it's finally going to be worth it! I put down the first coat of Rocksolid floor coating in metallic blue and it's looking sweet!

 

[On the RX]

Spent the day mocking up an awning to the thule roof rack (thanks J1000 and coloradoadams). I say mock up as i was 4 bolts too short when I did my math at the hardware store. I hillbillied the redneck out of attaching this awning. Two bars of uni-strut, wood blocks and homemade straps to attach it to the load bars. Turned out pretty stout for only having one of the struts bolted down! I will move the front mount closer to the front load bar to see if it tightens up a little better. I also found out that it fits in the garage with it on also! It almost cleaned the dust off the header but it fit! 4 bolts and two more hours should get it ready to roll down the road.

 

[Cruisertrash]

Rebuilt and installed an OEM PS pump on my 60. Quick reminder - if you’re bleeding a fluid system make sure to put the outlet hose into a container .... and not just let it blow a half quart of ATF all over the engine bay. I knew exactly how to do the process, done it before, and then completely spaced it.
Had an enjoyable drive to work this morning with power steering, what a luxury. It’s been a month of building upper body strength and frankly I’m over it.

 

[MDH33]

Here's a hack for all of you 60 series owners with busted fuse panel doors. Mine has been living in the center console for years after the tabs broke off...

I tried to find a used or new replacement, but just crazy prices out there, $50-$150 for a piece of plastic. Decided to try fixing (improving ) mine. The tabs were long gone, but still had the door. The dash is metal. Hmm. Magnets ? I got some rare earth magnets, ground out space with my Dremel tool and epoxied those suckers on. Boom!

Works awesome! Will give it a real trial run during Outlaws, but I don't think any trail is knocking it loose. 🤓

 

[Old40Dog]

Very cool idea for the fuse cover Martin, Started getting my Taco ready for Outlaws over the weekend. No pics yet (soon to follow) replaced faded and chipped taillights with new ones and also working on new Avid Off-Road RTT rack and new Marlin Rear Bumper. Should have more soon.

 

[J1000]

Finally DONE with my garage refresh! Can't wait to just use it now! I filled in all of the expansion joints and then coated with Rustoleum Rocksolid in Metallic Blue. It is a little darker than I expected, but still looks good IMO. I am so excited to be able to roll my creeper or jack or engine hoist all over the floor without getting hung up on cracks or joints!

Welcome to Land Cruiser Heaven! If anyone wants to come work on their stuff here they are more than welcome the only fee is beer!

Before:

Rustoleum Rocksolid Metallic Blue: https://amzn.to/32BaHAP
Loctite PL Polyurethane sealant: https://amzn.to/33x5J7n

 

[Cruisertrash]

Finally DONE with my garage refresh! Can't wait to just use it now! I filled in all of the expansion joints and then coated with Rustoleum Rocksolid in Metallic Blue. It is a little darker than I expected, but still looks good IMO. I am so excited to be able to roll my creeper or jack or engine hoist all over the floor without getting hung up on cracks or joints!

Welcome to Land Cruiser Heaven! If anyone wants to come work on their stuff here they are more than welcome the only fee is beer!

Before:

Rustoleum Rocksolid Metallic Blue: https://amzn.to/32BaHAP
Loctite PL Polyurethane sealant: https://amzn.to/33x5J7n

Looks great! Pretty funny though, between my roommate and I we have an FJ60 and an NB Miata. We’ve got similar style I guess.

 

[J1000]

I love Miatas! It is the vehicle that first got me wrenching on cars in the first place.

 

[Cruisertrash]

I love Miatas! It is the vehicle that first got me wrenching on cars in the first place.

We help each other wrench, and while his NB is pretty cool the tight spaces make it much more difficult to work on than my 60. Nothing beats being able to crawl under my truck and have a look around without breaking out a jack and wondering where I can stick it on the damn unibody.

 

[DomOfTheDead]

Fabbed a simple crossmember to support a much needed tcase skid plate. Xmember in front of tcase has had some decent rock rash so I don't want to test what that little OEM case brace / skid plate can take punishment wise. I plan on using plate steel spaced down to clear the exhaust until I reroute the exhaust out of the way. As is, ground clearance will be similar to front diff skid. Skid will span from xmember to xmember and has not been made yet. And yes, I cringe at the button tcase actuator gizmo too.😬

 

[DanTheMan]

Looks great Jimmy!

 

[J1000]

Just an oil change but trying the new Rotella Gas Truck oil. Has anyone used it? See my Blackstone report below, I think my oil could be doing more for me. I was just running whatever Stevinson Lexus put in before. But since COVID their prices have gone up and the donuts have disappeared so now I am changing my own oil like a regular ol' schlub.

Rotella Gas Truck Synthetic 5W-30: https://amzn.to/32VDyQt

Previous oil change report:

We help each other wrench, and while his NB is pretty cool the tight spaces make it much more difficult to work on than my 60. Nothing beats being able to crawl under my truck and have a look around without breaking out a jack and wondering where I can stick it on the damn unibody.

See that's why I LOVE wrenching on my cruiser; because I learned on a Miata! You are not joking.

Looks great Jimmy!

Thank you! Only been about 2 months but finally got to use it as a garage today.

 

[J1000]

I added a house battery bank with 3x 16Ah LifePo4 batteries, a 400watt inverter, A Steca 8A solar MPPT charger into my truck. I snuck them behind the rear quarter interior panel where the (2nd) factory DVD player was. They ended up fitting perfectly in the cavity and I made a little battery box from some aluminum angle. In total these will give me about 615 watt-hours or 48 Ah of total house battery capacity. Not a huge amount, but enough to charge my drone, a laptop or two, run my fridge, and power any LED lights but most importantly will run an electric blanket all night! I probably won't use the solar input much if at all but since I had it I wired it in anyway. The battery bank can always be expanded if I figure a clever place to hide more batteries.

Miady batteries: https://amzn.to/3riKLbV These batteries have build in BMS that manages cells, have over and under voltage protection, thermal protection, over current protection, charge protection, etc, etc. So basically I can just hook them all up together in parallel and forget about em! Also used a little fuse block to keep the wiring tidy.

Added dynamat to the inside fender to block some noise since I'm opening this area up a little but also to prevent dents if the batteries move a little bit.

I have not set up the connection to the vehicle alternator yet, waiting on the DC-DC smart charger.


I also took inspiration from @DanielChase and cut up an old foam camping pad and hid it under the carpet. Hopefully it will level out the lumpiness from the seat mounting brackets and be a bit more comfortable. I added these D-ring tie downs also to better hold my gear: https://amzn.to/2HpA7Jg

 

[IoN6]

Finally got around to getting some things knocked off my list of to-do's.

Swapped boxes with one I had rebuilt with a 105 sector shaft earlier this year. Replaced the firewall seal and rag-joint. Changed the oil and rotated the tires.

 

[Inukshuk]

@J1000 Brilliant work!

 

[gungriffin]

I added a house battery bank with 3x 16Ah LifePo4 batteries, a 400watt inverter, A Steca 8A solar MPPT charger into my truck. I snuck them behind the rear quarter interior panel where the (2nd) factory DVD player was. They ended up fitting perfectly in the cavity and I made a little battery box from some aluminum angle. In total these will give me about 615 watt-hours or 48 Ah of total house battery capacity. Not a huge amount, but enough to charge my drone, a laptop or two, run my fridge, and power any LED lights but most importantly will run an electric blanket all night! I probably won't use the solar input much if at all but since I had it I wired it in anyway. The battery bank can always be expanded if I figure a clever place to hide more batteries.

Miady batteries: https://amzn.to/3cITEjL These batteries have build in BMS that manages cells, have over and under voltage protection, thermal protection, over current protection, charge protection, etc, etc. So basically I can just hook them all up together in parallel and forget about em! Also used a little fuse block to keep the wiring tidy.

Added dynamat to the inside fender to block some noise since I'm opening this area up a little but also to prevent dents if the batteries move a little bit.

I have not set up the connection to the vehicle alternator yet, waiting on the DC-DC smart charger.


I also took inspiration from @DanielChase and cut up an old foam camping pad and hid it under the carpet. Hopefully it will level out the lumpiness from the seat mounting brackets and be a bit more comfortable. I added these D-ring tie downs also to better hold my gear: https://amzn.to/2HpA7Jg

Does your charger have a low temp cut off? I have thought about installing a LIFEPO battery in the cabin, but I just don't want to kill it in the winter.

It will be quite nice to have about 40Ah of useable battery with only about 12lbs of added weight from the batteries!

 

[J1000]

Not the charger but the batteries themselves have a cut off, if the batteries turn off from the cold the inverter and other stuff can run off the DC-DC charger. I used a Lifepo4 battery as the 12v accessory battery in my Nissan Leaf for a year all through winter and never had an issue with it.

 

[Inukshuk]

It will be quite nice to have about 40Ah of useable battery with only about 12lbs of added weight from the batteries!

The 40ah Dometic battery by comparison is $850! (and 16 lbs)

 

[Inukshuk]

On the better half's GX 470: Removed running boards and cut and installed trim to remain, installed new spare, replaced burned out bulbs in the seat heater and CDL button, tracked down the source of no interior lights to some fault in the driver's visor (still have to fix that) but after replacing the fuse was able to install all interior LEDs (still need to order a few), polished headlights a bit (big improvement but still plan to get new ones), aimed headlights, reconnected a solenoid so we now have heat (still need to rebulld it) fixed door switched on 1995 Camry,

in the process learned a technique to rebuild toyota door switched while on the truck! (or car). Need to write that up.

And jumpstarted the 80 after I drained the battery, and let it run a while to charge. 80 needs more love. GX is very happy. Camry is content.

 

[RayRay27]

Finally got around to getting some things knocked off my list of to-do's.

Swapped boxes with one I had rebuilt with a 105 sector shaft earlier this year. Replaced the firewall seal and rag-joint. Changed the oil and rotated the tires.View attachment 89172View attachment 89173

Did you rebuild your steering box or did you have someone do it for you?