The Restoration And Build Thread For My 1992 FJ80

[Summit Cruisers Jr]

Your truck is mint! Love it. Have U ever put it through the scales to see how much that beast weighs fully loaded? I bet it's near 6500lbs. I once had my 60 at 6700 and while it didn't feel like it was struggling to get going it did sway a little more than I felt comfortable with in some of the turns. Then again my suspension is stock.

solid build

Thanks you guys! I actually put it on a scale not too long ago and it was right around 6600 without anyone and without the tent on it. I bet it weighed well over 7000lbs on my 2 week trip. Yeah mine also has some pretty noticeable body roll. Especially with the tent on the roof. I am running the soft Ironman Performance series lift which is probably meant for stock like weights and I can't wait to ditch it for a more vehicle specific set up. I will likely be buying some slinky coils in the near future along with some custom tuned shocks.

 

[Summit Cruisers Jr]

In the on going saga of getting the brakes to perform better, the master cyclinder was replaced along with the rear brake shoes. The rear brake drums were also turned. It has a little more bite, but still not as much as desired. I've read about people having no problem locking up 37s on 91-92 LCs, but mine doesn't get close. It's still a lot better than it was, but I had higher expectations. Maybe my braking expectations are too high.

 

[Summit Cruisers Jr]

Last Friday I went ahead and replaced the brake booster again. It had a warranty and I figured why not. It now stops much better. The previous booster didn't have a very progressive feel as I pushed the pedal down, but this new one feels like it should. It still doesn't have a whole lot of intial bite early on compared to my brother's FZJ and my mom's LX470, but after a couple hard stops, the stopping distance from 30 was actually better than my brother's FZJ.



Sometime in the near future I'm planning to finally purchase an ARB fridge. I was dead set on the 64qt at first, but I'm starting to think the 50qt might be better. It's a really tough decision as I don't want to regret either choice, and the prices are close enough compared to the overall prices. This will also finally force me into building drawers and setting up a dual battery system.

I was also featured in the Fall 2016 Issue of Tread Magazine in a great story about the family history and our adventures in my cruiser. I never thought I would end up in a magazine and it was an awesome experience and surreal to see the magazine for the first time.

 

[Adventurous]

That's pretty cool to be featured like that! Your cruiser is pretty ************, so not surprised. Do I spy a Yeti SB66?

 

[Summit Cruisers Jr]

That's pretty cool to be featured like that! Your cruiser is pretty ************, so not surprised. Do I spy a Yeti SB66?

Thanks! It surprised me to see someone asking if I wanted to be in a magazine. I have never been contacted about anything like that. Good eye! I had a turquoise one and now I'm onto a black and raw carbon sb66.

 

[DiscoDino]

Inspirational work!

 

[Summit Cruisers Jr]

Well it's been awhile since I've done anything with the cruiser, but I did buy a 63qt ARB fridge several days ago. I have been wanting and needing to build drawers for quite some time, but I've never gotten around to it and I figured having a fridge sit in my living room would force me to build them sooner rather than later. I'm also looking into building a drop down fridge slide but that may be interesting with the length of the 63qt fridge. I haven't done much with planning yet, but have a general idea of what I want my drawers to do.

 

[Summit Cruisers Jr]

Late last week I drove out to Northwest Arkansas to pursue the 2 wheeled passion and hang out with some friends. I only snapped one pic of the cruiser but it was an epic trip for being as short as it was. It was awesome being able to ride out in NWA as the region has exploded over the past few years and I have been dying to check it out as I haven't been out there in awhile.



We checked out the Mt. Kessler trails on the evening of our arrival for a quick rip. After getting to the furthest place on the trail my friend flatted. The plan was to buy some back up tubes after that ride which we definitely Gould have done before hang. The next day we went out to the Thunder Chicken Trail system and rode around there for awhile and then I flatted. Off we went to lunch and then to the rail yard bike park. I threw in my spare tube and we started sessioning the different lines there. As we were about to start riding some of the Lake Atlanta trails, the Santa Cruz demo van pulled up along with a truck of other guys. We all joined up for an epic 13 mile group ride as none of us knew the trails. After riding we headed out to Beaver Lake to camp.



During our summer trip we tried to ride as many bike demo's as we could to save wear and tear on our bikes and check out all the new technology. Unfortunately we missed the Santa Cruz demo, but low and behold out of nowhere, Santa Cruz was putting on a demo at the Slaughter Pen trail system the next day in Bentonville which happened to be where we planned to ride.

Much to our surprise, the demo bikes were spec'd insanely well with enve wheels and SRAM Eagle.


Then, roughly 50 miles from home, the seal on the back of the power steering pump failed. After replacing the pump and refilling all the fluid, my steering box decided it was time to empty everything onto the driveway.

 

[Adventurous]

Still running tubes huh? I went to tubeless a few years back after flatting twice, running out of tubes, and having to ride 6 miles of DH with a flat rear tire. At least I know my wheel building skills are pretty solid.

What'd you think of the SC bikes? I felt they were a close second to my Yeti.

Sucks to hear about the steering pump.

 

[Summit Cruisers Jr]

Still running tubes huh? I went to tubeless a few years back after flatting twice, running out of tubes, and having to ride 6 miles of DH with a flat rear tire. At least I know my wheel building skills are pretty solid.

What'd you think of the SC bikes? I felt they were a close second to my Yeti.

Sucks to hear about the steering pump.

I was tubeless for most of the summer on the rear. The front wheel failed awhile ago and I just threw a slime tube in it and it hasn't given me any problems since. I've tried a couple other times to get the rear to seal back up tubeless as that's where I feel an immediate difference, but my rear wheel just won't anymore. The evening before leaving I cleaned all of the sealant out of the wheel and wiped it down with rubbing alcohol. Then I put two layers of rim tape on followed by the factory liner. I tried a fresh tubeless tire with no luck. The air just comes flying out around the valve stem not matter how tight the hole in the tape is to the fresh valve stem. Originally it sealed up for probably 6 months with just a tubeless valve stem, a little sealant, and the factory rim liner. I only rode the 5010 and I loved it. I would say a Yeti SB5C built to the same spec would probably be a little more to my preferences and I believe roughly half a pound lighter. I had never ridden Enves before, but they made the biggest difference. The Enves were so stiff and they could just be pushed super hard through corners without losing their line. It was also a very flick able bike although I rode a medium at 5-11".

 

[SilicaRich]

Aha! I found you! Been following you on Instagram for a while drooling over your 80. Sub'd!

 

[Summit Cruisers Jr]

Aha! I found you! Been following you on Instagram for a while drooling over your 80. Sub'd!

Haha thanks for following along! I didn't realize you were on expedition portal

I guess a long overdue update is in order with what's going on with the cruiser. After the power steering pump failure on the way back from Arkansas, another one went in only to fail not long afterwards. After that happened, I just parked the cruiser for awhile until finals were over and then replaced it with another pump which has since been great. Lately I have been concentrating on replacing all of the little wear items that have been bugging me over the past year.

First we started with the rear output bearing and seal on the transfer case. It has been leaking for several months now and the mess on my driveway has been getting larger and larger so it was definitely time.






While it was up on the lift I noticed a greasy driver's side knuckle. That surprised me as I had just replaced the inner axle seal last summer along with the brake upgrade. I went ahead and tore that down and put another seal in just to find a groove on my axle shaft. I also decided to check my passenger side wheel bearing as I had been getting some steering wheel shake (different from the tire shake) and noticed it had a decent amount of play going on. It was checked last summer when the driver's side was done and retorqued to 25 ft lbs, but had somehow come a little loose. Tightened both sides down to 30 ft lbs and it's been good since.



With the more messy tasks over with I started with the little stuff that has been bugging me for awhile. Ever since I put my yeti swing out on, I have not had my reverse camera due to the wires being too short. I lengthened them and was routing all the wires when I realized my camera had severe fading on the lens. I ordered a new camera which came with wires about 6" too short on the camera side so I can't wire it through the swing out arm. Now All I need to do is order a new one and pull the wires through. I absolutely hate soldering and working with tiny wires so I won't be messing with this camera.



I started with the shifter boot (PN 33555-60071). My transfer case portion of the boot had a small hole in it and the transmission linkage rubber was completely gone. I noticed it was gone back when I was building my console but at that time didn't think much of it. My shifter also recently developed a lot of slop and didn't firmly click into each gear it was shifted into. I ordered two shifter grommets (PN 90480-17177) and two shifter bushings (PN 90386-15003). I wish I had ordered 4 of the grommets because they were extremely tight to get into place and I ended up breaking one completely and slightly damaged another. When I replace them again I will be slightly filing them as to ensure they fit. The shifter bushings seemed to make the most noticeable difference in shifter slop. It's amazing how much movement the linkage had with the old bushings. They reside under the vehicle and had definitely seen their useful life expire.



This is how much excess material got shaved off one of my shifter grommets. I'm not sure if Toyota slightly changed the size over the years, but I could only find one part number for these.



Then I turned my attention to the steering shaft seal (PN 45292-35050). Mine had been long gone and with the 3FE's exhaust nearby my feet have been getting warm during the summers. This was very easy to replace and in combination with the shifter boot my interior has definitely experienced a reduction in noise.



With the necessary stuff completed, I removed my rear storage box and started designing my drawers and new air tank mounts.

The tank is 8" diameter so I cut 4" wide sections out of an 8.25" pipe and then notched out a section and added tabs so it could be bolted down until tight around the tank. I then made mounts to bolt it to my receiver. After using 5 bits for each hole drilling through nearly 3/4" of metal each time I realized I definitely should have used some u bolts, but oh well.


I still need to find my spare cap, but I'm glad to finally have a rear outlet.





Shifting focus to drawers that I am about to start, I have pretty much decided on using locking accuride 36" slides for the drawers and 26" non locking accuride slides for the tilting fridge slide. I am thinking 3/4" mdf should be good enough for the main 3 vertical supports of the drawers with narrower width mdf used for the drawers themselves. I am putting a large emphasis on these being as silent as possible. I plan to monstaliner the entire system so I don't think I'll have any issues with mdf getting soggy, but if anyone knows better let me know.

 

[Summit Cruisers Jr]

I also got out for a couple small biking trips and a trip to the local off road park. Oklahoma also got its first decent snow in several years and of course I had to go find some fresh powder on the backroads with my brother.





We also went out to Sundog off road park for an afternoon. There is absolutely nothing technical, and it is not my favorite place to go but it's really the only thing legal within a couple hours drive. It was just sand and dried out mud bogs when we went. It was definitely more fun in my friend's 4Runner put in RWD with BP51s than my cruiser.

 

[Summit Cruisers Jr]

I am getting ready to order my slides and I was pretty set on using accurides, but I just decided to use a lock in, lock out slide and at $250 a pair I started looking to other possible brands. For $80 less I can get the same options on a Fulterer slide. Is fulterer as well regarded as accurides or should I just spend the extra money and have the tried and true accurides?

I cut out most of the pieces last weekend and should be ready to start assembling in the next couple of weekends. I went with 3/4" birch and 1/2" mdf to build the system.


I also went out to the Arbuckle Off Road Park over the weekend with a friend and had a good time. It was pretty sweet being able to not deal with a bunch of mud and sand like most places close to me.

 

[Summit Cruisers Jr]

Over Spring Break, we went back out to Colorado and went out to Moab for several days. It wasn't much different from last years SB trip, but we got on some new trails and explored more of the surrounding areas of Moab a little more. We drove out to Albuquerque for the first day, then went up to Durango, CO for the next 3 nights. While in Durango we did some fun skiing in at Purgatory, and the local mtb trails were thawing out so I was able to get a couple good rides in on some of the dry trails. While in Durango, my brake booster started whooshing and not providing as much power assist so we called ahead to Moab and had a replacement sent there.



We got to Moab pretty early in the day, changed the booster, and since we couldn't check into the place we had rented until 2 we couldn't take the bikes and rack off to go hit a more technical trail. Instead we drove up a road by the river towards the Poison Spider trail head. Shortly afterwards we turned off the road on the first dirt road we saw. As we continued onward we ran into a couple of guys who were actually trying to scrape the road flat for the season. This road turned out to be Long Canyon Road. The views from the top looking back over Moab and the La Sals was amazing. The next day, my brother and I set out to ride Captain Ahab. We got back late in the day, ate lunch, and then we set out for Poison Spider. Because we started so late in the day and didn't realize how long the trail was going to take, we turned back around after the waterfall as we didn't want to be coming down that stuff in the dark. It was a really fun trail and the cruiser always amazes me at what it does despite not having front and rear lockers.





For some reason the rest of my file uploads are failing.

Once back at home we started cleaning the interior out and performing some tests to figure out the randomly low idle on start ups and the highway speed vibrations. I believe the low idle was just a small vacuum leak since it hasn't done it since. The air filter was also really nasty. I'm not sure exactly when I last cleaned it, but there was enough dirt coming out of it to build a small beach. I definitely don't buy into the "snorkels also keep the air filter cleaner because it pulls in air from higher up" thought.