06XSE
Test Drive
- Location
- Rapid City, SD
Hey guys, I recently joined the forum, coming over from TNX. Thought i'd share the progress I've been making on my Toyota Landcruisers. My dad and I both purchased trucks about a year ago and started working on them, both setting out with different goals, but it's been really nice sharing the experience and learning all that I can.
We bought this, a 1972 FJ40 from a guy in Eastern Montana in late 2011, and drove it home.
It was a little slow to start out with, it hadn't moved much in a few years, but after 50 or so miles the engine was loosened up and we cruised back home.
We bought the truck not knowing a LOT about Landcruisers, never having owned one before, and probably took more of a risk than we should have. We were lucky enough to have found a good truck though, once we got it home and started really looking over it we found that truck was really solid. It had a light restoration done, with a few things upgraded including a newer NV4500 transmission w/ a twin stick transfer case doubler, power steering, warn hubs, tilt wheel and modern seats.
After a few days of light work, we were actually able to take it for some easy off roading
After a few months of researching and learning what I wanted to do with the truck, I realized my dad and I had different ideas for what we wanted... So, I found this one and bought it haha. It also had upgraded Warn hubs, power steering, and a similar SM420 transmission.
It needed a LOT more work that the white 72'. It hadn't run in two years, the radiator had a major leak, the carb was in bad shape, and the interior was completely missing.
Eventually we got it running enough to take it out on the road, where we found a whole other host of issues. The biggest issue was the headgasket, which needed to be replaced. So we pulled the head, and ordered a new gasket kit.
We found that one of the lifters was frozen in place and the cylinders were flooded with coolant, we took out time cleaning and freeing the lifter... and lifted it into place (excuse the blurry picture)
After that there was another small list of things to be fixed that I worked on over the coming months, the truck never really ran well though. My goal was by the end of the summer to have it ready to DD during the winter, unfortunately due to limited time and funds it sat a lot longer than I wanted it to. I was able to take it out on a trail once during the summer though, it DID break down and have to be limped home, but it was a morale boost for sure.
Early December 2012 I decided to pull the carb and rebuild it, thinking that might be the cause to a lot of the headache. Sending it to a pro to get it rebuilt cost in the $300-400 range, and not wanting to spend that much money, I picked up a $20 kit and gave it a shot myself.
It took another couple weeks, and replacing a few small components in the electrical system it fired right off (something it had never done before) and ran like a champ. Just today I was able to drive it to work for the first time
Kind of a brief run down of what I've done with both trucks, i'll continue to update as things progress... also, here's a picture of the two trucks together, the one time I was able to take the Yellow one out.
We bought this, a 1972 FJ40 from a guy in Eastern Montana in late 2011, and drove it home.
It was a little slow to start out with, it hadn't moved much in a few years, but after 50 or so miles the engine was loosened up and we cruised back home.
We bought the truck not knowing a LOT about Landcruisers, never having owned one before, and probably took more of a risk than we should have. We were lucky enough to have found a good truck though, once we got it home and started really looking over it we found that truck was really solid. It had a light restoration done, with a few things upgraded including a newer NV4500 transmission w/ a twin stick transfer case doubler, power steering, warn hubs, tilt wheel and modern seats.
After a few days of light work, we were actually able to take it for some easy off roading
After a few months of researching and learning what I wanted to do with the truck, I realized my dad and I had different ideas for what we wanted... So, I found this one and bought it haha. It also had upgraded Warn hubs, power steering, and a similar SM420 transmission.
It needed a LOT more work that the white 72'. It hadn't run in two years, the radiator had a major leak, the carb was in bad shape, and the interior was completely missing.
Eventually we got it running enough to take it out on the road, where we found a whole other host of issues. The biggest issue was the headgasket, which needed to be replaced. So we pulled the head, and ordered a new gasket kit.
We found that one of the lifters was frozen in place and the cylinders were flooded with coolant, we took out time cleaning and freeing the lifter... and lifted it into place (excuse the blurry picture)
After that there was another small list of things to be fixed that I worked on over the coming months, the truck never really ran well though. My goal was by the end of the summer to have it ready to DD during the winter, unfortunately due to limited time and funds it sat a lot longer than I wanted it to. I was able to take it out on a trail once during the summer though, it DID break down and have to be limped home, but it was a morale boost for sure.
Early December 2012 I decided to pull the carb and rebuild it, thinking that might be the cause to a lot of the headache. Sending it to a pro to get it rebuilt cost in the $300-400 range, and not wanting to spend that much money, I picked up a $20 kit and gave it a shot myself.
It took another couple weeks, and replacing a few small components in the electrical system it fired right off (something it had never done before) and ran like a champ. Just today I was able to drive it to work for the first time
Kind of a brief run down of what I've done with both trucks, i'll continue to update as things progress... also, here's a picture of the two trucks together, the one time I was able to take the Yellow one out.
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