October 25 2010 by Darrin.

I built the workshop back in 1999/2000.  At the time, I didn’t think I’d need a slab out front.  (Five years prior, I didn’t think I’d need a shop, so go figure.)  Over the first few years, it became obvious that my initial logic was flawed, with my feet always muddy from trips to and fro.  I also spent countless hours building little railroad-style tracks for heavy projects to roll outside on, after meticulously shimming them in the dirt out front, on pieces of lumber and steel.  Here’s an old shot of what the site looked like previously…

It was just Mulie season here.  Gary, a friend and annual deer hunter from Wisconsin, was debating whether or not to come out this year.  He makes his living in construction back there, so I suggested he consider pouring this slab for me if he came out.  He got here hoping to go hunting, but the season was shorter than normal and the weather was not in his favor.  He rearranged his plans and we did some preliminary work Tuesday, he and a hand from South Dakota excavated and set up Wednesday, and they poured Thursday and Friday to just beat some impending unexpected rain (and now snow).

Things could have been smoother, but Murphy’s always around to mess with you.  Tuesday night, we tried to bust out some “extra” concrete that had been placed in front of my walk door years ago.  It was poured solid around a frost-free hydrant, and wasn’t the 4″ expected, but a whopping 13″.  Too make a long story short, the hydrant broke and I had to replace it - 5′ down, 24″ hole, and virtually impossible to work in there to repair it…

Thursday, the first load of mud came - 4000 psi with fibermesh, to be poured 6″ thick…

By Friday, it was all in place…

And that damned hydrant?  Here’s the new one installed, properly protected from moving with the slab.  Notice that the concrete is scored in a 3′ square, and ready to break out with a hammer if needed.  It’s 4″ thick there, instead of 6″, and should come out okay IF I need to dig it up again.

Monday morning now, Gary’s heading home and he just made it out of here.  I guess our long-lasting summer has finally come to an end…

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October 7 2010 by Darrin.

So it’s been about a year since dragging the old HJ out of the barn and blowing the dust and rat turds off of her.  Finally, the tables have turned and new parts are going on.  During the last couple weeks, I’ve managed to reassemble the axles with all new brakes, bearings, seals, gaskets, hoses, nuts and bolts.  If it was replaceable, it’s been replaced.

The front axle was the most work, and a real learning experience for me.  I’ve never been into a Toyota Birfield front end, so I started out with a Gregory’s No.502 Australian aftermarket service manual for the HJ-series Land Cruisers.  I bought it when I was Down Under in 1996, and it’s okay, but a guy named “SteelArt” on the following Aussie website really helped out with his own forum thread here…  http://www.4wdaction.com.au/forum/viewtopic.php?f=76&t=90889  MANY THANKS, Mate!  I owe you a Four X.

My steering knuckles, or “swivel hubs” in Oz-Speak,  were old, filthy, leaking gear oil, and in need of serious attention.  The chassis spent most of her life on railroad tracks in 2WD, but I wanted to do everything up like new.  The knuckle bearings were even a little “bindy and catchy” after 299,000 km, so it was time for a full rebuild.  Here they are before attacking the project…

The first steps involved disassembling the Aisin locking hubs, the main hubs, and the pulling the Birfield CV shafts.  The result was a big mess of parts, and a slimy mix of grease and gear oil - from the axle seal evidently being toast for a long time…

With all that stuff removed, I could knock the knuckle bearings apart by removing the lower bearing retainer and the upper steering arm.  (The hardest part of that involved getting the top cone washers to pop out - after being stuck in the same hole for 25 years.) The mess just gets bigger and bigger!

Next comes the tricky part!  The swivel bearings’ cups and cones get replaced and the knuckle itself has to go back onto the axle housing with the proper amount of tension on the bearings.  It’s measured with a spring scale at the end of the steering arm, and you’re shooting for about 3.5 to 6.0 kg of force to move the assembly.  Both my left and right sides were a little tight, so more shims were needed.  The shims simply take pressure off the bearings, and I found that an extra 0.012″ shim on the left and 2 x 0.012″ shims on the right resulted in 4.5 kg and 5.5kg respectively.  Well within tolerance!  Here’s how it looks when taking the measurements…

Next comes checking out the Birfield CV joints, and packing them with good grease.  I used Valvoline synthetic, No. 985 - the best stuff NAPA had.  It’s important to get plenty of grease in here.  If not abused, the Birfs are pretty robust, and unlike a single U-Joint so common to American stuff, these are “constant velocity” and don’t create any jerking and binding when turning with the hubs locks.  Throw in that they’re protected inside that big steel ball at the end of the axle and I think Land Cruiser’s really got the system down well.  No wonder they have such a great reputation.  A packed CV…

Et voila!  A completed swivel hub assembly, ready to go to Alaska and (hopefully) back again…

Looks great, doesn’t it, almost like new!  And if I did it right, it IS as good as new.  Oh, and by the way, the ARB air-locker is back in the rear axle, and all the new parts are in there too.  Here’s the last side of the drum brakes, before the drum and wheel go back on…

And finally, the curtain lifts and here’s the rolling chassis ready for her engine, a few other little things, and then a short trip to the other shop bay and back under the body…

Next step: Replace the clutch assembly with parts I got from Oz, then install the engine and 5 speed transmission.  Look for that pretty soon!  I’m on a roll…

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