June 15 2010 by Darrin.

June’s been “Spring Cleaning” month, and in between a bunch of old DOS software, I found this photo of the Troopy sporting her Hi-Rail gear.  Just some cool old nostalgia.  I have no idea if this is here or Down Under…

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May 29 2010 by Darrin.

Things are sure green around here!  We’ve had lots of rain, and even some snow last Monday, May 24th.  Gotta enjoy it; it only lasts a few weeks or so before some of the grasses head out and turn yellow.  Last month, I decided my 1991 Kawasaki KLR 650 had been dormant in the garage for far too many years.  She got a little “freshening-up”, with a new battery, tires, chain/sprockets, cables, a clean carb, etc.  Here’s the bike, AND the green.

Before I forget, thanks to all who gave their lives to keep America safe and free.  Really.  I cherish what we have here.  A while back, I posted a video on my website.  What’s our flag mean?  Check it out if you like…

So what else is new?  My friend Michael and I were supposed to go to the Netherlands in April, but the volcano in Iceland shut that down.  We rescheduled for four weeks later, but wound up canceling again.

I did get to Maryland just before we were supposed to go to Holland.  I went to get Mom, do some chores, and drive back to Wyoming.  29 hours total time en route, covering ~1849 miles.  That’s almost 64 mph of average speed!  Amazing for her older Ford Expedition with 150,000 miles on the clock.  And we never went over 4 miles above the limit! It was an excellent run.

In the shop, work on the Land Cruiser continues.  The chassis is ready to get painted, but first I have to fabricate and install a custom fuel tank.  In the photos below, you can see the beginning of it.  It’ll hold just over 30 gallons, and will be located behind the rear axle in the factory spare tire location…

Finally, here’s the rebuilt rear differential, now with an ARB Air-Locker.  So long as it works, it’s a “best of both worlds” device, providing an open diff for normal use that can be pneumatically locked for maximum traction.

It’s a great concept if it doesn’t leak!  I’ve had mechanical, pneumatic, and electric lockers over the years, and by far, the older mechanical Unimog lockers are my favorite!  Not much to break.  We’ll see how this goes a few years down the line!

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April 3 2010 by Darrin.

Finally, only a few months late, I’ve got the chassis out from under the Land Cruiser Troopy and in another shop bay for restoration.  I only managed a few hours a week in 2010 so far, but I hope I can spend some more time on the project now.  I have to keep reminding myself - “Alaska 2011, Alaska 2011″.  Motivation is good to have…

Fortunately, the chassis restoration is the fun part of the project.  (I hate bodywork and painting.)  I’ve got the newer 12H-T turbo-diesel to go in, complete new suspension on the way, new brake parts, steering linkage, and virtually everything I need to rebuild the axles. I also want to weld up another fuel tank to go behind the rear axle.  There’s plenty of room available - enough to easily build in a 1,000+ mile highway range.

I’d like to think I can have the chassis ready to go back under the body by June, and get the bodywork completed while it’s still plenty warm here in Wyoming.  Here are a few photos of the body removal process.  I used 4 x 1-ton camper jacks (the same ones I use to build the AATREC and Unimog campers) to raise the body about 20 inches so the chassis could roll out…

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January 4 2010 by Darrin.

I needed a place I could throw a couple photos “in public” and the blog is the handiest site.  I’m about to cut the frame back down to a factory length (it used to hold Hi-Rail gear) and I’m hoping some Land Cruiser forum members will have a look and tell me how long it’s supposed to be…

Pretty boring, huh?

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December 15 2009 by Darrin.

After sitting in the front of the shop while we were in Hawaii and Baltimore, the old Cruiser finally rolled off the trailer and into the shop on Saturday…

Now the whole room smells like rats!  They’ve sure enjoyed themselves for the decade+ the HJ was in storage…

Time to tear it apart and start stocking up on rebuild parts.  Since selling the big AATREC-FM204, I want to build a mini-AATREC.  This vehicle will likely become an “AATREC-HJ” camper, with the troop compartment converted into a camper.  It’ll mostly be a bed, fridge and small counter with diesel stove and sink, all over an elevated floor.  Under the floor, I suspect you’ll find 25 gallons of water, a small water heater, two AGM betteries, and rear pull-out drawers for storage of food and cooking supplies. Just dreaming at this point, but it’ll eventually come to fruition.  Right now, it looks like this…

 One nice thing about the old HJ is the straight and rust-free body.  It was shipped to Wyoming from Port Hedland, Western Australia in 1987, and it’s been in this 17% no-salt climate ever since.  At least there won’t be too much body work!

I still have a number of projects to get to here before going hog-wild with the Cruiser project.   Our Fiat tractor decided to start leaking fuel from three different places at once.  (???)  I’ve got a fuel suction leak on our firetruck (Unimog U1300L) that’s keeping her from running.  The stuff never ends.  Fix one thing, something else breaks.  Oh well…  That’s the fun of it, right?

Recently, I fought a situation with our 1970 Unimog fouling spark plugs in just a few minutes running.  I rebuilt the carb multiple times, completely rebuilt the ignition system, and then (and only then) did I figure out that it was old gasoline.  It was so dark, it looked like dyed diesel fuel.  Now she’s ready for winter with a rebuilt carb, new ignition, and decent fuel…

This is really good news, because the old Swiss 404 is our go-to winter machine.  Her skinny tires and tremendous ground clearance get us through the biggest snow drifts at the worst times, and we were really worrying about blizzards without the Unimog in our vehicular arsenal.

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September 20 2009 by Darrin.

I’m just back from southern California, having done a quick trip down and back Tuesday through Friday.  My friend Michael from Ohio rode along, and we had an uneventful journey.  No mechanical problems, good roads, good weather, and good “loot”.  The goals of our excursion included picking up:

• tools from my friend and camper customer, Dan, who’s outside of San Diego
• a used Toyota 12H-T diesel engine I’d ordered in February
• anything else I could scrounge up for the related Toyota restoration (that wound up being a new windshield, some oil filters, and a windshield gasket)

This winter, with a little luck, I’m taking a break from the big camper construction projects.  I am going to restore our 1985 Toyota HJ-75 Land Cruiser 1-ton Troop Carrier - called a “Troopie” in the Land Cruiser world.  She’s an Australian-market right-hand-drive vehicle that was imported into the USA for ultrasonic railway testing back in 1986.  She accumulated over 300,000 km in service with SS Tech, running on hi-rail gear on the train tracks.  She eventually came to me in 1993.

I played with her for four years, then retired her in 1997 when her oil pressure became too low to trust.  She’s been in storage under roof for 12 years now.  Yesterday, Michael and I managed to fire her up with a fresh battery and a tiny shot of ether.  While the brake pedal went to the floor, the clutch hydraulics were spot-on, and I was able to drive her under her own power onto my car trailer…

Now that she’s back home, I’m going to let Anna’s two kitties de-rat the car for a couple weeks while the Troopie is outside.  Next, I’ll give her a good cleaning and strip everything off of the vehicle’s interior and exterior.  The goal will be a body in my paint booth, and a rolling chassis in my other workshop bay.

 The chassis will get stripped, painted, and then:

• a new Dobinson’s (Aussie) suspension
• rebuilt axles with ARB diff-locks
• new brakes
• new wiring
• a second fuel tank yielding a near-1000 mile range
• a direct-injection turbo-diesel engine

Here are a few shots of the “new” used 12H-T engine and 5-speed manual transmission, bought from a JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) parts dealer in Los Angeles…

The above turbocharged direct-injection 12H-T engine will replace the stock 2H indirect-injection naturally aspirated diesel that’s tired and needing lots of love.  (My plan is to get the 2H rebuilt, turbo’d, and then slid with her 5-speed transmission into another old Land Cruiser we have - a 1985 FJ-60 that’s currently powered by a gasoline 2F engine with 4-speed tranny.)

 Are you seeing any pattern here?  Multiple Land Cruisers, multiple Unimogs…  Having lived off-road for over 20 years now, these old vehicles are the only ones that hold up in such severe service.  Live and learn.

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