Body off ?

[ADD]

Need some feedback on whether I should separate the body from the chassis on a 2005 HDJ100 ?

How much time is required and any guidance?

I need to replace front wish bones and rear springs, all bushings and drop links, replace front bearings, replace some AC piping to rear plus other stuff along the way AND

the reason I am think of removing body is the de-rust and paint chassis and underbody.

 

[Iwan]

Best way to go about restoring/ensuring to have a long future with the truck.

The time scale of derusting components and with having the body raised off the ground will give access to all of the floor.

Chassis will also have easy access etc. Time scale full time 9am to 5pm 5 days a week should be stripped down in 2 weeks?? That's saving every thing that doesn't disintegrate from rust!

I stripped down a project 81 and spent that amount of time, as there's a lot of equipment on them much like a 100 I'd say.

 

[uHu]

I'm in the same boat, with my 2004. Stripping, welding, blasting, painting (or galvanising) is the only way to keep it for another 16 years. I don't have a good place to do it, in this wintry country, so I have to build a proper garage first.... Or outsource it.
This thread on mud is great inspiration: HDJ100 - Body off renovation, now with a hot dip galvanised frame *Picture Heavy* - [Leaving Land Cruiser Club]

 

[Iwan]

Also you need a separate area where you can store the components, as you really don't need them in the working area.. I used a not so old van to use as storage... serves the purpose!

But a well worth exercise to preserve in good time instead of running the truck till its uneconomical to restore..

A long time mate from The Netherlands once said.. " Rust isl like a bad girlfriend. When you don't have it, you're looking for it! When you have it, you want to get rid of it"! Lol

 

[Shayne]

I can't find it now but theres a great vid on youtube where they jack up a pickup truck , stick a hoist on the engine and unbolt it , put blocks under the body , unbolt everything , take the wheels off and simply lower the frame and roll it out on trolley jacks . I posted it on the forum once somewhere .

 

[IvanD]

I am doing this at the moment. uHu has linked my thread on IH8MUD. Body off starts here HDJ100 - Body off renovation, now with a hot dip galvanised frame *Picture Heavy* - [Leaving Land Cruiser Club]

I opted to have my mechanic do the separation, as I do not have a hoist and it helps immensely.
You can do it in about a day, max two. There is not much holding it in place. There are 12 body mounts with 10 bolts, the radiator, about a dozen electric connectors, the steering and gear/transfer shifters.

I HIGHLY recommend doing this! As you can see on the pic above, there is A LOT of mud in the rear. Before taking the body off I had the car washed up on a hoist for 45 minutes and there was no visible mud at all. You get a lot of it stuck up there between the body and chassis on the rear. My car was Southern European, warmed garage kept, so there was basically no corrosion, but the rear was starting to rust.

This was the underside of my body before blasting it and painting it (2 part epoxy primer followed by 2 part urethane - Raptor). Behind the rear wheel arches (out of the photo) it was particularly bad.

It takes a lot of effort, but is very much worth it. There is a lot of work that you can't do and access without doing it. The body mounts are crazy expensive though - £500+
Springs and wishbones - definitely no need to lift the body to change them.

Consider also dipping the frame and control arms if you get this far

 

[ADD]

@IvanD great write up on IH8MUD. Is this your rebuild thread?

Its what I want to do but need to get my head around the cost in parts and labour. Do you have a spread sheet of the costs so far?

Also in UK labour costs are high it might be cheaper to take it to another country, thoughts?

I have a local garage but there would be problem with the duration of the project and storage.

 

[IvanD]

Hard to say about costs. Depends on what do you want to do, who is doing it and how far the rabbit hole are you willing to go.
I am doing most of the work myself so I am not paying labor. I also have access to a workshop, so I do not have to buy much of the tools needed. What I am paying for is logistics - moving the body and chassis around, galvanisation, materials (paint, acid), some tools and parts.
The bulk of the costs is Toyota parts. I am buying via a guy at close to amayama.com prices. I paid the equivalent of ~£1400 just for bushings and mounts - control arm bushings ( you can change just them instead of the entire arms), body mounts, engine mounts, etc. I think I managed to track down each and every single bushing that goes into the car - about 64 in total. Several hundred quid more for various bits and pieces - the brackets holding the shock absorbers, brake calipers servicing kits, driveshafts u-joints and more and more.
I am paying ~£1000 for pulling the car apart and then putting it back together after I am done with all the refurbishments.
I am also having the engine looked at. "Nothing seriously wrong" parts for it - seals, gaskets, bearings, etc are around £500. I have a slightly bent con rod and scored piston on top of that. I pay labor for that as I am not doing it.

When you take everything apart it starts to take space. Apart from the wheels, frame and body itself I manage to keep all bits and pieces (driveshafts, front diff, springs, torsion bars, front hubs, springs, brakes, etc) in one big box and one pallet for the rear axle and reservoir. The AHC piping is the exception, as it is one big rigid "spider" of pipes. I would say in total I am occupying around 4 times the car area.

I am doing all of it in Bulgaria, so labor is way cheaper, compared to western Europe, but logistics to get things here might be not. You can have a look at Garage31 - [Leaving Land Cruiser Club] They are specialised in working exclusively on Land Cruisers and do similar kinds of in-depth restorations. Cost is BGN35/hour. As a point of reference, the last few 70 series they did were ~£8000 for one in mostly good condition to ~£17000 for one where there was a lot of corrosion and metal work. Those are complete drive-in/drive-out costs.

 

[ADD]

@IvanD

Can you advise any special tools required excluding sockets and spanners, torque wrench, hydraulic lift and press for bearings to separate the body and replace components on the chassis?

In regard to how deep the rabbit hole it will be all or nothing.

 

[uHu]

Rattle gun & Tec7 GT7.
Nothing else iirc.

 

[Iwan]

If the bolts and nuts have a thick layer of rust on them, knock it off and hammer on the next size down socket onto it.

Depending how rusty they are..

 

[aeonking]

@uHu have you found any places in Norway that can do the end-to-end resto process? I.e. as you wrote before, stripping, welding, blasting, painting (or galvanizing)?

 

[uHu]

No, I haven't. But haven't looked much either, just expecting it to be forbidding expensive. How would Denmark be for such a job?

 

[aeonking]

Yeah, Denmark doesn't have as many folks into these types of cars... or cars in general... so I'd be looking to Norway or Sweden to get the work done
I can't find anything in Denmark

But here is a place in Norway that does chemical dipping: BS-Teknikk - [Leaving Land Cruiser Club]
And then here is a big Scandinavian (mostly in Sweden) company that does galvinizing: DOT | Nordens ledande leverantör av ytbehandling - [Leaving Land Cruiser Club]

But not sure who can take the car apart, take care of delivery to the above companies, and then re-assemble, etc.

 

[Jacob100]

What about the Germans?

 

[Gary Stockton]

Probably worth getting an induction coil heater for rusty bolts.

 

[uHu]

Probably worth getting an induction coil heater for rusty bolts.

Who has experience with induction heaters? Would these be good specs:

Comes with three sizes of coil, 18, 22 and 28 mm.
About 350 euro or pounds.

 

[Dave]

It looks like a Biltema one, in which case the usual Biltema rules apply - it may be dead on arrival, it may only work for a short while, and theres a modest chance it will last the warranty period. In other words, keep the reciept in a safe place.

 

[Gary Stockton]

That doesn't sound great. I was going to buy one off fkeabay, Jon Wcadvised against it and leant me his Dealey unit. All I can say is that it was absolutely amazing at getting iffy bolts off the rear quarter of the 100, including the little ones on bumper sides, diff lock actuator etc. On my Christmas list....

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

I have a 2kw Sealey vs230 that's been very useful