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Justin's 80

Justin_Elliott

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Hi all,

I'm the proud owner of a HDJ80 having aquired the cruiser from my Dad in the middle of last year. The cruiser has been on many adventures (South america / China etc...) and was very well maintained up until my Dad was forced to stop using it due to ill-health. The truck sat unused for about two years suffering from a range of problems before I finally convinced him to let me near it...

Its now being used as the fun week-ender / family car that I, and my kids, just can't seem to leave alone! Whilst the truck is now definitely back in the land of the living it has a number of faults which I'm slowly working my way through (thanks to the help from the forums!)

I've got quite a few of my dads pictures - but this one is definitely my favourite - taken on route to base camp with Everest in the distance.
Penguinsatroofofworld.jpg

http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad335/JustinElliott_photos/Penguinsatroofofworld.jpg

Having looked through these pictures, listened to the stories and (of course) owning THE truck - I'm now planning my own trips!

Before I feel confident to do that I'll need some more offroad driving experience and to complete a few more mods (excluding the list of preventative maintenance):
BEB's (don't know if these have been done or not so don't want to risk it!)
Expedition quality roof rack
Replacement Sliders
Winch upgrade (currently OEM / aka Crap Mechanical Winch)
Winch Bumper

Oh and as Crispin kindly provided some more stickers for my toy so the least I could do was share some pictures...
IMG_2251.jpg

http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad335/JustinElliott_photos/IMG_2251.jpg
IMG_2250.jpg

http://i949.photobucket.com/albums/ad335/JustinElliott_photos/IMG_2250.jpg
 
Nice 80 and a impressive list of adventures :shock:
 
Hello Justin,
Some fantastic pics there! Don't know if you intended to post the image and the URL - not necessary to post the URL to get the image to display but no problem if it was intentional :mrgreen:

Out of interest, do you know what sliders you have on the truck?

Cheers,
 
Andrew,

I couldn't get the Images to appear! So edited and added links - only to find originals suddenly worked!!!

The sliders (like the rear carrier) are a custom build. I really like them, but they are corroding like mad (no drain hole!!)

I'm intending on using them as a template when I make replacements - I will produce a write up/pics but may not be for sometime...

J
 
Justin_Elliott said:
The sliders (like the rear carrier) are a custom build.
J


They look really good. Chris (Battered & Blue) is looking for an 80 and I am sure he would be interested in some sliders for it. He'll come along shortly and ask how much you would charge for them :lol: :lol:

Nice stickers BTW ;)
 
Hardly - with my welding skills! I have to keep myself busy somehow. :p
But I do like the design. The wheel carrier has be thinking too.

Chris
 
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Got these on mine, on it when i got it so unknown where they came from, i love em.

Various158.jpg
 
The Everest Base Camp shot is majestic. Reminds me that I'm not going to be just buy into a truck, it is more about committing to a lifestyle.
 
Wow, I love that shot of the LC with Everest in the background, spectacular.
I'd love to do something like that! I think one day I will set off on my 12 month trip.

Couple of questions, is your LC raised?
How the hell have you managed to keep your mudflaps intact? Mine where getting damaged to I took them off.
How did you mount the lights on the standard front bumper?
 
Justin_Elliott said:
Hi all,

Winch upgrade (currently OEM / aka Crap Mechanical Winch)

Justin.

See if you can get hold of a Factory electric winch as while it is only rated at 3600kg it is immensly strong and will pull that all day being made by Aisin who make some pretty damn good stuff.

Alternatively, when you say crap mechanical winch, do you mean the Power Take off one, in which case suitably fettled it is also a very good Winch and very strong. I can send you the info from the manual if you want.
 
James Rothwell said:
Wow, I love that shot of the LC with Everest in the background, spectacular.
I'd love to do something like that! I think one day I will set off on my 12 month trip.

Couple of questions, is your LC raised?
How the hell have you managed to keep your mudflaps intact? Mine where getting damaged to I took them off.
How did you mount the lights on the standard front bumper?
Yeah that pic is by far my favourite... As for a trip of my own, when kids are old enough and if I can keep on top of the maintenance then maybe someday i can go on a similar trip too.

Its been raised several inches ~4 :?: (need to compare heights to a standard to be sure).
I don't think the Mudflaps have been kept fully intact - the front right was replaced with a non-OEM after it was ripped off in south america.... (No idea where this was sourced from but others on the forum may know...)

As for attaching the lights I've taken a few close up shots to give you an idea of how this was done. The rear portion is a standard angle bracket welded to folded sheet metal and an internal support - I can take some more measurements if it would help.

SDC12429.jpg


SDC12427.jpg


SDC12428.jpg



Andy Harvey said:
See if you can get hold of a Factory electric winch as while it is only rated at 3600kg it is immensly strong and will pull that all day being made by Aisin who make some pretty damn good stuff.

Alternatively, when you say crap mechanical winch, do you mean the Power Take off one, in which case suitably fettled it is also a very good Winch and very strong. I can send you the info from the manual if you want.

Yes its a Power Take Off winch.

The mechanical winch only works (or so it appears) when the car is in neutral - so pulling is the only option (whereas you can drive/pull with an electric winch.).

I may be being a little unfair about the winch but the last time the winch was used in anger the truck was fairly well stuck, needless to say the winch couldn't cope on its own. To top this off the mechanism has a shear pin which prevents overloading... so when it pops your left with a hundred feet of wire cable to wrap around the bumper until it can be fixed.

With some help (and the ability to drive/pull) the landcruiser popped out without too much effort. It definitely felt like a lot lower pull on the rescue winch than the mechanical - As such I believe this winch is more useful to help others or pull other objects...

As for improving its performance/fettling it to get the most out of it - please tell me more. I'm unlikey to replace it in the near future so any info you can provide would be gratefully received. I have the FSM so any other info on the winch would be handy.

J
 
Justin.

Yes you are right, only works in Neutral like all power take offs. With regards fettling it. the best thing is to strip it down and check everything as per the FSM and then make sure it has enough oil in it, that the wire is good - no nasty kinks etc and everything is clean. They get very dirty over time and that doesn't help things however the really good thing about the PTO winch (which is why they are beloved of the Land Rover crowd is that you have no electrics to get wet and no hydraulics to go wrong. It is the simplest of devices that as long as it is kept up to scratch will not let you down.

With regards to more pulling power, get a couple of snatch blocks, it will easily cope with a triple line pull - bear in mind you have 165bhp motor running the winch - far in excess of Warn's wildest imagination. Also you can get (I'll see if I can dig out where from) uprated shear pins. The UJs and the rest of the drive train can take far more punishment than the shear pin. Also on a triple line pull you will reduce the overall strain on the PTO mechanism whilst still getting far greater effective pull.

For overland use, I would say it is difficult to beat a PTO winch for simplicity and reliability over an electric winch - you can drown it in the most horrible stinking water and it will just laugh at it as long as it is greased and lubed correctly. One thing to check, pretty sure the PTO UJs are also greasable - make sure you do it as they are effectively one of the weaker parts of the system and what the shear pin is there to protect - you don't want a UJ letting go on you on the PTO - mega damage to the engine and potentially some serious injury.

With regard to the FSM, it has everything you should need to rebuild the Winch and you can still get all the parts from the Dealer (apart from uprated shear pins).
 
Andy,
Thanks for this - I'll definitely think twice about replacing the winch now, especially if I can upgrade the shear pins - It last got a good service a few years back so its definitely overdue. Once completed I'll be looking out for some decent winch training - read plenty of theory but little practical experience!

J
 
I would not upgrade the shear pins as this could cause a failure in the next weakest point most probably the UJs. If I were you I would keep a couple spare shear pins with you all the time. To avoid shearing the pin use a snatch block as Andy suggested.
 
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