"new"old truck

[alexy]

hello everybody,
after driving for few years my rusty 25 years old romanian 4x4 flatbed truck, decided to get another truck, went somewhere in Germany....saw the first LJ which was rotten too....then looked online and went to see the second LJ....somewhere in Italy ...and two months later the "new" 30 years old toy arrived home....

 

[clivehorridge]

Welcome to the forum Alexy, nice truck. There's not too many of them in Romania!

 

[stumog]

Looks good and now Clive has a local friend good all round.

 

[alexy]

he he, thanks.
Truck is here to stay , gonna be used as a dd, not much in terms of mods.
I use it to tug a small boat and to go trout fishing, so Im not sure it does need much change.

Installed a webasto, thinking that would help....
it does work, but when u crank the engine, the injection pump thinks the engine is hot and gives low revs....so I need to twist the rpm knob or gently press the pedal.
will test it better this winter and see if it was worth the time...

what I would really like to find would be an ac unit, but know its a rare thing....

 

[Ben]

Looks great. Nice find.

 

[alexy]

thanks guys!
as with any old car....its not mint.
theres rust underneath, but not too bad
couple holes into the wheel arches, but not too big

rest seems in running order and allready went through checks and bits replaced since previous owner decided to run it for
only 350 km in the last 7 years. booooo!

installed a shelf to keep things organised somehow
and found the unused tool box in the wheel arch...but chewed by a mouse...
so had to use the stitching machine a bit...

 

[alexy]

thats webasto rigging,
works ok, only flexible exhaust seemed be ok with the engine vibration
heat lever needs to stay switched on, otherwise there will be no coolant flow to the webasto and it will enter shutdown loop.

 

[zooey]

Looks the spitting image of my new-to-me LJ71...they could be twins. So I am following with great interest as I am just getting to know mine.

 

[clivehorridge]

Looks good and now Clive has a local friend good all round.

We've exchanged a few PMs Stu, but we haven't met each other yet. There's plenty of time for that! Work has eaten into this w/e and often does so it's hard to make plans ahead, but we will find a way, I guess.

There's surprisingly few LCs off-roading here, but I've seen a few in a muddy state passing through the city.

Alexy's truck is such a clean machine

 

[stumog]

I would love a mwb 70 for a summer car to cruise around in.

 

[alexy]

Hey Clive, we live like 500m away, I buy bread from the french patisserie round th corner from your 80.
Just came back from Etiopia, found couple bonnet rubber bumpers and bought two aftermarket indicator lamps, will see if they actually fit.
For those who dont know, Etiopia cars are 95% various models of Toyota. Its kind of heaven for petrolheads !

worry with truck is engine temp needle jacks up if I drive 100km/h with the boat behind on slight incline on the highway.
not sure where the issue is, either radiator, water pump, fan or termostat.

any suggestions? should I swap termostat default?

 

[StarCruiser]

Have you checked your radiator is clear of debris, mud, dust, leaves etc?

 

[clivehorridge]

Hey Clive, we live like 500m away, I buy bread from the french patisserie round th corner from your 80.
Just came back from Etiopia, found couple bonnet rubber bumpers and bought two aftermarket indicator lamps, will see if they actually fit.
For those who dont know, Etiopia cars are 95% various models of Toyota. Its kind of heaven for petrolheads !

worry with truck is engine temp needle jacks up if I drive 100km/h with the boat behind on slight incline on the highway.
not sure where the issue is, either radiator, water pump, fan or termostat.

any suggestions? should I swap termostat default?

I'd be inclined to change everything you can afford. Failing that, the thermostat is a cheap option. They can jam or be sticky in either mode, closed or open. Mine was jammed open, but if yours is permanently closed, it could be the source of your troubles.

When you're back in Romania January time, I can introduce you to GTC, they will trouble-shoot it for you, I'm sure.

 

[Beno]

Hey Alexy.
Mate a very nice LJ you have picked up there. Congrats and enjoy the new Toy.

 

[alexy]

hey, will send rad to Brasov factory for complete rebuild, they take the top and bottom off, clear the thing, then reassembly.
thermostat will be changed default.

last two issues would be-waterpump was changed toghether with timing belt, but I know its aftermarket....so question mark on it
-not sure how to check the viscous coupling.
while driving the truck empty everything seems fine. but 37 deg with trailer and highway seemed more than truck would handle.

and thats odd considering the old ro truck I drive would never ever change temperature, not even with two tons extraweight on the flatbed. odd....

 

[StarCruiser]

There's a thread somewhere on here Alexy about replacing the fluid in the viscous coupling.

 

[Shayne]

Hi Alexy

Emptying the viscous and refilling with 60ml of 10000 CST silicone oil sounds like a good idea .

You can get a towing stat from Toyota i can't remember the numbers now but i think it opens at 72 degrees instead of 78 . Might be an idea to have two given the temperature difference of Romania's summer and winter .

I can't imagine having the rad cut and cleaned will save any money over the cost of a new rad from Roughtrax or somewhere similar .

Not sure about the water pump as i have never touched mine but you mention earlier that the truck has done 350km in the last 7 years . If it were mine i would flush the system with Forte coolant flush before replacing anything and after replacing everything .

 

[alexy]

ok, thanks for that.
mind you, Ive done 8000km since I got it.
Ill have to wait to pass the winter now, not looking forward to play with spanners in subzero temperatures.
Ill start looking into the forte flush and silicone for coupling.

Fingers crossed its not a dreaded crack somewhere. Coolant is clean though.

 

[clivehorridge]

I've still not seen this truck of Alexy's, thought I'd see it parked up somewhere close...

Where do you park it Alexy? Maybe it's garaged somewhere

 

[alexy]

not driving it now, sheduled for mot and registration in january.
then we come by to fetch some french bread and say hello!

now discovered the rear defogger wires wont work, more fun before heading back to Africa.
Im driving a romanian 4x4, a blue cabin flatbed at the minute...