Rusty HJ60 Restoration and Overland Build

[OverlandMark]

Hi,
So were totally new to this forum, Land Cruisers, 4x4's, Toyota's, Overlanding and just about anything else you could name to do with taking one of these 2 ton things anywhere...

Ok so while im being a little vague...here is our basic plan.... find and make good a Landcruiser, stick a few basic elements together like a tent, cooking and living bits and bobs and leave Europe and travel as far as we can possibly get in it tand with a little luck get us and it home again. Extemely easy to write but trying to pull off with a departure date of next July may be optimistic to say the least but were motivated and we think right now we can pull it off.

Ok so why are we are here.....

Firstly i guess we selected an old Landcruiser on being proven in the field of getting people basically any where on the planet to somewhere else on the planet and surviving it. It might be old be if it could do it then, zero reason it cant do it now....fingers crossed!!

Secondly based on cost, rusty almost consigned to the scrap heap but with hopefully a ton of mechanical miles left in it.
and i guess Thirdly its simplicity and overkill design with nothing in the way of electronics to go shorting on you in the middle of nowhere and needs plugging into a laptop that will leave you needing an electronic part your never going to get... basically it can be bodged should it need it!

So basically this whole thing goes from an idea to a plan within a week and we find a roof tent on ebay, known make, reasonable price and i find myself collecting it.
Part1 of big purchases complete.... Part 2 find a HJ60... tricky!!

A few searches here and there are turning a blank for a HJ60, my assumption that these things are easy to get is getting a bit down hearted and when i check howmanyleft.com i realise that it seems that there are so few left and with less than half showing as being on the road (less than 200 in the UK) that its not going to be easy....

And then ebay throws up a result a day or two later....POS HJ60 land cruiser, rusty, almost worth its weight in scrap , runs with not too many return trips to the moon on it (180k) and all works sort of and for the most part. A phone call and i find a really nice guy Andy from this forum i believe selling it who really knows his stuff....Perfect!

Turns out i guess most folks on here will know him and my lucks in as he is chopping one up too. So i head up and take a look, it all seems to work, engine sounds sweet, 4x4 works, electrics for the most part function and a lot of rust....its worth a shot!

We strike a deal including a few panels and bits and bobs off a totally scrap 60 and that's it!!
I head back up a week later and chop up the other 60 for a few panels and find a transport company that can shift that much weight and we are nearly set... a final call to a friend of mine to beg a little space in the evenings in his unit and we are set... Part 2 of plan is ready!!

Part 3... “the restoration”

Well its not really a restoration in the proper sense, basically weld up the ton of holes, respray it ,tidy the underneath removing 23 years of mud and rust so i don't get a ton of shit in my eyes if i have to work on it. Change every fluid, re core radiator, rebuild alternator and do the front hub seals, new wheel bearing all round, new batteries and a brake rebuild and what ever else crops up...

The HJ60 as found...




The Rust







Ok so ok catching up slightly here on the 4th October i get a text saying it had been delivered to the unit....save that for next post

 

[OverlandMark]

Ok so it gets delivered on the 4th Oct... we spend at least 2 hours driving round and round this overgrown field... all seems good, 4wd works as it should and despite our best efforts we cant get it stuck..






Best get welding......

 

[Graham]

Just one question, or two,
What made you decide on the 60 series?
What was it about the 60 series that ticked all your boxes?

Gra.

 

[OverlandMark]

Just one question, or two,
What made you decide on the 60 series?
What was it about the 60 series that ticked all your boxes?

Gra.

In no real order...80 was too expensive considering we wanted to go through it and change things that might play up and change suspension, may as well start with a 60 for alot less cost and change them anyway. Nothing in the way of serious electronics, simple mechanical injection infact simple everything in the grand scale of things and a good reputation for relability despite age....No worries about drilling holes in the body, modifying it internally and turning into something we needed if we started with some thing that was shot
If we are going by looks then square boxy shape of the 60 is much preferable personally, being bought up on a diet of 70's cars and first car being a MK1 Golf then i think it rubbed off.

I can weld being another big factor and it has a relitively simple body design generally due to the ladder chassis.

Im not saying anything else would not have done the job just its what we fancied, it cropped up at the right time....

cheers

 

[OverlandMark]

So last monday i make a general start, cutting rotten areas into neat squares... wish it was such an easy task putting it back but still







And then over the last 2 weeks cracked on...













3 Hours of cleaning rust and crap off the rear axle, would have been alot easier to take it out... Oil change next up

 

[OverlandMark]

And got it painted last night...

Sorry for all the pictures, just catching up

cheers

 

[AndyCook]

wow - looks like a pretty big restoration job - reminds me of when Ben was cutting out the rot on his 70-series - keep up the good work!

 

[Gav Peter]

Sorry for all the pictures,

You can never have too many pictures around here!!!

Awesome job so far dude - looking forward to seeing your plans come to fruition

Cheers

 

[SpinDrift]

Looking good. I am sure it will make a great expedition truck.

 

[spackrackman]

Great pictures, I have to take my hat off to you, you have jumped in and already its paying off! how did you do the rear wing inner bit by the exhaust? did you cut higher up, repair the bottom lip section and then weld the whole piece back on or do you have access to some donor parts? How is your inner wheel arch near where the rear water bottle is?

I have this hole I need to fill!

 

[Ben]

Welcome to the club Mark.

Nice to see an older cruiser getting saved.

Looking forward to seeing this thread and your truck progress!

 

[AndycruiserguyLomas]

Nice to see the Cruiser coming on. Keep the photos coming and keep up the enthusiasm.

Andy

 

[ajnabi]

Wow... what a start.
Please.... keep the pictures coming.
This is exactly what I been wanting to do, I love the 60 and the 40 series, but have never welded before in my life!

IQ

 

[ajnabi]

What tools did you use to get the rear axle and the propshaft looking like that?

IQ

 

[clivehorridge]

Not a big fan of the 60, but 10/10 for the effort you're putting into this

I don't like cart springs (leaf springs) and I've had plenty of cars with them. Yours look fairly blistered with rust between the leaves and there's always controversy as to whether to leave them or strip them down and clean them.

I always ended up taking them apart, cleaning the individual leaves and greasing them, but many say to leave them dry. Do you intend to strip them down?

After greasing I found that I needed better shocks! The dryer the spring the less work the shocker has to do!

When you finish, you'll never want to let this car go!

Good luck and bravo!

 

[karl webster]

Wow... what a start.
Please.... keep the pictures coming.
This is exactly what I been wanting to do, I love the 60 and the 40 series, but have never welded before in my life!

IQ

Ive got a good 45 that you could buy and work on. You would be a grade A weilder by the time you had finished it


Mark : Great work there mate. Are you a fabrication man then? Are you going to be painting the body yourself?

 

[Iwan]

Hey very good Mark! It is the same expedition as I took on and completed! Brings back memories SWEET!

 

[OverlandMark]

Great pictures, I have to take my hat off to you, you have jumped in and already its paying off! how did you do the rear wing inner bit by the exhaust? did you cut higher up, repair the bottom lip section and then weld the whole piece back on or do you have access to some donor parts? How is your inner wheel arch near where the rear water bottle is?



I have this hole I need to fill!

Hi,

So far i haven't tackled that hole and side stepped to something else. I do have almost that exact part still attached to the donor section i cut off the other 60 but tbh its a bit rusty and i'm not sure i can use it yet.. I can take a pic if its any use so you can see what it looks like? As with every 80's car with a double skin wheel arch lip its just asking for rust, im almost tempted to just bring the inner to partway in the arch and seam weld it round and i little seam sealer to finish. We shall see... Oh and thanks btw.

 

[OverlandMark]

What tools did you use to get the rear axle and the propshaft looking like that?

IQ

I spent an age with a cheap set of drill brushes and a wire zip disk on an angle grinder... the drill attachments did the fiddly corners and the zip disk did the rest. I used a very very light coat of etch primer and black rustoleum for top coat. It should last a while but i think taking the axle out would have been better..Cheers

 

[OverlandMark]

Thanks Everyone for the words of encouragement.

We have big plans for this thing and not a lot of time to pull try and get it done. Just to put a little pressure on myself the road worthy welding, mechanical work and MOT i hope to have done this side of Christmas with maybe a test run to Wales.. Paint early part of next year (just all the prep work from me as i have a mate who top coats for a living). Then i will start on the Expedition side very early next year..fingers crossed.

Anyway after a weekend off on a short break tonight i got the underside, front axle, steering gear and engine steam cleaned to make the refurb an easier job, made up a breather pipe to replace a odd missing one on the engine and then cleaned off the very front of the chassis for paint where the old bumper had covered and got it painted up..(also found a new small hole to fix i missed )



A little door welding i think tomorrow night..

Cheers