A Quieter Ride

Here is a really cheap and nice modification. The ride of a Land Cruiser is a little rough, so your keys swing around a lot and make a ton of noise slamming against the steering column. So I cut a foam snowboard stomp pad and stuck it to the column. It definitely made things a lot quieter.

My First Modification - Smittybilt Console

Thanks to the folks on http://www.ih8mud.com, I ordered a Smittybilt  floor console. The original center console in an FJ60 is pretty worthless. You don't have functional cup holders, the arm rest is way too low, and there isn't a lot of storage. 

The Smittybilt console is much larger, significantly higher, metal, and had 2 cup holders. This console is built for a Jeep, but it's a simple install. I had to drill 3 holes in the bottom to lineup to the existing mounting brackets. All in all, it took about 30 minutes to make this change. I think the driving comfort will be a lot better, not to mention the storage.

Original Center Console

Mounting Brackets

Installed Smittybilt Console

Water Pump Troubles

Once I got my FJ60 home, I wanted my trusted mechanics at Fred & Jim's Garage to go though the truck and look for any issues I needed to address. Overall, they were very positive about this FJ60. There were a couple of leaks, it needs shocks, has a bent rim, and the one surprise. The water pump that I had installed was no good.

Since the service station was over 100 miles away, I didn't want to try and get back there, leave the truck again, and then drive all the way back up. The replacement water pump was from NAPA, so it was warrantied and I was able to have the work done here.

My mechanics replaced the water pump  and I had then replace the thermostat at the same time. We started her up and within minutes the bearing in the new water pump went. Unbelievable! After a lot of discussion and a couple of arguments, NAPA agreed to refund my purchase price for the water pump. Additionally, I've requested they cover 2 of the 3 water pump labor charges of about $300. My thought is, if their parts are bad, I shouldn't have to keep paying the labor and my mechanics shouldn't do the work for free. We will see if I get any of it back.

I ordered an OEM water pump, pulley, and fan clutch. While the mechanics were in there, I had them replace all the belts and hoses. I've got Elsie back, and so far, she is running great!

I've included a photo of the NAPA and OEM water pumps below. We are all pretty sure the problem comes from the NAPA mount not being machined down on a slope. The OEM pump is on the left. When the pulley is placed on the NAPA pump it could wobble about 1/4" on the OEM, the pulley fits snug and doesn't wobble.

This is why you own a Land Cruiser

The South Bend area was blanketed with over 30" of snow is about 24 hours. After I spent 3 hours clearing snow, it was time to go out and pick up some buddies for lunch and then off to the Notre Dame vs. UConn Women's basketball game.

I locked the hubs and off we went. One friend was concerned that I wouldn't be able to get to his house to pick him up. Of course, he had no idea what the FJ60 is capable of doing. We just rolled along without some much as spinning a tire. What a fun day!

Taking Elsie Home...almost!

After an exciting Christmas day, we head home with my wife following in her car. Almost exactly half way home the water pump blew. We had Elsie towed to a service center, unloaded the luggage we had put in it, and continued home.

I wasn't upset, these things happen with older vehicles. This was my first introduction to  having a Land Cruiser. We had a 3-4 day wait for the parts, and then headed back up to pick her up and bring her home.

This could be the start of a wonderful friendship

This all began when I was working on my Master's degree. My friend, Jon, had an early 80's Land Cruiser. After a few trips, some off-roading, and powering through some big snows, I new I had to have a Land Cruiser at some point in my life. So over the years, I'vr kept my eyes open but I never had the time, money, or space to own a Land Cruiser.

I've never been a "car guy." I've always looked at cars as a way to get from Point-A to Point-B. However, an FJ60 has a special place in my heart. Over the Thanksgiving holiday, my family came to visit. My dad and I were talking about his 41 Ford an he asked me when I was going to get a Land Cruiser. As luck would have it, I had seen an FJ62 for sale online. I showed him the photo, "You should go look at that" he said. As my entire family took a look at it, they all said the same thing. So I arranged to go to Chicago and bring the FJ62 home to look over. The owner's mother lived nearby and if I didn't want it, he wanted to store it at her place for the winter. This was a great truck with one problem. Basically the entire roofline was rusted, all the way through in a couple of spots. It was too much for me to tackle. However, at the same time, an FJ80 was put up for sale in my neighborhood. So I took a look at that too. It wasn't an FJ60, but it was still a Land Cruiser. This one had way too many mechanical problems, so I passed. It was crazy, I had wanted a Land Cruiser for more than 20 years and in one day I said "no" to two of them. I decided to just be patient and not go looking right now. There were other, "grown-up things" to think about.

That all took place just after Thanksgiving 2010. As my wife and I drove to my parent's home for the Christmas holiday weekend, I mentioned to her that I was planning to pay off a bill or two then have a friend in Tucson start looking for me. About an hour after I said that we rounded the corner to my folk's house. It was dark outside and many of the houses were lit up with Christmas lights. There, back-lit by Christmas lights just 5 doors down from my parent's house, was the silhouette of an FJ60. I pointed it out to my wife and continued on. Later that evening, I mentioned it to my dad. "Oh yea, that's been for sale for a couple of weeks" he said! After giving him the appropriate amount of grief for not letting me know the second he saw it, we stopped to look at it. The next morning, Christmas Eve, I called the owner and asked to look at it. I drove it, crawled around underneath it, checked the body for rust, etc. He and I negotiated a price and then something occurred to me. I'm 200 miles from home, without a checkbook, and it's Christmas, all the banks are closed! Luckily, my sister & wife stepped up and wrote a couple of checks for my Land Cruiser! So I picked up my FJ60 on Christmas day, it just needed a big red bow! What a thrill to own this FJ60. I named her Elsie, think LC for Land Cruiser.