1985 FJ60/62 New owner tips...

[BuffaloMG]

How do!?

Newbie here, so not sure if these questions are answered in a FAQ section or anything.... but, i have recently purchased an 1985 landcruiser sation wagon - i'm not entirely sure if its an FJ60 or 62 - whats the difference..? It has the round headlights and horizontally split rear tailgate hatch.

I'm currently in Kalgoorlie, WA and had it serviced but i didn't really feel satisfied with level of service i received. So i figured i'd do the next one myself. I want to do at least a full fluids change and mild engine service (points, plugs etc). Its been reasonably well serviced in its life (we are only the second owners of it!) but i want to establish a baseline of knowing everything was changed from when we bought it...

Has anyone any hints and/or tips..? Specifically on the oils out here. New to the outback so the best oils/greases etc to use would be apreciated.

Also where is the best place to buy spares and service parts in WA..? Is there a secondhand breakers place for the larger bits (hopefully won't need them but you never know)

That will probably do for now, but thanks in advance.

Cheers ~PHIL

Edited June 20, 2005 by BuffaloMG

[CAP]

Welcome BuffaloMG !

Congrats on the new purchase, for questions regarding the best oils/greases etc to use when you go bush with the Cruiser, you're best to try and look a 4x4 club near you.

Don't be affraid to approach the Jeep Club. They know pretty much all there is to Off road driving and maintenance like it's their religion! They also do some pretty hard core stuff so if they don't know, nobody will.

Most important thing is your airfilter. After Every outing, ensure you pull it out, check it and give it a good shake to remove any dust, you'd be surprised how much you pick up in one afternoon off road.

Cheers.

[sandgroper]

Hi Phil. I would recomend getting a workshop manual. I use the Australian produced Gregories number 507. It covers everything you would need to know and only cost about $30 from Kmart.

I do my own servicing from this book for my petrol 73 series and it saves me a fortune.

My landcruiser has the same mechanicals and electrics as yours.

I use Castrol GTX in the engine and Castrol VX80 in the gearbox,t/case and front diff. The rear diff takes any quality brand LSD oil.

Landcuisers are so common in WA all the parts shops have a good knowledge of fluids and aftermarket parts

For second hand spares I would recomend Midland 4wd Wildon st Bellvue or Tonys 4wd wrecking in Midland.

For new I use Odin auto parts in Balcatta, 4WDParts in Welshpool and Roodogspares on ebay

Your model would be a FJ60.

Sites like these have free manual downloads but you really need broadband

http://www.birfield.com/ USA

http://perso.wanadoo.fr/adherence.4x4/index.htm France but in English

Ross Perth WA

Edited March 18, 2007 by sandgroper

[BuffaloMG]

Hi there!

Thanks for the heads-up. had forgotten about this thread - oops. Still i have to do the service next week as its well overdue now and 'the truck' has been working hard...

I am guessing places like supercheap autos stock the oils..? What about consumables like Ign points, plug leads and air filters..? I am assuming so - one of the reasons i went with the earlier models is they seemed quite common out Kal way so we figured the spares would be easy..!

Change of plan now sees us based in Perth, but we still aim to get back up past Kal for more exploring later in the year...

Also while i am here scabbing information! ;) As this is m first home-service and all my tools are at home in UK, i am going to need to purchase some to fill the holes left in the supplied toolkit. Can you remember what size the diff-drains etc are..? Or is there anything special i need..? I am basically going to do a full service, tune-up and fluid change.

Also the horn doesn't work - i am familiar with the basis of the mechanism as it is similar to my UK MG. Horn pencil onto a brass/plastic ring. It looks to me like the horn pencil is too small - perhaps worn away with all the wheel turning..? Can i just buy this piece or do i need to order anything special..? I'm not sure i explained adequately to a young lad in kal and he wanted me to purchase rather a large amount of parts for what i thought would be quite simple (for the MG you can just by the pncil, or the ring, etc etc).

Cheers all, much apreciated....

~PHIL

[sandgroper]

Im not sure of the size of the plug nut ,but its big probably 24mm.

Supercheap,Repco Auto1 all stock service parts and budget tools and manuals .

The horn mechanism ring and button can be bought separate.

Its the same as a 70 series and maybe even some Toyota cars.

Check for corrosion on the horn contacts up front. They cop all the weather up there and most corrode

Have a look in the Quokka,lots of 60 series stuff in there this week

[BuffaloMG]

Hi there,

Well apart from spilling a bit too much oil (getting new oil in g/boxes is a right swine!) and having to go back to supercheapauto about 6 times as i found more and more that needed doing once i had started, and other various places for bits and bobs that SCA couldn't supply, it didn't go too badly at all. Glad that I have done it, although i still have a couple of extra (non-esesential) bits to sort when i next get back. I ran out of time basically...

Used all castrol oils in engine, gearboxes and axles... Ended up having to find a place to get most of the drain/refill plugs off as they had rounded so badly (not me i might add!), but have shiny new ones now so hopefully ok for future.

Running better, but 2nd gear still abit hard to get in when cold (but at least it actually shifts when cold now!), so assuming the synchro is probably a bit tired. I can't remember the name of the oil i used but it was an 80W90 Castrol type.

Cheers for the help... I'll post up once i have fixed a couple of the other bits (rear heater etc...) The horn problem was just the push, so that works fine now.

~PHIL