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One of these days I'm going to rig up a manual throttle on my '87 GL wagon. My old LANDCRUISER has manual throttle and choke. The throttle is handy in precarious off-road situations when the clutch and brake are being used simultaneously. It also works as a 'poor-man's-cruise'. Tracy

This reminds my of memories from my boyhood. When I was 8 or 9 my dad owned a foreign car repair shop, specializing in VW bugs and Porsches. My dad often went to rescue VW's with a broken clutch cable. The customer's always expected a tow but my dad would always just drive them in using that method. Tracy

I've always done it your way as well, although I've ripped some ball joint boots in the process. Something that works okay is making a shield out of some brass shim material so the pickle fork doesn't rip the boot. At present, I have a bad inner DOJ (1987 GL 4x4 wagon) and I've had a rebuilt axle in my possession for the past few months but haven't gotten around to changing it. I think this time I'll try General Disorder's method. I hate messing up that ball joint boot and I've never been able to separate it without a pickle fork. Pounding it apart would surely mushroom the threads on the end. You just can't duplicate the mechanical advantage a pickle fork gives you but like I said, it often destroys the boot in the process so I'm liking the sounds of General Distorder's method. I've changed quite a few axles ('81 Subaru, '88 Subaru, '92 Nissan Sentra, 'Dodge Caravan, etc...), but I'm not a pro-mechanic by any means. Tracy

Thanks Subarian. Tracy

My '87 GL wagon seems to idle a bit 'lobey'... kinda rough. As a quickie check while it was idling, I pulled the plug wires one by one off the disty to listen for a difference. I had a couple that didn't seem to really affect it when I pulled them (HINT: use insulated pliers... I got zapped a couple times). So it seems maybe I got a couple cylinders that are missing. Plug wires look pretty good. I'm wondering about fouled plugs or something. What's the favorite plug for an ea82? I'm going to run get some plugs today. Whether that's the fix or not, it won't hurt. I probably ought to test compression while I'm at it. The engine has almost 200,000 miles on it. What's a reasonable compression range to be at and what #s indicate it is time for a ring job? Tracy

That's about where I'm at as well with 200,000 miles. I think I'm leaking out my front main or oil pump because I'm smelling a lot of oil burning on my exhaust as it drips.:-\ My cam covers are all sealed up and don't leak a drop though. Tracy

LOL... I'm just suprised this off-topic thread has survived thus far and that I haven't been grilled yet for doing mechanical work without jack stands (in one of the photos I provided the link for, I'm rebuilding the wheel cylinders wtih a high-lift jack and no jack stands). I'm getting the vibe from this thread that I really should just keep my Landcruiser. It's got me thinking. Thankfully, my wife is supportive either way. Tracy

Cool... I had two at one time but sold the one with the Chevy V-8. It was fun but the stock inline six is more suited to the steep, winding backroads I frequent. I used to eat, sleep and drink Landcruisers. Then I moved out to the country, built a house and expanded the family. Alas, my Cruiser does a lot of lonely sitting these days. Many years ago I was a TLCA member... good group. My family has had a lot of good times in our Cruiser... my kids overheard my wife and I talking of selling it recently and weren't too happy. Tracy

With a volt\ohm meter, test the impedance while cool and while hot and see if the reading is different. BTW, in the winter, my radiator fan doesn't come on either. As an aside, I liked this idea for testing gauges when troubleshooting sending unit vs. gauge issues. This tip is from Mark Humble: <quote> One tool you can make to help diagnose gauge problems is to buy two resistors, one 50 ohm and one 80 ohm, 1/4 watt. Connect one lead from each resistor together and attach a 12" black wire to this connection and solder them together. Then solder a red wire to the 50 ohm resistors other lead. Solder a blue wire to the 80 ohm resistor and attach alligator clips to the ends of each wire. To keep the resistors from getting damaged, put them in a short peice of PVC pipe and fill with silicon. Now you have a gauge tester that can be used on almost anything. To use, connect the black lead to ground and the red to the temp sensor wire and turn on the ignition. The gauge should about 1/3 up the scale. (Note:The Red Wire Is For Temp Only) If no reading, repeat the test at the gauge. This is done to check the wire between the gauge and the sending unit. If still no reading, use a volt meter or test light to check for power to the gauge, if there is power, but no reading, the gauge is bad. The blue wire is used to check pressure and level doing the same as above. <end quote> Tracy

I've mulled over that one as well. The diesel engines were awesome. Mated to a transmission with a better gear spread like a NV4500 5 speed, I'd have an awesome vehicle (lots of $ though). It is a little bit hard to find a Landcruiser diesel engine in the states, although Toyota exported some diesel cruisers to Canada (they were called BJ40's). As an aside, I saw an old guy in town awhile ago with a clean FJ40 Landcruiser. I stopped and 'talked shop' for a bit. I noticed His vanity plate said: [ DYIN4ABJ ] I thought he was talking about a BJ40 Landcruiser but he had a puzzled look when I asked and he just shook his head and said he meant the other kind of 'BJ'... LOL. Tracy

LOL... Actually I made out okay the first time because the guy had become a friend (and still is to this day) over the course of the year. He sold it back to me for $2500 which is what I'd sold it to him for. He purchased a newer FJ40. On mine, he had put in a new alternator and battery, added seatbelts out of an Izuzu pickup and purchased a bikini top and soft doors for it. I got all that but he kept my new wheels and tires and sold it back to me with stock rims and tires (shoulda kept those dammit). I keep mulling it over. It doesn't owe me a thing and would be really fun to restore some day. As Landcruisers go, it's really pretty clean and mechanically sound but it is a beast, it's slow, heavy, uncomfortable and gets bad gas mileage. Furthermore, there are less and less places to drive a four by four that is as capable as that one is. I know I'd likely regret selling it... but is it just one more thing to complicate life? I'm really into simplifying. It might feel liberating just to sell the Landcruiser and my old boat and not look back. I can have as much fun hiking in the Tetons with my wife and sons as I can burning up fuel in my Landcruiser/boat and I don't need to build a shed to store my backpacking equipment in... it fits in a closet under my stairs. Hmmmmm.... Sorry to get off-topic here. Tracy

I got my '87 GL wagon about 5000 miles ago with a slipping clutch. Today, it is still getting me to and from work even though it is weak. I'm trying to decide if I should have a clutch shop do it for a little over $200 more than parts or limp along until I have time to do it myself and save money as well as have the opportunity to clean up the engine and do a few other engine maintenace things like oil pump, water pump and fixing oil leaks. At any rate the clutch should keep limping you along for a bit longer if you go easy. Tracy

Looks like I did have a more recent pic on my PC here at work: http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/photos/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=14332 You can see there's a bit of oxidation that needs buffed and I bunged up the front fender (goofing off one day). I used to drive it 40-50 miles every day but for the past 7-8 years it has done quite a bit of sitting... too bad really. I can't afford to drive it. I moved out to the country and fuel is too much $. Tracy

I sold it once 12 years ago to pay for some medical bills... I was so bummed I bought it back from the guy a year later. I've had it for over 16 years. Believe it or not, recently, I've been thinking seriously about selling it and putting the $ towards a mid-size truck like a Toyota Tacoma 4-door. I will probably regret selling it but a more modern vehicle that gets closer to 20 MPG and will haul more stuff would probably be more practical for my family's needs. Tracy

Here's a quick and dirty shot... it's an old pic (my son in the photo is now almost 12). It's all I have here at work. http://tracytodd1968.blogspot.com/ or http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/94/2284/1600/scan0001.jpg Tracy