[RMP&O]

Admin Note: Sadly, pics disappeared from this thread quite a while ago, it has been investigated and it appears they were loaded through an offsite system which may no longer exist, meaning they cannot be restored without Original Poster input and he has not been online here since 2016.
Ross

I have this build thread going on a few forums on the internet. But ya' know I just realized if it should be on any forum it should be on this one! We are already pretty far along with the build, 2yrs so far so I will just do post what has been done so far and then add to it as I go along from here.

I have been around on the forums a long time. Here, Outerlimits, Pirate4x4 and others. I had my own Patrol forum for ten years and only recently let it go. I been into Patrols for longer, over 20yrs now. I am in the USA, we got 60-series (g60's to you guys) from 1962-1969. All we got were short wheel base soft top and hard top trucks. Total numbers sold in the USA were 2616, of that about 950 were soft tops.

I bought this 1964 Patrol in 2003 from a guy in New Mexico, I live in Wyoming, about 1,000+ miles away. I drove down and picked it up and brought it home, on a trailer. It sat for a year or so and then I got a restoration started on it. I took it to a guy who restores muscle cars. About $5k into it and I ran out of money due to some medical issues. So I yanked the truck from the resto and put it back in storage. There it sat until late 2011. During this 10+yrs I had been collecting many things for the truck, I must have parted out 5-6 Patrols and I kept all the best bits from those. I bought all kinds of NOS parts over the years too. Basically I amassed a large stash of stuff for the project. Well in 2011 I decided to let most of my trucks go and try to consolidate down to one or two trucks. At that time I had like 6 trucks from crazy built rock crawlers to parts trucks. So I sold the 64 Patrol to a guy, this included all my old 60-series Patrol stash.

It was winter time so not really the best time for the owner to get the truck from me, lot's of snow where I live. The new owner of the truck and myself began to discuss finishing the restoration. So he contracted me to do this work and the project got started in the spring of 2012. I am not doing the body work on this truck, that has been subb'ed out to a guy I know who restores cars for a living. I didn't rebuild the engine or the trans. Everything else I am doing or have already done.

In the summer of 2012 the body man took the truck from me, fitted the body to make sure everything aligned and was good to go. He then kept the body pieces and gave me back the rolling chassis. As far as I know there in no other Patrol in N. America that has been restored as completely as this truck. There has been a few resto's in the country but most if not all have been a low mileage truck that just got the body pulled off the chassis and fresh paint. I am not aware of a single Patrol in N. America that has received a full rebuild of every single component, yet that is! On top of this 40-series Land Cruisers have been selling for upwards of $100k in the USA if fully restored correctly and I wanted this truck to rival those. When we began this project though it was unknown and undecided if the restoration would go all the way to completed or if we would pass it on to the owner to finish. Well, it has pretty much turned into a full turn key restoration.

So here we go, on with the pictures!

Picking up the Patrol in Silver City, New Mexico in 2003. Supposedly Billy The Kid is buried there.

The stash of parts included many rare or impossible items along with lot's of original items in great condition.

PTO box

mint!

rare!

These Warn f/w hubs were an option on USA Patrols. These are brand new in the box, 50yr old hubs! I paid a pretty penny for these.

many NOS items for the build like this

The owner of the truck selected and bought these Michelin XZL tires in 7.50x16, an original size on Patrols.

We had a company called Alcan make us new leaf springs, with a 2" lift.

More stash I had collected over the years that went with the truck's sale.

 

[RMP&O]

And lot's of rare original items like this....

The body guy test fitting the body, it had been nearly 10yrs since the trucks body had been on the chassis!

very early Patrols have what is known as a "split" door. Top portion can be removed so you can roll with half doors.

The body guy went to work doing his thing, here patching rust.

A new rear floor was made

 

[RMP&O]

Meanwhile, I got the chassis back and started work on it.

Now on this Patrol, some hillbilly back in the day went and customized the rear suspension.

Waaaaaaayyyy funky!

A common issue on these old trucks, shock mount ovaled out.

So, pull rear axle and cut this crap off!

Once I flipped the frame over I found where they other guy had torched off the original leaf/shackle hangers with a torch and he did a sloppy job!

I carefully removed what needed to go.

 

[RMP&O]

Starting to clean it up, what a mess!

Screw it, I am going in deeper!

Now I am getting something I can work with.

We located some NOS leaf hangers, out of Australia!

But for the rear (shackle hanger) it was decided to go with a newer style, that uses a poly/urethane bushing. These are from RuffStuff and is their "way back" hanger. Sitting next to it is an original, with steel bushing seized in it, they are all like that!

More problem areas on the frame

 

[RMP&O]

So drill spot welds and remove

A very common problem on these old Patrols is the #2 cross member. It sits low below the frame rails so gets beat up. It also gets packed full of funk and then rots from the inside out. This one has been patched and is in nasty poor condition.

this spot

what a mess!

So fabricating a new cross member was needed.

As well as some other patch pieces for the frame.

On top of this the Patrol has some 30+ (I think it is closer to 50) tapped holes in it for mounting various items. Many of these end up with bolts busted off in them after 50yrs!

 

[Leethal]

Mate I admire your dedication, that is awesome and I look forward to seeing it's continued progress, I'm sure we all do.

You'll regret selling it when you're done!

 

[RMP&O]

Now the #2 cross member was originally stamped out of 14g. No way we were going to be able to do that! So it was fabricated from 3/16" plate. Difficult to make it look stamped but that was my goal.

Once the frame was prepp'ed, I got it sand blasted.

And just kept at it! Rotten battery box removed here.

Sand blasting is our friend! No more corrosion.

The cross member was welded inside and out.

Looking good!

Welded on the frame with some other new pieces that were fabb'ed.

believe it or not, a HUGE home made tow hook was cut off here.

This area was thin and received a patch. This is after the patch.

 

[RMP&O]

Mate I admire your dedication, that is awesome and I look forward to seeing it's continued progress, I'm sure we all do.

You'll regret selling it when you're done!

Already sold it man! The guy I sold it to hired me to restore it.

By the time I am done updating this thread today, we will have a rolling chassis with new engine and lot's more!

Cheers

 

[Leethal]

Yeah I meant you'll regret that you already sold it when you hand it over completed.

Looking great!

 

[RMP&O]

So if you have not figured it out yet, I am super OCD! I believe in doing something right to the best of your ability or it is not worth doing.

It took a lot of hours to make this 5-piece cross member look stamped. Way stronger than stock.

After a couple months the frame was finally coming along and nearly done. I treated the whole inside of the frame with a product similar to POR15 called Rust Bullet. This is a desert truck but you can still see from the work corrosion is present. I cleaned the frame out as best as I could before treating it, standing it up on both ends and beating with a rubber mallet among other methods. The Rust Bullet was simply applied inside the frame when I had it cut open. I used a long gun nozzle for applying undercoating a long with rags dipped in the paint. I then sprayed and pushed it all up in the frame rails, rotating the frame while I did it, keeping one end higher than the other. All holow spaces and cross members got coated. While it cured I tapped all the holes in the frame so it is ready for assembly. I believe the frame is good to go for a very long time now!

All the original wire hanging tabs on the frame were replaced with new ones. New battery box fabb'ed.

I am happy wit this as you would have to be an expert to know this was not stock.

And the frame was done besides paint!

 

[RMP&O]

Yeah I meant you'll regret that you already sold it when you hand it over completed.

Looking great!

Haha, I already regret it man!

Cheers

 

[RMP&O]

I dug into some of the stash in prep for axle rebuilds. FYI, the early Patrols (up to about 1969) used a "tracta joint" also known as the ball and claw. In 1969 they went to a birfield/CV front axle.

More stash

The orginal leaf spring plates to me are a weak link. I have seen many of them bent and warped. Nissan made them rather light duty. They also used a weak u-bolt. So I upgraded u-bolts and made new leaf spring plates from 3/8"! Beefy! This was the first attempt at the plates, I actually re-made them a few times, OCD.

A beefier shackle was also made.

At this point the project was moved into the body guys shop, he is not just my subcontractor, he is my buddy too. At this point I had only done a few months work on the Patrol. The 6-8 months prior to this any parts we lacked had been located and rounded up. We had a big load of stuff sand blasted.

Rare items looking good for 50yrs old!

Not all that rare but great condition!

The items in the foreground are new tie rod and drag link. I located these through a buddy in Colombia, South America and then imported the parts.

Original oil pan and it's skid plate.

 

[RMP&O]

At this point it was time to tear into the axles....

The knuckle balls can be a point of concern if they are badly corroded or pitted. These are in pretty good shape.

meanwhile the frame got painted. We used Dupont Imron.

Again, real happy with this.

and this....

 

[RMP&O]

At the same time I sent out a big load of stuff to have plated. New zinc plating, cadmium, ect.

heater blower motor housing, fan, ect.

These are pivot points for all the mechanical linkages, this being clutch. Early Patrols, pre-69, everything was mechanical.

And the rods...

This is kick vent latches

Lot's of original springs zinc plated.

Hood latches and various other hardware. Some of this gets painted but since it is a high wear item, we wanted plating under the paint.

meanwhile back to the diffs & axles.

We set up the ring & pinions with all new seals and bearings. Stock original 4.10 gears used in very good condition.

Some other items I had plated. These are door latch mechanisms, plated with cadmium.

Fuel filler neck

 

[RMP&O]

Various other parts plated with cadmium, again lot's of this stuff gets painted. Yes, I know the top items are trashed, we have spares.

PTO box fully rebuilt.

As well as the winch, these were an option on USA Patrols.

I guess I don't have pictures of it but I hand sanded and wet sanded the knuckle balls to 1100 grit before paint. They were super smooth and polish before we painted them. I honestly would have liked to have them chromed but we didn't want to get that involved.

bell housing, you can see the remains of the early stock engine color, known as "sea foam green".

after sand blasting

The tracta joint front axles, I selected the best from several sets and polished the wear points.

Rear brake adjusters, not uncommon for these to be seized.

diff is done with fresh bolts on the cover.

 

[RMP&O]

I rebuilt the drivelines with new u-joints and a new seal in the slip joint.

To get the rear axle done I needed to fabricate this tool. Yes I calculated my torque correctly with the offset.

I also needed to make an arbor for pressing on bearings.

New lug bolts for the whole truck

shimming up the rear axle

other than brakes, rear axles is pretty much done

 

[Heavensent]

Subscribed. Awesome work

 

[RMP&O]

So on to the front axle!

The early Patrols don't use a bearing on the top trunnion, they use a brass cup and seat. It is unique to the early Patrols.

I had the seat and cup turned down by a machinist.

shimming it up, new studs and hardware. I guess I don't have pictures online anymore but I set up the axles correctly using a scale to measure bearing preload and turning force required to rotate the knuckle.

installing tracta joint

just about done, vintage Warn hubs installed

basically, brand new 50yr old axles!

 

[RMP&O]

So with the axles done and all the things I needed painted, it was time to build a rolling chassis!

This was not only fun but exciting! This is a 50yr old Patrol, what a treat to be able to do this!!

BOOM!!

All new hardware in the suspension, however I made a serious effort to make it look just like stock. Castle nuts where they need to be, ect ect. An expert could nit-pick it but I think it came out and looks damn good.

Notice how beefy these chassis are. That is 5-cross members and a fully boxed frame on a SWB!! In my opinion the 60-series Patrols have the buffest frame of any of the early 1960/70's light duty 4wds. For your Toyota haters, these frames make an FJ40 frame from the same era look like a toothpick! On top of this I find them to be beautiful piece of engineering, these things were hand made back then too!

 

[seehuusen]

Top job Ian!!
I love following your builds, lots of attention to detail, keep it coming :bigthumb:

cheers
Martin