Parts arrived and I got to work taking everything apart.
Factory service manual is terrific, everything is very clear. These are big metal parts that bolt onto other metal parts, simple and cave man style.
Once off its clear that I did indeed need a new master cylinder, the old one is heavily corroded:
Corrosion inside BJ60 Clutch Master Cylinder
1984 BJ60 Clutch Master Cylinder
1984 BJ60 Clutch Master Cylinder
1984 BJ60 Clutch Master Cylinder
So, that’s the good news I guess. The corrosion occurs because brake fluid absorbs water and the water corrodes the lines. This is what happens if you don’t bleed your hydraulics for 10-30 years.
For reference here are some snaps of the aftermarket unit I sourced from Steve at EBI
Reservoir has different shape.
Nice clean new cluch master cylinder.
Clutch Booster:
I also took off the Clutch Booster and was able to pour about 3 ounces of brake fluid out of it. Brake fluid was leaking from the clutch master cylinder and forced its way into the Clutch Booster. No doubt it looks bad inside but it looks to be beyond me to get that thing apart. The factory manual shows a special tool that compresses each side of the booster air tank, then twists them apart. So, brake fluid is neutralized with water, I put water into the booster through the narrow intake tube, shake it all around, the pour the water out. I let the booster dry in the sun a few days, then inside on the kitchen counter. Finally I zapped a little fluid film in there figuring something is better than nothing. Considering the difficulty in sourcing a new master cylinder, if the booster ever fails I’ll have a heck of time finding a new one.
Here’s a pic of the old booster and hose:
Note about clutch booster, you’ll need some long socket extensions to reach the bottom bolt. And look carefully before removing the bolt, there is an easier to reach one immediately below the one that mounts the booster. Don’t undo the wrong one!
Slave Cylinder:
I also took off the slave, came right off but hose end was quite corroded. Taking off the slave was surprisingly difficult. First the hose was really corroded where it met the slave, I couldn’t remove it. Disconnecting the hydraulic line was pretty difficult, I used a 17mm crows foot socket on an extension, and also a short 12mm wrench on the hard line. Very difficult to thread my hands in there from the bottom. Might be the best way to do this is from the top with the booster removed.
For the hydraulic line: I found a local source but it took some doing. I thought brake lines would be pretty common but made 3 stops before reaching Napa. Something is off here. Who is incentivized to have so many different parts? Why aren’t car engineers standardizing? I sense some game theory at play where part makers offer stupid low prices to car makers, in return they have exclusive rights on the parts supply.
Anyway: NAPA to the rescue! Debbie at Bellevue store spent 10 minutes entering codes from the brake hose book into the computer, she eventually found a compatible hose for connecting the clutch slave to the hard line that leads from the master cylinder, it was at the main warehouse 20 minutes away. Luckily she wrote the part number down because the people at the warehouse were not inclined to find it for me.
$13.76: the napa part is:
“380992 UP”
The “UP” is important as it indicates the part line, without it you’ll find a thingy for an automatic transmission.
New clutch slave and my new Napa sourced hydraulic line. Whew!
Anyway, pushed that rubber ring pictured above up onto the female side of the hose, then threaded the hose down through the bracket on the body. Unfortunately the flange on the new hose is too large to fit through teh bracket, I had to file it down on two sides so it’d fit. Ok, not perfect but good enough. Threading the hose onto the hard line was actually pretty easy from the top of engine bay and let me use the torque wrench to get it correctly tight.
Attached hose to slave finger tight, then bolted slave onto frame. Then correctly torque hose to slave. Finally put my tubing onto the bleed nipple and into a jar and fill the reservoir. Crack the nipple and pump the clutch pedal with my hand, watch the reservoir drain. After about 4 slow pumps fluid started to exit the tubing. Didn’t take much fluid at all. Enlisted wife to pump, I got down and close the nipple. She holds pedal I open nipple, let out fluid then close. Repeat a few times and done. Finally attach spring onto slave. No air bubbles, no issues, took me about 1.5 hours altogether to install it all, that is including time waiting for my assistant.
Finally the big moment arrives. Start engine with trans in neutral and clutch pedal pressed. I should feel the clutch boost apply after a few seconds. Sure enough the pressure builds. I notice the clutch is now very light. Probably that corroded master was why the clutch was heavier before.
Short drive, wildly pump clutch, return and check for leaks. There’s none, done!
CanadianBJ 
Your website has sorted me through a few projects. Thank you. I’m about to embark on a clutch master and slave cylinder replacement of my own and, at least states side, having minor trouble locating the 380992 UP hose. It might be possible to source it elsewhere but NAPA has been my go to since locating most of my coolant hoses, much to my surprise. Any additional information about the hose would be fantastic.
Hi Bill,
Glad the site helped out!
I see that the part is marked out of stock on the napa website under “reserve online” for my local store, but it does appear you can still order it:
https://www.napaonline.com/napa/en/p/UBK380992/UBK380992
However, that page notes that this is:
1) Hydraulic hose 12.25″ long.
2) One end is male m10x1.0
3) Other end is female m10x1.0
Since this line has an inconvenient metal disk on one end that I had to file away, maybe you can find a pure m10x1.0 line that would be a plug in solution?
PS: I’m stateside, located in seattle and was able to pick up the part from the napa warehouse in kent.
Thank you, This is unrelated, but a nagging issue. I need to replace the rear leaf springs as the stock ones are getting flat. A service I could perform myself. The trouble is that a place that specializes in Cruisers, where I took it for an inspection, said that the rear C-channel frame should be replaced, sighting many Saskatchewan winters. Whether this is true or not, have you ever heard of this procedure? Any woes?
The C-Channel… yeah… I bought another cheap blue cruiser that is pretty corroded back there but I was able to pound the rust loose with a hammer and then prepped and coated with something called “Zero Rust”. It seems to be holding fine now, seems strong enough. Maybe I was lucky to catch it in time though some spots near the bumper are pretty thin or perforated. I got literally pounds of rust and coating off the frame by bashing with a hammer, then hosing out the inside of the rails and pressing debris out with a wire. All that work took me probably 20 hours under the truck and it was horrible work. I’d love to ‘get it replaced’ but it is big bucks and maybe more than the truck is worth. I guess it depends what they quote you. Definately best to get it replaced. One option instead of replacing the frame is to ‘sister’ a thick angle beam along the frame.
As for springs… my blue truck had serious sag in the rear. I took it to a place in Everett Washington called “Aalbu Brothers”, they recurved the springs I had, then added 2 more leafs as they said the stock cruisers were hugely undersprung. That work was finished a few months ago and cost me $700 – complete. Much less than new springs where I was quoted $2800, and results are good. Then again it makes me appreciate the fine ARB springs on the red truck. Aalbu brothers were impressed by the arb springs, said they were excellent and would be expensive for them to make. Perhaps you can find an ‘old skool’ spring-recurve shop? Check out trucking/welding/manufacturing places as spring work is very simple so long as you have a heavy press and a forge.
Tis’ a shame I don’t live in Woodland anymore. I would drive to Everett and pay the Aalbu brothers a visit. $700 and extra added springs would be worth the while and in budget. Hammering the frame out for 20 hours is certainly a labor of love, but that certainly comes with the turf. My problem is time. I seldom have the time required for these endeavors, yet I magically budgeted this in when I bought the truck. I’ve seen your photos of the red BJ, and it looks good as far as ride height. On the seldom occasion that I pass a Cruiser on the road, it has no doubt been jacked sky high with large wheels applied. I want as close to stock as I can get, plus if I put on larger wheels, my top speed of 2 mph in first gear would be dropped significantly. Your ARB springs, which ones did you purchase? Guys like to bad mouth products that aren’t their own, so for the Aalbu bros. to compliment the ARB springs seems significant. Unless they own stock. My BJ60 is my daily driver, and actually a great work truck. I need to keep it from slipping past the event horizon. This frame and spring work is the last major hurdle. Everything after this is enjoyable, beautification, week-end work. -although that may be a very optimistically, ignorant statement. I was impressed and grateful for your website. A nice addendum to the spartan Toyota manuals. Plus, I appreciate this added time. Cheers,
I should make clear that ~20hrs was total time to clean and repaint the entire underside of the truck. The pounding, scraping and cleaning was just 4-5 hours. Most of the time was to apply 3 or 4 complete coats of zero rust paint. The whole process took weeks because truck needed to dry out, then waiting for paint to cure before putting on the next coat. Would have been much more efficient to take it somewhere and have the paint sprayed, instead of me with a brush.
The arb springs came with the red truck. They provide 2.5″ lift. I think that lift is perfect and they got us fully loaded to ‘the dolls house’ in canyonlands maze district, which is about as much clearance as imagine we’ll ever need. Aalbu liked the springs because the spring pack is made from more thin springs instead of fewer thick springs, and they liked the shackles too. Thin spring leafs are more flexible which means they yield more without distorting and the spring packs will last longer. Not rocket science. They said design was very good but rare because it is an expensive way to build a springpack. They could have built the same thing for me but cost goes up $50 or so per spring added. My blue truck came with larger wheels, was horrible to drive, very slow, noisy, handled badly. I sold those monster wheels and tires and went to stock wheels (craigslist) and new michelin freeway tires. Lots of logging road miles with no problem though its time for new shocks for both trucks.
Good luck with the frame rust.