Already? I only signed up a year ago.
I bought this 1979 at the end of 2004, my wife thought I was totally nuts. I had just changed job and my new job was only 6 miles away. I had always wanted an FJ40, my buddy tried to talk me into a Jeep TJ, but I said, "No way, too reliable for me...!"
Anyway, looked at like 10, and finally bought this one, paid waaaayyyy too much for it, but I was happy so who cares.
The PO had done the V8 swap, 3" lift (2 1/2" springs and 1/2" shackles) and had replaced the tranfer case and the rear diff trying to chase down a horrible drivetrain vibration that had kept him from enjoying it for some years. I had no clue, this one was the best LC I had looked at, the others in various stages of disrepair or diassembly or both.
I soon found out that driveline vibrations and the wandering from increased caster caused by the shackle lift (and ****py rancho springs) made driving the rig intolerable @ anything above 35MPH, so my quest began and I discovered IH8MUD.com.
I took it to a guy I knew to put a Saginaw PS setup on it, and I put some shims in the front and back all of which made it drive strait as an arrow at any speed but I still had horrible driveline vibrations. Replaced all the motor/tranny mounts, new drive-shafts, and a new harmonic balancer, all of which helped but didn't eliminate it.
Oh, yea, install a new backseat!
