Sorry, I am a day late, been under the weather here. In any case, here is my 1976 FJ40. I fell in love with this Land Cruiser soon after I bought it. I have, much to the dissatisfaction of my wife, been a frequent buyer and seller of old cars. After owning and driving a few International Harvester Scouts (300s), I bought this FJ40 about 2-3 years ago. It had about 12K original miles when I found it in Memphis TN. After driving it back and spending a few weeks to get to know it better I was excited by the way it handled. It seemed to take about two blocks to stop the old IHs. This handled, in comparison like a dream. At some point, I decided this is a car I would like to keep. I wish I could say that I restored it myself, but I did not. I sent it out to the west coast (Oregon, FJ40 Restorations) to have it completely restored. It seems like the restoration took nearly 1.5 years. If you take a look at their websites you can see that they literally unweld every single part, clean, treat, repair and put it back together. It was pretty much kept in original condition, I only made a few modifications to improve driveablilty. Things I upgraded included: (1) AC from Cool Cruisers; (2) Old Man Emu suspension; (3) Saginaw Power steering; (4) a PTO winch.
This FJ40 looks even better in person. I am very excited about this. I suppose the downside is the number of small issues that I have had to tend to. I suppose when you tear something down to the extent it was, you have to deal with working the bugs out. Currently, I am going thru it from front to back, improving some of the little points and making adjustments as needed.
My current projects are: (a) fixing an oil pan leak; (b) figuring out why the PTO winch appears to go in one direction (reverse) and not the other. By the way I bought the PTO set up from CruiserParts.net, never did seem to get the whole setup (e.g., the driveshaft), and I fear that I have the wrong gearbox for a 4 speed. I will probably contact them soon to see if they are willing to help fix the problem and supply remaining part (they have been responsive to me in the past, but I will let you know how this turns out); (c) putting in a BRAND new AM radio that I found in Japan; and (d) figuring out why the brake warning light on the dash doesn't work as it should. Would really like to find someone I could trust in Texas that could help me solve some of these problems.
In any case, a few months ago I almost sold it (this would have been a big mistake). But I have enjoyed tinkering with it. Well enjoy the pictures... and if anyone has an idea about what to do with the PTO winch, let me know. I did disconnect the linkage and try and move the push lever in to engage a "forward" position, but it does not engage.
Thanks,
Don
This FJ40 looks even better in person. I am very excited about this. I suppose the downside is the number of small issues that I have had to tend to. I suppose when you tear something down to the extent it was, you have to deal with working the bugs out. Currently, I am going thru it from front to back, improving some of the little points and making adjustments as needed.
My current projects are: (a) fixing an oil pan leak; (b) figuring out why the PTO winch appears to go in one direction (reverse) and not the other. By the way I bought the PTO set up from CruiserParts.net, never did seem to get the whole setup (e.g., the driveshaft), and I fear that I have the wrong gearbox for a 4 speed. I will probably contact them soon to see if they are willing to help fix the problem and supply remaining part (they have been responsive to me in the past, but I will let you know how this turns out); (c) putting in a BRAND new AM radio that I found in Japan; and (d) figuring out why the brake warning light on the dash doesn't work as it should. Would really like to find someone I could trust in Texas that could help me solve some of these problems.
In any case, a few months ago I almost sold it (this would have been a big mistake). But I have enjoyed tinkering with it. Well enjoy the pictures... and if anyone has an idea about what to do with the PTO winch, let me know. I did disconnect the linkage and try and move the push lever in to engage a "forward" position, but it does not engage.
Thanks,
Don
Last set of pics...
