Expedition BJ74 Buildup

[lowenbrau]

I picked up one of Marlin's knuckle ball kits and decided to put it on since It's so cheap and I'm welding anyway. The top gusset becomes the shock mount.

[Radd Cruisers]

Kuddos Bruce, not sure if its been done before, but like anything it may have been, just never seen it on the net.



Nice fab work.


Rob

[UpsideDown]

Hey Bruce, not doing a cut & turn on that housing?





...and the Fj45 is still waiting for Lowenbrau's attention....

[lowenbrau]

Originally Posted by Radd Cruisers

Kuddos Bruce, not sure if its been done before, but like anything it may have been, just never seen it on the net.



Nice fab work.


Rob

Yeah, Rob I'm not the first guy to put 60 axles under a 70 or 40 but I have no idea how they did it. This is my idea of how to keep it as low as possible.

[lowenbrau]

Originally Posted by UpsideDown

Hey Bruce, not doing a cut & turn on that housing?





...and the Fj45 is still waiting for Lowenbrau's attention....

I nearly started turning the housing today but decided to try it as-is first. Peter managed to run his unturned by clearancing the u-joint a bit before he put the Toybox in. I plan to add a Toybox soon too so I'd be willing to run limiting straps until then if I need to.

The poor 45 is now outside for the first time in prolly 15 years. I *have* to build a garage for it.

[Deny]

Looking good Bruce,
Do you think cutting the housing like that would work for a 40 series too, or would you have to cut further, making it impossible?
Cheers,
Deny

[lowenbrau]

I think you just need to go up more if you want to go in more.

[UpsideDown]

You might find it easier to use bolts instead of U-bolts and thread into your perch/plate, or add nuts where possible.

A C&T would give you the added benefit of a better caster angle.

[lowenbrau]

Got my new tires.

37 13.5r17 on F Gay Loser rims

[fish78]

those wheels are sick!

[UpsideDown]

Originally Posted by lowenbrau

Got my new tires.

37 13.5r17 on F Gay Looser rims

If thoses go missing in the middle of the night, it wasn't me!

[Josie'sLandCruiser]

Hi All:

Bruce, isn't the back spacing on those rims "wrong" for a solid front axle, disc brake Land Cruiser? Are you gonna run wheel spacers up front??

Regards,

Alan

[lowenbrau]

The 4.5" backspacing helps narrow the wide 60 series axles and limits some of the for and aft travel when turning. This lets me get away from too much fender trimming. Clearance to the TREs and calipers is helped by the 17 rim diameter. Therefor no wheel spacers are required (I hope)

[Tapage]

Originally Posted by lowenbrau

The 4.5" backspacing helps narrow the wide 60 series axles and limits some of the for and aft travel when turning. This lets me get away from too much fender trimming. Clearance to the TREs and calipers is helped by the 17 rim diameter. Therefor no wheel spacers are required (I hope)

Nice tires dude .. but you are qa winner with those wheels ! are awesome !

[The Dude]

How do like the fit on those rims Bruce? I just got an e-mail on the weekend from Toyo Canada that they will be offereing the 38x13.5 in a 17" rim. I am just a little concerned about the 7.5" FJ rim width.

Build is looking great.

[lowenbrau]

Update on the wheels. I got the axle together and tried a wheel on only to find the that front part of the luke arms (where the drag link connects) hits the tire. I need about 1/2" less BS. I pondered cutting and welding the arm but quickly decided that I didn't have access to a welder that I'd put up to that. I've been using a Miller 135 that is fine for the little stuff. In the end I ordered up a SKY mfg wide track kit and picked up some IFS hubs at the wrecker. I'll match it with some wheel spacers on the back for now and might try to widetrack the back using ifs hubs later in conjuction with a disc brake conversion.

Brad I think the FJC wheels are about an inch narrow. You can see a bit of crown in the tread. I'm going to run them anyway and will know after I put 10,000kms on in July whether it was a bad plan or not. I think I remember a vender that takes aluminum rims and machines them for a beadlock. I should look into that.

http://www.sky-manufacturing.com/

[The Dude]

That's good to know about the arms hitting.

I am running the Sky kit with Luke's arms so I am very interested in what you think of the fit of the rims when you get it done.

Have fun in Alaska, are you going for Vacation or Wheeling trip? We are hoping to get up there for Mark's Alaska Trek 08 with the HJ61.

[Japan4X4]

Bruce, the 70 front shock lower mount goes to the rear of the spring plate. This sets the line of the shock quite a bit back from the centre line of the axle. With the knuckle gusset kit you are going to the centre line of the axle on the bottom of the shock. I assume you are also going to shift the axle a bit forward as the limit size for the stock location is about 35 inches in a SUA.

Is the SOA enough to permit you to run the tires and what do you feel about the non-vertical nature of the shock and the distortion of the upper mount that may result from it?

Care to comment?

[lowenbrau]

Originally Posted by Japan4X4

Bruce, the 70 front shock lower mount goes to the rear of the spring plate. This sets the line of the shock quite a bit back from the centre line of the axle. With the knuckle gusset kit you are going to the centre line of the axle on the bottom of the shock. I assume you are also going to shift the axle a bit forward as the limit size for the stock location is about 35 inches in a SUA.

Is the SOA enough to permit you to run the tires and what do you feel about the non-vertical nature of the shock and the distortion of the upper mount that may result from it?

Care to comment?

You're right. The stock shock towers have to go. They are crappy anyway, I busted them off my BJ70. I'll make some hoops out of 1.5" tube. The axle is going forward about 2"

[zaxxon]

What are you using for a bulb? I have been to two Trucklight dealers with no luck on a 24V bulb. Some how I left one witha set of $200 OFFROAD only no dot Hella lights. They are going back. Need bulbfor TL 27005.

Zach

[lowenbrau]

Originally Posted by zaxxon

What are you using for a bulb? I have been to two Trucklight dealers with no luck on a 24V bulb. Some how I left one witha set of $200 OFFROAD only no dot Hella lights. They are going back. Need bulbfor TL 27005.

Zach

Gregg distributors ~$5 each.

[lowenbrau]

Update. I went to put the front axle assembly together and found out the knuckle kits I ordered don't have the metal wiper pieces so that's on hold till I get the parts from Toyota on Tues.

I decided to build a rear bumper instead.

I started with a piece of plate that I had bent up a few weeks ago for the purpose and went from there. I wanted it to be repeatable and bolt-on so I kept the end of frame intact and fastened the bumper using the pintle holes. I'll add some mounts to the frame with tow points later. I'm pretty happy with how its turning out.

[lowenbrau]

Added some tube to the ends. Looks a little funny with the tiny tires but that'll change soon.

[wesintl]

Interesting... I like how you recessed it to use the pintle. I might have to incorporate that in the one that is being made for me right now. I need to have a receiver on mine so I can use my bike rack and then attach the pintle for the trailer.

Thanks!

[nickw]

I like your rear window sticker.
Truck looks good too.

[bj70_guy]

Originally Posted by lowenbrau

I wanted it to be repeatable and bolt-on

Good news for your 70 series owning, bumper-needing can't weld nothing loser friends...