[dieselcruiserhead]

Cool thanks for the update Al, I have been watching your thread!

Anyway, finally got the body position nailed.. I ended up mounting about 1 3/4" back from my other thread and guessed on 2.5" back originally so I wasn't too far off.. In the end, given that axles move inwards on 80 series as they are lifted, perhaps I should have perhaps moved it back father maybe a 1/4" or so but a 1/4" is not much and it took so long to get it placed right at the 1 3/4 back so moving back another 1/4 would have thrown everything off for just a 1/4". I am extremely pleased with how it all turned out..

So at this point, I tacked the front mounts on and drilled through the OEM front body mounts... Then did the other side...

[dieselcruiserhead]

Here are the first set of rear mounts that ended up going just in front of the rear axle...

When I made these I eyeballed the holes, so one of the pics you'll see I had to fill up and grind down a hole I'd made and redrill to have it match both mounts...

[dieselcruiserhead]

Here was the process I used which turned out excellent, same as the front. First, I made the front holes just barely oversized so this allowed for some body movement. The front mounts let the body sit front/rear perfectly, but in the rear, there could have still been as much as 1/2" in variation of the body over the rear wheels (laterally). So once I had the fronts well tacked in, I started moving the back rear to rear.. This also took about 1/2 an hour easily to get lined up right..

Then, once I got that lined up, I would hold the metal and rubber bushing up, compressing the rubber as much as I could, then tack in place. Then remove the rubber, drill the new hole where the new body mount would go. Then put the mount back in place with the pin to make sure it all lined up. Then do the same with the other side.

[dieselcruiserhead]

Then I put all 4 mounts and pins and place, pulled the OEM FJ55 rubbers between the frame and body, and double checked everything to make sure there was no signifcant moving and body shifting and luckily there was none

So then took everything apart and went back to the front, jacked up the front back up a little with the highlift to get room around the front mount, and burned them in..

[dieselcruiserhead]

Then I jacked up the rear, using a highlift below the tailgate (with the fronts bolted in, it was very stable, sort of like a tripod. Then burned in the rears..

This was also a neat point because I had finally bolted in the front body mounts, which for me seems like a small milestone I suppose

[dieselcruiserhead]

This was pretty cool I thought, I was able to get good access to the underside of the little boxes that I where there was interferance with the frame, so I ground these but sort of dropped the ball getting a photo once it was all ground out..

[dieselcruiserhead]

Then I kept only the front mounts in place and used them to pivot the body again with the body lift (photo below). Because I had room with the rear body lifted up, I could get to the frame easily so....

[dieselcruiserhead]

The goal of the frame cut was also to allow plenty of room to the body (once lowered again) to the backside/inside of the body for the trimming of that... So then I started working on that.. With the tape marks, you'll see I basically mimiced the body lines (angles, etc) but trimmed up about 4.75" higher which I thought was the 1/4" increment that looked the most natural but still "high and tight..."

[dieselcruiserhead]

I did the drivers side first.. You can see all the rot that was in there, which is exaclty reason #1 that I am trimming all of it out, besides extra ground clearance, etc etc.. Again, because of all of the trimming, this leaves about a 2.5" gap between the body and the frame, so that is why I cut the frame off, because I'll either move it up 2.5" or create something possibly out of 2 x 2 box steel that moves it up "high and tight" possibly.. I'm still not sure which I'll do, probably just move the frame up... You can also see all of that junk and dirt in there, some of it probably 35 years old!

[dieselcruiserhead]

This was also surprizing.. I hit a weird patch and dust everywhere so.. Bondo, I looked down at my leg and it was covered in white.. So, there is a little bondo here and there on this truck but most of it, as far as I can tell, appears to be minimal other than this piece!

[dieselcruiserhead]

Then the other side, which was even more full of junk.. TrollHole, found a empty baggie in there, oddly

[dieselcruiserhead]

The big downfall, I think, about 55's, is the design of the rear lip of the body (which I'll also be attempting to remove, as much as possible) that collects mud and dust and anything that comes off the wheels and collects that dirt and dust... You can see in the drivers side body mount (the section that is full of dust) and the rubber is designed to keep dirt out of there but it doesn't work perfectly... On my last 55, the complete rear drivers body mount was parcially rotted out...

[dieselcruiserhead]

Here is the center sill and about as far as I got last night before I ran out of cutoff wheels... Found the remnants of a critter who lived in the sill at one point in time.. You can also see some rot and bondo about the rear sill but I do not think its as bad as it looks..

[Trollhole]

Damn. Cutting out the exact part I needed. Only in a little better shape.

[dieselcruiserhead]

Then, I moved up front as I found about 3/4s of an old cutoff disk lying around, a cheaper home depot one that I knew wouldn't last too long, so I used it to start trimming out the front inner fender wells which I knew I could probably do all with that disk..

So first, I attempted to get it on but I knew the shock mounts and other parts of the 80 series frame would interfere... Then I marked and started trimming...

[dieselcruiserhead]

Originally Posted by Trollhole

Damn. Cutting out the exact part I needed. Only in a little better shape.

Which part do you need before I scrap it today??

[dieselcruiserhead]

So here is the inner fender/wheelwell in place.. I also realized while I was trimming that I should take into acccount the 80 series power steering box. So I mocked that up.. And while I was at it, I had been wondering how the 80 series steering column would all come together and whether the rag joint that goes between the pedals will fit (because 55s do not have this) but luckily it fits fine.. It will not be overly hard to mock this steering wheel and column into the 55...

[dieselcruiserhead]

So this is about as far as I made it, this is about 16 hours total work (two nights, about 8-10 last night and 4 or so another night).. Here is also something neat, the 80 series steering column seal which *almost* comes perfectly close to fitting in the 55 series steering grommet so I will use one of these seals (from Toyota) when reinstalling.. And final photo shows the trimmed body (and again, about as far as I made it last night).. I think the 55's, all trimmed up, actually look pretty good..

[Trollhole]

Originally Posted by dieselcruiserhead

Which part do you need before I scrap it today??

Rear corners

Though it looks like yours are a little far gone.

[dieselcruiserhead]

bummer, the passenger side on mine are salvagable.. Anyway, I say trim it just like me Here is what I did with the last 55 that worked pretty well also..
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?p=2606867

This time, I am going to cap the body with sheet metal, then build a removable rear bumber / slider combo also using 2 x 4 steel but this time into the frame. It help up pretty well but if you have bondo above it can be in danger of cracking from hard wheeling, which is what happened with me...