Finally traded for an FJ40 (1 Viewer)

[DESTIJL]

I posted a week or two ago that I was trying to trade my Early Bronco for an FJ40. Well finally pulled a trade off and got my first FJ40. I'm happy with it, but it does need some attention. Not used to not having power steering/brakes. The brakes need to be bled pretty bad, but it stops well enough for now. 1974 FJ40 Blue with what i've read to be a "F and a half", motor. I'm totally new to FJ40's so any peeps that wanna school me on this Landcruiser feel free to hit me up. I haven't wrenched since high school so I'm gonna have to learn some s***.

My fiance is pretty damn stoked on it... She thinks I should sell my daily driver and put the money into making the FJ40 into my daily.

Any recommendations on a mechanic that knows their s*** on FJ40's in San Diego?

 

[eman375]

Welcome to the Land of Cruiser! You'll end up loving that old buggy. If you do a search, a list of techs and mechanics has been assembled and I remember seeing some from San Diego. Good luck and enjoy your new ride!

 

[D'Animal]

Congrats on your FJ40. 1973Guppie is in the San Diego area and works on the FJ 40's. You may be able to have him look at it and give you some pointers. He may request a 6pack of orange juices in return.


...via IH8MUD app

 

[Blacksunshyne]

Nice looking truck!

I would not sell my daily driver to fund the FJ40 refurb. Just save up some $$ here and there and address things as you can. Brakes first!

 

[darwink1]

Pretty clean looking, nice score man.

D

 

[Cruiserdrew]

Decent 40. Congrats.

Fix the brakes (which is not always easy with 4 wheel drums). I'd plan on replacing a lot of wheel cylinders because the adjusters are probably frozen, which is why they don't work.

Consider swapping in later knuckles/disc brakes and hubs, and a new later master cylinder to make it all work. Still, a good looking near original truck.

 

[G-Cat]

Post of a picture of the Bronco you traded...

 

[DESTIJL]

Thanks guys, the brakes are definitely first priority! Gonna contact 1973Guppie soon, he lives in Carlsbad so i've gotta get used to driving this FJ40 before i'm comfortable visiting him up there. @Garth here's a few of my 67 Bronco I traded away. It was crazy because the guy I traded with was looking for a Bronco, perfect trade. I got tired of the lifted big tires ride after awhiie and wanted a compiete ride.

 

[DSRTRDR]

blue is faster

 

[jonnyquest]

Looks like you got a real nice 40 for a real nice Bronco. I wouldn't make it a daily driver unless you can afford the fuel (about 12 mpg) and maintenance. When they are 100%, a Land Cruiser will carry you deep into rough country AND bring you back. Spend time reading on this forum and learn as much as you can about your 40. The more you know, the more you can fix yourself. That knowledge will give you justified confidence. Pack some parts, tools, an old Coleman stove, other camping stuff and you'll be ready to drive to Alaska.

 

[DESTIJL]

@jonnyquest thanks! Mechanic looked at it today and was stoked, but he did find that the front suspension needs a lot of attention as well the master cylinder. So hopefully. I can get that taken care of soon.

 

[tls3601]

Got trade, although I am partial to old Bronco's too!!!!

 

[darwink1]

Man that bronco is sweet as all hell too, I would have had a hard time getting rid of it. Nothing wrong with a bronco and a 40 in the garage lol...

D

 

[DESTIJL]

@darwink1 Yeah! when the time came to let go of the Bronco I got nervous, but when I loaded the FJ40 up on the flatbed.... Man the feeling was greater than when I picked up that Bronco.

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

brakes... ugh. I like both the FJ40 and the Bronco, so I'm torn on your trade... with that said

my first FJ40 had a brake problem - rather, a lack of brake problem. someone had replaced the master cylinder with something from the Ford where he sourced the motor. I thought that was the problem and spent several hundred dollars I didn't have (was in college) replacing master cylinders and lines. What it was, was the slave cylinders. There's 2 per wheel. In total, I had one complete brake working across the entire truck. The only way I found it, I had it on jack stands at my dad's house and we had all the drums off - and I accidently hit the brake pedal. My dad noticed only 1/2 of the slave cylinder one wheel was working. I rebuilt all of those slave cylinders and finally had brakes... not good brakes, mind you, but far better than the pump and pray that was there before.

it was even blue (in my world, FJ40s only come in tan or blue - I've owned 8 - .... never mind that my current is red, it used to be tan).

 

[DESTIJL]

@SuperBuickGuy Rough!! Well thankfully I've got Guppie close to me in SD. He's gonna help my FJ40 this weekend and hopefully get most of the braking issues squared away. I'm converting to disc brakes eventually, money is a little tight right now!

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

I totally get that... I'm going to disk brake mine, but I think I'm going to use H3 Hummer stuff so I have an emergency brake. The plan is (since most of my t-case is mia) to eventually get an atlas, but between now and then it'll probably be either a 205 or 208... which doesn't have a brake provision on the t-case.