Cooking With The Crockpot (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Apr 10, 2013
Threads
86
Messages
5,446
Location
Weddington, NC
I recently purchased a '78 FJ40 from a fellow ONSC and MUD member, Adam Leidy. The cruiser is known affectionately by our club members as "The Crockpot." With Adam's nickname being "Meatball", it only made sense that his 40 would be named "Crockpot." After all, most times you see a meatball it is in a crockpot, right?

Here's a pic of Adam in the CP:
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Anyway, the Crockpot is a truck that Adam's dad had out in California...purchased in the mid-'90's from Nevada and driven all over the West. As the story goes, the engine was tired and it was in need of a rebuild. Adam's dad chose to do a SB conversion and took it to a shop in Cali to do the work. For whatever reason the work never got done. The truck was partially disassembled and after months (maybe years) of waiting, Adam's dad had to go pick it up and drag it home. It sat for a long time (years) disassembled until Adam decided to make the trip from North Carolina out to California to save it. Adam trailered it back here to NC and with the help of club members, installed a running 2F and got it back on the road. Adam's emphasis was on getting the rig to the point where he could drive it around and have some fun on the trails with it. While the CP is a running and drivng rig, there is still a lot of unfinished business that needs to be taken care of. There is some rust (isn't there always?). There are some mechanical issues and the heater and all of it's components are in a box on the garage floor. There are some wiring issues that need to be sorted out. Most of all, there are lots of little bits and pieces that have been lost or broken over the years that need to be found, fixed or replaced. This thread will document my attempt to improve on the work done by Adam and other ONSC members to transform the Crockpot into a rig that is as at home in the church parking lot on Sunday as it is on the trails in our area. This will be a budget build. I will do things on the cheap as much as possible so that means that some of the work may not sit well with the purists among us and that's okay with me. I'd love to have a totally original low miles cruiser but unfortunately this rig is way past that and I don't have any illusions of trying to make it new again. I'm okay with just making it better than it is.

Here's the stats on the Crockpot as it sits today:

· 1978 FJ40 Originally Dune Beige, now White

· Running 2F, 4sp with stock front end that was completely rebuilt 2 years ago.

· Rear is a Currie Enterprise custom 9” Ford rear end, limited slip. Chromoly shafts.

· Custom power steering designed by Johnny Casale (ONSC member). FJ60 gear box with the Saginaw Power Steering pump. Steering shaft was made from all factory Toyota parts, and includes slip shaft.

· Wiring is all new. Used a GM wiring harness. Fuse box located in glove box.

· Heater not installed but have most parts.

· New Radiator, H2O pump, thermostat.

· Rust on rear sill, cowl and drivers side qtr panel. Frame excellent shape.

· Suspension is 4” Man A Fre springs with old school confer shackles.

· 2 Bilstein shocks in rear, none in front.

· 35” BFG Mud Terrains great tread, few slices.

· Whole interior of tub is Raptor lined.

· Newish seats that recline and move front and back.

· Water Proof Ipod Radio

· Warn 8274 winch (Prob Needs rebuild)

· Have hardtop, doors and barn doors.

· Have tons of extra new parts, bolts, weather stripping, bib, bumpers etc.
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The first order of business is to get some shocks under the front of this thing. The power steering conversion took up all the real estate on the driver's side frame rail where the original shock tower was located. I have a set of Ford towers but due to the location of the power steering box, I can't figure out how to mount them without either laying them way back or pitching them forward. I think the best solution is to purchase or fab a set of shock hoops that will span the distance across the PS box and allow the shock to be mounted somewhere in the middle. My solution was to order a set of Trail Gear universal shock hoops. I had to do some trimming of the fender well to fit them. These pics show the driver's side tacked in place. Also shown are the Bilstein 5125's, my shock of choice for this rig (sorry for the crappy cell phone pics. I'm working on getting a better camera for the shop):
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Getting bored with suspension work, I decided to take a stab at some body work. The Crockpot's bib was seriously roached at the bottom. There was another bib in the parts stash that had a good bottom but a dented-up top. I decided a little cut and paste was the best solution for this. I chopped the two bibs and combined the two best sections to make one rust-free bib:
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Subscribed!!

Those shock hoops are EXACTLY what I envisioned for front shocks.

Why did you decide to section the front bib rather than just swap it out?
 
The red bib was smacked pretty good up high and was tweaked a little. Rather than try to straighten the top and get everything lined back up I decided to just cut 'em up. Another issue was that the red bib was an early one and it didn't have provisions for the later safety latch. Keeping the white bib top allowed me to keep that latch mechanism intact. The best thing about sectioning the bib is that my repairs will largely be hidden by the bezel. A little skim coat on the inner and outer edges and it's all good.


...via IH8MUD app
 
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Subscribed! :popcorn:

Dave,
I rode the CP with Adam at URE and my back hurt for a week! Front shocks are definitely needed. Congrats on purchase and glad to see it staying in ONSC. :clap:
 
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Shocks are overrated on the trails. I have not run shocks on my 40 for years now and have no issues.

Keep it going man.
 
I think that on a 40, shocks are a matter of preference and what you get used to. It's not like a 40 is ever going to have a cushy ride, no matter what you do. I agree that they are overrated on the types of trails we do (slow and lots of rocks) but on the road is a little different. Driving the CP without shocks up front I find myself white knuckling the wheel on roads that are curvy with lots of undulations. I can handle quick potholes with no dampers but it's the hilly bumps that scare the crap out of me at speed. I want my wife to be able to drive this rig in relative comfort as well so shocks are a must have. I will add this...installing the wrong shocks (shocks that are too stiff) is waaaayyy worse that going without them.
 
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Last night I finished up the bib. It took a just a teensy bit of body filler on the welded areas, sand, prime and paint. "Paint?", you say... "Looks like primer to me." Well, the Crockpot is getting the royal treatment...a fresh paint job using only the best...Rustoleum Flat Khaki spray bomb! As I wrote earlier, this rig used to be Dune Beige. Somebody painted it white long ago and I have to admit that white is my least favorite color on the 40's. As far as my taste is concerned, all 40's should have a white top cap (or even better, a soft top) and I also prefer a white bezel. To me, white cap and bezel just looks right. I'm never going to warm up to the dark top and bezel on the CP. The white paint on the CP is pretty much shot and I will be making rust repairs on the driver's side and rear sill that will necessitate an overspray of some sort. In keeping with the budget and staying somewhat true to the original color of this rig, I made the decision to shoot it with flat khaki. The match is pretty dang close to the original Dune Beige which works out great because several areas of the rig (interior and engine bay) are in the original paint. I don't plan to keep the Crockpot in Rustoleum forever. I'll do a real paint job on it as time and money allow. My plan is to do the top and bezel in white as well. It will take some time to get around to doing the whole rig in rattle can. Right now it is just the bib. I've got to re-focus on the shocks and get the parking brake fixed first. Here's pics from last night's work:

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I had a few hours this weekend to work on the Crockpot. I moved on to the passenger side, did some trimming and fitting of the passenger side shock tower. Here it is tacked in:

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The bezel had been powder coated with a dimpled or hammered gray powder coat. That stuff is tough as nails! My DA sander even had a tough time getting through it. I ended up scuffing it up with the DA as much as I could and then using chemical stripper to remove the old powder coat. It took two attempts with chemical stripper to finally get the majority of the powder coat off. Then I sanded with roloc wheels on a die grinder to get down to metal. Primed and painted. I considered going to the local paint store to get some Toyota Cygnus white but decided I'd try something different. What I used was Rustoleum Appliance Epoxy in biscuit color. I don't have a sample of Cygnus White to compare it to but going strictly from memory of what was on my last cruiser, this looks pretty close. What do y'all think? Here are a couple of shots of the bib and bezel. I'm waiting on my new Toyota grille emblem to come before I bolt everything in.

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Last night I had a couple of hours in the garage so I decided to scuff and paint the driver's side fender and apron. My shock hoops are tacked in place and I plan to take the cruiser to a local race car builder to have him finish the welding. My 120v Hobart is great for sheet metal and small stuff and it would even do this job at full power but I just feel better having a more experienced welder with a real machine to finish these hoops. They will take quite a bit of abuse and they need to be strong. I went ahead and put the front wheels back on in preparation for the road trip to my welder's shop. Before I can take it, I need to finish the parking brake rebuild. Right now the rear driveshaft is disconnected from the parking brake drum and I'm waiting for my brake kit to show up on the brown truck. When I took the drum off I was surprised to find that the parking brake shoes had absolutely zero frinction material on them! It was just the metal backing plates! No wonder the parking brake didn't work. I was left scratching my head trying to figure out where the material went. The backing plates were totally rusted over and it doesn't appear that they have been touching the drum at all, even when fully expanded. It's almost like the friction material just fell off...but I didn't find it insde the drum so who knows what happened? In any case, the plan is to get the parking brake sorted out, re-connect the driveshaft and take the Crockpot to get some welding done.

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The brown truck paid me a visit yesterday. I received a parking brake rebuild kit from SOR and a pair of apron emblems. I had already disassembled the parking brake mechanism so last night I installed the new kit. The kit was pricey but it was complete with new shoes, clips, springs and associated hardware and a new seal that goes behind the backing plate. The install was straightforward if not a little aggravating, but it was successful. The Crockpot has a working parking brake now! Judging by the amount of rust and crust on the bits and pieces, it has been a long time since the parking brake has worked...probably several years. I didn't take any pictures of this exercise as there's not much to see and I didn't want to get the camera all grimey. If you've seen one drum brake you've pretty much seen them all. On to bigger and better things! Next I plan to unspool the 8274 and remove it for a rebuild and take off that gigantic hideous front bumper. I've got something else in mind.
 
Thanks David! If I might ask, where did you get the rubber boots that cover the wire ends? I may not take this one all the way down. It is functioning perfectly. I might take it apart just enough to drain, re-fill and do a cosmetic refresh. I guess I'll decide once I get it on the bench.
 
Yesterday I finished prepping and painting the passenger fender and apron and decided some "bling" was in order by way of new apron and grille badges. You'd think those things were gold plated based on the outrageous prices I paid for them. Next, I backed the Crockpot out of the garage and, using a tree strap on one of the trees in the yard, back up and unspooled the old winch cable from the 8274. The winch didn't want to free spool for some reason. I guess a total rebuild is in the cards after all... I then removed the winch and the old bumper. This was no easy task considering that the winch bolts were tacked to the bumper. I had to cut one of the bolts off, leaving it stuck in the winch by the captive nut in the winch mount. I have no idea how I'll get that thing out of there. While everything was off I took the time to scuff and paint the front frame rails and tie rod, relay rod and other rusty crap underneath. Unfortunately the factory bumper brackets were welded onto the old bumper, so I'll have to cut those off to mount my new bumper. Speaking of the new bumper, I ended up getting the HFS winch bumper. I like the 4Plus bumper maybe a little more with it's beefy brush guard but I too like the minimalist look of the HFS. It looks super strong as well. The one good thing I can say about CCOT and their HFS products is that you order them and they are on their way to you the next day. I am super impatient when it comes to waiting on parts and waiting weeks on a custom bumper to be made would absolutely kill me! That's why I went HFS.

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Thanks David! If I might ask, where did you get the rubber boots that cover the wire ends? I may not take this one all the way down. It is functioning perfectly. I might take it apart just enough to drain, re-fill and do a cosmetic refresh. I guess I'll decide once I get it on the bench.
Probably from Danny at Clemson 4Wheel Center along with all the other Warn parts.

Btw, my bumper was made to look like a HFS bumper. I really like the look. Did you go black or silver?
 

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