ROTM Maxdaddys 88 fj62 (1 Viewer)

[Maxdaddy]

Hello MUDDERS, So here is my cruiser. I bought her in ft. smith. Id like to say I looked forever and did my homework and drove a million of them. However, I cannot.
I saw this gem on craig's after about a month of looking or so. I decided I needed to check this thing out and I drove down to Ft Smith with a couple buddies and gave it a test drive. She was bone stock and in really good shape. The owner said he had 4 60 series cruisers and decided to sell this one because he never drove it, and I could tell. It had 124k miles was a 3 owner vehicle and didn't even smell like a 20+ year old tank. I offered him a little less then he was asking and he met me in the middle, I would have paid full price but the less I paid meant more money for accessories. This was the first cruiser I had ever driven and it drove great. I have never had a car with a "smooth" ride, always have driven trucks, jeeps, and sports cars. So to me this thing was right in my wheel house. Plus it didn't have power windows or locks so that was one less thing to break.
Once I got her home, I decided to gut the inside, pressure wash the carpet, clean the seats really well, and clean up the metal, and put everything back in. This is what started my obsession.
I won't bore anyone with to much detail, but I have put a lot of money and hard work into this beast and I love being the only one in town with this ride.

The pictures below are how she looked when I got her, which was a perfect starting point for what I wanted to do.

Some rust that I fixed on the rear wheel well
And some gas tank spillage or something that messed up the paint on the side.

More pics and mods to come

 

[Maxdaddy]

Ok so first things first. I had to OME this thing asap. So I did. Put the lift on myself. Took me a weekend and some beer and help from friends. First tires I went with, 34x10.50 swampers. Looked cool, drove like crap. They lasted me about a year. I noticed that my cruiser had A LOT of cruiser lean, so come to find out i had the rear springs on the wrong sides. So back to the springs I went and swapped them out.

Then came the less fun stuff. Shout out to Cruiser Outfitters here, I ended up needed to replace my inner axle seal up front, so I did the full rebuild with marlin seals, they are beefy and Outfitters got me everything i needed. This took me a full weekend and more beer. Learned a ton and everyone on here was super helpful.

Next was the transmission, I was experiencing some shutter vibe at around 57 miles and hour. Once again to MUD I went. I Rodney flushed the beast 20 quarts later and a tranny cooler she hasn't shimmied since.

Then I took it to our local cruiser guru to remove and clean the injectors and tune it up. He did the stuff I didn't feel comfortable trying. I did do all the typical, plugs wires, air and fuel filter, pcv valve, (thanks Dan for the parts) on my own.

Next I needed to replace the battery tray so I went stainless, with an Optima yellow top. Replaced all the ground wires with a kit from FOURRUNNER, once again an awesome product. My volts are never low.

New headlight harness from Wired Wagon here on the forum, then I put in hella h1 and h4 lights to really max out the potential. Also replaced the wimpy stock horns with hellas.

I don't want to leave out the new inner door seals from Wagon Gear. Huge difference in road noise

Time for more pics

 

[Maxdaddy]

About a year ago I started to really lose it and go crazy fixing this thing up.

Once again I total gutted this inside, removed everything. Then I went with cruiser craps sound deadener. Put in everywhere, two layers up front. The difference is amazing, I have never owned a car this quiet.

The vinyl in the car was a bit faded, So i decided to take a chance and used SEM vinyl dye and dyed all the door panels and basically anything I could inside with the flexible dye and satin clear coat luster product.

I had put a dash cap on the truck, but it only last about a year before it started to crack and bow up. I broke down and bought a dash from a mud member, and it was in great shape and a great deal.

I had already put a DVD touchscreen in it the first inside remodel, this time I installed an amp and replaced the broken electric antenna with an aftermarket electric antenna. I also replaced the speakers and put and amp under the passenger seat.

What interior revamp would be complete with out brand new carpet. I put that in and completed the inside along with all LEDs for the interior lamps and gauge lights.

 

[Maxdaddy]

So now comes the fun part. The outside. First thig I did was fix all the rock chips up front fix the gas tank paint and the rust on the wheel well. The I painted the grill with Cast Iron engine paint from Napa. I powder coated all the center caps, polished and buffed the wheels, removing suface rust with a scotch brite pad.

Then I went with 33 10.50 BF ATs and man, I will never run another tire on this truck.



I clay bared the entire truck to get the paint in top form.

I put a ARB on the front with hella driving lights.

The rear bumper is FOURRUNNERS I had it built and powdercoated it. Stout bumper, and looks great with the ARB.

I have 164k miles on the truck now, and I feel like this thing could run forever.




I hope everyone enjoys seeing what I did to her, I wanted a like new slightly modified daily driver. I'm not really a mechanic but I'm not afraid to try anything thinks to this site. There are countless other tiny things I have done to the truck that will go un mentioned, and I always looked to mud to get it done.

Last shot is total poser seeing as its parked in a parking spot at Razorback stadium. I think it looks awesome though.

 

[Maxdaddy]

A few other random shots.

My stereo with the background I made to go with my cruiser.

My rear bumper

Last an over all shot

 

[Sev65]

looks great man. good job
I didn't know they made 62's with manual window.

 

[Maxdaddy]

Thanks,

Yeah it was weird, when I took the door panels off All the wiring for the power locks and windows was in there, but you can tell it had never been hooked up. I pulled it all out to save weight so my quarter time will be faster

 

[fahedsharif]

love it!!
super clean, and about time there was a new ROTM
haha!

 

[gregnash]

Great looking truck and a worthy save. Hope that mine can be an ROTM one day!

 

[robustbambi]

That's one sharp 62!

 

[NM Frontier]

That is a great looking truck. Your right the rear bumper goes good with the ARB.

 

[YotaJosh]

Nice looking cruiser, fellow Arkansan!

I'd like more pics of the rear bumper and maybe some info about how it was built. I need to build one for my cruiser (although the DIY kit from Fourrunner here on the forum looks really nice).

 

[klinetime574]

That's a sooper dooper clean FJ62.

I like it. Good work on everything you have done!

 

[Maxdaddy]

Thanks everyone. I'll post up some more pics of the bumper. The kit is great everything fits together perfectly. I'm a sucker for mud vendors.

 

[rrv333]

Great work!

 

[umpqua]

I like it. I like it a LOT. Nice and clean. Congrats.

I lived in FS for 40 years. Went to the UofA (WTF is wrong with the pigs??). Bought my '88 fj62 in Hot Springs 15 or so years ago with.....124K miles. Moved to Portland. When your auto goes out consider the H55 manual. The best mod I've ever done. Not cheap but certainly worth if if you are going to keep the truck.

Again, very nice looking 62. WPS!

 

[sk8salomon]

Very nice rig! Enjoy it!

 

[Maxdaddy]

A few more bumper pics. And don't even get me started on the hogs. That's a whole different rant for a whole different forum.

 

[landcruiserjunky]

Nice job!

 

[umpqua]

Yeah, pretty sure I can get all of that I want on Hogville.

Your doing good work there....the madness continues.