Alright Gents and Ladies,
My father bought our 12/69 cruiser back in 73 as the second owner. My first clear memory of the cruiser was near marble CO where my pops broke the T-case in half (something that is far too common with our family) and we had to get towed off the trail by a CJ. My pops was pissed, I was 5 or 6. My brother inherited the cruiser when he was 16. He took some classes and learned some body work on it. He drove it through high school. I inherited the cruiser 4 years later, at 16.
The truck in pretty rough running condition, and had some trouble keeping it running well the first few years. My father wanted me to know how to turn a wrench although that wasn’t his forte., Mike D aka treeroot was always willing to lend a hand and some advice. At 17 my pops got me a new Carb: webber 38/38 the old one just didn’t work right, solved a lot of problems but ran rich. I didn’t properly tune it for a few years. New 2.5” suspension came some time later and some 33x9.5s later still.
The beginning of the demise of my truck came the last day of senior year of high school. A group of friends and I were out at a local hang out called the pit, being dumb accompanied by dumber I ended up on my roof. This was a very embarrassing moment.
Fast forward to half way thru freshman year of college I met my buddy nate who turned me on to rockcrawling and pirate4x4. From pirate I found IH8MUD which at the time was just a page of links for different things you can do to your landcruiser. I decided the first thing I wanted was to go slower, so I headed to a junkyard over spring break and found myself a sm420 out of an old bus. Lockers came Sophomore year, I had the front quite a while before the rear. I also did some rust repair this year. At this stage my 40 was known as the sleeper, locked front and rear, low gears manual steering 33x9.5s, to the untrained eye looked stock but went everywhere, I kinda miss that version.
Junior year I did the PS swap. Senior year I did the SOA with the fj60 axles, and stretched the wheelbase. First year out of college I did the best thing for my crusier, buy a cheep ass DD. Next I built a Cage and some new tires. At this point I hooked up with the HGC who wheel like I do. They stick my cruiser and I into spots that it shouldn’t fit! Now into my second year out of school I did an even better thing for my crusier, bought a truck and trailer. And that brings us up to current.
It should be noted that up to this point, everything done to my FJ40 has been on a very strict budget, it is almost completely built out of Junkyard parts.
Current Specs:
12/69 FJ40
Original F-155, it has been re-ringed once and once fully rebuilt, balanced and blueprinted bored 60 over by my uncle Tom, during my father’s ownership.
Webber 38/38 Modified by myself for offcamber performance
Rebuilt Sm420 that uses Mike Smyth adapters on both sides
3speed t-case when in one piece
SOA, SR 102” Wheelbase
Stock Cruiser springs up front flipped, outboarded 1.25” per side
XJ Springs out back
FJ60 axles front and rear 30 spline longfields and coarse spline 4.11 diffs till the explode
Marlin 1.5” wheel spacers
Lockrights both ends
Square Drive shaft up front
Marlin hysteer fj80 ends throughout.
Hydro assist PSC 1.75” ram
4.25 turn 3 bolt Saginaw box, ported for hydro assist. All steering related accessories out of an XJ: box, collapsible shaft, high and low pressure lines, box mount spacer.
Pitmit arm off a Wagoneer modified by marlin to fit an fj80 end.
Ham Can PS pump out of AMC Eagle, fitted to F with smog pump bracket
’75 FJ40 steering Column
Mini truck Break master, booster and firewall lines to convert to 2 circuit system.
Cage designed and built by yours truly, utilizes Metaltech A-pillars, Tied to frame in 6 points
Corbeau Baja SS Seats
RCI 5 point belts, only 2 points installed
Skid bent from DOM and covered by 1/4" plate
Warn m8000 winch
HGC sticker
Oh and 40” IROKs on 17” steel wheels with 3” BS
Heres the only shots I have of what it looks like currently Sodak a few weeks ago, I'll get a side view tonight
Future plans?
Short Term
Fix busted t-case
Build an engine cage
Stretch the wheelbase a few more inches
I will probably weld the rear and mayhap get a full Detroit for the front, my front lockright is giving me troubles.
Beadlocks, can’t keep the damn tires on the rims!
Wheel it!
Long term
2UZ dual cases?
Linked up?
My father bought our 12/69 cruiser back in 73 as the second owner. My first clear memory of the cruiser was near marble CO where my pops broke the T-case in half (something that is far too common with our family) and we had to get towed off the trail by a CJ. My pops was pissed, I was 5 or 6. My brother inherited the cruiser when he was 16. He took some classes and learned some body work on it. He drove it through high school. I inherited the cruiser 4 years later, at 16.
The truck in pretty rough running condition, and had some trouble keeping it running well the first few years. My father wanted me to know how to turn a wrench although that wasn’t his forte., Mike D aka treeroot was always willing to lend a hand and some advice. At 17 my pops got me a new Carb: webber 38/38 the old one just didn’t work right, solved a lot of problems but ran rich. I didn’t properly tune it for a few years. New 2.5” suspension came some time later and some 33x9.5s later still.
The beginning of the demise of my truck came the last day of senior year of high school. A group of friends and I were out at a local hang out called the pit, being dumb accompanied by dumber I ended up on my roof. This was a very embarrassing moment.
Fast forward to half way thru freshman year of college I met my buddy nate who turned me on to rockcrawling and pirate4x4. From pirate I found IH8MUD which at the time was just a page of links for different things you can do to your landcruiser. I decided the first thing I wanted was to go slower, so I headed to a junkyard over spring break and found myself a sm420 out of an old bus. Lockers came Sophomore year, I had the front quite a while before the rear. I also did some rust repair this year. At this stage my 40 was known as the sleeper, locked front and rear, low gears manual steering 33x9.5s, to the untrained eye looked stock but went everywhere, I kinda miss that version.
Junior year I did the PS swap. Senior year I did the SOA with the fj60 axles, and stretched the wheelbase. First year out of college I did the best thing for my crusier, buy a cheep ass DD. Next I built a Cage and some new tires. At this point I hooked up with the HGC who wheel like I do. They stick my cruiser and I into spots that it shouldn’t fit! Now into my second year out of school I did an even better thing for my crusier, bought a truck and trailer. And that brings us up to current.
It should be noted that up to this point, everything done to my FJ40 has been on a very strict budget, it is almost completely built out of Junkyard parts.
Current Specs:
12/69 FJ40
Original F-155, it has been re-ringed once and once fully rebuilt, balanced and blueprinted bored 60 over by my uncle Tom, during my father’s ownership.
Webber 38/38 Modified by myself for offcamber performance
Rebuilt Sm420 that uses Mike Smyth adapters on both sides
3speed t-case when in one piece
SOA, SR 102” Wheelbase
Stock Cruiser springs up front flipped, outboarded 1.25” per side
XJ Springs out back
FJ60 axles front and rear 30 spline longfields and coarse spline 4.11 diffs till the explode
Marlin 1.5” wheel spacers
Lockrights both ends
Square Drive shaft up front
Marlin hysteer fj80 ends throughout.
Hydro assist PSC 1.75” ram
4.25 turn 3 bolt Saginaw box, ported for hydro assist. All steering related accessories out of an XJ: box, collapsible shaft, high and low pressure lines, box mount spacer.
Pitmit arm off a Wagoneer modified by marlin to fit an fj80 end.
Ham Can PS pump out of AMC Eagle, fitted to F with smog pump bracket
’75 FJ40 steering Column
Mini truck Break master, booster and firewall lines to convert to 2 circuit system.
Cage designed and built by yours truly, utilizes Metaltech A-pillars, Tied to frame in 6 points
Corbeau Baja SS Seats
RCI 5 point belts, only 2 points installed
Skid bent from DOM and covered by 1/4" plate
Warn m8000 winch
HGC sticker
Oh and 40” IROKs on 17” steel wheels with 3” BS
Heres the only shots I have of what it looks like currently Sodak a few weeks ago, I'll get a side view tonight
Future plans?
Short Term
Fix busted t-case
Build an engine cage
Stretch the wheelbase a few more inches
I will probably weld the rear and mayhap get a full Detroit for the front, my front lockright is giving me troubles.
Beadlocks, can’t keep the damn tires on the rims!
Wheel it!
Long term
2UZ dual cases?
Linked up?
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