1964 FJ45 LB “RB1” Project (1 Viewer)

[miker]

I thought I would start to share my latest project, an FJ45 long bed pickup. The picture below is pretty much what it looked like when I brought it home about 2 years ago.

I bought this FJ45 and an FJ40 from the same owner. I thought I might use parts from the 40 to rebuild the 45 but I decided to fix up the 40 and sell it instead. I just sold the 40 earlier this year and I’ve slowly begun work on the 45. Some of you may have seen the 40 advertised here on mud and pirate.

The FJ45 has been affectionately named “RB1” which stands for “Rust Bucket One”. Its name stuck after my wife continually referred to the cruisers I brought home as “rust buckets”. The “one” was because I bought 2 cruisers at the same time and this one, the 45, was named “1” since it was the one I went to go look at and potentially buy, and other one I bought home at the same time, the 40, was named “2”.

The pictures below are pretty much what the 45 looked like when I brought it home about 2 years ago.

 

[miker]

RB2 has gone to a good home and I believe it now has a new and more appropriate name. Here’s a "before" picture of the 40 as I bought it:

 

[miker]

Here's a few "after" pictures right before selling it:

 

[miker]

OK, enough of that 40.

The goal of RB1 is to make it into a daily driver and part time wheeler. I’ve contemplated, since purchasing the 45, if I should keep it stock or if I would modify it. Since what I had to work with was in need of so much work and the cost of replacement parts so expensive or in some cases, not even available, I decided to not do a stock restoration and just make it what I wanted. Hopefully, in the end, an FJ45 pickup that will still look much like an FJ45 pickup and yet, when needed, be a comfortable daily driver also capable of taking it on mild to moderate trails without risk of too much body damage.

For the drive train, it will be powered by a Chevrolet small block of one flavor or another. I know, very boring. I plan to run a 700r4 automatic transmission and I would like to run a Marlin Toybox to a stock TLC case or an Orion. I will be doing a Saginaw steering conversion and at this moment I plan to do a spring over with shackle reversal. I will also add 4 wheel disc brakes and I’ll likely run 35” tires. Yep, again, very old school and boring. But, any of this may change as work progresses but that is the current plan.

As of now, October ’06, I’ve taken most of the truck apart except for the cab and bed. The cab, roof and bed are still bolted together and “sort of “ bolted to the frame but most everything else has been removed. Upon closer inspection of the ID tag and frame, the numbers didn’t match but I titled the vehicle using the numbers stamped into the frame which is a ’64 model. I now suspect the cab was at some time replaced however, I originally thought the bed was replaced by some previous owner since it was blue and the cab, hood, fenders, aprons, and bib were red. The bed turned out to be in very bad condition. I really didn’t look close enough when I bought it to see that all the bed floor supports were badly rusted.

 

[miker]

I also discovered that the bed sides have had patch panels welded in as well as body filler spread on them as much as 3/8” thick. As well, the rear bed corner supports have cracked and been repaired by some someone in the past at least once. The overhang on the bed has seen a few impacts with mother nature. It also appears that this truck was used in snow country and had multiple incidences of tire chains breaking at a moderate rate of speed or a driver who just didn’t care about tire chains making bed and fender modifications.

The rear springs and shackle hangers were run for a long time with worn out and missing bushings.

 

[miker]

The fenders and running boards were a thing of beauty.

 

[miker]

But the best thing about this truck was the sweet looking interior!

 

[miker]

My first steps involved taking apart the truck and selling anything that had some value which I would not be using. I really didn’t make any money on this stuff and sometimes it seemed it wasn’t worth my efforts but I did find new homes for the steering wheel, horn button, steering column and steering box, throttle cable, accelerator pedal and linkages, transfer case shifter linkages, fuel filter, air cleaner, starter, valve cover, skid plate, intake/exhaust manifold, and various other small items. The F engine turned out to have nearly all rod bearings seized as well as a good sized hole in the number 3 piston. I tried to give away the engine block, crank, head, bell-housing, flywheel, transmission, front and rear axle housings, front axle knuckles, arms, ball and claw stuff, and other various heavy items. No one wanted them due mainly to their poor condition so their final resting place was in a local metal scrap yard. I do plan to run Land Cruiser axles from a ’79 vintage cruiser so I though I might be able re-use the stock (offset) transfer case but after disassembly the case looks like its not worth repairing. This truck definitely saw some abuse during its 1st life.

I’ve started to build up the axles using the parts I’ve purchased and collected. For now, I’m using open carriers with 3.73:1 gears. I’ve rebuilt them with new bearings, seals, and ring gear bolts and nuts. I’ve also replace the rear axle bearings and seals and I’m using 30 spline rear axles. The front is a birfield housing. I’m still looking for some parts to complete the front but I’ve got the large pattern knuckles, birfields, inner axles, knuckle rebuilt kit, wheel bearing kits, and spindles. I purchased new rotors for the front and rear disk brake conversions. For the front I still need wheel hubs, Aisin hubs, backing plates and other miscellaneous hardware. I'm in the process of making the disk brake mounting brackets but have everything else to do the disk conversion.

 

[miker]

I’ve also started on the body and for now I’m concentrating on the front half. I purchased a used drivers fender and have repaired the passenger fender which came with the truck. Each fender required welding of various cracks and bumping out numerous dents. I intend to strip all panels down to bare steel removing all paint and rust, then prep and apply 1 to 2 coats of epoxy sealer. I’ll then do final body work and surfacer before applying additional sealer over those areas as needed. I’ll do final color after I have the chassis close to complete so I don’t risk damage to any fresh painted panels. For now, I’m working on the front alignment of fenders, cab, aprons, bib, and steps. Once I’m happy with the alignment and have taken a number of measurements, I’ll complete the final metal work before completing the stripping and sealer application.

A few more shots of the progress so far.

 

[miker]

A few more:

 

[TJDIV]

sweet.

seems like the only realistic way to get a LWB anymore....


keep going. faster!! jk

 

[Cammy]

Cool rig! What are you using to strip the paint?

I finnaly found a home for those seat brackets we traded in Stockton. They live in Washington now and will end up in one of those high end resto's you see in the 40 section.

 

[miker]

Cool rig! What are you using to strip the paint?

Thanks

To strip, I'm using a variety of items from chemical to abrasve. Right now I'm just stripping those areas needing patch panels, or repair of cracks. I've mainly used the 3m stripping and cleaning hook/loop disks. I got them from http://www.eastwoodco.com They work pretty well for smooth areas but not so well for things like the firewall or floorboards where there are a lot of uneven surfaces or other obstacles that the disks can catch or snag.

When its time to apply the sealer/surfacer, I plan to media blast the smaller items and maybe items as large as the fenders, hood, bib, etc. The cab, box, and frame I may farm out.

I'll try to post some pics of my latest efforts later today or tomorrow - spring hangers, power steering box mount, rear disk caliper brackets, and motor mounts.

I finnaly found a home for those seat brackets we traded in Stockton. They live in Washington now and will end up in one of those high end resto's you see in the 40 section.

Excellent!

 

[miker]

I spent some time working on spring mounts, motor mounts, power steering box mount, frame enclosures, ubolt plates, and other pieces I'll need for the chassis/suspension. Here's a few shots of what I've got done.

Motor mounts:

 

[miker]

Front spring solid mount point for shackle reversal.

 

[miker]

Saginaw power steering box mount plate.

 

[miker]

U-bolt plates. These also act as the bump stop contact point. The plate is 1/4" thick and the center tube is 1-1/2" high and 2" wide so this raises the bump stop contact point almost 2" from the top of the spring. On one of my fj40s, this setup has worked pretty well with 35" tires, stock springs, and SOA.

 

[Radd Cruisers]

Must have access to a fairly heavey bender to make thos angles?

Looking good, nice fabrication skilllls.

Rob

Front spring solid mount point for shackle reversal.

 

[miker]

Also spent some time making these RBD brackets:

 

[miker]

Must have access to a fairly heavey bender to make thos angles?

Looking good, nice fabrication skilllls.

Rob

Thanks. Bends are made with a 20 ton press and some pretty simple bending dies that I made.