Builds Cruisermatt's FJ62 Build-up (21 Viewers)

[NeverGiveUpYota]

Seriously nice welds and skill planning.

 

[FL cruiser]

I keep forgetting you have a build thread. Will check in more often. Glad I got to stop by and check it out in person.

Matt is a 21 yr old college student that has accumulated an amazing amount of knowledge and skills in a short amount of time. AND is accomplishing it all on a tight budget.

 

[cruisermatt]

Seriously nice welds and skill planning.

Thanks. I’ve you read through the whole thread you’d see the suspension is the only thing I’ve never really messed with... I’ve been planning, test driving other’s trucks, reading, shopping, etc for a long time, really since I started driving this truck (6-7 years?!).
The last year the rear springs has have really started to go out, so it was action time.

 

[cruisermatt]

I keep forgetting you have a build thread. Will check in more often. Glad I got to stop by and check it out in person.

Matt is a 21 yr old college student that has accumulated an amazing amount of knowledge and skills in a short amount of time. AND is accomplishing it all on a tight budget.

Thanks for the kind words Steve. The budget part is relative, lots of money went into tooling past year or two (Better welders and the Bridgeport). Before I’d have to bring stuff to whereever I was working to weld out, etc.
I definitely wouldn’t have the quality fab work without my tools right next to the truck.

 

[CenTXFJ60]

Great work Matt. Impressive welding as well. Wish I had half those skills .
Question on the rear shackle...will that spring ever flex enough causing the bottom of the shackle to make contact with the frame? I assume not due to no/limited arch.

 

[cruisermatt]

Great work Matt. Impressive welding as well. Wish I had half those skills .
Question on the rear shackle...will that spring ever flex enough causing the bottom of the shackle to make contact with the frame? I assume not due to no/limited arch.

Thanks Jim.
Do you mean the top of the spring eye making contact with the bottom of the frame rail?
Or the side of the shackle hitting the bumper support?

 

[CenTXFJ60]

Thanks Jim.
Do you mean the top of the spring eye making contact with the bottom of the frame rail?
Or the side of the shackle hitting the bumper support?

Was thinking the spring eye.

 

[cruisermatt]

Was thinking the spring eye.

Yeah, good catch. Truth is I kinda went with my gut on that one. I put a 1” block between the spring and frame with the weight of the truck on the springs when I set the shackle angle, kinda figuring (hoping) that the spring will reach max flex right before touching the frame. If it doesn’t I can make longer shackles. I’ll know when I flex it on the forklift for shock measurements.

 

[cruisermatt]

Tonight’s shenanigans in the shop..
Clutch/flywheel/pressure plate.
I laid out all my clutch parts.

Flywheel is an LS truck flywheel (Sachs NFW1050, 6.0 2500HD). $50 new from Rock Auto.
Clutch kit is a standard 12” Small Block Chevy clutch kit, pressure plate needed a few holes drilled out for the loarger bolts as well as dowel pins. In hindsight I would have gone with the matching clutch kit for this flywheel however the small-block kits are 1/3 the price which is nice.

 

[cruisermatt]

For a pilot bearing, the small-block pilot bearing fits in the LS crank, however the ID doesn’t allow fitment on the 0.750” Dodge NV4500 pilot tip. So a quick trip to the store for a Dorman 14650 ($6), which is a small block Chevy pilot bushing, then drill that to 3/4” on the mill. Had to make a V-block first as I realized I didn’t have any too late.

 

[cruisermatt]

Lastly for tonight is the throwout bearing and clutch fork, this is where it gets fun.
I initially planned to use the Chevy throwout bearing that came in the clutch kit, along with a Chevy clutch fork that matched my 80’s truck bellhousing. The issue I didn’t see ahead of time with that is that the Chevy throwout bearing doesn’t fit on the Dodge input bearing retainer.

I know the Toyota F engines and small block Chevy’s use very similar clutch/bellhousing geometry, so I dug out my old 2F clutch fork that has a like-new throwout bearing on it.

The 2F throwout bearing is far superior to the Chevy part, and the fork has similar motion ratio to the Chevy equivalent.
It also fits over my Dodge input, I know this because I ran it behind the 3FE for two years.

 

[cruisermatt]

The issue is that the 2F throwout bearing and hub is twice the height of the Chevy TB. And space is kinda a premium under the bellhousing with the LS flywheel being 1/2” further back.

So, I took a bunch of measurements, mocked up the flywheel and pressure plate with a 1/4” spacer underneath under the bellhousing on the workbench, then took the bellhousing and adapter plate over to the Bridgeport and proceeded to mill the s*** out of them

I completely removed the Chevy pivot pin and made a provision for the Toyota pivot pin in the adapter plate. Which is way stronger then the bellhousing anyways.

 

[cruisermatt]

The result:

Just need to make a bracket for the FJ60 clutch slave and I should be good to go.
And yes, I realize there is a big kit from Advanced Adapters that makes all of this bolt together. However I really didn’t feel like spending the money on it and frankly think I’m ending up with better components. That 2F throwout bearing is a substantially heavier duty design. The Chevy one is half plastic.

Now let’s just hope it all works

 

[Cruiserdrew]

You have a lot of different DNA in that bastard. Clever solution.

 

[cruisermatt]

You have a lot of different DNA in that bastard. Clever solution.

Fortunately I have zero regard for resale or “investment”. I’m the last owner of this truck.

I can’t imagine what it would be like for someone else to bring this mess to a mechanic one day.
I think the only person who could wrench in this truck without pulling hair out would be @FL cruiser , who is really the one responsible for inspiring these frankly sadistic part adaptions

 

[BGarcia88FJ62]

Dig the Low spring over with the Rear 63" Chevy Springs. What length springs are you planning for the Front?
This low spring over has my gears turning.

 

[cruisermatt]

Dig the Low spring over with the Rear 63" Chevy Springs. What length springs are you planning for the Front?
This low spring over has my gears turning.

Thanks Ben. I'm pretty certain this is the lowest SOA 60 out there. It actually should sit another inch lower then the pics when it has a tank of gas. I hung another 300 lbs off the back to simulate the gas tank when I set pinion angle on Sunday, in addition to the 300lbs or so that's normally in the back. Hopefully it's level after I do the front.

Haven't touched the front yet, I need to put the motor back in and reinstall the bumper/winch first. I want all the weight that's going to be there present because I think the front is going to be a bit more touchy to get right because of the super light motor.

I haven't decided on re-using my current front springs (ancient 2.5" lift springs), or my old rear springs (extremely worn out 2.5" lift springs). Rears in front is nice but these springs condition concern me. I also want to push the front axle forwards an inch or two, with the longer rear springs it might interfere with my bumper mounts which I don't want to change. I will be doing a shackle reversal regardless.
Sorry for the rambling, just some of my thoughts.
Motor should go back in with the clutch setup later this week and I'll hopefully get started on the front suspension this weekend. Lots of cool stuff planned that I haven't mentioned yet

I took care of getting the rear pinion angle set, perches welded on, new brake lines made, and axle reinstalled over the past few days. I'll post up some pictures later today.

 

[cruisermatt]

Put a bunch of weight on the tailgate to simulate the gas tank plus a little extra. Truck dropped an inch with this weight like this. Down fron 39” to 38” from ground to rear quarter lip . Tacked perches then pulled axle...

SOA is really better because it gives you a place to put your coffee. The SUA cup holder would not work.

Then it turned into a thousand degrees outside so rolled axle inside to work on it.

Bent up some brake lines (budget fake NiCu tube) and built some skids out of 3/8” for where the lines go under the springs. Didn’t want to run the lines over the springs.
I also moved the mount for the end of the caliper soft line from the brake backing plate to the tube. The ones on my backing plates are cut up, and this gives an overall much neater routing. And I have a few axles stacked up anyways so I pulled another pair of brackets from one of them.

Comparison of the original soft line mount and my new location:

And overall lines with the skids installed. I still need to make some 2” block spacers to go between the skids and perchs to help prevent the skids from bending up and distorting the axle tube. You can’t really tell in the pic but the skids have 1” holes in them for the U-bolts to pass through.

As it possible to tell from the pictures, I elected to keep m the pinion pretty flat (A few degrees up from 0, I prefer this) and continue to use a standard driveshaft, due to the offset of the 80 axle. Didn’t have any vibrations before when everything was in working order and the truck is really only 2-3” taller then it was on sagged out SUA.

 

[cruisermatt]

Here’s a better picture of the skids. They will also be a nice flat spot to use a bottle jack offroad, one I put a block between them and perches.

Also, if doing a SOA using an 80 rear axle, I’d recommend using 3-1/4 U-bolts instead of 3”. The 80 axle has an extra layer of steel and welds that make it a pretty tight fit for a 3” U-bolt, even after some grinding high-spots down. They went on, with a lot of hammering and they kinda splayed open a bit. I will probably change them out.

 

[Hojack]

Great work Matt am going to need all the help and pictures I can get when I’m ready for my SOA. Onto wiring on my 4BT swap.