Your thoughts are requested (1 Viewer)

Should I do this?


  • Total voters
    3

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

dlzadl

SILVER Star
Joined
Aug 13, 2012
Threads
39
Messages
502
Location
Akron, OH
Jdc1 and I are having some discussions on my 12/68 Fj40 and what I should or should not do. This is actually a conversation we all need to visit as these 40s are getting pretty hard to get. This one has been with us for about 8 years and we have worked together and have made this survivor very original and very sound mechanically. It does have a 2f update and is on 31 inch tires. Other than that all original and as much toyota as we could get. Here is the latest photo. I plan on taking this truck wherever I want to go until I can’t drive anymore. To protect it I want to put a set of custom sliders that are bolt on and will just clear the steps to protect the body. I will also replace the exhaust with a removable rear section in case it gets bent I can easily replace that section. I am not going rock crawling and will go around anything I can. But I also want to get to where I want to go.

F877D308-C1A6-4BA6-B60F-F53CBC04833C.jpeg
 
Last edited:
These look like a good option

 
Looks close to my 10/69 70 model. It too has a 2F. Bought from the original owner. No plans for any sliders or other protection. It lives in a garage and only see forest service roads. This is actually the last 40 series I bought about ten years ago. Have others not as nice to actually use. I may even switch out the OEM exhaust I bought for my 68 then removed because it runs under the skid plate.

The carrot 025.jpg
 
These look like a good option



These either require welding or drilling holes in the frame to mount. Neither would be my choice for a original survivor.
 
Buy a second skid plate and fabricate sliders out from there. Cruiser parts.net has used skid plats for $75...and for that kind of money you can afford to weld, bolt or modify every which way. Then clean up your original and store it for the next guy.

For that mod, I think I would weld on 3/16” ‘wings’ that came out under the running boards and trim the edges with 2” tubing. Maybe even trail the tubing back a bit to protect the rocker panels aft of the running boards.
 
Believe it may have been @Downey that made an angle bracket that bolted to the bottom of the rockers for some extra protect. I installed some 78 running boards on my 68 FJ40. I've taken this thru some pretty rough stuff and only did a little damage to the driver's running board.
IMG_20190822_190135850.jpg

I would not take my 70 FJ40 where I take my 68 FJ40. The worse damage it has a crease on the driver's fender from a log getting kicked up. Sliders would not have help out.

The skid plate idea is interesting. But instead would use some C channel held in place by the skid plate. Could weld on nuts to the outside of the channel to pitch the frame. Weld three nuts to then slip a piece of angle down from the top to spread force from the bolt across the frame. Sliders attached to the X channel could take a pretty good hit with no damage. In AZ rust would not be an issue like other damp regions.
 
I do think you should go out and use it for what it was intended for but i don't think your two mods are really that necessary.

Being a short wheel base it's going to be super rare you get hung up in the middle and bash you side steps.
I took mine up some pretty serious tracks the other week and that was the least of my problems. If I had a long wheel base or a troopy then definitely.

Pretty much same with the exhaust, the departure angle on these things is so good, I doubt you will bash your exhaust in. But if it worries you it would be easy enough to remove the back section.
 
I do think you should go out and use it for what it was intended for but i don't think your two mods are really that necessary.

Being a short wheel base it's going to be super rare you get hung up in the middle and bash you side steps.
I took mine up some pretty serious tracks the other week and that was the least of my problems. If I had a long wheel base or a troopy then definitely.

Pretty much same with the exhaust, the departure angle on these things is so good, I doubt you will bash your exhaust in. But if it worries you it would be easy enough to remove the back section.
yea I'm pretty sure the only hiccups you could have is going over a really big tree that fell over, which usually isn't advised in the first place haha
 
I do think you should go out and use it for what it was intended for but i don't think your two mods are really that necessary.

Being a short wheel base it's going to be super rare you get hung up in the middle and bash you side steps.
I took mine up some pretty serious tracks the other week and that was the least of my problems. If I had a long wheel base or a troopy then definitely.

Pretty much same with the exhaust, the departure angle on these things is so good, I doubt you will bash your exhaust in. But if it worries you it would be easy enough to remove the back section.


In the original location the exhaust at the front where goes under the skid plate the stock exhaust is pretty easy to dent up even on mid trails. Today the National Forests in AZ have a travel map which is updated annually. It's now illegal use old logging roads and simple two track trails unless there are on the travel map. Stay on the legal trails far less likely to be running over logs. Prior to having a home in an area surrounded by National forest I would four wheel in the desert more. Damage was always worse going in, coming out and traveling down dry washes. In a my years of owning FJ40s I have never damaged a rocker. Few running boards hits but those hit on the outer edge on very narrower trail.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom