Rockcod’s final ride, Morty the Forty (1 Viewer)

[whitey45]

Hate to be the one to cut that mint uncut fender well!!! Are you going to move it back?, ( hope so) or full comp cut? Amazing fab work!

 

[rockcod]

I’m going to do the same cut I did on my last one, try to retain the factory wheel well look.

 

[rockcod]

Hate to be the one to cut that mint uncut fender well!!! Are you going to move it back?, ( hope so) or full comp cut? Amazing fab work!

Nothing better than cutting up a perfectly pristine tub!!!

 

[Tancruiser]

Oh the horror of it

 

[rockcod]

The horror of what?

 

[rockcod]

Morty has been officially branded by FC187.
A badge of honor!!!

 

[rockcod]

Tube work done and painted, frame painted, winch mounted, steering box bolted up to the steering column, motor trans and t-case set. Because of the cage design in order to remove the trans cover, I would have to remove the cage, so, we decided to split the trans tunnel cover to access bell housing/trans bolts and t-case linkage. Nothing makes Don happier than cutting perfectly good sheet metal .

Hoping to pick it up next week, work permitting, 17 guys from my battalion are out with covid and getting days off is near impossible.

 

[rockcod]

Picked up the chariot from FC’s secret workshop, words can not describe how awesome this has turned out! The heavy lifting has been done, now it is my job to take it across the finish line.

 

[rockcod]

A little bit of a not-so-much of an update on Morty. On January 6th, I lost a very good friend and coworker fighting a house fire in Palos Verdes. We worked together for 19 years, same shift, many years stationed together, cooked many meals, shared a million laughs, and ran countless calls together.

His passing put me into quite a tailspin. I’ve been working through PTSD, depression and anger issues. My wife and boys have been there supporting me and helping me find my feet once again and Landcrusher909 has been checking on me and getting me to want to re-engage with my project and draw me out of my dark place.

I just wanted to let you know the project is not dead in the water, it has been temporarily moored and with the help of Rob and my family I will be getting some much needed garage therapy and making some forward progress on the 40.

Stay safe my friends, life is short, friends are precious and everyday is a gift.

 

[EWheeler]

A little bit of a not-so-much of an update on Morty. On January 6th, I lost a very good friend and coworker fighting a house fire in Palos Verdes. We worked together for 19 years, same shift, many years stationed together, cooked many meals, shared a million laughs, and ran countless calls together.

His passing put me into quite a tailspin. I’ve been working through PTSD, depression and anger issues. My wife and boys have been there supporting me and helping me find my feet once again and Landcrusher909 has been checking on me and getting me to want to re-engage with my project and draw me out of my dark place.

I just wanted to let you know the project is not dead in the water, it has been temporarily moored and with the help of Rob and my family I will be getting some much needed garage therapy and making some forward progress on the 40.

Stay safe my friends, life is short, friends are precious and everyday is a gift.

RIP to your best friend. I read about the accident on another local forum (boating forum), what a tragic loss for his family and the community at large. Lots of members there knew him in some way, but doesn't sound like any knew him like you did.

I hope you can find peace and get back to a comfortable head space. Facing the stark reality of how fragile life is can really put things into perspective and make you question value/purpose of everything around you. Here's to you being able to find joy or peace in the things you used to enjoy, or finding something to replace those things that brings you the same enjoyment.

 

[merbesfield]

A little bit of a not-so-much of an update on Morty. On January 6th, I lost a very good friend and coworker fighting a house fire in Palos Verdes. We worked together for 19 years, same shift, many years stationed together, cooked many meals, shared a million laughs, and ran countless calls together.

His passing put me into quite a tailspin. I’ve been working through PTSD, depression and anger issues. My wife and boys have been there supporting me and helping me find my feet once again and Landcrusher909 has been checking on me and getting me to want to re-engage with my project and draw me out of my dark place.

I just wanted to let you know the project is not dead in the water, it has been temporarily moored and with the help of Rob and my family I will be getting some much needed garage therapy and making some forward progress on the 40.

Stay safe my friends, life is short, friends are precious and everyday is a gift.

Sorry for your loss. Life is short, enjoy time with family and friends. We are here for you when you feel like starting back up. I know that in the past working on my cruisers has helped me with my mental well being quite a bit. Don't let your cruiser project stress you out, let it be your escape from stress. Though sometimes it may not feel like that.

 

[whitey45]

Tony, sorry to hear this, I lost my sister on december 28th. It has been a rough time for myself and my family. I cant think of a better therapy than working in the garage on a project. Things will get better with time. I now wear her ring on my necklace, as it reminds me of her daily and I think of the good times growing up together. Life is fragile and we need to never take it for granted. Take care of yourself and I will see you on a trail in the near future!

 

[DomSmith]

Tony-

Late to the party on this build thread. So glad to see you back at it!

Gave me something fun to read last night in my insomnia purgatory.

Was great to catch up on the phone. Keep at it and if there’s anything I can help with let me know.

 

[rockcod]

Yesterday was a big day for me mentally. Rob, aka Landcrusher909, came out for 2 days of garage therapy. We made great progress, pulled the factory wiring harness, Rob being the grinding master, started cutting off everything that is not needed for the SOA but we were burning through cut off discs at a fart rate so I pulled out the plasma and torched off the rest of the brackets in no time. Rob was then able the smooth out the left over mess.

Day 2 we removed the loaner axles, centered the new rear housing under Morty and lowered it down on the suspension and set the pinion angle. I will tack it in on Friday, remove the housing fully weld it up.

With the front housing cleaned of a bazillion brackets and mounts, I marked the housing where I am going to cut the housing for my caster angle. Zip ties and layout fluid defines a clean line to follow.
The front axle kit I ordered from Ruff Stuff had the wrong pumpkin side spring perch ( my error when ordered). I inadvertently ordered the 0* spring pad, when I needed the 10* part. I spoke to Eric from Ruff Stuff and ordered the correct part and is being shipped out today.

Hopefully receive it by Friday so both axles will be fully welded and heading to get hot tanked.

Well that’s all for today and I can not thank Rob enough for coming out and jump starting this project.

 

[Pin_Head]

Tony,
Sounds like you made great progress on all fronts. I have a tip: If you hate using your grinders, use 3M Cubitron II grinding disks and cut off wheels. They cut much faster, cooler and last longer. Win, win, win. If you like using your grinders then use something else.

Are you sure that housing has not been cut and turned already? The weld bead does not look Toyota.

 

[rockcod]

Hi Charlie, good to here from you. The housing was removed from a stock FJ62, those are crappy factory welds. I think it was assembled either on a Friday afternoon or Monday morning

I will give those cut off discs a try. Thanks for the tip!

 

[landcrusher909]

Awesome wrenching day. Thanks for the invite. Funny story at one point I had Tony stop cutting while I was grinding. "Bro I think someone's mustache is burning " after a mustache check we were both good. It's going to be one Badass rig

 

[rockcod]

Rob,

You didn’t disclose that we were only 10 minutes into the day and I heard “ah crap! I just cut my finger with the cut off wheel. I need a bad aid”.

The band aid can be seen in the first photo!

 

[whitey45]

Classic cut off wheel with the guard removed, im guilty and have nicked myself!! Great work guys!

 

[rockcod]

Completed the cuts for the knuckles ( haven’t turned them yet), put the axles on jack stands under the 40 and let the weight down and loaded the springs after centering the axle (this took quite a while due to the passenger side perch needing a lot of massaging to fit properly) and set the pinion. With my particular set up the front housing needed to be set to 75*.

I put the boy to work welding up the perches on the front and rear housings. It took a lot longer than I anticipated, we ran out of wire and made a run to the store for another spool. I have to work tomorrow so I am hoping to get the caster angle set and knuckles welded back up on Wednesday.

Feels great to be making progress again, just wish it were cooler outside!! Well that’s it for today.