1964 FJ45 LB “RB1” Project
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Mike, unbelievable build man. Pete down here in Sacramento. I need to stop by sometime after the waterfowl season.....My 45 is coming along, but no where near this level....Nice Work...!!
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- #443
Hey Pete, sounds good. Shoot me a pm when your going to be in the area.
Just checked out your build thread. Any updates??
35snmud
SILVER Star
miker said:Yep, those were made with a hacksaw. I actually do quite a bit of cutting with a hacksaw. If you have a good frame, and purchase good quality blades (I like Starrett - the yellow ones, 18 TPI) then you can make nice straight cuts, and pretty fast too in 1/8 to 1/4 thick steel which is the majority of what I'm using. The other benefit is it that adds to your days cardio minutes.
At first I was keeping a separate wheel for grinding just the tungston but then I started using whatever was handy and I haven't noticed any issues. When I start working with aluminum, then I'll probably have to be more careful about keeping things separate.
I've heard too that if you want to switch to aluminum with the same tungston, all you need to do is to strike an arc onto some copper for few seconds and let any impurities burn off before starting to weld on aluminum. Haven't welded any aluminum yet so I have no experience with this. I still plan to make the gas tank from aluminum so I will need to learn. I'm using the type of tungston that works for both carbon steel and aluminum so I might give this copper thing a try. The tungstons are not very expensive in the whole scheme of things so having dedicated ones is no big deal either.
The quickest way I've found to grind the tungston and get great results is to chuck the tungston into a battery powered drill. Then use this to spin the tungston, then while its spinning, move it against the grinding wheel. Fast and accurate. Arc from the tungston is nice and predictable.
Hi Mike,
Things are looking sweet. For welding aluminum you want to use the pure tungsten ( green band on it) and AC current. Aluminum takes a lot more heat than steel. If you get much more than 1/8 material your torch will heat up pretty hot. I use a water cooled torch at work for any heavy stuff. I don't sharpen the pure tungsten, it will form a ball on its own when using AC.
For carbon steel or stainless the 2% thoriated tungsten ( red band) and sharpened works best.
Just remember to use the end of the tungsten that is not painted so you can always tell what it is later
If I can help you out with any of this stuff let me know.
Sent from my ADR6400L using IH8MUD
- Thread starter
- #445
Hi Mike,
Things are looking sweet. For welding aluminum you want to use the pure tungsten ( green band on it) and AC current. Aluminum takes a lot more heat than steel. If you get much more than 1/8 material your torch will heat up pretty hot. I use a water cooled torch at work for any heavy stuff. I don't sharpen the pure tungsten, it will form a ball on its own when using AC.
For carbon steel or stainless the 2% thoriated tungsten ( red band) and sharpened works best.
Just remember to use the end of the tungsten that is not painted so you can always tell what it is later
If I can help you out with any of this stuff let me know.
Sent from my ADR6400L using IH8MUD
Hey Kenny,
Thanks for the offer! A month or so ago I had my first opportunity to weld aluminum with the Diversion. I used the 2% cerriated tungsten (Orange). Followed the instructions in the owners guide for prepping the tungsten (see below). Seemed to work ok but being my first attempt, I have nothing else to compare to. I may experiment some with this as I'm planning to do some more aluminum in the future. I did notice that as I welded with the sharpened/flattened tungsten, it began to melt into a ball over time. This caused the arc to become much more unstable and harder to control. Perhaps the inverter machines do better with a sharpened tungsten?
I use the ceriated also with no issues on my 180 diversion. Stainless, steel and aluminum. We use the same at the shop on the water cooled 350 amp millers and do 3/16 alum for weeks at a time. We have zirc and pure at the shop but use the ceriated most.
I am not a ticketed welder and I find my welders all have personal preferences and set up the machine differently. Seems to be a "go with what works for me" kinda thing.
I am not a ticketed welder and I find my welders all have personal preferences and set up the machine differently. Seems to be a "go with what works for me" kinda thing.
Mike,
Are those the original stock (45) springs you painted?
I'd really value your opinion at some point on what I should do with my 40's suspension - which seems to have old PO installed Rancho springs, a weird mix of shackles, and misc. hardware. I'm thinking a complete OME package but wondering if it's really the way to go for a "quality", moderate stock type setup?
If I could get stock springs from Toyota I'd go that route. A guy at SOR told me I could just buy their springs and use stock Toyota stuff? And then there's Alcan, etc.
Just wondering what you would do.
Thanks,
Gus
Are those the original stock (45) springs you painted?
I'd really value your opinion at some point on what I should do with my 40's suspension - which seems to have old PO installed Rancho springs, a weird mix of shackles, and misc. hardware. I'm thinking a complete OME package but wondering if it's really the way to go for a "quality", moderate stock type setup?
If I could get stock springs from Toyota I'd go that route. A guy at SOR told me I could just buy their springs and use stock Toyota stuff? And then there's Alcan, etc.
Just wondering what you would do.
Thanks,
Gus
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- #449
hey Gus,
the rear springs I'm using on the 45 are fj55 springs I picked up several years ago. As far as I know, they are stock 55 springs. In the front I'm using stock 40 springs.
I'm not a good person to ask about lift kits/aftermarket springs. The last set I bought was about 1985 and they were horrible for ride comfort, very stiff. Every thing I've done since than has been with stock springs and SOA. I'll add a leaf here and there from another stock pack if I need more capacity/height.
generally, for aftermarket springs look for a pack with a lot of thinner leaves over fewer thicker leaves. The stocks springs can be a guide to how thick a leaf should be. Look at the clamps on the springs and stay away from those like the stock clamps. A looser clamp, or one which does not squeeze the pack is best. Look for tapered ends on the leaves. This is better than square cut and the same thickness all the way to the end. Also look for slider pads at the end of each leaf, the longer leaves should have these. These will prevent wear and smooth out the springs action.
again, i can't recommend a brand/kit since its been so long since I've run anything but stock.
HTH
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- #450
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- #451
...and welding them in place. Now I can fully bolt-on the spring hanger. I had moved the hanger one hole forward, this is why it was on the curved part of the frame and now bolted instead of riveted:
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- #452
I also stitch welded the bottom side of the rear frame boxing and also fully burned in the shackle hangers and angle braces to the rear crossmember. The stitch welds are between each bolt.
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- #453
Putting the rear springs and axle back under the truck. I plan to complete the rear axle and brake assembly now, but I will be removing the springs/axle one last time to do final clean-up, prep, and paint of the frame. once I have all the welding done on it. The rear section of the frame is now finished.
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- #454
Just about done with the rear axle. 3rd member back in, rear axle bearings and seals installed, axles installed along with c-clips. Because I'm running rear disc brakes, I like to set the rear axle end play on the tight side at about .005 to .008
Also have the rotors and calipers in as well as the flex brake lines.
working on the hard brake lines. not real happy with the quality of the double flares I'm getting with the tool I have. I may buy sonething better.
Also have the rotors and calipers in as well as the flex brake lines.
working on the hard brake lines. not real happy with the quality of the double flares I'm getting with the tool I have. I may buy sonething better.
Mike, how did you mount your calipers so that the bleeders are not pointing up in the air? No matter how I oriented the bracket and caliper, I could not figure a way to get the bleeder pointing down. For proper bleeding I believe the bleeder is suppose to be down? Thanks for the help.
I guess I was confused, that is good to know. It has been a long time since I did that part of the build. Body is going on the frame soon thou.
yea. Thanks
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- #458
I guess I was confused, that is good to know. It has been a long time since I did that part of the build. Body is going on the frame soon thou.
Sounds like you are much futher along with your build than I am.
I don't have a good indide pic of the bleeder, but first one is a pic looking down. You can see the bleeder on the lower left. Second pic from the outside showing the caliper, but the bleeder is hidden.
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Sounds like you are much futher along with your build than I am.
I don't have a good indide pic of the bleeder, but first one is a pic looking down. You can see the bleeder on the lower left. Second pic from the outside showing the caliper, but the bleeder is hidden.
I don't know about that. I keep jumping between the three projects I am working on so each one moves along. '66 FJ45LV, '68 Porsche 912 and '57 Porsche 356A. I am ready to shoot the undercoating on the LV once I decide on which to use. I am thinking about using Raptor. I have heard good things about it. After that, I have to figure out how to get it off the rotisserie and onto the frame.
Mike.. You do an immediate "U" with the hard line then back to rear of the housing? I'm in the process of mounting the "tab" for the soft line. In the previous life of this axle the soft line was not mounted in a Tab/clip. Now with the location of the shock tab on the back bottom of the axle i'm trying to determine the safest, most logical location to run the soft line from the rear calilper.