Builds 1965 FJ45lv build up/resto thread

[buckroseau]

Why does your 40 look so much bigger than the LV? Is it just the angle?

That thing looks so sweet. Great job. Has your wife driven it yet?

How's the caster? Did you shim the front end? I drove Lito's TLC LV and it was all over the road. They put OME springs on, but didn't do any caster correction. It had Dana axles under though.

Dan

Hi Dan,

40 sits a bit higher, but I think mostly the angle, optical dillusion......

Wife hasn't driven it yet, want to get the bugs worked out first.....that death wobble that we experienced would have not made her happy, she would have had a tough time getting in it after that. Should be soon though?

Didn't shim the front end, seems to drive perfect? 60 mph I can take my hands off the wheel and it tracks down the hightway just fine.

Matt

 

[buckroseau]

btw, does Sylivia look anything like this?

Sorta, but Sylivia looks, much, much meaner

 

[zebrabeefj40]

On the brakes: I have a friend who's mechanic had to remove the rear wheel cylinders from the backing plate, turn them 90 degrees to bleed initially then reinstall and final bleed. We tried several other ways ourselves first and could not get brake pressure. Seems the bleed screws were/are not high enough to always get all the air out of the wheel cylinders. Not saying "that's your problem" but it might help you find a solution.

Nick

 

[buckroseau]

Allright, need a brake expert here because my mechanic buddy and I are getting are ass kicked.

Managed to round up a new/used proportional valve and M/C off another local 78 FJ40 that is down for a re-build right now. Brakes worked fine off of that rig before they tore it down.

Installed the different proportional valve first this morning and bled out the brakes. The vacume bleeder actually sucked down the rear reseviour unlike the one I we tried the first time before taking it apart, so we thought that was a good thing. Got everything bled out and the pedal still goes to the floor. It gets presure on the second stroke, but right to the floor the first time every time.

We adjusted there rear drums so that they were locking up the rear tires standing still, just to make sure the pads were all the way out....same thing?

Installed the different M/C off that other 40, repeated all of the above steps and then some in the bleeding department..........Same thing, got nothing on the first stroke, right to the floor. Can get it on the second and hard on the third, seems like it might have gotten a little worse with that different M/C.

We are extremely confident that the air is bled out of the lines, hell we did a dozen times now. Proportional valve came off a working 40, so did that other M/C. Adjusted the rear pads right into the drums to confirm that they were hitting the drums.

Keep in mind, I had front brakes a few days ago when we hadn't bled out the rear yet. I believe at that time the proportional valve I had on was plugged or stuck, so no fluid was getting to the rear. We belive that if we were to plug the rear line right now we would get the pedal back in the front brakes?

Just rambling here....any ideas? Same set up on my 40, worked fine for years, no problems ever like this?

Thanks, Matt

 

[cruiserdan]

Is this happening with the vehicle in motion or stopped?

If the vehicle is in motion you may have a loose front wheel bearing that is allowing the rotor to wobble and is pushing the pistons back into the caliper. On the first application it requires more stroke to push the pistons back out and sucsequent pedal is fine (til the pistons get pushed back in again).

 

[buckroseau]

Is this happening with the vehicle in motion or stopped?

If the vehicle is in motion you may have a loose front wheel bearing that is allowing the rotor to wobble and is pushing the pistons back into the caliper. On the first application it requires more stroke to push the pistons back out and sucsequent pedal is fine (til the pistons get pushed back in again).

Either one, stopped or in motion.

Thanks, Matt

 

[tornadoalleycruiser]

spacer on the firewall? Like Mark's off road sells? I can't remember and with 80 pages i'm not gonna go back thru it all..
New hoses front and rear axle and knuckle?

 

[theSherpa]

yeah, are you sure you're getting full stroke out of the master, both in and out (return bleed or whatever hole), and are you only vacuum bleeding (maybe the vacuum is sucking the prop valve all the one way or the other, try manual bleeding after opening both sides?)? dunno. ping Texican. use bleeders to plug only the rear side or the front side output of the prop valve, and see if you can get pedal on just the rear side or just the front side, might tell you something. I hate bleeding crap.

 

[treerootCO]

Best way to isolate the problem is to gently clamp off the rear circuit and hit the brakes. Vise grips on the soft lines or get creative and cap off the end with some type of bleeder. If you have the same problem after blocking off the rear, the problem is in the front or somewhere else. Gently clamp off the front circuit and hit the brakes, if you still have a problem, the problem is in the brake master or nearby. If I were to guess, I would say the pushrod in the master is too short and it takes the first pump to take up the slack. If you wanted a second guess, bleed the brakes the old fashioned way. I have never had good luck with the vacuum bleeders. If you wanted a third guess....did you adjust all four cylinders in the rear? I got burned by that once thinking a siezed cyl wasn't adjustable.

 

[45Kevin]

This probably won't help with your brake problem but it may make you feel better. I did a front disc conversion on my 78 45 P/U last year and have exactly the same problem. First pump is very soft and second will stop good and third pump will lock up all four. I did not touch the M/C or anything else in the system except the flex lines at the front wheels. I only drive hi-way to get to wheeling so it hasn't been a priority. Please be sure to post a solution when you find one. I did get advise to pull a little ball bearing out of the M/C becuase I would have too much pressure on the pads but it doesn't seem to be an issue.

Good Luck,
Kevin

 

[buckroseau]

spacer on the firewall? Like Mark's off road sells? I can't remember and with 80 pages i'm not gonna go back thru it all..
New hoses front and rear axle and knuckle?

Spacer on the firewall is from JT outfitters, same or similiar to the one Marks off road sells.

Yes, new hoses Stainless steel flex hoses on the front and rear axle from SOR. New Stainless steel hardlines all the way around, everything replaced.

 

[buckroseau]

yeah, are you sure you're getting full stroke out of the master, both in and out (return bleed or whatever hole), and are you only vacuum bleeding (maybe the vacuum is sucking the prop valve all the one way or the other, try manual bleeding after opening both sides?)? dunno. ping Texican. use bleeders to plug only the rear side or the front side output of the prop valve, and see if you can get pedal on just the rear side or just the front side, might tell you something. I hate bleeding crap.

I believe I am getting full stroke, I know I have play on the top end?

We are vacuum bleeding and manually bleeding, tried both many, many times now.

I know for a fact when that one my first prop valve was believed to be stuck, we bled the front and had solid pedal on the front calipers. Problems all began when we opened up the prop valve and then got the new prop valve.

I agree.....I hate bleeding this sh-t, just want it to work.

Thanks, Matt

 

[buckroseau]

If I were to guess, I would say the pushrod in the master is too short and it takes the first pump to take up the slack. If you wanted a second guess, bleed the brakes the old fashioned way. I have never had good luck with the vacuum bleeders. If you wanted a third guess....did you adjust all four cylinders in the rear? I got burned by that once thinking a siezed cyl wasn't adjustable.

The pushrod in the master is to short, you mean the one in the booster pushing into the master, right? The booster is thinner than the 40 one, it is off an 84 forerunner, would the rod be shorter or less of a stroke? I thought others have used this set up before?

Bled them the old fashion way, several times, no luck.

Yes, adjusted all four cylinders in the rear. Even adjusted them so that maxed out into the rear drums, just so we knew that they were hitting.

Thanks, Matt

 

[treerootCO]

Take the master off the booster and there should be a rod in there. I don't have a FSM handy but the specs should be listed in there. If that rod is too short, the first pump of the pedal is used to take up that slack. Too long....something else happens...rear brakes wont release I believe.

 

[buckroseau]

Take the master off the booster and there should be a rod in there. I don't have a FSM handy but the specs should be listed in there. If that rod is too short, the first pump of the pedal is used to take up that slack.

Mike,

If it is to short.....solution? And, have others had this problem? I thought mini truck and forerunner booster conversions were common? Would the rod be to short, or the stroke......solution?

Thanks, Matt

 

[krzyabncanuck]

I am thinking myself that the rod might be too short. I remember some time ago lengthening a rod for a vehicle that we did some major change in the brake system. Sounds to me this might be what you are needing to do. Sorry not much help .

 

[treerootCO]

Most are adjustable. You will have to get creative to measure it without the SST.

 

[Ground Up]

Not going to be a great help on the brakes, but....


Have you tried bypassing the proportioning valve?

The other thing is to make a set of short lines that attach to the side of the master and curl them over and back into the resevoir. Then do the same procedure as the bench bleed but with someone pumping the pedal in the cab. This will allow you to make sure you are getting a good stroke from the pedal thru the master. You could also check it thru the proportioning valve by making the short line run from after the proportioning valve and back into the resevoir.

I also didn't catch, were you able to get air to flow the lines? It may be worth detaching each line and running air thru just to verify a bug or junk did not get in there and plug it.

Some thoughts, may not help.................

 

[patpend2000]

Do you have residual pressure valves in the lines? Since you replaced all of the hard lines and the soft lines your still need to retain the 10# residual valves (for drums) or 2# valves (for discs) or else when you release the pedal then all pressure is taken off the system, the first stroke is to take up the slack.

 

[buckroseau]

Got a solid 8+ hours in on the lv today, actually the wife was in on all 8 of those also

Dedicated the entire day to interior carpet.....not giving up on the brakes. Just had planned to do carpet this weekend with the wife, had blocked out the time for both of us, so that had to happen.

Got started this morning, tackled the back end first. I printed off the pics off of SOR's website and there carpet set. Kinda looked at there stuff as a guide. There were a couple things I changed because I didn't like and a couple things I had to change because of my tranny hump. Layed down the 1/2" sound/heat shield first, that was pretty straight forward. Then layed down the carpet and started marking. I uses some bricks to hold it in place as I pushed the carpet into the corners and marked everything to cut it.

After the pieces were cut we started sewing on the binding on the edges. We couldn't really find a vinyl to match the beige carpet, but could find one that matched the white on the seats. So we decided to go with the white edging, I think it looked ok. Sewing that binding on was a real pain in the ass. Had to staple it on about every 2" so it wouldn't bunch up in the sewing machine. Then after it was sewed, had to sit there and pull out all the staples......anyway, done now and a few pics of the finished product.

Hoping to get my rear bench back together tomorrow and installed, toss the front seats back in also, but that only takes about 5 minutes. Probably try to finish up the trim around the headliner also.

Matt

Matt