1965 FJ45LV "Nelly" (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Nov 26, 2023
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Bothell Washingtion
I inherented my Dad's 1965 FJ45lv named Nelly years ago and have been sitting on it until I had the ability to give her the love she deserves.



I grew up in Nelly and have such fond memories in her. Hell I named her when I was a little kid. Unfortunately dad wasn't much of a mechanic and due to my neglect she hasn't ran much in the last 15 years. Probably less than 100 miles. She's pretty stock aside from a 305 under the hood. The floorboards from the a to the b piller rotted out and I attempted to replace them in HS. I'll have to cut them out and try again.



Well the time is now. I have a small shop, a machine shop at work, and I've saved some money to drop into her. Between the parts dad collected and what were getting underway. My goal is to get her mechanically sound this spring so I can do some adventuring this summer, then tackle the body work next year.



First order of business is breaks and steering. I've collected spindles, knuckles, steering arms, hubs, tie rods, spider gears, and birfs. I am keeping the stock 65 axle housings. I knocked the inner brass bushings out and bored them out to 33.05mm today to work with the birfs, since the original axle housings aren't set up for moden seals.



All the parts I've gathered are getting a fresh coat of paint and I hope to rebuild the front diff this weekend. I am gonna drop the leafs and paint them and the front of the frame while everything is off.



The plan is to crack into the rear brakes next week, run new brake lines, and mount the new master cylinder.



I am still looking for a gas tank and new windshield, drivers window, and front passenger inner door handle. have some confusion on what parts are and are not compatible with early 40 or 45 pickups.



I won't be back in the shop till Thursday, but I'll take some more pictures and updates as I go.

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Wow, looks great! Looking forward to updates!

Just a word of caution though. I’d be uncomfortable wrenching on and under a rig with the front end held up by jack stands on leaf springs. I’d encourage you to purchase a 4”x4” long enough to span between the frame and put your jack stands under that stick. Also, stacking a few mounted tires under the front crossmember to function as an emergency catch is definitely worthwhile. I did similar work on my 45 and there was a lot of hammering, pushing, … while underneath the rig. Don’t want the thing coming down on you!
 
Wow, looks great! Looking forward to updates!

Just a word of caution though. I’d be uncomfortable wrenching on and under a rig with the front end held up by jack stands on leaf springs. I’d encourage you to purchase a 4”x4” long enough to span between the frame and put your jack stands under that stick. Also, stacking a few mounted tires under the front crossmember to function as an emergency catch is definitely worthwhile. I did similar work on my 45 and there was a lot of hammering, pushing, … while underneath the rig. Don’t want the thing coming down on you!
I appreciate the concern, but I did not get under it like that! The jack stands on the leafs was only temporary and they are on the frame with the leaves off now.
 
Good luck on the project and thanks for sharing the story. Don't worry about the floor, most LV's suffer from that. Gong to be a fun project.
 

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