Builds 1966 FJ40 Frame-Off Build (3rd Generation Owner) (1 Viewer)

[Jason Reed]

I wouldn't spend another cent on the motor until the machine shop puts their blessing on it.

Mark- Thanks for tips also. Ross is running this project for the frame and chassis and drive train and is doing a great job and I know he'll take the advice. He's been crushing this project. And I'm sure he agrees. We are dead stopped on the engine until we get it to the shop. Thanks for the help and I'm sure I'll be getting back with you again on parts

 

[65swb45]

Keep this in the back of your mind. I have an F135 runs perfectly with 120k on a full balance and blueprint rebuild. As in stuff like genuine Toyota pistons and rings, performance cam, hardchromed and refinished rocker shafts, customized Aisan D40 carb , yada yada .


I purchased a good late model 2F last weekend to replace the 135 only because it doesn't have enough power to move my expedition-weighted 45. I'm 1500#over stock at this point.

I have no timeframe for the motor swap, and don't plan to give the 135 up cheap, but it will be available. If your machine shop gives your 135 the thumbs down and you want to stay period correct, give me a call.

 

[Jason Reed]

Keep this in the back of your mind. I have an F135 runs perfectly with 120k on a full balance and blueprint rebuild. As in stuff like genuine Toyota pistons and rings, performance cam, hardchromed and refinished rocker shafts, customized Aisan D40 carb , yada yada .


I purchased a good late model 2F last weekend to replace the 135 only because it doesn't have enough power to move my expedition-weighted 45. I'm 1500#over stock at this point.

I have no timeframe for the motor swap, and don't plan to give the 135 up cheap, but it will be available. If your machine shop gives your 135 the thumbs down and you want to stay period correct, give me a call.

Mark- will do for sure. Ross is running this build, so I'll get with him. Really appreciate your help and advice.

 

[Rock40]

Up at 4:30 this morning to make a 4.5 hour roundtrip to pick up a used 3 speed transmission (72') in the hopes that the internals (especially 1st/reverse gear) were worth a damn. I was told "1 small chip on one of the teeth" of 1st/reverse gear...

Craigslist Transmission, at least I got a top shift unit out of it and a shift rod.

Well, it was a bit better than the 66' gear but not by much. That led me to tearing down a junk 3 speed transmission I had on my shelf which I traded a 12 pack of beer for several months ago. I thought that 1st/reverse gear was toast but it was the best out of all three. So, I had 3 three speed transmissions torn apart in short order.

Jason- we can call your transmission "Frankenstein" because it's cobbled together with pieces from three different cases. I used the "best" of everything I had from your 66', the Craigslist 72' and the unknown year that cost me a 12 pack. Awesome.

I used the reverse idler gear for the 72' and the "12 pack" transmission donated its countershaft assembly, countershaft thrust washers, 2nd gear, the synchro hub and the shift keys. A 12 pack never got me so far...

Pressing off the old input bearing...both the input and the output bearings were swapped out for new NSK units

Then it was time for re-assembly...56 countershaft needle bearings in place. I polished the reverse idler shaft, countershaft and the upper shift shafts prior to installing them

 

[Rock40]

Countershaft assembly and the pile of needle bearings (96) that go in it

Needle bearings and spacers installed

Polished shaft, ready for assembly

Rotating assembly in...

 

[Rock40]

Gratuitous glamour shots...if anyone has worked on one of these transmissions you know how much of a b**** it is. I'm glad to put this behind me. The stainless nuts lacking lock washers are temporary until everything comes back from plating. The transmission will now go hibernate in my heated shop bathroom until installation. Yeah, my wife stays out of that bathroom...

One more...

I also worked on the steering rods a bit, mainly to get a few of the tie rods out to retrieve the clamps. This tie rod was stuck so it got the heat!

I took the drag link/relay link assembly apart also. Surprisingly this was in pretty good shape and the grease was still "grease" like. Jason- we'll need a new rubber seal unless you ordered one already.

 

[Rock40]

Next up will be the axle removal. I noticed that the front passenger side U-bolts are a bit bent. Not so much from the front...

But the rear of the front passenger? They look like they got bent and then somebody attempted to straighten them. Not so good

 

[Jason Reed]

Gratuitous glamour shots...if anyone has worked on one of these transmissions you know how much of a b**** it is. I'm glad to put this behind me. The stainless nut lacking lock washers are temporary until everything comes back from plating. The transmission will now go hibernate in my heated shop bathroom until installation. Yeah, my wife stays out of that bathroom...
View attachment 1401029
One more...
View attachment 1401031

I also worked on the steering rods a bit, mainly to get a few of the tie rods out to retrieve the clamps. This tie rod was stuck so it got the heat!
View attachment 1401034
I took the drag link/relay link assembly apart also. Surprisingly this was in pretty good shape and the grease was still "grease" like. Jason- we'll need a new rubber seal unless you ordered one already.
View attachment 1401038

Good work Ross. Crushed it today, buddy.

 

[Rock40]

Thanks Jason, oddly enough, progress today seemed a bit slow....

 

[Jason Reed]

Ok- Good story today. Spoke to Dad after work. He told me the story on front end damage. In high school (1970), he was spinning donuts (impressing the girls) and ran the FJ into the ditch. Had to heat up the drag link and all steering components to try and "straighten them". . We know how that went. Best the u-bolts back on to the diff shafts and tried to do a repair. Grandpa said - this thing is for deer hunting, I better not catch you doing this again. They then sent it to the repair shop who did a half ass job on it obviously. Good times -

 

[Jason Reed]

Ok- Good story today. Spoke to Dad after work. He told me the story on front end damage. In high school (1970), he was spinning donuts (impressing the girls) and ran the FJ into the ditch. Had to heat up the drag link and all steering components to try and "straighten them". . We know how that went. Best the u-bolts back on to the diff shafts and tried to do a repair. Grandpa said - this thing is for deer hunting, I better not catch you doing this again. They then sent it to the repair shop who did a half ass job on it obviously. Good times -

I figure gramps probably went easy on him since he was showing off for the girls.

 

[Rock40]

Ok- Good story today. Spoke to Dad after work. He told me the story on front end damage. In high school (1970), he was spinning donuts (impressing the girls) and ran the FJ into the ditch. Had to heat up the drag link and all steering components to try and "straighten them". . We know how that went. Best the u-bolts back on to the diff shafts and tried to do a repair. Grandpa said - this thing is for deer hunting, I better not catch you doing this again. They then sent it to the repair shop who did a half ass job on it obviously. Good times -

LOL, I really love the history here, 1970!!

 

[Rock40]

Started off this morning working on some of the steering components. I disassembled the drag link, washed it and blasted the housing. The internals look new which is nice.

Moved onto the center arm components, one bushing had some pretty obvious wear marks

I had tried several times to get the center arm shaft out of the frame mount with zero success. It was stuck TIGHT and on the older 40's the center arm mount is actually rivoted into the frame. It soaked in PB Blaster for several days and it finally broke loose this morning after hitting with a brass punch and a BFH.

I found one very squashed O-ring and a similarly flat piece of felt here

Here are all the old components and the new components. The new SOR "kit" contains a large/thick felt, I never found that piece during disassembly. I polished the center arm shaft and all these parts are up on the shelf for later. Not show is two small woodruff keys that are part of this whole works.

 

[Rock40]

Moved on to actually removing the axles from the frame. I started in the rear and worked forward. All the spring bushings were totally shot but the rears were by far the worst.

Completely worn out

Also, both front spring hanger bolts on the driver side (rear axle) broke off during disassembly. I'll come back to those later.

I'm guessing the rear of this 40 rode really, really stiff. I noticed the heavy "add a leafs" in the spring pack when I got the springs out from under the truck. The packs were all loose too.

 

[Rock40]

Onto the front axle....I noticed this when I started un-bolting the driver front U-bolts. Instead of 4 nuts like Toyota had in mind, there were a total of 7 in play here. 3 out of 4 where oddly double nutted with non-factory nuts.

Here are the U-bolts from the passenger front. It's hard to see in the photo just how horribly bent they are. In addition to that, I'm pointing with the screwdriver to the top of the U-bolt to indicate how they have worn down by rubbing/moving around on the axle tube. I'd say they're about 25% rubbed through and completely flat.

Both of the front shackle hangers did not want to release from the bushings. I'm talking completely welded in place almost. I managed to get the passenger off with a BFH but the driver side I actually had to heat up with a torch to get the bushing to release the pin.

And while working up on the front driver side frame rail, I think the frame horn is a bit tweaked. Not bad, but it doesn't match the passenger side. Probably the biggest hurdle here will be getting the front bumper to mount up correctly.

 

[Rock40]

Here's the bare frame now. I still need to go through it and burn out the old suspension bushings, remove several broken off bolts, run a tap through all the factory nutserts and address the rear bumper crossmember which is bent/cracked. It's getting closer though.

For now, I'm sitting back and having a beer because that suspension/axle stuff was a bitch

 

[thebigredrocker]

I'm going to venture a guess that you guys will successfully complete this project. Amazing progress. Much of what you are doing are tasks I hope to attempt myself. I appreciate you posting how-to's.

 

[Rock40]

I'm going to venture a guess that you guys will successfully complete this project. Amazing progress. Much of what you are doing are tasks I hope to attempt myself. I appreciate you posting how-to's.

Ha! I don't have a choice about finishing as Jason will want his 40 back in California one day Thanks for the kudos, glad some of this may be helpful to others in the future.

 

[Rock40]

I should mention that the U-bolts on both the front and rear axle were incredibly tight. I could have spent a LONG time with my normal 1/2" drive air impact and I don't have time to waste! I attacked those bolts with this 1" drive monster, to my surprise, none of them actually broke. Believe when I say that this 1" drive air impact can rip a fastener right off.

I was actually scared to tear into this and find what might be waiting...I'm sure Jason feels the same way

I started with the passenger side because I felt that with the obvious damage to the U-bolts here it as likely going to be "the worst". Brake shoes are oil contaminated and there is an obvious leak around the spindle/hub area.

Warn hubs coming off..

The knuckle grease is fairly obviously contaminated with gear oil.

 

[Rock40]

Hub body off...

Good gosh what a mess

Somebody used a freakin' chisel on the adjustment/lock nuts here instead of using the correct socket. Not to mention that this is quite possibly the most abused star washer I've ever come across. The bearings were loose and incorrectly adjusted too.

And when the spindle popped off, oil and grease just started pouring out