1967 FJ45LV "Alaksa" (1 Viewer)

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

gonzopancho

SILVER Star
Joined
Dec 12, 2006
Threads
64
Messages
2,619
Hello to all. I’m new to the group, but have a number of other land cruisers, mostly FJ55s.

The only FJ45LV I’ve ever seen in the flesh is the 1967 that was built for Alan Jackson, when it was briefly at my local (Austin, TX) Land Cruiser mechanic’s shop, “Land Cruiser Specialist”.

I didn’t ever think I’d own one, but this came up for sale, and I managed to buy it, and ship it from Alaska to Colorado with a lot of help from @FJ55 (seller, but he packaged it and got it to the port), @joesfj40 (explained how to get it shipped Anchorage to Seattle, and with whom, as a disabled vehicle) and @mattressking for the transport from Seattle to Denver. I will not use anyone else.

Anyway, I don’t think this qualifies as a “barn find”, but it’s close.

1967 FJ45LV, no engine, transmission or transfer case. Research suggests it was at @Mark W‘s “Cruisers Only” in Wasilla for 20 years or maybe a bit more. I haven’t seen it in person yet, even though it’s in my shop now.

From the history I can find, this previously belonged to Dr. Charlie Aarons, who has forgotten more about tires than most of us will ever know.

I found an old post on another forum where Dr. Aarons said:

I'm putting a Cummins 6AT3.4 into a '67 FJ45LV wagon. With NV4500, AA Rock Box, MAF cast iron case with 2.31 gears, 5.29s, rear FF/Soflocker, front ARB, 4" lift, 9.00R16 Michelin XZLs.

I think the soft locker (rear) and ARB locker (front) are there, as is the 4” lift. I think it’s Skyjacker springs in the front and Skyjacker or Rancho in the rear. Has discs on front as well, though the calipers are MIA so far.

Dr. Aarons kept the Michelin XZYs that were on it, so Ryan found some 16” tires to use for transport.

Hoping to speak to @Mark W (“First Knight of the Ironpigs”) about more history on the truck. Was amused to read that it might have been a truck that survived the 2018 quake.

Current thoughts are a 1hd-ft, H55F w/split case (3:1 low range, parking brake) from @orangefj45, keep the axles / springs, maybe keep the 5.29:1 gears if they’re there, but OD the high range in the transfer case. Need to talk to Georg.
maybe a 80-series PS box.

51B4E0F4-F23F-448E-BC6C-7ED54EE6EE28.jpeg


07B94996-BB9A-45EA-8E63-79E4DD45FC7C.jpeg


8E0B1DE7-D859-4E16-A0B5-E1D65AD791FA.jpeg


1C4E8F03-27A6-4BAC-B7E5-C8E92272B5B3.jpeg
 
Last edited:
Can’t wait to watch it come to life! Looks like a solid base to start with!
 
Confirmed pieces of the build as it sits

Completely rebuilt axles, front and rear…. 21 years ago.

ARB up front, and a Detroit in the FF rear. 5.29:1 gears. Charlie had 9.00R16 Michelin XZLs, which are are a true 36” tire. That’s 2500 rpm at 60mph in 5th without an overdrive. A 10% OD in the split case would yield 66 mph at 2500
RPM, and still yield a 76.86 crawl ratio in 1st and low-range, assuming I go back to the XZLs.

Brand new (when installed) Aisin hubs (real ones) in front.

Discs (minitruck) up front. no guts inside the drums on the rear. Plan was for 4 wheel disc.

Standard OEM birfields.

The rear springs are OME FJ45 pickup heavies.
The fronts are 4 inch FJ40 skyjackers. There is a mini-truck PS box with the rig and a mounting pedestal. I’ll probably go with an FJ60/80 PS conversion.
 
Have fun with it Jim! Dr. Aarons lives around the corner from me, I'll pop over there but I believe he's overseas for a bit.

And let me know if you let one of your 55's with the barn doors go....I'd like to be first in line.

Ryan
 
Somehow missed this thread. Looking forward to following along. Sounds like a great plan!

I remember @Mark W from the forum in the late ‘90s, which I used to get in daily digest form! I was wondering if he was still around. I’m ashamed to say that I threw away all the nice calendars that those Alaska guys sold to us in “the lower 48”. Lots of cool pig pictures!
 
Very nice! Funny the very first LV I ever saw was the Alan Jackson one also. It was for sale here in Brentwood TN at a high end exotic car lot about 15 years ago or so. It was actually in an enclosed trailer with glass sides. So you couldn’t even get close to it… I had to drool from a distance.

Your LV looks to be in amazing shape a lot better than what I have to work with. Looking forward to the build.

Jason
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom