1968 FJ55 Local East Coast Swine Transfer (1 Viewer)

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On a lighter note, here are a few pics of my 40 since I'm 3000 miles away from the Pig. @orangefj45, if you find any time out from your insane schedule, all of us are dying for a quick snapshot!

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And just noticed you have a '99 Hundy! We have a '99 LX. @J Mack thinks I use it to pull the Pig to Pig Parties...
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This is when @fireball still owned it, unfortunately I've never had it out west. I realized that's the ONLY pic I have of it. I let a buddy borrow to wheel for the summer as there is NO offroad access here in Maine by the national park. Criminal to let it sit. More pics in NH/VT soon.
 
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This is when @fireball still owned it, unfortunately I've never had it out west. I realized that's the ONLY pic I have of it. I let a buddy borrow to wheel for the summer as there is NO offroad access here in Maine by the national park. Criminal to let it sit. More pics in NH/VT soon.
Funny! 1st Pig 🐖 party 2017 !!
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As many interior needs as this truck has, I probably should just let the ashtrays go. Useless, and it's not a restoration. Money and time better spent on sourcing and fixing the door seals, dash fix, etc.

I am getting a kick out of all the thought going into the ashtrays!
I had some thoughts when I was putting the door cards in:

I should say that I did opt to keep the ash trays when I ordered the panels from Steve. I get a kick out of thinking about a vehicle that can transport 8 husky men and go 70 or 80 MPH (I forget what the old ad says) and has an ashtray in every door. I envision all the 1970's husky Japanese people trying to get these Pigs up to 70 MPH while all smoking.

I did find a single partially smoked cigarette in the passenger front door ashtray. It has faded lipstick on the filter. My overly-active imagination thinks that it may have been from a night that changed the previous owner's life. I opted to put that old cigarette back in the ash tray after cleaning it out.

From here: Builds - POTM - March, 2014 - Javelina By Pablo Cruise

I got a kick thinking about that smoke w/ the lipstick on it, maybe my Pig hosted a torrid coupling on the front bench...
 
I've read and studied Winters a lot. He was the real deal. Humble to his core. And he will tell you that he wasn't unusual, nor was his company. A lot of that is humility, but there is some truth there. The thing is, in my experience there are actually a lot of "Winters" still out there. Put a close knit group of men together, with a common bond and shared experience (usually miserable), and those men will do anything for their brothers. Winters was a natural, born leader. They are out there. I just hope our current societal craziness doesn't strangle those leaders in their cribs. We're going to need them.
Amen to that! words will never convey our thanks to those who serve
 
On a lighter note, here are a few pics of my 40 since I'm 3000 miles away from the Pig. @orangefj45, if you find any time out from your insane schedule, all of us are dying for a quick snapshot!

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20200608_151600-XL.jpg
i was there today w/George, saw Chuck, he looked happy around all those cruisers-next time I go I will give you a heads up if you need pics
 
I'm trying to resist my usual pattern of overbuilding. My first inclination was to drop in an H42 or 55, split case, OME lift, LRA tank, 3.7s, lockers, etc. But, this isn't a hardcore wheeling rig. More light wheeling to get to the mountain bike trails, camping spots, etc in NH and Vermont. 3 on the column, bench seat, etc seemed a shame to eliminate. I will put some sort of traction aid in the rear, and upgrade safety items like a power disc brake set up. Otherwise, I'm going for "stockish" but improved, capability and appearance.

I would not resist these urges. I think an H55F in a FJ-55 sounds perfect. I have been trying to resist this as well. From what I hear, H55+33s+4.11 gears works pretty well for lots of folks.

Yes to disc brake front.

Locker in the rear is all kinds of fun, esp. w/ the 2-Lo Mod (not to be confused w/ the J-Lo mod - that is a whole different Google search). Aussie locker is cheap and easy, but requires some awareness when taking tight turns in the grocery store parking lot. ARB is more driveable, more expensive, but now you have a compressor - yay!

I realize I am really far behind in your thread - apologies if you have already answered these big questions!
 
3. I'm going this far, I should actually do an H55/split and increase my sunk costs a bunch. It's worth it?

I think this depends on how you define value. I recently took a 60 w/ an H55 for a drive to see how I liked it. I liked it, but I am struggling with "how much did I like it"

3 speeds suck.

I personally prefer the H42/3.70 gear combo

I’d run what you spent all the money on.

Good point. If you already put $ into a H42 rebuild, you could run that and decide later if you want to go H55.

H42 with the 3.7 gear combo. Save your money for an FJ45 for sure.

Regear to 3.73 will also cost $. Leaving 4.11s in and spending $ on H55 will get you overdrive, but keep the 4.11s for trail activities...

There isn't any sort of savings going on here, or with any land cruiser. The savings call is still the 3 speed with a few safety upgrades. I'm not saying that's the right call...

At least you are being honest with yourself! :) :rofl:

Well, there's savings going the 4 speed relative to the h55. Isn't that the game we play all the time? "Honey, you know I decided not to spend $3K on the cruiser and instead I'm going to spend $750 and take you out for dinner. Yes, honey, it's true, I could not have spent anything on the cruiser, but I'm really concerned that you have a nice comfortable ride to dinner and for your own comfort I'm going to spend just a little money and we'll have a nice dinner and drinks."

Always a good strategy to deflect her attention from Cruiser expenses and lavish the attention on her.
Maybe avoid mention of the $750.
Bring your Barry White cassettes, and do your special stretches!

Ultimately it comes down to What do you want? & How bad do you want it?
Life is a series of choices and consequences...
 
I think this depends on how you define value. I recently took a 60 w/ an H55 for a drive to see how I liked it. I liked it, but I am struggling with "how much did I like it"



Good point. If you already put $ into a H42 rebuild, you could run that and decide later if you want to go H55.



Regear to 3.73 will also cost $. Leaving 4.11s in and spending $ on H55 will get you overdrive, but keep the 4.11s for trail activities...



At least you are being honest with yourself! :) :rofl:



Always a good strategy to deflect her attention from Cruiser expenses and lavish the attention on her.
Maybe avoid mention of the $750.
Bring your Barry White cassettes, and do your special stretches!

Ultimately it comes down to What do you want? & How bad do you want it?
Life is a series of choices and consequences...
With the work done to Chuck already including a new clutch and resurfaced flywheel, rebuilt T-case, etc. and the oddball 3 on the tree (nowadays), I lost nothing but a seal replacement by staying with the 3 speed for now. I don't have to ship stuff back out to Georg, or pay for the re-engineering now to get the split case in, cut the tunnel, etc. I'll play with it and enjoy it how it is. If that's long term, great and I'll find a use for the H42. I'd be kidding myself to think there isn't another project in the future. I always have that option out here with a shop that I trust that has done a ton of work for me in the past (shhh, J**p build :redface:) to put it in the Pig.

I actually had an H55f in my short lived 66 Cummins converted 40. I didn't care for the deep 1st gear for daily driving. That's part of the reason why I built the H42 with the 3:1 gears in the t-case, vs a 5 speed and standard low range. For daily driving, much more user friendly 1st gear, while having a similar deep gear offroad.

In the end, I'm going to enjoy this fine swine regardless of how it's geared. There's an initial bolus of activity due to the luck in proximity to Valley Hybrids. After that, I'll play for a while and see what's needed/dreamed about next.
 
If it’s got 33’s, I’d at least put the 4spd in. That extra gear in there will make the driveability better.

Are we all on the same page that the final drive for both 3 & 4 speed is 1:1?
Yes, synchro 1st and one extra gear to make for less spacing between gears definitely makes for better driveability.
Just wanted to be sure...
 
Are we all on the same page that the final drive for both 3 & 4 speed is 1:1?
Yes, synchro 1st and one extra gear to make for less spacing between gears definitely makes for better driveability.
Just wanted to be sure...
Yes, I assumed this meant a better low first as the rubber overdrive kicked in. Georg and I talked about this, and he went out and tested it with the KM3s. He recommended staying with the 4.11 stock ratio in the diffs because of that. As this will mainly be a local cruiser, mild trail rig, camping and mountain biking basecamp, I would err on the side of too deeply geared over the alternative. That might mean suffering if I ever decide to drive west and meet most of you. But, anything short of a @scrapdaddy build will lead to suffering in this beast anyway. Lay back and try to enjoy it...
 
Georg has FJ40 Full float axles imported from down under. Suddenly, I had a known good rear SF axle with rebuilt brakes on the FJ55 that could be a donor for the FJ40. The grocery getter gets a stealth full float so I can run an e-locker (Eaton now makes one), self adjusting drums with FJ60 parts, a real e-brake if I choose to hook it up, and just score a few oddball points as well. I don't have to source axle shafts, rebuild this rusty POS housing, brakes, and use the questionable 3rd. It ALMOST makes sense economically. Not really, but refer to the earlier posts about cruiser math.

Super long story short, Chuck gets a full float.

The good news is now you have an e-brake setup if you do go H55!
 

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