1969 Fj40 Trail truck build (1 Viewer)

[RattleCan]

First post and I figured I would make it count. This is the start of my newly acquired 1969 FJ40 trail truck build. Bought this truck off craigslist in west seattle and had AAA tow it home for free (rear brakes non-existent).

The Highlights:

1969, metal is good. Not too much rust. Definintly structurally sound for what I want to do with it.

350 chevy

34inch Super Swamper TSL 9.5inch narrow tires

Not sure how much lift I think about 4inches

3 speed transmission on the floor

Welded rear end , open front

Power steering!

Warn bellvue Model:6000 winch

Here is some pictures... Rear wheels are off for rear disk brake conversion.

Rear axle prepped for disk brake conversion, cut the backing plate off with a sawzall and harbor freight oscillating tool with metal blade, worked great.

Going to do a little fender trimming with angle grinder

350 Chevy with dual flowmaster sounds badass! But I am not too sure about the placement of the mufflers, below the rockers. I want my exhaust tucked out of the way.

The rockers are all jacked up, I think im gonna find some box tubing, cut it to make two L shapes and weld them over the cancer, and paint to prevent cancer from spreading.

Not much rust anywhere besides a couple problem areas. Overall, I'm pretty happy.

Doors and hardtop are great!

Frame has been extended. PO told me they did that when they added an 85 front axle for disk brakes. I now have 4 wheel disk brakes!

A little better shot of the planned fender trim, I used the trail chewed portion as my template for where to cut

I have a ton of questions about this winch, I am on the fence to just not mess with and find a 8274 or fix it and use it. From my research I know it is a Warn/Bellvue model#6000. From the 70's I think.

My main reasons I want to just find another winch are, It is one way, cable is messed up, rated at 6000 pounds and fairlead needs to be replaced, no remote, or in cab controlls, hand brake with handle busted off.

But the Previous owner says the winch works but the power in connection to the motor is all coroded and doesnt feed any power to the motor. This is what it looks like:

The power feed terminal doesnt thread in and has a lot of play, Its obvious it is not making any connection.

How do you get this motor off?

I got as far as the two long bolts securing the 'end cap?" thing and tried to pull the motor off but I really need advice on how to pull the motor so I can investigate this main terminal connection.

Much more to come!!!

 

[RattleCan]

I am going to paint it with Rustoleum Dark machine gray, black wheels, black bezel, white top.

I am also going to get a couple gallons of herculiner and do the inside and fender wells.

This cruiser also came with a complete Painless wirirng harness waiting to be installed because the wiring in works but is shoddy at best. The wiring looks like it was a complete afterthought. It will be a bitch to install the complete harness, but I am determined to make it look clean and professional.

 

[cjgoode]

Look at this post, they put a motorcycle brake system on one of those winches. Looks real cool

Early Warn/Belleview winch brake modification

I would love to get one of these old winches, but only 1 has come up for sale near me and they guy wanted to compare it to a warn 8274, and was convinced it was worth as much if not more.

 

[RattleCan]

Anyone know the proper procedure for getting the electric motor off this winch?

Any help greatly appreciated...

 

[mattcamp]

I have a couple of these winches and if I remember correctly after you pull those two long bolts, the motor should be free to come off. You may have to tap on it with a rubber mallet to break it free, but there shouldn't be any more hardware holding it on.

 

[RattleCan]

Got some more things done on the cruiser these past few weeks...

JTO rear disk brake conversion installed. The brakes work great, however I would not recommend JTO. If I had to do it over again, I would pay more from MAF or buy brakets and rotors from poser. One of their calipers didn't fit and needed to be trimmed. One side took 5 minutes to install, one side took about 3 hours. (one of the calipers was cast differently?) Same caliper, separate casting styles. Its obvious they just order the parts and throw them in a box and call it a kit, without much investigation/care as to what problems may arrise when a company does that...

A shot of my 60's series front axle off an 85'. I now have 4 wheel disk brakes and they work good, I hope when they when they all start getting used more often they work great.

Rear seat I got off craigslist for 20$

Fender trim with brand new swampers for the back

Shot of the JTO caliper I had to trim, shot it with some spray paint when I saw it rusting already.

more to come...

 

[jsuthey]

Hey nice truck,cool it came with the 350 in there.It's nice to have good brakes,good job on the rear discs.I got my brackets and rotors off Poser with no problems,they rock.You running a rear porp.valve?
Looking forward to seeing your power steering install,please show us the pics.Tons of info on the winch if you go to the winch tech.section.I am working on a warn 8274 for my rattle can resto build!

John

 

[RattleCan]

Power steering is already in, check out the 11th picture on the first post of this thread. The box looks like its mounted a inch or two more forward than most people do, that might be the reason the tie rods are shot to s***.

I am not sure about wheather I need to install a proportioning valve yet. If I need to I will. I have yet to do many hard braking yet. Will see after some more serious stops.

Here is the Warn VR10000 I just bought. 600.00$ with a 50$ rebate to boot. However, I might switch to an 8274 for a better look one day. But right now I just wanted a new winch with remote that will work with no "figuring out" so I can get on the trails asap.

I have decided that I am going to paint the cruiser the tried and true 416 Dune Beige. The aluminum quarter panel protectors are gonna be black along with the bumpers, and rims. The top and bezel (i think) are gonna be the cygnus white.

Do you guys think I need mudflaps? I guess the smokeys in Wa state are real sticklers about mudflaps so I think I will, but would rather not. My neighbor has a Peterbuilt big rig flap that I am gonna cut in half and figure our a quick mounting system with door hinges.

Some recovery gear that came with the cruiser. I am gonna find some wrap to cover the chain to use as a tree saver. I am all about not spending a ton of money to be trail ready. I am gonna buy a highlift jack soon...

 

[jsuthey]

Man cool rig for sure! Captain obvious here did not look at your pics.very good! I thought at first it was a planned mod.for you but that's another plus for you already done.Might have to dial it in more.

Yea that front bumper might be a bit of a rock finder,looks like it sticks out kinda far.Maybe cut it down smaller and you can loose those blinker/park lights,reflectors?You are going to have to modify it to run the new winch?Very slick looking winch by the way,that should work great.Rear bumper is cool,looks custom,maybe you could add a tire carrier/swing out.

So the desert beige is my favorite color for 40's.I just rattle canned mine and it came out great.Easy to touch up and repaint.I found the paint right down at the local hardware store.
Looks like a great build so far.

 

[RattleCan]

Suthey, thanks for the comments. I think it's a cool rig too, gonna be sweet once i get it painted and the winch on.

I am gonna investigate what tie rods will work best for my setup, I think i am going to install some high quality ones like moog or ? I think my steering stablizer not being hooked up has a role in the shot tie rod ends so I am going to order an Old man Emu one for about 80$

The front bumper does look like a rock finder, but I guess the guy who built it didn't think it was gonna be an issue, so I guess only time will tell. But I am not opposed to hacking s*** off if I have to

Yes, I am going to get a new winch plate for the new style mounting holes for the new winch. The new ones are 4 holes and the old ones a 6, but I am keeping my old plate and not filling in the holes in the bumper (just covering with license plate) so if I wanna get a 8274 in the future I can.

Rear tire does swing out, but I hope to mod the swing out to hold a jerry can. Might move the rear license plate over to have the jerry can right next to the tire in the middle.

What brand/color of spray paint did you use? I plan on getting the factory colors from the paint shop and spraying it with my Harbor Freight gun.

 

[jsuthey]

Hey Rattle can,I think you would be much better off painting your rig the right way.However,if your are going to bash it up on the trail....The spray paint would work just fine.I will post up a few pics.of the paint I used.My paint job has held up good,I painted it more than 3-years ago.I did do some tacky bondo work on the rocker panels and rear.Those areas are still brewing up in there,but it seems to help.I did use some primer in some areas also,but that was the orig.color of my truck so it was easy to blend in and tape off.I don't remember how many cans I used but guessing around 10-15?

Also I was thinking for your rear tire carrier,to maybe some day do a swing out off that beefy rear bumper for bigger tires.As that is one of the rust areas that could get bad on my truck.I guess the stock tire carriers are pretty stout but with bigger tires and lots of wheeling I really don't know how they hold up.

 

[misterpepper]

I recently put another cruiser back into service with the help of a friend and we used Rustoleum "Painters Touch" Fossil. It is matte beige, pretty close to Dune Beige. Great looking color and it covered very nice. It only took 2 coats, 4 cans I believe, to do the whole truck. I'm sure it won't last as long as a real paint job, but it's hard to beat the price.

 

[RattleCan]

Here are some pics of the buildup getting it ready for summer and the complete re-wiring.

Metal Tech front bar, high lift jack, and Warn 10000lbs winch. All welded and painted with rustoleum bedliner. Note: Bezel flipped and painted white. Note: The license plate will go over the fat hole in the front bumper

Re-wiring with painless kit. (not done but almost)

Chevy tilt colum mocked up, along with bucket seats out of a 1995 firebird mocked up. Still gotta finalize both and get things welded.

tried to keep the wiring clean, yet easily accessable

rear bumper is also coated in rustoleum bedliner. It is gonna hold up a lot better than paint.

The closer I get to having everything street legal, the more I wanna drive it! I gotta finish up the wiring and get all the lights working and I wanna take it on a shakedown run up the forest service roads up past greenwater, WA.

This thing is gonna be a beast!

 

[Josie'sLandCruiser]

Hi All:

Hey Rattlecan, looks like you are ready to hit Evans Creek ORV Area! Let me know if you want to do a trail run.

Looking at the pic of the rear of your FJ40, I'd say yes, you need mud flaps. I've heard recently that "they" are cracking down on things like this.

Regards,

Alan

 

[RattleCan]

Alan, I will definitly contact you about a trail run to evans, naches or ???

I need someone to show me around, and it would be great if that person drove a cruiser

just as soon as I button everything up and do a couple shakedown runs...

 

[RattleCan]

So it's been almost a year since I updated this build thread, but that does not mean I haven't been busy. The first thing you will notice is the paint job. It's my Rattle can imitation of a dune beige cruiser. The color is Rustoleum painters touch Satin Fossil.

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[RattleCan]

 

[RattleCan]

Cut the front bumper down about 10 inches on both sides

Oem turn signals

 

[RattleCan]

I got a little fender droop, not sure about how to fix

My new "trail ready" rocker panels. 1/4 angle iron

 

[RattleCan]

Heres a good shot of a bunch of work. Freshly painted hardtop, rollbar, and herculined tub. Everything with a nice coating of dirt.

Refurbished heating system, new shifter boot to cover giant hole in tunnel.