Ok, update on my recent purchase, a 1972 FJ40. Here is what it has currently:
Stock F engine, recently rebuilt, runs great.
2 day old rebuild on the 2 barrel carb (thanks for the help guys!)
2 day old Poly gas tank
~3" Superlift (gotta go, too stiff)
Stock 3 speed on the floor
Soooooo, I took her out for the first time wheeling. Some light stuff just to break her in nice. She is running 33" BFG AT's which make short work of the stocker friendly trail we typically run to break in the new vehicles.
Observations:
Too stiff! She won't flex at all, even going over some very easy rocks and humps. I knew this previously though due to my 230lb friend being unable to compress the rear suspension on one corner more than about 2" while jumping on the bumper. At least the bumper is strong!!! I was considering the Pinnacle Engineering 4" system. I keep hearing OME is great but man, $$$$. I guess you get what you pay for. Advice/opinions? HFS is also there and I guess it's in the same ballpark price wise. I'd rather do it right the first time, so tell me I'm an idiot if necessary!
Too fast! The 1st gear in low range is a little faster than my '01 Tacoma in 1st in low range. I did about an hour and a half of searching and reading posts on here last night and decided upon an SM420 conversion if I can find one. Opinions? She currently does 70 if necessary and I'm pretty happy with it. I don't even need to go faster since I have my Taco for that and my work is 10 minutes away all before 45mph even if I take her to work (which is mint, there is another FJ40 that our brewer owns, mostly stock, and one of the owners has a '70 Bronco). I want the crawl ratio but don't want to spend the $$$$$$ right now for a toy box. Since I have the '72 3 speed, what does that mean for parts? I have concluded from multiple posts that my shaft splines are going to mate up fine as they are, my 3 speed bellhousing is fine to use and I just need an adaptor plate and misc other things. More comments/advise? I have two extra tranny's and transfer cases, so I may use one of those to speed my swap when the time comes.
Axles! I have the coarse spline currently in the front, not sure in the rear. I have a spare set of axles with the fine spline that I want to switch out. I have to imagine changing the diffs, axle shafts and hubs are necessary. Lucky enough for me, I have a parts FJ with a disc brake conversion on it that has the fine spline axles. Only bad part is that it has auto-locking (or whatever they were in the day) hubs on it, as in there are no manual locking hubs, just bearing grease caps. I'd like to get lockers but first would rather swap out to the better axles so I can get the appropriate lockers for the fine spline. What sort of issues am I looking at here?
That's it for now! Thanks for any help you guys can give, this place is a great resource and you can say "poop" and "bum" without getting your ass reamed unlike Pirate!
Stock F engine, recently rebuilt, runs great.
2 day old rebuild on the 2 barrel carb (thanks for the help guys!)
2 day old Poly gas tank
~3" Superlift (gotta go, too stiff)
Stock 3 speed on the floor
Soooooo, I took her out for the first time wheeling. Some light stuff just to break her in nice. She is running 33" BFG AT's which make short work of the stocker friendly trail we typically run to break in the new vehicles.
Observations:
Too stiff! She won't flex at all, even going over some very easy rocks and humps. I knew this previously though due to my 230lb friend being unable to compress the rear suspension on one corner more than about 2" while jumping on the bumper. At least the bumper is strong!!! I was considering the Pinnacle Engineering 4" system. I keep hearing OME is great but man, $$$$. I guess you get what you pay for. Advice/opinions? HFS is also there and I guess it's in the same ballpark price wise. I'd rather do it right the first time, so tell me I'm an idiot if necessary!
Too fast! The 1st gear in low range is a little faster than my '01 Tacoma in 1st in low range. I did about an hour and a half of searching and reading posts on here last night and decided upon an SM420 conversion if I can find one. Opinions? She currently does 70 if necessary and I'm pretty happy with it. I don't even need to go faster since I have my Taco for that and my work is 10 minutes away all before 45mph even if I take her to work (which is mint, there is another FJ40 that our brewer owns, mostly stock, and one of the owners has a '70 Bronco). I want the crawl ratio but don't want to spend the $$$$$$ right now for a toy box. Since I have the '72 3 speed, what does that mean for parts? I have concluded from multiple posts that my shaft splines are going to mate up fine as they are, my 3 speed bellhousing is fine to use and I just need an adaptor plate and misc other things. More comments/advise? I have two extra tranny's and transfer cases, so I may use one of those to speed my swap when the time comes.
Axles! I have the coarse spline currently in the front, not sure in the rear. I have a spare set of axles with the fine spline that I want to switch out. I have to imagine changing the diffs, axle shafts and hubs are necessary. Lucky enough for me, I have a parts FJ with a disc brake conversion on it that has the fine spline axles. Only bad part is that it has auto-locking (or whatever they were in the day) hubs on it, as in there are no manual locking hubs, just bearing grease caps. I'd like to get lockers but first would rather swap out to the better axles so I can get the appropriate lockers for the fine spline. What sort of issues am I looking at here?
That's it for now! Thanks for any help you guys can give, this place is a great resource and you can say "poop" and "bum" without getting your ass reamed unlike Pirate!
. I understand your SOA concerns and unfortuneately i'm out of help/advice I can offer.
