1974 FJ40

[Lynopractor]

Hello everyone! I just purchased my first fj40 and am excited to upgrade and make it my daily driver. My rig already has a chevy small block engine swap. I am hoping to start on a "make it safe" initial to do list, but ultimately complete a "make it awesome" list eventually. Everything on the truck works and functions as it stands. Maybe I could get some thoughts as to the initial list:

1. Wheels and Tires (33s, mudders?)
2. Oil and fluid change
3. Grease and lube
4. Replace caps
5. 3 point seatbelts

Thanks and look forward to driving again!

 

[redeyeracing]

Great looking buy! I would consider some stopping power to stop the V8. On my 74' power steering and disk brakes were first on the list.

 

[AntFarm]

Welcome! Not sure which is more work, a 40 series, or 4 boys! Looks like you have the best of both worlds.

 

[ATLTJ]

Great looking rig! 74’ are the best model year! Have you looked up your production month yet?

 

[Lynopractor]

Great looking rig! 74’ are the best model year! Have you looked up your production month yet?

Vin# is 17***** which I think is July production? Does this sound correct?

 

[cruiserboy14]

There is a plate on the forward driver door sill that tells you the month and year.

 

[cruiserkev]

Nice 40! Welcome to the addiction.

 

[kudzugypsy]

You got plenty of young, strong help there to do all those projects

 

[Lynopractor]

It’s already been a ton of fun with boys!
Wondering about the best way to convert to disc brakes in the front? I noticed coolcruisers.com have parts for this! Any thoughts?

 

[pb4ugo]

IMO, the best way for frt disc brakes is to use OEM Toyota style frt brakes. There are several ways to go about this. 1st it probably best to look in FAQ's at the top of this 40 section and scroll down to frt ends and read about the Knuckle differences thru the years and the differences of lockout, plus the other posts in that section. Also, in the FAQ section you will find "tech links" You will find info on how folks did a lot of the work involved. Using the advance search function will net good info too. The 1st and easiest is to find a complete FJ40 disc brake front end and swap it out. The 2nd way is to find the parts from the knuclkes out off a disc brake front end. You want the all the parts from the knuclkes out along with a pair of disc birfields. Doing the swap this way is a messy and time consuming job but pretty straight forward. Frt Disc started in 76, then there were changes/upgrades in 79 and later. 79 Fj40's and up & FJ60/62 and mini trucks had the later upgraded knuckles and birfields. FYI, FJ60/62 along with mini truck knuckles use a different larger tie rod ends. There are ways to work around this issue. There are also some aftermarket disc brake kits on the market that just offer bolt on caliper brackets, calipers and rotors. They work but do nothing about the inner axle upgrade from coarse spline to the stronger fine spline birfields. Others will certainly chime in on this subject too. You may want to consider doing rear disc brakes too. They are a bolt on application. You can buy a kit or probably source parts for less using monte carlo calipers(FAQ section). If you source the parts you should contact Poser for the brackets and machined rotors.

 

[Slapshot]

Your kids are going to love it. Hopefully your wife will too!

My truck also has a V8. You have to carry metric and SAE tools! There’s a ton of info here.