1976 FJ40 BUILDUP - Chief $*itty Pants

[4x4 Station Wagon]

Here you can see the final lenth is back to where it should be with the 1/4" spacer shown earlier along with the nut removed and the end of the push rod cut off a 1/2"



Here is a picture of it bolted up


You can see how close it is to hte clutch master. Is is not touching but one of the bolts for the clutch master is behind the booster so if you need to remove the clutch master guess what.....

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

Finally going to whip out the cut and turn and get it over with. I swapped the Fj60 knuckles over also prior to ripping it apart hoping I could put the highsteer on and be able to get it on and off a trailer to have the current Castor checked at an alignment shop but no luck.... So after searching and posting I am going for it and will take it in after and have it checked and if it is off a little I can cut the tacks on the perches.

Here is the front cleaned up and cut


Here it is after turning them 13 degrees (for my current configuration). I needed closer to 15 degrees but I also need 1.5" longer shackles to help with some clearance (spring eye to frame) and after a few tests it looks like the longer shackles will effect it almost 2 degrees.


Now it is done and cleaned with POR cleaner. I just need to paint it all minus maybe around the welds on the perches and the turn stops and start throwing it back together with the knuckle rebuild kit.

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

Well after hours of searching on this site I know now the need for a centering tool to ensure long inner seal life. With that said I do not have one and I do not have a good resource to get one (I have one spot to check tomorrow). Due to this I just ordered Marlins seals to hopefully allow me to be off a bit and get away with it. I am however in a pickle once again. I just remember I ordered the knuckle rebuild kit prior to getitng my hands on the fj60 knuckles. That leaves me with a couple questions. (I do have an email into Marlin to see if they have any)

Are the trunnion bearings the same for all? Visually yes but....

If so

Does anyone know where I can get my hands on just the shims?

It appears the best luck is to use your shims from the original knuckles on the bottom..... Has anyone had any experience with that? I found one posting who did



FYI - Dont go to the Marlin site intending to just buy seals. Their stuff is sweet and the prices are great! As a result of that I left with an upper axle truss, knuckle reinforcement brackets, and extra seals for my minitruck project

 

[orangefj45]

hey bud.
i have plenty of the shim packs on hand. send me a pm with your ship to info ( again ) and i'll get some out to you. freebies.
thanks for being a great customer!!!!!


georg @ valley hybrids

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

You are awesome!! PM is on its way!!

 

[kling-on]

sweet work man

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

sweet work man

THANKS!!

hey bud.
i have plenty of the shim packs on hand. send me a pm with your ship to info ( again ) and i'll get some out to you. freebies.
thanks for being a great customer!!!!!

Orangefj45
Your freebies beat the parts I paid for here!!!! Thanks again

As soon as the inner seals get here I can get this axle back together. I am not proud of the POR15 and chasis black that I applied. FYI the temp was 50 degrees and humidity was high.... I get what I deserved on that one!
I will razor blade a few runs out and touch it up. Even then as an FYI to all the cold and humidity (I suppose because I removed oil and grease with proper cleaner) caused the POR to have a ton of pin holes or tiny bubbles. The chasis top coat sealed it up nicely though and removed the appearance and also didnt run at all compared to the main por15



And this is my newest yard ornament. This is way on hold but will replace my ranger project with the intent to make up for having a mall crawler of an FJ - well I hope 700.00 with a 5spd and transfercase and a 20r

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

Georg

Orangefj45,
I don't think I can post pics in PM's so here is a pic of what I am wanting to purchase. One of my bolts/pins had been replaced with a regular bolt that is very loose and i want to use the shouldered factory pin. This is a picture of a minitruck shackle which has shorter and biger bolts. The one I am after is for a fj40 and is approx. 4 3/8" long approx. I just need one of the pins not the entire shackle. I built some 1.5" longer shackles for clearance reasons and am utilizing the factory bolts.




As for the Marlin High steer it fits perfectly now after the 12 degree rotation putting my castor back at approx. 4 degrees. As an FYI to all in regards to knuckles I started by removing 10 thousands from my original scenario (with new bearings) thinking I would get my knuckle preload correct and it put me at 4.5 lbs. I then removed another 10 thousands and it put me at about 7.5 and then another 10 put me at 10 pounds and so on. So in hopes to reduce someone else having to try multiple times you can see IN MY scenario 10 thousands gained me approx. 2 - 3 pounds.





Now the dilemma and I am going to search right now but for all that are going with the scout style steering box how are you extending your steering linkages? The one that came with my kit is approx. 8" to short.

Thanks

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

And I promise to take care of the excess ubolts!!

 

[orangefj45]

so you just need one shackle pin? i'll send you a comnplete shackle, that way you have a spare. just in case you F something else up!


as for the steering linkage, call marlin. tell them that you biought one of teir kits and you need the drag link for a scout box. have the required dimensions on hand and i bet they;ll be more than happy to work something out with you. send yours back, get the proper one and you'll be in business.

1-559-25crawl !!! <------ marlin's #

i kinda like the u-bolt forrest you got going there.


pm me your info one more time jeff .........

hth

georg @ valley hybrids

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

You know I like to do things twice heck sometimes even three times!!!!!!!

I sent you a PM with my info! I will call Marlin tomorrow! I was hoping that might be the answer!

Making fun of my ubolt forest is one thing but calling me Jeff?? I thought we were friends

 

[eknuik]

Great job! and the color is as well as the rest of you work, awesome. I like watching the "Days of your life"

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

Great job! and the color is as well as the rest of you work, awesome. I like watching the "Days of your life"

Thanks! Crud your right it was intended to be a build thread not a blog

Well this whole time I have been waiting on the inner axle seals to arrive BUT that is not meant as a hit to Marlin they were great and were having trouble getting in a different part I ordered so they ended up sending me what they could so I could at least get it back on its wheels. The Marlin highsteer fit perfectly even with all my equations (soa, low profile hanger, scout box, etc.) after the cut and turn.



And I it around my yard tonight. Now I can get it on a trailer to get exhaust installed. I have already purchased a 60 series flowmaster delta series in a 2.5". I finally got to move it over to a lighted bay instead of the dark side of the shop.



And now the challenge: I saw a jeep yesterday with a PTO and he had mouted a bearing halfway and another joint to make it around some stuff. I commented on it and he said that was nothing his buddy had done it a couple times to clear his stuff. I am going to challenge the exhaust guy and formulate a plan to get that dang PTO shaft back through there if it is the last thing I do!! Oh and I have the new battery tray built and no it isnt going on my front bumper

I also got the key portion wired on the tilt collumn but I need to tear back into it becasue the motor fires only when I let off the key. Simple fix just bummed I get to do something twice as usual

 

[24HOURSOFNEVADA]

Just checking in from the paint thread. Nice job man, your paint is super impressive.

 

[73tlcv8]

I've been following your buid for a while. I must say nice job, your truck looks fantastic!

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

Thanks to both of you! I have actually not given up I have been slowly picking away at it. This weekend I got all the rear disc brakes on along with the front brakes back together. I hoped to get to napa to source some axle to caliper brake lines for the front but it didnt work out. Other than cleaning up some wiring and slapping the lights back in it I am very very close to hitting the road. The big question right now is WHAT CAGE??? I am an Oregon boy so its hard not to support metaltech plus I can pick it up on my next trip that way (3 stinking hours away) but I really really at this point like the redline cage. I think it brakes up the squareness of a fj40. I know that a lot of people will want to slap me because the coolness of a 40 is the squareness but.... I actually have been intending to order the cage for the last week but have been tied up on my 1980 toyota pickup. End scenario is that I think both are great cages! Any thoughts anyone??

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

The big question right now is WHAT CAGE???

I am glad you all voted for the redline family cage because its on its way as of a few minutes ago.... I like the back section of it along with the top spreaders and also they gave me a good deal on the factory seat belt brackets to go with it.

 

[bsmith123]

checking in

Been a while since I have been on the site --just getting back to checking around and seeng how eveyone has been

CSP is looking great---looking forward to seeing it on the ROTW!


PS
Man, I just went back to the first page and looked at it again which is great there's something compelling about all that potential---but it is amazing what you've done ---it's a great build my friend!

 

[Dedtruk]

Well after hours of searching on this site I know now the need for a centering tool to ensure long inner seal life. With that said I do not have one and I do not have a good resource to get one (I have one spot to check tomorrow). Due to this I just ordered Marlins seals to hopefully allow me to be off a bit and get away with it. I am however in a pickle once again.

Well, probably too late, but fj40taz on this forum has a source for the knuckle centering tool ... OTB brand or something. Just in case anyone is looking for it in the future ... or you start burning up seals like crazy.

Very cool 40, BTW. Wish those old minitrucks were still available around here with the 20R motor. Most have rusted into oblivion by now. They're worse than 40s that way ...

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

BSMITH123 - Thanks for thinking of the old 40!! I was thinking of you a few weeks ago when i installed the brakeline you gave me! The redline cage showed up about a week ago and it looks good. I have a couple days worth of trying to get the dang duct tape residue off of the bars but in Redlines defense it cant be easy to ship something like that I think they did the best they could!! Again the bars at this point look great! Hope all is well.

Dedtruk - Thanks!! I will keep that in mind for the future. As for the minitruck I have been tied up with it I actually went ahead and started a build thread in that section here on mud because it is nothing like the 40 section and I hoped to get some interest going or possible posts to help others in the future. I hate to have put my 40 on the backburner but I sold my tacoma and cherokee and bought an 02 powerstroke and blew a front tire on the way home and lets just say the tire was the least of my problems and the minitruck is going to be my driver for a while! The ford is getting fixed but it is probably going to be another 3 weeks.....

I hope to get to installing the cage in the next couple weeks and I will post pics as usual