Build The LF40 Wheeler Build - Twin Turbo & 8 Speed Auto FJ40

[White Stripe]

The more flex you get out of the front end such as by extending the length of the 80 arms or going 3 link, the more likely you will need the hellfire knuckles I would think to keep the drag link from binding.

 

[DangerNoodle]

I would go RuffStuff before TrailGear everyday of the week... quality and business ethics always win out over cost for me.

My fab guy uses the cam location as the center of mass height in absence of an actual measurement.

I've got two sheets for the front link of my plow FJ55 from my fab guy; 67" wide axle and 60". His geometry numbers are MUCH different. Both of his Anti-Squat are at 47.14. The Roll Center height is 22.9x" for both. The Roll Axis Angle is -1.29 and -0.68.

These are results for ~3" of lift over stock... or 2-3" shorter than the green 55.

Is the plow always on that 55? Or is it a seasonal thing for it? If it is seasonal, how does the front behave without it?

 

[DangerNoodle]

The more flex you get out of the front end such as by extending the length of the 80 arms or going 3 link, the more likely you will need the hellfire knuckles I would think to keep the drag link from binding.

I'm not super familiar with steering. How would the new knuckles help to stop binding in the drag link?

 

[DangerNoodle]

My 55 is in project form right now The plow will be mostly seasonal... although I'm sure some would get a good laugh at a plow going through the rubicon in summer

The links are the links... plow or not makes no difference. The ride height will be in the springs. Right now, I'm on the path of 1/4 elliptical(1/2 of a full leaf spring ) If needed, I will add a supplement to handle the plow.


Current FJ80 steering is VERY low on the axle. The hellfire knuckles put the steering at the very top and thus give you less angle from the box to the knuckle.

How do they handle with the 50% anti-squat? I've read that you want to be around 100% to keep handling the same. If I could lower anti-squat, I could get everything much more symmetrical.

Also, how is the upper link positioned? Did your guy have it angled at all up or down, or is it about level at ride height?

 

[DangerNoodle]

I am unsure how my fab guy came up with his numbers. But he is a premier fab guy in northern California so I trust his choices explicitly. I expect it to handle well.

For the links, here is a picture of his numbers setup on a 60" wide axle:
View attachment 2148245
The upper link slopes downward(1" front to rear on a 39" link) but keep in mind that this is because I'm going super ultra low for 35" tires; my frame height is going to be 18-19" from the ground

Interesting. I'm aiming for ~24 inches for the frame. I think I can get this geometry to work pretty well.

 

[DangerNoodle]

A bunch of stuff is coming as soon as my break hits, but I have also started looking at the possibility of buying a project truck to finish this build on. Here is the classifieds post of mine (Wanted - Looking for a project FJ40. 75-79 preferred, but not necessary. (CO)) If anyone has something like this, please let me know.

 

[DangerNoodle]

I talked with my fab guy on Monday about his numbers. I will paraphrase his answer so I may have something slightly off.

His claim is 100% AS is a road car number. Offroad will not ride nice especially on washboards. If I recall the story right, 100% AS during cornering can lift a tire.

He said 40 to 50% in the front will cause the front to dive down in braking conditions and also suck down during hard 4wd acceleration. It will ride "softer"... his description sounded like the debate between vertical shackle versus 45 degree angle kind of difference.

That is a really helpful answer. I've been reading the whole debate on pirate about what is a good anti dive number, but I have yet to see a good explanation of how exactly the vehicle will handle with the % of anti dive. Thank you!

 

[DangerNoodle]

He also mentioned that above 100% and that end of the vehicle will raise up under force. So if you had 200% in a rear four link, the axle will walk under the rig when you mashed the gas.

People were saying they had 100% +- 20% and liked how it felt. For a crawler, would having a higher anti-dive be good to help get over things?

 

[DangerNoodle]

Well, I've got some news.

I'm buying my own FJ40 to continue this project! I have been juggling this idea around since I started looking at modding my dad's cruiser, but everything out there was either way out of my price range or would require a ton of work before even looking at starting to build it up. I kind of found this one by chance just looking, and boy am I glad I did.

This is a 1976 FJ40, originally in sky blue. The current owner has a 350 swap in it, which is great for me because I don't have to do it. It was a complete rig before the rear axle blew, which prompted a partial restore, which the current owner no longer wants to finish.

I got the price down to $3,500 for everything, which I think is a smoking deal.

The tub is (hopefully) mostly restored, as the current owner cut out and patched the tub before lining it and priming it. Everything else needs to be restored, but it doesn't look too bad.

It's out in Georgia, so GA Architect is hopefully going to be able to do an inspection before I fully pull the trigger on it. I'm hoping it's worth it.
Man, I'm giddy with the thought of owning my own 40. (My roommate also hates me because all I do is talk about cruisers).

 

[DangerNoodle]

Here are a few other pictures.

 

[DangerNoodle]

Well, it's about time. Finals week has been hell for me, mainly because I have spent way too much time on this forum than I should have. Oh well, it was a lot more fun than studying physics and calculus. Anyways, I have about 3 1/2 weeks off, so its cruiser time. I am officially getting a 1978 FJ40 this break, thanks to @GA Architect for being willing to do a pre-purchase inspection for me. With that being said, does anyone need anything shipped from Atlanta GA to Colorado Springs CO? We will have space in the truck.

Anyways, back to the build.

I have a roughly $3,000 pile in the garage with the lockers and new gearing, and I need to get around to pulling the 3rd members out of the 80 axles.

I also convinced my dad to get a few new goodies for the garage.

It's an Everlast PowerPro 256D multiprocess welder. It does AC and DC TIG, stick, and is a plasma cutter too. With that, I needed to upgrade the welder cart to fit the new machine.

I widened the top shelf to fit both machines and used up the rest of the expanded metal for the shelves.

I think they fit pretty well.

I also did some work on the cruiser. It's been needing seats since I can remember, and I finally convinced my dad to get some new ones. I went with the Procar by SCAT 80-1200-51 seats. They are the Lumbar support, bucket, recliner seats.

 

[DangerNoodle]

I popped out the old passenger seat for a practice run. Procar doesn't have 78 fj 40 brackets, or at least I couldn't find them, so I'm basically starting from scratch here.

I was too busy wrestling with the seat to take pictures, so here are some final product ones. It slides about 8 inches, which I think is better than the none it had before. I can fit comfortably in it without it being all the way back, so I'm hopeful for the driver side. These things aren't built for people taller than 5'8".

I decided to reuse the old mounting hardware from the stock seats so I didn't have to fab up new mounting brackets, just the seat to bracket mount. I'm hoping to save the drive side seat completely.

Here is the seat all the way back.

And all the way forward. It can still go farther, but the transfer case stick is in the way.

I also got the switches completely mounted in the ashtray hole. I think it looks pretty clean, and I didn't have to add any other holes in the dash for it.

 

[DangerNoodle]

Since I have been doing a lot more welding recently, my dad decided to get me an early present.

It came with this nice little respirator that fits under the helmet. If I start wearing it, I may not get lung cancer by 30.
It supposedly filters out most welding fumes and dust, so that will be really good for me to have.

I'm hoping to get the other seat in tomorrow and then start on the 80 axles.

See you all then!

 

[samc2447]

I know it's too late now for your seats, but Corbeau makes sliders that bolt in to the stock locations on a 78. I installed a set last year with my new seats and they do slide back further than stock to give a bit more leg room too.

 

[DangerNoodle]

Well, I went and saw the new Star Wars last night with some friends at 12 AM, so I got a bit of a late start today. The movie was not worth staying up till 3 AM for.

I had a relatively productive day today, so I'm happy about that. It was also really warm, (37*f today) which has been a nice change from my college. It was -20*f for 3 days in a row, and I'm really not looking forward to my 8 AMs in January.

Anyways, I started with the Driver Side seat today.
There was a slight amount of junk under the seat. I also found the stock bottle jack and the front license plate which has been hiding from us for a while.

There is also some rust and a small little problem with the tub hiding under the seat and mat.

Yes, that is a crack in the tub, and it is adding some extra daylight into the cab. I need to fix that soon.

Instead of ripping apart the perfectly good sliding seat for the mounting brackets, I decided to make my own.

 

[DangerNoodle]

Here is the seat installed.

The seats slide far enough and I can sit in there comfortably without it slid all the way back.

"There is so much room for activities!"

I also started the 80 axle disassembly. I feel bad for this 80. Whoever owned it before it was stripped abused it. A lot. The oil in the rear diff was black and way chunkier than I would have hoped. The front pinion bearing looks like it has been through hell and back. There is a good inch of play in it, and I am hoping that it hasn't worn into the housing, but I'm not hopeful on that one.

The rear spline shafts look good. They came out easily too which is nice.

You never really realize how heavy the diffs are until you get to pull one out. This one was no different.

Here is the nasty oil. Yum. Glad we are rebuilding these axles.

 

[DangerNoodle]

First off, Merry Christmas / Happy Holidays everyone!

I got to playing around with the "Needs a new pinion bearing" front FJ80 axle. Here is the breakdown.

We were going to let someone else deal with the breakdown of the front axle cause we didn't have the correct sockets, but the NAPA by our house had them so we decided to do it ourselves.

The axle was in the truck and I am extremely lazy, so here was the easy way to get it out.

I then had a fabulous time pulling birfeilds.

These things were an absolute mess.

I started with the diff, and luckily the pinion bearing was still partially intact and it had not worn into the housing.

This was all that was left of the bearing:

I then wrestled the diff off. It is completely shot. The spider gears are free and were holding it in pretty well. I eventually got it free.

Here is the aftermath:

As it turns out, the PO decided to use the extra chunky grease formula in the diff. Here is a video: FJ80 Axle

 

[DangerNoodle]

Here are some other pictures:

Glittery

On a completely unrelated note, I did my first ever tig welding today. I finally got around to trying it out. I decided to do some aluminum because I need to do a robot chassis out of aluminum for my college robotics team, so I decided to start with aluminum first.

Here are my attempts. I tried my best. Tig sure is a lot more difficult than Mig or Stick.

In other news, my dad and I are leaving tomorrow and flying to Georgia to go pick up the project FJ40. I'm sure you will all love some road trip pictures through Kansas and Missouri. Good old Kansas, the only place you can watch your dog run away for two weeks.

Anyways, Merry Christmas all!

 

[Lucky1386]

So much room for activities... Why did you let us do that..lol

 

[DangerNoodle]

Just a little update.

I'm sitting in Denver International contemplating my life choices about taking a red-eye to Atlanta. Tomorrow will be fun though, as I am picking up the new cruiser and meeting @GA Architect for lunch!

I hope you all like roadtrip pictures cause they are coming.