Builds 1977 FJ55 west TN build: family wagon (2 Viewers)

[bobm]

$4,999.00

 

[Ol Yeller]

$4,999.00

Dollar short and a day...oh well.

 

[Lifelong40Fan]

Thought I'd post an update. We just returned yesterday from a 1.5 week trip to Houston and then Las Cruces, NM. We celebrated the first wedding of our children in Houston as my oldest son got married. It was a small immediate family only wedding due to state restrictions. It was beautiful, though, and we had a great time celebrating as a family. Then it was on to Las Cruces over Memorial Day. We worked all of last week at my in-laws house - peeling lots of wallpaper, repairing dry-rot damage around windows, sheet rock work, and painting. Not too much different than work on the 55, just with wood and nails instead. We left Friday and drove through Dallas. I've mentioned before that I grew up in Las Cruces and have a lot of memories riding in the back of my dad's mustard yellow 1976 FJ40 - vivid memories of lots of four wheeling with my dad and his friend who owned CJ7, deer hunting and rock crawling down dried stream beds before it was cool, and the family daily-driver to drop us kids off at school. Funny memory we discussed while in Las Cruces last week - the school that I attended was surrounded by sand hills and my mom used to have me lock in the hubs and we'd 4 wheel those hills before school on occasion. Totally cool to have your friends see you out climbing hills in an FJ40 before school! I was only 10 or so, but we had that truck for a lot of very impressionable years. So, I recently found in Dallas a 1976 mustard yellow FJ40 from NM. What are the chances it's my dad's old 40? I don't know, but it's not unlikely. To me it doesn't really matter if it's the same, but it would be cool if it were! I've been talking/texting the guy selling it for several months now and I plan to buy it. I've got my yellow 40 for sale and am hunting trailers for a return trip to Dallas to pick it up. Anyhow, we stopped in Dallas, met the current owner, and drove the truck around. It was a blast and the kids loved it. The truck does need work, but it should function just fine as a sunny-day driver to work, while I continue to work on the 55. So, that's the plan - sell my yellow 40, buy my dad's old mustard yellow 40, do a little work to get it running well enough to be a sunny-day driver, and continue work on the 55, restarting tomorrow actually. Here are 2 pics of my dad's 40 and my mom and sister, all of our kids at the wedding, and the kids in the 40 in Dallas.
Onward!
Mike

 

[scrapdaddy]

Very nice. Beautiful family!

 

[bobm]

Was 8 in my family growing up. Dont know how anyone can do it these days. You guys must be Saints ❤

 

[Lifelong40Fan]

Well, not quite saints, but feel very blessed. It’s always been a tremendous amount of work, but so is anything worth doing. The wedding was a real celebration and it was fun to party as a family!

 

[Ol Yeller]

That’s a great outting, very cool to look fw to “dad’s 40” too.

 

[Lifelong40Fan]

Had a couple hours, so I ground on the passenger’s side floor and got bored. So, I patched up back wheel well. Made more grinding work for myself, but got rid of the last of the rot on the passenger’s side. I’m not done, but gotta go.

 

[Megadoomer]

How do those kids not kill each other being Cubs and Cards fans? Smart guy in the back with the SF tho.

 

[bobm]

 

[Lifelong40Fan]

We have a lot of baseball talk in my home. A lot of arguing, convincing, fighting, ..... I've got 5 Cardinals, 3 Cubs, 1 Pirates, 2 Red Sox, and 1 Giants fans, and a few who more-or-less tolerate all our baseball talk. I see so many similarities of the game of baseball with regular life. It's truly the best game!

I was wearing my Giants hat because I've lost my Red Sox hat working on my 55. It's gone. I've looked everywhere and can't locate it. I did have on my Red Sox shirt, though.

 

[bobm]

One of the kids used it for a rag

 

[Lifelong40Fan]

One part down with getting my dad’s old 40 home. Got a great deal on a 16 ft car hauler. Now to add electric brakes to at least one axle, outfit tie down straps, and re-wire plug. If I add brakes to one axle, which one? Front seems best to me.

 

[Megadoomer]

I am not an expert but with most of the trailer in front of the axles I would say front would have more load on it in a stopping situation.

 

[bobm]

Just put a surge brake on! Do both axles! It'll be a lot Safer!

 

[Ol Yeller]

Huh, never seen a car trailer without brakes?

All the ones I see have both axles, don’t want that thing to start pushing you on a grade.

 

[scrapdaddy]

Most of the light duty 16' trailers with #3500 axles will only have one set of brakes. On my stock trailer and one I'm rebuilding for a friend both are on the rear axle. I'm with Bob on surge brakes, but only if you maintain them. All my military trailers had surge brakes and not one worked when I got them.

 

[Lifelong40Fan]

So, what’s the advantage of surge brakes over electronic?

 

[scrapdaddy]

For one, you don't need a brake controller in your tow vehicle, so any vehicle could tow safely. They don't rely on electric connections to work, we all know what grounding problems are like. One disadvantage is backing up. If you don't put a pin in the surge then the brakes will lock up when backing up.

 

[Ol Yeller]

On the other hand if you tow in rain or snow you may prefer the electric, so preference a bit.

I personally have not had great experiences towing with surge, but they were all rental/borrow trailers that were tired.

Also the ability to grab some brake if things start wagging (improper load balance) can be a life saver.