1980 Beater Build!! (1 Viewer)

[4x4 Station Wagon]

Yep I considered that as well and that is the theory I am going with on my fj40. I know they are cheap but where did you find them for 9$?

EDIT: Not that it matters but since the opportunity arose and it may help one person I will share a quick story. I had the ford shock towers on a samurai and the constant torque back and forth with that much leverage on a small footprint basically ripped a 4" x 4" hole in my frame...... BUT obviously the frame on my samurai was tin foil compared to the frame on these minis or an fj40 so I am not at all saying it isn't a great option. Honestly I don't plan on plating where the shock hoop is going too disperse the force so it is probably worse in theory.....?? This is more intended so you can help save your buddys with samurais from having an incident as I have

 

[2ndGenToyotaFan]

I'd never put a Ford product on my truck!!!!! But I've heard them referred to as the $9 Ford shock mounts... maybe prices have gone up, but I'm assuming people got them from the Ford dealer...?

 

[liljlandon]

They are actually 13 bucks from a ford dealer, but... I would always prefer to make my own stuff.

 

[2ndGenToyotaFan]

I think they are off an F250, but don't quote me.

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

Here is the part number that I picked up a while back on the fj40 forum. It is actually one of the last dinky things I have to do to get my fj40 back on the road. I have just gotten side tracked with the pickup.

part number is E5TZ-18183-A

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

I was able to cut the shock hoops off with a long sawzall blade which worked well other than the large welded section in which I am choosing to not totally clean up and simply ground smooth. I cleaned the front factory lower shock mounts up that i had cut off a while back and am planning to use them on the hoops. In regards to the hoops my friend was able to bend them for me last night so I am back up and going later today and hoping the shocks arrive. He had a bendtech or ?? computer program that I have to say is a must if you are trying to accomplish anything other than a simple hoop or whatever. It took all the guess work out of it.

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

Here is a pic of the final product tacked in place until the shocks arrive... yes they didnt arrive today as I had hoped .

This is my only method of notching so you will never hear me brag about the notches but I pulled it together.




Of course I ran out of gas for the miller so I am off to get more tomorrow so I can get the other side tacked in place.



EDIT:
I forgot to mention the shock hoops added 4.5" of additional resting shock height I could have went 3.5-4 and not had to hack my inners a bit but I do not mind.

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

I am not happy with this set up....... Of course I am not speaking of my current shackle angle I am referring to the fact that I put these ridiculously huge springs on here and only have a 6" shackle which to me is huge but according to calculators is not enough too ever allow the springs to fully do their thing. Therefore I am going to be staring at it pretty hard tomorrow and will possibly be tubing the frame for the top shackle mount hopefully allowing for at least 3" longer shackles which I am not real excited about rebuilding but I am not afraid to admit when I think I was wrong

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

I went ahead and added an extra brace to the hoop too make sure I dont bend it down on the trail as I saw one happen this year. I am still scratchin my head on the shackle thing. Any thoughts???

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

I have been tied up with my powerstroke along with everyone elses vehicles but I have managed to find out that the shocks I ordered two weeks ago were never ordered and now hopefully will be here this week. I have also torn down the rearend to replace all the wiped out bearings and seals and weld the spiders. The third is tight but to my suprise a pinion had walked into the carrier at some point in its life. It has all been replaced but now the only cruddy suprise is that the rearend had water in the oil and sat long enough to seperate and eat away a bit. I really dont care and although there is one small bit of pitting it will run fine for now until I can pull together either ARBs or E-lockers. I had some 39.5 boggers lined up this weekend for cheap but I ended up passing because they were just to wide for what I am after... Now the big delima is I have a bag full of seals and bearings for the rearend and a friend trying to sell me a newer 3" wider housing and axles for 50 bucks which I could get that out of mine for an even swap but I can not make up my mind. I really dont NEED the extra stability because if I tip over so be it..... I dont really want the extra strain from the spacers on the wheel bearings becuase I already have deep 10" wide wheels, I think the only advantage would be the added articulation, and the clearance from inside of tire to frame. ANY THOUGHTS???

 

[liljlandon]

I kept my stock rear (the shorter one) because It would cause less of an headache when ordering parts, finding parts, sourcing parts, plus... The are dirt cheap now, and axle shafts can be found easy... Harder to do a disc conversion to, but... 10 dollar axle shafts at the pick'n'pull for the shorter axle, or 80 dollar shafts for teh newer one? 10 bucks all day long!

 

[TRoss]

Go wide. The housing is beefier and the brakes are bigger.

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

Good point on the cheap plentiful axles.

As for the beef and bigger brakes really I never knew that..... Thanks that changes my mind a bit...

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

The new shocks finally showed up 3 weeks later....

I have a new challenge for you guys. There is power but not much going to my coil. It will run and start and all that but it just isnt much juice... I tried to cheat and run an electric fuel pump to the coil wire temporarily and it wasnt enough juice to run the pump which is how I found this out. Does the coil run off of less juice? My common sense says no and I had to run a jumper wire in my collumn behind the tumbler from the ACC to the ON to get the juice. I have tested the fuse block and at this point i am very sure it is my tumbler? Any thoughts? I took it apart and cleaned it and it all looked fine but still not full volts/amps without the jump wire

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

i finally got to load my junk on a trailer and haul it to the DMV to get the titles combined.


I also mocked up a double shackle even though I had talked my self out of it because I am not impressed with those HUGE springs at all and I wanted to see if it allowed them to function. It was definately better however my inset wheels are making my tires hit on the frame hard which is in turn limiting the flex.


I will be using the stock chevy shackle and my six inch eye to eye so I have to move the hanger still and what is your opinion on my shackle angle. It is about 45 degrees with no load but even when I get on it and bounce it doesnt change much. I was thinking of setting it right at about this or a bit less shackle angle since I wont be hauling heavy loads.

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

The above contraption is just temporary to see how it helped

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

Here you can see the limiting factor at the moment.
View attachment 428293

View attachment 428294

 

[liljlandon]

In my opinion, if you still have to move the hanger still... Why not flip it? Put the mount towards the cab, run the 6" shackle as the "extender" shackle, to the chevy shackle? You'd have to deal with pinion angle and loss of lift... If you want Ill snap a pic of mine in the morning to show you what i mean. I did it because I didnt have to move the rear shackle mount.

EDIT: I made a simple rendering in CAD one day when everyone skipped my class, so ill post it in .pdf format. The Green would be stock mount, using a 6" "extender" shackel, with the stock chevy being the 'normal' shackle. The pink represents the original pin idea, with the yellow being the pin. I have found that I havent' needed it yet, but i might make one later just incase I go jump some dunes... You wouldn't want this to fully droop, which is why i made limiting cables... Just havent got around to installing them

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

Thanks for the reply and I am not opposed. Please snap a pic.

 

[4x4 Station Wagon]

I am going to go for it and if I dont like it I will either pin it or cut it off and try a longer single shackle.....

Here is a picture I scooped up that matches the junk I have laying around. Now off to pirate to look at the specs so that I can cheat on setting the hangers for proper shackle angle.