Builds 1987 FJ60 Expedition Build (1 Viewer)

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No doubt!!
So with regards to the LED Lights, there a guy that happends to be a friend of @robustbambi , he goes by @2000UZJ (I think) that sells lights you might want to talk to him and see what he can come up with but for a light bar, the $200 price tag is a bit "light"...LOL

Other option would be to go old school and grab some Hella 500 style lamps for the front. LED version are close to the $200 mark but not sure how much better they would be than the 500FF in a pencil light. You can get the 500FF pencil lights on Amazon for $70 (free shipping if you are a prime member). Once I get my wiring harness and new battery cable kit from @Fourrunner then I am going to invest in some lights on the bumper.

EDIT: Sweet got to love this tagging people!!!! Great feature @woody
 
Any cruiserheads that live near Sonoma California and want to help me with my 12HT swap are more than welcome!
Its gonna be tough flying solo. Im especially looking for someone whos good with electrical because my 12HT is 24v and my truck is 12v so we're gonna have some work to do!
 
Call Georg (@orangefj45) at Valley Hybrid in Stockton. His shop specializes in swaps on cruisers and I am sure he can offer you some advice. You offer up enough beer/meat and you may be able to get some guys like Kyle (@KWalkerM) to jump in too.
 
gregnash said:
Call Georg (@orangefj45) at Valley Hybrid in Stockton. His shop specializes in swaps on cruisers and I am sure he can offer you some advice. You offer up enough beer/meat and you may be able to get some guys like Kyle (@KWalkerM) to jump in too.
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Oh. I would definitely give those guys a call if I didnt work for Gary Cardum at Mudrak Custom Cruisers in Sonoma hahahahaha. Any questions I cant find answers to on MUD are normally answered at work. But thank you for the contacts!!
I really just need someone to help me cut the workload. Im thinking Ill give a couple friends a call.
 
Thanks for the Sub Mulah!

So the 12HT swap will commence the day after I get out of school on JUNE 8TH! (Im 17 and am still fighting through high school. But I find PLENTY of time for my Cruiser hahaha)

So, June 9th the donor truck will have arrived at the shop, and the tear down/build up will get rollin!
Between now and then I hope to have some sliders built, and a roof rack brought back from the dead.

I'll be ordering a 30" LED light bar tomorrow most likely, and will be installing it on the front bumper when it arrives.

Im not sure if anyone is interested in what I do at work, but if you want to see photo's and write ups on all the cruiser work I do to customer's trucks, its not a problem! Im doing a OME lift and suspension upgrade this saturday, and we are re-assembling an FJ40 that just got a BRAND NEW aluminum body back from the paint shop. Other than that we have a sweet 74 series build with a 1HZ swap and is being changed from right to left hand drive, a 40 thats getting all LED lighting, an 80 thats getting a brake upgrade, and a 60 thats getting a UNIMOG engine!

Let me know what your interested in seeing and Ill post pics and some info.
 
Alright guys! Sorry for the huge delay in updates but here's a quick update.

I was down in LA checking out colleges and stuff, and on the drive between Long Beach and LAX I stopped by and met with the guy who's going to be selling me my diesel. I got some good news, and some bad but here it goes. The engine has 120,000 miles on it, and runs really well. I drove it for a few miles and really got to feel what it would be like to have a 12ht under the hood. ITS GOT POWER. The torque was incredible, and the thing started instantly when I turned the key. On the road it purred, and had power to spare.
When we pulled back into the lot we got into the finer points of the swap. One thing I was really concerned about (and rightfully so) was the compatibility between my current transmission, and the new 12HT. Yes the donor truck has an H55 like my truck, but I wasnt sure about the input shaft having the correct length, or spline size. It turns out, the 12HT has the same spline size as my truck, but the input shaft is an inch or two longer, and I'd have to tear my brand new trany apart in order to change them.

So luckily I found that out BEFORE everything was all put together hahahaha. We decided that I'd take the whole trany from the donor truck aswell, and just pull out my current trany, and swap it into one of the two other 60's my family owns (my dad has a fleet of 4 cruisers).

With the transmission issues resolved, I turned to gearing, exhaust, shipping, payment etc.

Bottom line:
The engine, transmission/T-case, everything from the engine bay and dashboard, the front and rear diff gears, and the exhaust will be removed from the donor truck while its in LA. Everything is getting paletized and delivered to the shop where Ill do the work, and we'll get the ball rolling.
Once the swap is complete, Ill sell my current 2F thats in great shape. Ill include everything with it, radiator, pumps, alt, old dash, EVERYTHING. That should net me about $1,000.
After that Ill take the new H55 and rebuilt Tcase that I removed from my rig, and my dads going to pay me to put it in one of his.


At the end of the day I should have a 60 with an H55 and a 12HT, aswell as a fj60 with a new h55 and tcase! (that rig has less than 30,000 miles on it and is basically new)
 
Ok ^that^ was way to much writing without pictures. Heres some fun stuff.

We lifted my dads work truck with new 4 inch OME springs and shocks. We flushed the radiator and added a new exhaust as well (it sounds sooooo good now. Kinda like a boat)

Heres some pictures I snapped when I took it out to test the new suspension.






 
Continuing the roll, I got started on fabing my slider base mounts. My design is super basic, and the plans bellow are really just rough outlines so I dont miss anything.







The bases are made of 1/4inch steel plate that I cut from a long strip. One plate will be welded to the inner side of the chassis, and the opposite plate (pictured in plans above) will bolt over and under the chassis to secure the slider in place. This will allow the sliders to be easily removable, yet very sturdy and secure. I dont plan on rock crawling in this rig, but Id love to have a step and some simple body protection, even if all it does is keep away dents from doors in the parking lot.

Heres a couple pictures of the bases cut and drilled.



^The top plate is just a template for the bolt holes. The cut on the end was done with a torch, the rest were cut with a cut-off saw.



Our shop is a complete mess after a fire destroyed almost all of the roof a month or so ago.

More updates and pictures to come.


As a last thing. Heres a FJ40 that I was working on at work.





I put in a new OME lift and shocks while Chris and Chemma worked on the engine. It has a chevy 350 under the hood and can literally do a burnout in 3 out of the 4 gears. I wish Id got some pictures of the interior because it was pristine.

Too bad the thing runs like s*** ever since they put in the chevy engine :bang:
It basically lives in the shop now.
Cool rig none the less!!!!!
 
Silver City Cruiser said:
Looks really nice. Hope to see you at Overland Expo in Flagstaff.
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Thanks Silver City! Id love to go to Overland Expo this year but I just wouldnt be able to make the trip while I have school. Im hoping to be at cruiser fest towards the end of the summer though!
 
TLC Norway said:
cool! I'm interested in that 80s rotor and caliper mod.
Do you still have stock brakes in the rear? any brake mods after the lift? what makes that OME a 4" kit? longer shackles?
did you caster shim the front?
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The brake mod has been fantastic so far. I have so much more confidence in the braking ability of my truck now. The rear brakes are still the stock drums. I plan to swap to a 80 series full float rear axle and convert to discs in the rear as well at some point. Right now the only issue i find is that the front brakes are really responsive, and the rear's arent pulling their weight. For example, Ill need to stop quickly, and I can feel the front brakes just kick in and do work, and the rear's are just along for the ride. So basically the front brakes can lock up if I want them to, but the rears arent half as effective. (grant it, they are drum brakes...)

As to the lift, I did the brake mods just after the lift. It went Lift --> Knuckle Rebuild --> brakes
The 4" lift is really just an estimate at how much higher the truck rides after the new leaf springs. So, If you were to put my current, lifted truck next to a completely stock FJ60, my rig would be about 4 inches taller. The Shackles are completely replaced, and are only longer by about 1/8". They are greasable now. The lift comes from the increased spring strength. The old springs were so weak they were basically flat. These new OME springs come in different weights, "heavy, medium, or light". The heavy springs will make your truck taller because they are both thicker springs, and there are 5 springs compared to the 4 of the medium.
(Lift really just accounts for how thick the spring pack is, and now much "spring" there is in the springs)
 
Hey guys, I just had a quick question for all of you. Has anyone successfully converted their rear brakes to disks? Id really like to swap out for a set of rotors and calipers but dont want to lose my awesome e-brake.
Any idea's or recommended kits are more than welcome.

In other news! My 120,000 mile 12HT is on-route from Japan! The whole truck is coming over, and I claimed the engine, trany, exhaust, diff gears, and other odds and ends.

Stoked for the swap! Gonna get it goin in about 4-6 weeks.
 
KeepCruzin said:
Hey guys, I just had a quick question for all of you. Has anyone successfully converted their rear brakes to disks? Id really like to swap out for a set of rotors and calipers but dont want to lose my awesome e-brake.
Any idea's or recommended kits are more than welcome.

In other news! My 120,000 mile 12HT is on-route from Japan! The whole truck is coming over, and I claimed the engine, trany, exhaust, diff gears, and other odds and ends.

Stoked for the swap! Gonna get it goin in about 4-6 weeks.
Click to expand...

Swap in an fzjn 80 rear axle. You get disk brakes, full floating axles and a beefed up axle carrier.
 
The Phoenician said:
Swap in an fzjn 80 rear axle. You get disk brakes, full floating axles and a beefed up axle carrier.
Click to expand...

I assume you mean "FZJ80"? And yes I have really thought about that as a great option. The only thing I would be apprehensive about is whether or not the hand brake is compatible with that of the 80. If it is, or is even remotely compatible, I would totally see that as an option.

Question: If I was to swap in the 80 rear axle, would the diff gears from my 60 be compatible or not? That would be the only drawback for me. Because then I would have to match up the diff gears and those can get pretty expensive depending.
 
come on man, working at mudrak and you don't even know what a fzjn80 is???
60 diffs are a direct swap into 80 rear housings, same gears and all. you will need an 80 series e brake cable tho (80 FF is 3" wider wheel mount point to wheel mounting point than a 60 axle).
 
KeepCruzin said:
I assume you mean "FZJ80"? And yes I have really thought about that as a great option. The only thing I would be apprehensive about is whether or not the hand brake is compatible with that of the 80. If it is, or is even remotely compatible, I would totally see that as an option.

Question: If I was to swap in the 80 rear axle, would the diff gears from my 60 be compatible or not? That would be the only drawback for me. Because then I would have to match up the diff gears and those can get pretty expensive depending.
Click to expand...

LOL yeah I meant FZJ 80, Sorry fat fingers and small screen. The ebrake came with my 80 axle, and I'm about to swap out the 3rds, they are direct bolt in from what I've been told.
 
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