4 Wheel Steering on a Fj40 (1 Viewer)

[Gauge]

Just a crazy hypothetical thought. I was thinking about how to make a FJ40 more manuverable in tight off road spots.

Would it be possible to install (another) front axle in the rear of a 40, fabricate some steering arms and have 4 wheel steeing?

Is this even possible?

 

[Mace]

REar axle would snap quickly, you would have to make a new rear tub and frame to allow for the tire movement


Waste of time unless you had a full buggy

 

[LC_Hamma]

Possible, oh yeah. Practical, depends on your fab skillz or your wallet. First thing is the rear frame is too wide for turning radius, unless you go with a wider axle. You want those u-joints or hehe (birfs for Woody) to be as beefy as possible. Stock rig Longs would suffice, modified rig 35 spline D60 (minimum) w/ CTM's & alloy shafts - just a generalization here....

 

[dgangle]

As my Dad always said, anything is possible with enough time, money and ambition.

With another TLC axle in the rear, one now has quadrupled their likelyhood of breaking a Birf, especially with a locked diff.

 

[Mark W]

My Project In Limbo is 4 wheel steer. Of course it is also coil sprung with locked rockwells and 1600R20s. And still sitting in the shop taking up floor space.


Mark...

 

[Living in the Past]

Toyota made four wheel steering for the FJ55s for use in the mines in OZ. I have never seen one or heard about them in years. It was suppose to have a way of locking the rear wheels when four wheel steering wasn't needed and then unlock when needed. Just find one of these old things import it and you have all the parts needed. Of course it would be RHD.

John

 

[Gauge]

Now that I think about it, the pumpkin would be in the wrong place. It would be offset from the output shaft on the transmission. The driveshaft would be at a very weird angle - probably too much of an angle to work.

Mark - on your project rig - the one taking up floor space in the shop, did you get as far as connecting the axle to the transmission?

 

[JasonH]

Jim Van de Ven's truck is pretty bad ass. He had to build his own frame to make the rear steer work. Some build up is here.

I know he ended up with a Dana 60 in the rear. I can't find my pictures of it finished, but it's more than a little bit cool.

Go to the metaltech site and watch the video from CM02. At the very end is a little footage of Jim driving around in camp.

http://metaltech4x4.com/video_cm02.htm

 

[Mace]

Now that I think about it, the pumpkin would be in the wrong place. It would be offset from the output shaft on the transmission. The driveshaft would be at a very weird angle - probably too much of an angle to work.

Mark - on your project rig - the one taking up floor space in the shop, did you get as far as connecting the axle to the transmission?

Pumkin would be in the right place, just the wrong axle for the application

 

[wantatlc]

buy an old school Honda Prelude with 4Ws and add the FJ40 body and there you go...

 

[Mark W]

Now that I think about it, the pumpkin would be in the wrong place. It would be offset from the output shaft on the transmission. The driveshaft would be at a very weird angle - probably too much of an angle to work.

Mark - on your project rig - the one taking up floor space in the shop, did you get as far as connecting the axle to the transmission?

Yeah. No big deal. The Rocks are offset just like the Cruiser drivetrain.

Although I'm about to pull the engine out for installation in another rig and when a powerplant goes back in it will have an extra T/C in line, so I'll have to make driveshafts AGAIN.


Mark...

 

[thcFJ40]

Isn't the wheelbase short enough? That is a tight situation... Too tight. Sounds like an oops.

 

[Mark W]

If you're rferimng to my post, then...

It has a 105 inch wheelbase. 8 inches longer to the rear and 7 to the front. The six is coming out (after much consideration and changing of plans) in favor of a V8. I've got a deal in the works (hopefully) for a 6.2 diesel w/Banks turbo. (The trail range of a diesel power plant is the largest reason for the swap. The extra grunt to *hopefully* be able to break the 53x17 inch, 500 pound tire/wheel combination loose and let them spin a bit when needed.)

If the deal of the 6.2 doesn't work out, I'll probably just go with a small block, count on gearing to trasnfer the higher rpm capability into more grunt when needed and build some larger fuel tanks.

Whichever engine I wind up with, this will allow me to keep the Orion within an inch or three of it's current location, even with a 465/203 in front of it.

Don't forget that with the toploader diffs that Rockwells have my drivelines have very little drop from one end to the other. Less than an SOA '40. And longer shafts to boot. Even the rear one even after the new engine/tranny/Tcase setup goes in.

So, no... It is not an "oops" at all.


Mark...