73 FJ40 Want to add a factory rollbar? (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Oct 10, 2005
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285
Location
Cartersville, GA
Just bought a '73 with the longer rear jump seats and no rollbar. How hard will it be to mount a factory roll bar? Are the mounting points there?
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I am pretty sure there wasnt a factory roll bar for cruisers with the long style jump seats.
 
Custom! If you want the bar for protection the stock ones are useless.
 
green40 said:
Custom! If you want the bar for protection the stock ones are useless.


I'd have to disagree. Maybe not the best. But I have only heard about people being saved by the stock bar. Not getting hurt. Sure custom is nice but I like the look of a stock bar on a stock cruiser like you have.
 
SOR sells adapter to mount Fact rollbar with long seats, but you still have to bolt feet to sheet metal rather than the reinforced metal brackets the later trucks came with. CCOT sells the brackets.:D
 
You have a really nice, stock truck.


If you do not intend on taking this truck off road, I would not mess with it.


If you are looking for protection in the event of a rollover, the last piece of metal that I would ever think of trusting would be the tin foil tube that Toyota put in the trucks from 09/73 on....


Good luck!


-Steve
 
Mark at Metal Tech offers a replica version of the OEM bar made out of .120 HREW. Like Poser said the stock roll bar is really THIN, we measured it out to be around .072 wall vs the .120 wall that is used at Metal Tech.

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luv u

just sittin here havin a few beers, crusin the forum, looking for edification, interesting stuff, etc. and read posers reply. it just hit my funnybone. truth in a not too mean but sort of humorless, straight faced way that i find refreshing. way to go poser. :bounce: :bounce2: :beer: jim
 
That's a beauty. I sold my roll bar when I got mines. Put in the stock jumpers back in.

Then again, I just cruise to my favorite fishing holes over some pretty mild Georgia dirt. Got to look around here pretty hard just to flex the springs.
 
The only way to put a rollbar in and keep those long seats would be a "family" type cage (or just the 'b' and 'c' pillars, I guess). There just isn't room behind the seats for the support back leg of an OEM or OEMstyle rollbar. If you try it you'll make a mess out of that pretty cruiser.

Are you really so worried about a rollover with a stock height suspension? Unless you get pretty stupid while driving it's not going to flip all that easily.

If you wanted a different style of cruiser sell that one and buy the kind you like. It'd be a shame to mess that one up.
 
If you intend to keep the hard top on, I wouldn't even worry about a putting in a roll bar. The hard top is more than sturdy enough to support the weight in event of roll over. I knew a guy once that slide down an Alaskan mountain after being forced off an icy road by an out of control truck, and he basically flipped on the cap, and skid down a few hundred feet, being slowed by sapplings, then ended up in a ditch. This was in a 1979 model, with the thinner body steel. After getting the FJ40 retrieved, the only damage was to his front fenders from hitting the sapplings, and some scape marks on the fiberglass roof.

That's a nice fairly stock looking FJ40 you have there, and I personally would leave it alone.
 
I have the same thing and was looking for a roll bar so that I could run a safari top. can't do that without the rollbar to support it. It's too nice in these Phoenix winters to leave the noisy top on. :D
 
IDave said:
SOR sells adapter to mount Fact rollbar with long seats, but you still have to bolt feet to sheet metal rather than the reinforced metal brackets the later trucks came with. CCOT sells the brackets.:D


So I am assuming the mounting points aern't there? The reason I was thinking about a roll bar was because I'd like to upgrade to the later model 3-point belts and be able to use a bikini top if I ever take the top off. It doesn't appear that the top has ever been removed by looking at the bolts.
 
if the top has never been taken off i would never take it off. You probably have a true classic right there. I would think that would make that rig very close to stock if the factory roof seal has never been broken.

lunyou
 
cooney said:
Maybe you're right. Just leave it alone.

How is the noise? Is it banging around? If so, you might as well take it off and do what you want because you need new seals anyway.
 
cooney said:
So I am assuming the mounting points aern't there? The reason I was thinking about a roll bar was because I'd like to upgrade to the later model 3-point belts and be able to use a bikini top if I ever take the top off. It doesn't appear that the top has ever been removed by looking at the bolts.

Yes, there are no mounting points for the feet.

Here is a picture of the SOR bracket kit to place the long seats inward so you can use the OEM rollbar with long benches.

Here's a link to the wheel well support channels that you should use under the roll bar, should you want to go this route. Yes, you have to drill/weld/etc. to do this. http://store.yahoo.com/coolfj40/wheelwelsupc.html

And yes, it can be done. I agree it isn't ideal.
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I appreciate the links. I am gonna keep researching before I do anything. It is winter, I won't be taking the top off for a while anyway.
 

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