Builds 76 FJ40 in South Texas (2 Viewers)

[South Texas 97]

Got it, nothing on the taper, grease the ball joint. Thanks to you both

 

[ToyotaMatt]

Got it, nothing on the taper, grease the ball joint. Thanks to you both

PRE-GREASE ....

 

[South Texas 97]

Well, that escalated quickly. Was just going to clean up the steering knuckles, brake disks and free wheeling hubs, as part of replacing the tie rod ends, and a new rag joint. The kit did not come with the pitman arm drag link, so I thought, why not, so pulled that off as well and cleaned everything up. It seems to be in good shape, had fresh grease at least. Then to replace the rag joint, I thought, why not, as you either have to loosen the steering column or the steering box. So the steering box got a good insitu cleaning, and loosened up all the bolts to pull it out tomorrow.

the pitman arm drag link, note the special tool for unscrewing the cap. Just some 1/8 steel plate.

and cleaned up

while waiting on a Warn freewheeling rebuild kit, cleaned up the case a bit.

with the right size lever, you can move the world, or at least the steering box mounting bolts.

 

[ToyotaMatt]

Well, that escalated quickly. Was just going to clean up the steering knuckles, brake disks and free wheeling hubs, as part of replacing the tie rod ends, and a new rag joint. The kit did not come with the pitman arm drag link, so I thought, why not, so pulled that off as well and cleaned everything up. It seems to be in good shape, had fresh grease at least. Then to replace the rag joint, I thought, why not, as you either have to loosen the steering column or the steering box. So the steering box got a good insitu cleaning, and loosened up all the bolts to pull it out tomorrow.View attachment 3213100
the pitman arm drag link, note the special tool for unscrewing the cap. Just some 1/8 steel plate.
View attachment 3213103
and cleaned upView attachment 3213105
while waiting on a Warn freewheeling rebuild kit, cleaned up the case a bit.View attachment 3213107
with the right size lever, you can move the world, or at least the steering box mounting bolts.
View attachment 3213109

you may find it necessary to simply REMOVE the drivers side fender and apron assy. as a 1 piece part all together to actually be able to extract the steering box with the pitman arm still attached to it from the truck at all ...

it is highly ill advised to attempt a stand alone pitman arm puller with box still attached to frame rail fender in place because you will be required to use a OXY torch along with a SST puller to budge tha arm off the box male splines in any way


simply a dangerous no work room to work topic here ...

 

[Green Bean]

Well, that escalated quickly. Was just going to clean up the steering knuckles, brake disks and free wheeling hubs, as part of replacing the tie rod ends, and a new rag joint. The kit did not come with the pitman arm drag link, so I thought, why not, so pulled that off as well and cleaned everything up. It seems to be in good shape, had fresh grease at least. Then to replace the rag joint, I thought, why not, as you either have to loosen the steering column or the steering box. So the steering box got a good insitu cleaning, and loosened up all the bolts to pull it out tomorrow.View attachment 3213100
the pitman arm drag link, note the special tool for unscrewing the cap. Just some 1/8 steel plate.
View attachment 3213103
and cleaned upView attachment 3213105
while waiting on a Warn freewheeling rebuild kit, cleaned up the case a bit.View attachment 3213107
with the right size lever, you can move the world, or at least the steering box mounting bolts.
View attachment 3213109

Very nice work. Bee careful though... it is a slippery slope. When you find yourself sayin "As long as I'm in this deep..." next thing you know you are doing a frame-off full resto. Ask @rkymtnflyfisher .

 

[South Texas 97]

Thanks, Matt, good advice, my plan was not to try to remove the pitman arm, originally just enough movement to change the rag joint, but if I can get it out by holding my mouth just right, I will. Otherwise the fender will come off. All those bolts have had a week of soaking in penetrating fluid already.
the general plan is to work on sub systems and then put them back on the truck. At some point they will all come off to do the frame. But not now.

 

[exsaint81]

Thanks, Matt, good advice, my plan was not to try to remove the pitman arm, originally just enough movement to change the rag joint, but if I can get it out by holding my mouth just right, I will. Otherwise the fender will come off. All those bolts have had a week of soaking in penetrating fluid already.
the general plan is to work on sub systems and then put them back on the truck. At some point they will all come off to do the frame. But not now.

Just replaced seals and gasket on my steering box for oil leak. I don't see a heat shield attached to your steering box , perhaps because of headers. The pitman arm can come off with a heavy duty puller and a couple taps with a hammer, and the box can be delivered through the wheel well with advanced Tetris skills. The fender doesn't have to be removed completely, but removing the bolts at the running board and the apron opens that space a few cm. Changing the rag joint requires dropping the steering column....And so on. This forum has taught me to take lots of pics along the way. Very helpful when life gets in the way and the job stretches out for months.

 

[pb4ugo]

Its easier to replace the rag joint by loosening and sliding the steering column up.

 

[ToyotaMatt]

Just replaced seals and gasket on my steering box for oil leak. I don't see a heat shield attached to your steering box , perhaps because of headers. The pitman arm can come off with a heavy duty puller and a couple taps with a hammer, and the box can be delivered through the wheel well with advanced Tetris skills. The fender doesn't have to be removed completely, but removing the bolts at the running board and the apron opens that space a few cm. Changing the rag joint requires dropping the steering column....And so on. This forum has taught me to take lots of pics along the way. Very helpful when life gets in the way and the job stretches out for months.

how exactly are you able to remove any 40 series pitman arm from a still in-place mounted manual or optional P/S

equipped box without the aid of HEAT that has been fossilized-fused together in mechanically meshed time for over 40+

to 50+ years ?




it's not fair to imply a couple of " Taps " with a hammer and a heavy duty puller will be a cake walk , when that is simply
not going to occur .....


you WILL absolutely need a OXY torch here ..

 

[South Texas 97]

It came out with the Tetris skills noted above, loosen the steering shaft, lift up and off and then rotate forward, and it comes out in front of the mount, with the pitman arm intact. Cleaned up the outside, the mount itself, and then went to change the oil, 0.6qt of 90W, only to find the box is full of grease, not oil. 5 1/2 turns lock to lock, with a crunchy bit in the middle for about half a rotation. For now, it will go back in as is with a new rag joint and tie rod ends.

will paint the paintable bits before putting everything back together.
cleaned up the mount, everything looks in good shape. This will give me close to what the proper geometry should be until I can get an alignment at some point.

next up will be wheel and axle seals, and a warn freewheeling hub rebuild.
Brakes are within spec, although the flexible lines look original so need to be replaced

 

[South Texas 97]

The cool thing is Mr Toyoda even marked the ends of the assembly, so even I can get it reinstalled the right way around.

 

[ToyotaMatt]

The cool thing is Mr Toyoda even marked the ends of the assembly, so even I can get it reinstalled the right way around.View attachment 3214071

make sure u install a new oem toyota side pitman arm shaft seal ,

don'rt skip this step they all leak after so many years

 

[ToyotaMatt]

Thanks, Matt, good advice, my plan was not to try to remove the pitman arm, originally just enough movement to change the rag joint, but if I can get it out by holding my mouth just right, I will. Otherwise the fender will come off. All those bolts have had a week of soaking in penetrating fluid already.
the general plan is to work on sub systems and then put them back on the truck. At some point they will all come off to do the frame. But not now.

i linked you to this thread , i posted step by step photos and a doctrine of sorts on how i approached a cosmetic nuts and bolts overhaul of my manual box i was working on at the time ........


i go from this to that .....

 

[ToyotaMatt]

look closely at each photo , you should see all the related part numbers or most you will need , some were ONLY available from SOR.com

so if you strike out your local dealer ?

try there next no matter what , they do have NOS oem parts you will need

there is NO reason why you can't create something even nicer then what posted here below ,

i got sloppy and mixed and matched gold plated and silver plated oem bolts ................

i should have never done that ,

Bad-ToyotaMatt

 

[ERNRAM]

If you ever want to remove the pitman arm, thus is the tool to get. It's about $58 bucks on Amazon.

This conical shaped puller is much more balanced the a 2 arm puller

I used it recently to pull a Putman arm off a 1968 FJ40. It came off so easy ( no use of heat or penetrating oil needed) .

 

[ERNRAM]

Indeed , but did you take the blue pill or the red pill, or the one mother gave you..…
Looking at the obviously reman non Toyota alternator, it is a Wilson 90-01-4056, 72 Amp. It appears to be a three wire alternator, and it took me a bit to figure out the PO setup. There is the main WL, a green wire bunched up to one terminal, and another purplish wire, that runs up and around, and goes into a two pin plug, which, after some hunting on the diagrams gave me the windshield washer motor, a switched source of 12v to excite the alternator. Quite clever, but one more thing for the list.View attachment 3204705
to the windshield washer plug
View attachment 3204709
you can see here the regulator, which while still connected, is not doing anything.

At this point I am simply tracing wires and cleaning things with the a degreaser, water and for the contacts, a contact cleaner. And lots and lots of penetrating fluid on all bolts and nuts.

Question, as this is a 72 Amp alternator, am I ok with the amp meter ( which does seem to work ok)

I would be very careful with that alternator.
I think the white with blue is 10gauge, which is good for 30A but maybe on the high side 45-50A

I have a 1968 FJ40 that I got in November, and I notice the orginal power wires had been replace near the alternator and again near the starter. I heard so crackling sound when moving the harness under the dash around. Not a pretty picture. See the first 2 pictures. Melted on both sides about 1ft in length from the Amp meter.

Coolerman @Coolerman is the expert when it comes to this. I took apart the entire harness and removed the solid white (from Amp meter to starter) and white with blue (from alternator to Amp meter). I am running a 10gauge wire straight from alternator to battery under the radiator . I will use an Autometer voltage instead and using the older style 10 o'clock alternator on the passenger side which is pegged around 45A max. The alternator still gets plugged to the voltage regulator.

 

[South Texas 97]

Thanks to you both, Matt those are a great visual guide to a rebuild. It is on my list of things to do, but not just now. It is full of grease, so no leaks! The mixed bolt colors ….. sheesh, I will start to gather the parts for a rebuild, but won’t know until I get in there. I have a smaller version of that puller, it works really well when it fits.

ERNRAM, thanks for that, I have a bit of a mishmash of wires, although the 10ga white/blue seems to be ok. I have pulled the instrument cluster and the ammeter connections and wire are intact, at least for the moment.
indeed I have been thinking about replacing the ammeter with a volt meter, it looks like it should be possible to convert the existing ammeter into a volt meter, and of course update the gauge cover accordingly. I have seen a couple of gauge experts on here and will do more research.

 

[Green Bean]

Perhaps I just got lucky but during a drag link rebuild, I recently pulled the pitman arm from our steering box while the unit was in the vehicle. From everything that I had read, I was anticipating a real battle. But it popped right off with an impact and an OTC puller. (I had purchased a conical one like @ERNRAM shows above but I could not get clearance to use it, so I used the jaw type puller and a 32 mm Snap-On 6 point socket.)

 

[ERNRAM]

Greenbean....agree, it (conical) will not fit with the fender installed.

Perhaps I just got lucky but during a drag link rebuild, I recently pulled the pitman arm from our steering box while the unit was in the vehicle. From everything that I had read, I was anticipating a real battle. But it popped right off with an impact and an OTC puller. (I had purchased a conical one like @ERNRAM shows above but I could not get clearance to use it, so I used the jaw type puller and a 32 mm Snap-On 6 point socket.)

 

[South Texas 97]

It always pays to read the instructions, got a couple of my tie rod ends mixed up, finally figured it out, and swapped them over. Did a very rough alignment with a laser level on the disc brake, pointed at the rear wheel, it should get me to the alignment shop when the time comes.

as my clutch master cylinder was leaking down the firewall on the inside of the cabin, the clutch fluid was black, and the hose to the slave cylinder was original, I bought a rebuild kit for both, as well as a new hose, and copper washer (Toyota calls it a gasket).

Once cleaned up, ran some DOT3 through it using the old piston as an agitator, and repeated 6-8 times. Fluid was much cleaner.

taped off the outlet, the reservoir and the piston, cleaned up the body, and through on some chassis black to protect the cast iron. Will do something with the firewall, and the pedal assembly as well.

removed the bleed screw from the slave cylinder, it was pretty crusty, but cleaned up ok.