Builds 77 FJ40 Build, It begins...and may take a while (1 Viewer)

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this is what I call an outrigger
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spring hanger then mounts to it
 
I'm keeping the front stock width. that's about as far out as I can get. I have room on the rear axle to move a bit but then have to find a way to get the "outriggers" ;) out a little further
 
ok a real update and buy does it feel good to be making some progress finally. i got the springs all tacked up and i ended up pushing the rear perches out as far as stock and the fronts are stock distance apart too. then i got the frame flipped and set on the axles. after measure ten times and tack i must say that all my spring perches and centre pins are EXACTLY the same distance apart. that success feels good. i can't tack the front spring perches on yet as i have to figure out what to do with the differential side mount. my perch runs into it and if i just cut the one side of the mount off it still sits to high when positioned properly giving an inch of lift compared to the drives side one that sits right on the axle tube. i may have to notch the diff housing little. theres room to do it. i just don't love the idea of cutting my new axle housing!! i also have to try to figure out what my pinion angle is going to be so i can rotate it right prior to making my notch otherwise my perch may not sit right compared to the pinion angle. i can then rotate my knuckle balls afterwards to get the right caster. they are just tacked from front range when they built them so its easy to do a "cut and turn" of them. right now is my problem is i can't point my pinion at the transferase yet until i fit it in place. I'm not sure i'll be able to mount my engine yet until my axle is in the right place. i can get the axle in the right place until i can point my pinion at my transferase. and so goes the circle:bang:

here are some picture of where i am at...

mocking up front springs
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spring gussets were pretty rotten so i made some out of 1/4 inch plate. yeah that looks like a booger weld but its just where i ran out wire and and then had some wire jamming issues when a new spool was started. its a double pass in that area and looks strong
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rear spring mocked up. sorry for the blurry cell phone picture
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frame flipped and my helper inspecting it
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here is the start of my adapter kit to mate my transmission mount to the transmission. pretty simple idea that advance adapters gave me
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heres the adapter on the transmission. holy cow these pictures are terrible now that they're on the computer!!
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here are some sleeves i made for my transmission cross member. the posts on the mount aren't long enough to go through the tube so this was a way that i was able to recess the studs inside the tube while still being able to get a socket inside for mounting and future maintenance when necessary. its a heavy wall tube that gives a flat mount surface inside for the nut to sit against.
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top down looking at the flat surface
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a side shot of the sleeves through the cross member
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big hole where the nut will go. i have to grind a little weld out of the hole as the puddle spilled over the edge a little
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and here is the small side where the studs will go
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and here is how it sits at the end of the day. i just started mounting the rad support to measure where the cross members will roughly sit. my fan is a little bigger than the 2F fan so i'll need to cut a little of the shroud to make it fit.
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off hand does anyone have the length of a 2F with transmission and transferase? i want to compare to how long my drive line is going to be. also whats the stock height of the frame off the ground at the middle body mount? i am curious as to how much lift i have. now my shackle angles aren't set exactly yet and i don't have the weight of the body and engine in which will bring me a little lower but it feels tall right now!
 
started playing tonight more for strategy in moving the engine but also to start mocking up motor mounts perches. I need to get some motor mounts and I think I'll get the universal ones from advance adapters. I don't have a lot of room between the frame and motor for the large bulky and soft Mercedes ones
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anyone know the length of the 2f plus transmission and transfercase? alternatively any of you who have the stock 4 speed and transfercase would you be willing to measure the length from the bell housing/transmission junction to the back of the transfercase. I'm trying to figure out how long my stuff is compared to stock.
 
got these today and will check bolt patterns this weekend. double cardans out of a 83 mini truck. hope they'll work. I have to get custom lengths anyway and can get that done locally. just wanted to make sure I had the right ends before I commit to pointing my pinions at the transfercase! also got a couple aisin free hubs off a fj62 as one of the ones I took off a spare axle was all broken. now I have one spare one as well. also got a fj62 birfield so I can replace the marred outter short birfield I found when taking off the broken free hub. lastly I got a matching colour A pillar grab handle for my 62 to put on the passenger side A pillar but that doesn't concern this build. it's for my other truck. I had to pay the equivalent of $300 USD for it all. I think that's fair compared to other parts I've bought and sold. not a super deal but I don't think I got ripped off. I will need new u joints for the drive shafts too when I rebuild them
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ok I couldn't wait. I went out to the shop and the DC pattern will indeed fit with my bolt pattern. I understood that the flange on the transfercase needed to be drilled but the flange on the DC joint (drive shaft side) has holes that are smaller than the landcruiser or the atlas output flange. do I understand then that the drive shaft flange is what need to be drilled to get larger bolts through?

also the slip joints on the mini truck and the fj40 are indeed interchangeable. my only troubles I just realized are the diffs I'm putting in are 4:56 built for my fj62 (I need to back to 4:11 on it) so I have the newer pinion flange and my fj40 drive shaft flange doesn't match. I want to have an ARB installed in one so I could have the old style flange put on at that point but the other one already had a locker. is it possible to change the flange without throwing preload off? I think I read somewhere that you have to count exactly how many turns of the pinion nut to take it off and put it back the same. is this actually very accurate? I could get fj62 driveshafts but don't know if the slip joint will match and don't really want to pay another $200 just for the two ends. if it's not one thing it's another with this kind of build. oh well not a real issue right now so I have time to mull it over
 
haven't quite got there yet. i have the 4x4labs steering shaft kit. once i get the engine close to where i want it i'll be putting the tub on and adjusting things a little to get the steering lined up. it seems to work on a few other trucks i've seen so i hope it works for me too!! there is a lot of guess work at this stage the readjust until it all works or i'll have to compromise and change something. for now it seems to be fitting. in the picture above the springs are just sitting on the axle. its not entered yet so yes the steering arm looks like it'll hit the spring. in reality its all the stock measurements so it should clear just fine but i have some customization of the housing and spring perch which needs to be done after the pinion angle is set and that can't be done until i have the engine where it's going.
 
ok I couldn't wait. I went out to the shop and the DC pattern will indeed fit with my bolt pattern. I understood that the flange on the transfercase needed to be drilled but the flange on the DC joint (drive shaft side) has holes that are smaller than the landcruiser or the atlas output flange. do I understand then that the drive shaft flange is what need to be drilled to get larger bolts through?
Depends on the mini flange sizes. Later mini are the same diameter bolts as cruisers are. Early mini stuff used the really tiny DS bolts.

also the slip joints on the mini truck and the fj40 are indeed interchangeable. my only troubles I just realized are the diffs I'm putting in are 4:56 built for my fj62 (I need to back to 4:11 on it) so I have the newer pinion flange and my fj40 drive shaft flange doesn't match. I want to have an ARB installed in one so I could have the old style flange put on at that point but the other one already had a locker. is it possible to change the flange without throwing preload off? I think I read somewhere that you have to count exactly how many turns of the pinion nut to take it off and put it back the same. is this actually very accurate? I could get fj62 driveshafts but don't know if the slip joint will match and don't really want to pay another $200 just for the two ends. if it's not one thing it's another with this kind of build. oh well not a real issue right now so I have time to mull it over
The preload is either based on a crush sleeve or a shim set. If it's a shim setup, you are golden. If it uses a pinion crush sleeve (lots do), then it's more of a PITA. People say there is nothing wrong with just retorquing the nut. But to me that seems like a temporary measure. I'd be more likely to do it in the front. Also, you can pull the crush sleeve out, measure it, and then replace it with a solid spacer and shims.
Replacement is kind of a pain, but worth it imho.

Slip joint is the same, but the length of the splines are different. I'm a big fan of longer splines.
 
thanks mace. my ds is an 83 mini truck so small bolts.

I had Kurt at cruiser outfitters build my diff so I'll check with him if he uses spacers or crush sleeve. I'm still a long way from doing the "real" assembly of the axles so not in a big rush to get the diff set up right just yet.
 
IIRC Kurt does both. Best bet is to give him a ring and see what he recalls.
 
We do use both, specified at time of build. We can easily pull up your build sheet and check and or help with the procedure to swap flanges on a crush sleeve equipped diff (requires measuring preload before/after).
 
wow kurt. I'm impressed you read my thread! I'll be in touch to see what we can do. I'm sure you'll be receiving my buckets full of diff parts for the next rebuilds sometime in the near future. I've been more than happy with the business I've done with you and your shop and will not hesitate to sent you more of my crap!!:)

thanks to both mace and Kurt for taking time to take interest in my build. it really shows how cool this mud community is when vendors and moderators would drop into my thread just because. I really appreciate it
 
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