Beginning the CRAZY FJ40 Rebuild

[Shes Mad]

Well I finished painting the axles, and started putting them together. Got the back apart, pulled the axles and the seals were leaking It's the weekend, so I have to wait till thursday.

Got the front together, put one side together, then went to the other. Got as far as the spindle and realized, like an idiot, when I went through parts, I got the spindles mixed up, and threw out the mini truck spindle, and kept the landcruiser spindle. Won't fit on the mini truck birf 3 Puppies (Paul) is sending me one, so that will wait till thursday also.

SO, I decided to finish the frame. I only had a couple things left- they were replacing the rusted out inner frames in the rear.



They both looked like this, or worse. I started by making a template of the part being cut out. I decided I would cut the groove in the rear, but not the hole



Then I cut the infected parts out. I cleaned up the rust inside, and coated with POR rust encapsulating paint



Welding them in was pretty easy, once the pieces were fitted




All that was left was to grind down the welds. Tomorrow the frame will get a coat of POR rust encapsulating paint, and a top coat of Eastwood Chassis Black

 

[Rajafarhan]

Wow cant wait to see how this comes out

 

[Shes Mad]

I was able to get the frame painted after welding in the rear pieces. Pretty happy on how it turned out.

Thanks to 3 puppies, I received the spindle today, and I got all the seals I needed to finish the front and rear ends, and the parking brake hub. So I painted the Trans/Transfer case also!

Progress!!!

Couldn't help but add a pic of one side of the front disc conversion. Looks CoOL!

 

[Shes Mad]

Axles in!

I finished the front mini truck disc conversion today. Boy, Guppie and riggers posts were extremely helpfull! Finished installing the front and rear axles, and all the springs and steering linkage tonight. Only got the front shocks installed--ran out of gray paint.

Now I need to make a trip to posers to get a couple of disc brake steelies for the front. Although, the disc brakes look so nice, I hate to cover them up!.

Next in line will be to plumb all the brakes. That will not be fun, with all the fittings involved. I don't have anything in the rear yet--looking at picking up the rear from another mudder when he gets back in town.

 

[uberFJ]

Looks great Shes Mad!!

Was good to meet you Saturday - thanks again for the part!

 

[Shes Mad]

Mini Truck Steering box

After going through all the posts on building the shaft for the mini truck, I decided to just use the current ujoint on the box



I cut off the spline, which left me a joint with a hole in the middle, which was for grease. It is now a pilot hole to drill out the joint. I will take the grease zerk out, and use that to drill a 3/16 hole through the shaft and the yoke.

Next I will take the shaft out, and drill the shaft out to 1/4", and one of the holes in the yoke to 1/4 inch. The other side of the yoke I will tap with 1/4 NC thread, so the bolt will thread right into the yoke with a very clean installation.




I chucked the joint up in the drill press, and drilled it out to 3/4 to fit the steering shaft directly.



Had to sand it out an additional 20 thousands for the shaft to fit. I used a test piece of the cutoff shaft for sizing.



For the outer column, I picked up a bearing from a lawn mower--10 bucks at O'Reilly"s. Prime Line part number 7-04133. It's a pretty standard lawn mower sealed bearing. Its really nice because it will slide over the shaft, with the 20 thousandths sanding, and into the column tube. It has a flange on the outside that rests on the end of the tube.


Once I go to install and cut everything to size, I will insert the bearing into the tube with a llittle sealant, and dimple the sides of the tube to secure it in the tube. Then I will make a simple bracket for under the dash to secure the tube at the firewall, in the original bolt positions. I'll post that up when I get that far

 

[Shes Mad]

Well I finally got the motor and trans all done and painted up. Installed in the frame, and finished up the brakes, and ran most of the lines. Still need to clip them down in a couple places.

I left extra line for connection to the master cylinder when I get the tub back on. Planning that for the next couple of weeks. First I need to finish putting in the shifter linkages, and other minor underbody parts. And I need to find some disc brake steelies to get the thing off the stands. I can get them from Toyota, but I'm looking for a better deal. Once I find some I need to decide on tires. I want to go stock. or a slightly larger. I think they wer 7.60 15 stock, but I haven't taken the time to find out what that is in todays size. Too much other stuff to think about

 

[Shes Mad]

to 1F alternator and mini truck power steering pump

I thought I would post pics of this, since I had to search a lot to find info and good pics.

I robbed parts from a mini truck for the power steering, and got a 3 groove pulley and 2F mount from another member.

For the PS pump, I mounted it to the original alternator bracket on the bottom...had to use a spacer to get it aligned, and made an additional bracket for the rear bottom mount.

For the top, I took one of the brackets (the wishbone shaped one) and cut it up until I could mount the single tab to the water pump bolt, and the other 2 tabs to the back mounts of the pump mount. Then I welded it back together.

I took the idler off of it's original position, and relocated it straignt down, and used the small adjuster bracket on the front of the pump for an additional mounting hole. The pump is mounted solid...the only adjustment is with the idler, which appears to be plenty.

For the alternator, I used the 2F cast bracket, and the adjusting bracket. I had a 2 groove water pump pulley, but I didn't like the alignment, so I went back to the 1 groove pulley with the fan spacer to get the fan to clear the PS pump. The adjuster bracket was bent the wrong way, so I bent it the other way. I mounted the alternator back further on the bracket, instead of between the ears. Used spacers and 2 bolts to mount it.

I got a 3 groove bolt on pulley from a member. It was the same size shaft as the press on pulley I took off. It pressed on pretty hard, I tapped the center of the crank and used a fine thread bolt for additional strength. I threadlocked it, as I had no tab to bend over to lock the bolt.

Everything lines up real well. I am concerned about the belt, because the alternator pulley and the PS pulley are different than the stock pulleys, so I don't know how the belts will work. We will see when I fire it. The fan pulley may be an issue for slippage, but I will find out when it is fired. I am sure I can get it to work though

 

[Shes Mad]

Well I am within a week of having this project for 1 year. I really got a lot done, but there is so much more to do. I'm in the assembly phase, so everything looks like progress!

I got the tub remounted on the frame, all the wiring in, painted up a new set of steelies, brake line and all linkages hooked up. Also got hubcaps. All from tToyota. I am surprised at what they still have. Hubcaps were pretty cheap, so I picked one up for the spare also.

Man did it ever get crowded with the power brake install! It all fit though. Plumbing is all done, so I am sure it will be leak chasing when I put fluid in it. Murphy's law!

Next, finish up the power steering install, and assemble the front sheet metal to make sure everything fits. Then take it all back apart again, paint, and put back together. Progress should come fast now. I have all next week off, so I expect a lot of progress. We'll see------

 

[Shes Mad]

Power Steering Conversion finished

A few posts back, I decided to use the actual yoke from the mini truck box to do my steering column. I drilled out the yoke, fitted it to the steering shaft, used the small bearing in the column tube. I used the grease zerk hole in the yoke as a pilot to drill the column. I drilled 7/32 through the column, then pulled the shaft, and drilled the shaft 1/4 inch, and half the yoke. The other half of the yoke i tapped 1/4-20 so the cross bolt would thread in. I will put a nut on it, and it should be secure

Everything lined up real nice!

CAUTION--When cutting off the steering shaft from the stock 40 gearbox, you need to cut it off right at the box!. You only have about 3/4 of an inch to play with. I didn't, and the shaft was too short. Luckily, I had another column to steal from.

I fashioned up a bracket under the dash to support the column at the firewall, and made a clamp. The bracket gives it the extra support at the firewall, AND covers up the extra hole in the firewall that is used for the column shift, which I also converted to the floor shift.

Here are pics of the column installed mocked up. I took it apart to paint it, and if the paint is dry tomorrow, I will install and post final pics

 

[Shes Mad]

How to fit the front end without going insane!!!

I posted up a separate question on the order for front end assembly. The concensus was bib, fenders, Apron, Hood. Well I tried that for a day, and gave up.

Then I sat down and studied what was important for alignment, and what I was having the most trouble with (CCOT fenders), and decided a different approach was needed.

The thing most important to me was the hood and apron alignment with the bib. I mounted the bib (Loosely) and started by using C clamps, and clamping the aprons onto the body. (with the spacers in place) Then I attached them to the bib with the 2 top bolts (TIGHT), aligning the top of the apron to the bib.



Next, I mounted the hinges to the hood, and mounted the hood, aligning the sides and front of the hood with the bib and aprons.

Now I tightened the bib to the bib hinge, and to the frame

Tightened Hood to tub.

Next I put the 2 bolts into the frame for the bottom fender slots to hold the fender up, stood the fender in place, and attached the 4 apron bolts to the fender. I tightened the 4 apron bolts only, leaving the bottom rear fender bolts loose.

Now I put the other 2 bolts from the bib to the fenders, (TIGHT) I had to drill the fender corner hole. The CCOT fender hole was a full hole off.



Next, I bolted the apron brace to the fenders. Had to drill the 2 holes in the fender. Bolted TIGHT



Now I mounted the running boards to the tub and to the back bottom of the fender.

Next, I tightened the 2 bottom rear bolts of the fender to the tub.

LASTLY, I put the 4 bolts of the fender into the frame, and tightened all 4 (2 of the bolts were already in to hold the fender up.) I did not have to drill any of these 4 bolts, they all were close enough to get the bolt in.

NOW I took the C clamps off

Finished. Doing this really helped get everything aligned to my satisfaction.

Here are pics, with the roll bar I got from ITRIED, and the seats from NACHO. The shoulder belts I took from the 83 mini truck I stole the power steering from. They are kind of short, so I will probably have to lengthen the top mounting bar a little, just for comfort. They fit me OK, but I am not a big guy.

 

[Cruisertime]

GREAT JOB so far man!!!!

 

[Tad Wuertz]

Your rebuild is great. I really like looking through your pictures. I have a 64 FJ40 that I will hopefully start restoring in about a year once grad school is over. Did you rebuilt the engine?. That is one area that I am not sure about. Right now mine runs fine and very smooth. I had it stored for about a year and it cranked right up. My thought is, if it's not broke don't fix it. Your posts will help when I finally start. Thank you for taking the time to put your rebuild online.


Tad

 

[bsmith123]

looks good

very nice

The brake set up looks fantastic---cant wait to do mine

it gets exciting at this stage eh?

soon!

 

[Shes Mad]

I did not rebuild the engine. It didn't use oil or smoke, compression was fine. I felt the same way--not broke. If it breaks, then I will fix it. Ran rough--rich- because of the carb, which I am replacing.

Today I hooked up the wires under the hood, and put power to it. Nothing melted--first good sign.

Then I reached in and hit the key---and ran over my foot. I guess there is no neutral or clutch safety switch. Come to think of it, I don't remember hooking anything up.

Good thing there was no carb on it, and I had steel toe boots on--and the wiring is good---so far--have spark and starter.

 

[Shes Mad]

Power Steering Reservoir

I didn't really have a good place to mount the reservoir--no bracket or anything. Started looking for a good level place. I didn't want to drill anymore holes. ALMOST Mounted it where the horn goes but I remembered something needed to go there. I decided back by the firewall on top of the fender near the washer bottle. There were threaded holes in the fender, and a third hole for the washer bottle.

I made a bracket 6" long by 3" by 2 1/2" and drilled all the holes for it. I bent one ear down to match the washer bottle mount--will still put a rubber washer under it for good measure.

Will finish up when the paint dries

 

[Cdaniel]

Wow!!!!

 

[tlc_4play]

Wow ! ! !

You're really making great progress Keep it up
I'm still struggling to get the LX resto up to a rolling chassis

 

[Shes Mad]

MAD!!!!!

Well, I did a stupid think. Trying to raise money for parts, I sold some I didn't need. One part happened to be the rear barn doors. I had 2 sets, that both looked good, so I sold one set.

I sandblasted the set I kept, and one door was bondo-d up--even had newspaper stuffed in to hold the Bondo. So I had to cut the rust out.

I spent a lot of time making the outside piece. I heated it up and bent a lip on the bottom, and a pinch seam on the side. Now I have to weld it up, and work on the inside.

Still mad though

 

[BJ44V]

That sux about the doors. At least you know what you are doing when it comes to repairing them though. I have been watching this thread for a while...NICE work.