Best FJ40 Upgrade Ever

[1911]

Back through out the 1990’s I rode to Daytona Bike week with a good friend of mine from NJ. Usually a nice 2 day ride but depending on weather …going down was great as it got warmer and warmer. Usually had minor regard for speed limits and never had any issues. After about 11 years of this same trek I find out in North Carolina that my friend carries a .38 in his tour-pak. Hey wtf… but had we ever gotten stopped, we’d all be in jail.

That next morning we’re are heading down I-95 in South Carolina doing about 85. I’m road capt. and there are 6 of us. In my rear view mirror I can see a blue flashing light ( state troopers) about 1/4 mile behind us. My brain is racing for an excuse as I know we’re busted. Slowed down to 60 and pretended to be cool…the trooper flys by us in the left lane, gave a thumbs up. Pulled into one of rest areas to shake the adrenaline off and get gas.

Smiley passed about 11 yrs ago. A long term die-hard biker with a huge set of cohones. One of the nicest people you could ever have met with a .38 in his motorcycle

One of my club brothers back in the day had a red knucklehead chopper, and he fixed a vertical post on his handlebar, and welded an old .38 revolver on the top of the post at the bottom of the trigger guard, so that the revolver always pointed forward. It was never loaded, but of course he caught a ration of sh!t for it from most cops, especially the City of Denver police, who hated bikers. He eventually got tired of the hassle of having his bike towed and impounded and took it off.

 

[knuckle47]

@1911 …balls move. When I was riding this WLA around just as a novelty..there was alway a double take by cops seeing the plastic rifle in the gun scabbard and the ammunition box… Took it out and left it empty after a while. black out lighting was also a giveaway

 

[1911]

@1911 …balls move. When I was riding this WLA around just as a novelty..there was alway a double take by cops seeing the plastic rifle in the gun scabbard and the ammunition box… Took it out and left it empty after a while. black out lighting was also a giveaway
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A 45 is a fun bike to putt around on for sure.
This 45” Scout is probably my all-time favorite; wish that I still had it:

1929 101 Scout

• 1911
• Feb 8, 2018

 

[knuckle47]

I may have asked you before….did you see “The World’s Fastest Indian”?m LOVE THAT 45

 

[FloridaLife]

@1911 …balls move. When I was riding this WLA around just as a novelty..there was alway a double take by cops seeing the plastic rifle in the gun scabbard and the ammunition box… Took it out and left it empty after a while. black out lighting was also a giveaway
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Oh man that's awesome!

 

[Ride Fly]

in no order
Power steering
Koito Halogen headlight kit ( yes I know LED's are available but if you drive a 40 in snow they don't throw enough heat to keep them clear)

Koito Headlight Upgrade Kit - OEM Toyota, FJ40/55/60

***Don't forget to check out the problem-solver HBIM to go with your Koito Headlight Upgrade kit!*** Upgrade to modern headlight output with this OEM Toyota kit. It contains everything you need to get rid of the dismal sealed beams that came as original equipment on 40, 55, and 60 Series trucks...

cruisertrashparts.com

Orion transfer case if you wheel it.
4plus rear tire carrier and basket 4PlusProducts | FJ40 | Tire Carriers | Rear Tow Bumper with Tire and Cooler Carrier - http://www.4plusproducts.com/fj40fulltirecarrier.html
4 plus U-bolt reversal kit 4PlusProducts | FJ40 | Suspension Parts | U-Bolt Flip Kit - http://www.4plusproducts.com/fj40uboltflipkits.html

Just placed the order on the Koito headlamps! Currently on sale for $39, from its regular price of $60. Thanks for the recommendation. It'll likely make a huge difference in my night driving experience!

 

[1911]

I may have asked you before….did you see “The World’s Fastest Indian”?m LOVE THAT 45

Yes! A very good movie for sure.

 

[charliemeyer007]

My uncle Charlie rode a WLA for Patton at one time. He took a piece of an 88 at Anzio. Spent 21 months in a hospital. Turned out the shrapnel brought in a 4 square inch of his shirt - didn't show on the x-rays - he kept getting re-infected. Doc finally reach around threw his guts and found the shirt fragment. In 1929 he did a measure mile with chronographs at 130 mph on a pony scout. He and an older brother race some. Both rode Indian.

 

[FloridaLife]

I may have asked you before….did you see “The World’s Fastest Indian”?m LOVE THAT 45

Great movie!

 

[BullHab]

When I travel in my 40, I prefer to carry on my person. That way I don’t have to worry about it when I stop for gas, go to the bathroom, or leave the truck unattended for any reason. And if I ever needed it, it would always be close at hand and would know exactly where it was, and could draw without looking away.

Totally agree.

 

[Skreddy]

A 45 is a fun bike to putt around on for sure.
This 45” Scout is probably my all-time favorite; wish that I still had it:

1929 101 Scout

• 1911
• Feb 8, 2018

I need to find the pics. But.. in ‘45, my grandpa and his buddy Stanley got dropped off on the east coast from the Coast Guard and had 2 or so weeks to make it back to Astoria, OR to report for duty. I’m not sure what they actually got but my grandpa always said the got like $500 so they each bought a surplus WLA for a couple hundred bucks and rode home. I have the pics they took on their way home. Went through the Badlands, Yellowstone and any other worthwhile sites. Pics show them in about a foot of snow in Yellowstone. He told me they both dumped their bikes 8-10 times that day.

He rode a scout back at home outside of Astoria. At one time, he had a scout, the WLA and a knuckle. What I’d give for any of those bikes now.

 

[knuckle47]

After the war, you could buy these WLA’s cheap….they were popular with ex-GI’s and parts were available in surplus for something like 80,000 more bikes.
When I was restoring motorcycles, there was a place in Spring Valley NY that was a big military vehicles surplus dealer. I had bought many parts in the early 1990’s still sealed in cosmolene and new Harley boxes. I needed and oiler tube that goes from the oil pump and has a screw to “leak” oil onto the drive chain. He opened a new sleeve of the part with probably 100 tubes in a pack..all olive drab and ready to install.

He also had the only “in the crate” WLA I had ever seen, very nostalgic for anyone interested there is a small book called the Liberator all about the WLA

 

[BullHab]

That's a GREAT story. I can picture it. During my time here, halfway between Lakeland Florida and Orlando, after I finished restoring my bike (and she sounded soooo good and rode even better) I wanted to ride over to Daytona bike week but dang work got in the way. Never made it before the doctor and wife said it wasn't safe. BTW, I'm on a new med for only 10 days, I volunteered, actually begged and persisted, to be the guinea pig my pain management doctor, and for the first time in years I am PAIN FREE and tremor free! It is from Vertex Pharmaceuticals and called Journavx and is a non opioid non addictive medication for pain that blocks the pain message from getting back to the brain. An hour and a half after the first dose my wife came to check on me, and I was pain free and had tears of joy. Here's my mistress, Jolene (my wife named here) before I sold here. I also had a matching set of full quill ostrich saddle bags to go with her, and that headlight was a pretty neat trick. It was LED, and when you leaned to go around a curve or if you turned it lit up additional LEDs to light up the dark area of the curve / turn.

No pictures of Jolene.

 

[FloridaLife]

No pictures of Jolene.

My wife named her Jolene, after the song, because she was afraid I would get killed ridding her and she would take away her man. She used to be a Forensic Investigator for the GBI (Georgia Bureau of Investigation) and she picked up many dead bodies of motorcyclist that were run over by a driver not paying attention. Here's Jolene, without her matching full quill ostrich saddlebags and passenger seat, and a link to a really short video of me holding the headlight in my hands and tilting it to demonstrate the extra LEDs that light up to fill in the dark spots around the curves and turns, and another link to a really short video of Jolene talking to me. I should have taken of video of honking the horn. It sounded like an 18 wheeler! I had 2 Denali Soundbombs and a hidden air compressor for them:

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