Hi everyone,
I am embarking on a major, ground-up chassis swap project and need some technical guidance from anyone who has navigated the structural and dimensional differences between different generations of the 70 Series family.
My Ultimate Goal:
I am building a custom rig using a 1990–1996 HZJ77 Heavy Duty chassis as the base platform. I need to retain this specific chassis to comply with local vintage vehicle registration and tax laws here in Ireland as the cost difference is into the thousands annually on top of extremely high registration costs
The Donor Setup I Currently Have:
Right now, I have a complete, driving 2009 76 Series (1HZ drivetrain, widetrack axles, gearbox, wiring, and 2007+ "wide-nose" front clip with extremely low mileage) that has already been seamlessly lined up and fitted with an LJ78 Light Duty (Prado/Bundera) cabin by a previous owner as a build that wasn't quite finished.
I now need to completely strip both rigs to the bare frame and transfer the entire 2009 running gear, 2009 front panels, and the LJ78 body over to the older HZJ77 narrow-nose chassis.
I am breaking this build down into three major fabrication stages and would love to hear from anyone who has done parts of this swap successfully:
1. Front Clip & Chassis Width (Narrow-to-Wide Nose Conversion)
Since the HZJ77 is a narrow-chassis frame and the 2009 front panels/bumper are built for the wide-nose V8-era profile, what is the neatest way to fabricate the front frame outriggers?
I am transferring the complete 2009 wide-track front and rear axles over.
The LJ78 cabin is currently sitting on the 2009 frame. When moving it to the HZJ77 chassis, how drastically do the body puck/mounting tab locations differ between the Light Duty (Prado) body floor pans and the Heavy Duty chassis rails? Is it easier to slice the mounting tabs entirely off the HZJ77 and custom-weld new ones using measurements from the 2009 frame?
If anyone has build threads, frame dimension diagrams, or photos of how they tackled the narrow-to-wide nose outrigger fabrication, please drop them below.
Cheers!
I am embarking on a major, ground-up chassis swap project and need some technical guidance from anyone who has navigated the structural and dimensional differences between different generations of the 70 Series family.
My Ultimate Goal:
I am building a custom rig using a 1990–1996 HZJ77 Heavy Duty chassis as the base platform. I need to retain this specific chassis to comply with local vintage vehicle registration and tax laws here in Ireland as the cost difference is into the thousands annually on top of extremely high registration costs
The Donor Setup I Currently Have:
Right now, I have a complete, driving 2009 76 Series (1HZ drivetrain, widetrack axles, gearbox, wiring, and 2007+ "wide-nose" front clip with extremely low mileage) that has already been seamlessly lined up and fitted with an LJ78 Light Duty (Prado/Bundera) cabin by a previous owner as a build that wasn't quite finished.
I now need to completely strip both rigs to the bare frame and transfer the entire 2009 running gear, 2009 front panels, and the LJ78 body over to the older HZJ77 narrow-nose chassis.
I am breaking this build down into three major fabrication stages and would love to hear from anyone who has done parts of this swap successfully:
1. Front Clip & Chassis Width (Narrow-to-Wide Nose Conversion)
Since the HZJ77 is a narrow-chassis frame and the 2009 front panels/bumper are built for the wide-nose V8-era profile, what is the neatest way to fabricate the front frame outriggers?
- Does anyone have the exact millimeter difference or drawings showing how far out the 2007+ front inner aprons and radiator core mounts sit compared to a pre-1999 frame?
I am transferring the complete 2009 wide-track front and rear axles over.
- For the front: Has anyone successfully cut the coil towers and radius arm mounts off a post-2007 frame and welded them onto a 1990s HD frame? Are there any steering box clearance traps I need to look out for?
- For the rear: Did you have to relocate the leaf spring hangers on the HZJ77 frame to line up with the 2009 wide rear axle perch widths?
The LJ78 cabin is currently sitting on the 2009 frame. When moving it to the HZJ77 chassis, how drastically do the body puck/mounting tab locations differ between the Light Duty (Prado) body floor pans and the Heavy Duty chassis rails? Is it easier to slice the mounting tabs entirely off the HZJ77 and custom-weld new ones using measurements from the 2009 frame?
If anyone has build threads, frame dimension diagrams, or photos of how they tackled the narrow-to-wide nose outrigger fabrication, please drop them below.
Cheers!