Building the last truck I'll ever buy/ fj45 from scratch

[bscriver]

Ive been running a shelter for vintage toyota land cruisers since 1996. Ok I just have two but i love them both, a nice 72 fj 40 and a 77fj45 that is a little rought but makes a great plow truck and lumber wagon, but its a long way from being a daily driver. As I get older and my family gets bigger so have our toys, boats, quads, sleds, bobcat, mini excavator, and so on. I am constantly leaving my half ton daily driver at work and borrowing really crappy 1 tons to do a lot of things that i should have a truck to do my self. So the last year i have been surfing the pages looking for a pre 93 dodge 1 ton diesel and have pondered spending 10k plus for a nice restored truck to use as my daily or dropping the big cash on a new 1 ton. Then a few days ago I saw a low milage dodge 1 ton 4x4 diesel, needs a new body but low kms. i started thinking about buying a dodge 1 ton diesel and mating the drive train to an aqualu frame and fj 45 body, I would probably need at least a fj40 donor, but i could steal the lid from my snow plow 45 and Im thinking that for around $50k I could have a brand new body rebuilt engine & tranny dodge 1 ton packaged in a fj45 wrapper. I know, lots of stuff to think about, shorting axles, custom mounts, suspension, steering (probably go with a good saginaw setup), gauges, heat, doors, etc. Im just wondering if anyone has done something like this before. I would really appreciate any thought comments or input before i start my spending

 

[47coeman]

Great idea, be interesting to watch the build as you put this thing together.

 

[tls3601]

Sounds like it would be one badass truck!!!

 

[bscriver]

I m hoping to find someone who has already done this help me figure out a few of the harder parts. Just talked to the insurance company looks like it would have to be registered as the donor dodge, or my dreams of 1 ton towing and hauling won't happen unless I go through the icky ubuit registration process.

 

[Weber Sarge]

I prefer another route if you want to use an engine that heavy - build an older mid-50's Power Wagon with the 12 valve Cummins . Old looks , newer drive line and indestructible good looks . Otherwise , build up an existing 12H diesel 45 or something , those are off the charts cool .
Sarge

 

[MoCoNative]

I like the power wagon idea above, for a good heavy vintage truck.

Part of what makes a 1ton dodge truck is the mass of the truck. I could have sold you a beautiful 08 3/4 ton last year, it was primo, it was my late fathers. He bought that truck to pull his 19ft camper, and other pickup duties. Prior to that he had an 86 F250 we refurbished. Both trucks were plenty of truck to pull the camper, but the newer Dodge with Cummins and 6speed was a beast. The power was outstanding, and it handled the camper great. The older lighter F250 took a bit more effort to pull the camper even with the big 460 engine. These were both long bed regular cab trucks, but the Dodge frame and brakes and everything else was bigger and heavier and benefited from 20 additional years of improvements in truck design.

I fear even with a big engine and heavy axles the chassis of an Aquala framed FJ45 would be so light that heavy trailer pulling duty will torque you all over the road. You won't have the wheelbase or width if you narrow axles to provide any kind of good stability or handling. I have a T100, it is very light, and I have pulled over 6000 pound loads with it. It was not safe or efficient. That is a wide vehicle with decent brakes, and okay power, but the chassis is just light, crosswinds and such really throw it around, put a load behind it and that load squats the springs pretty quick, and really pushes the truck around. I try to keep it at about 2500 pounds of trailer, then I still have enough control of the load, and some power left for climbing hills, of course I live and play in the Rockies. Even our FZJ80 pulls better than the T100, it has a little more power and weight. Direct comparison is pulling our pop-up camper with both. I like the manual tranny in my T100 for better gearing selection, but the 80 handles the job better overall.

I guess it all depends on the terrain you are driving through, and if this is just around town stuff, or longer distances, but I think this build will just be an expensive toy in the end, with limited practical use. An extended cab 1ton would be a nice family hauler, comfortable, and you can take the toys with you safely. Just my thoughts, would still be an awesome build.

 

[cult45]

For all that expense, find a HDJ79 and chuck the 45 cab on it. You'll have all the mod cons from factory, plus a 1HD-T. And from memory it's not that big of a job.

 

[White Stripe]

Only a few 6bt motors have been installed in 40 series cruisers. They are tall motors and you may have to do a body lift to fit it under the hood. I would use a 80 series frame along with its axles because the rear axle is very close to dana 60 strength and the brakes are pretty beefy, also the axles have a nice width to them. Putting a 45 body on a 80 series frame has been done a few times and you can find threads on doing it. A aqualu body would be nice. The benefit to this too is that quite a few 6bt motors have been put on the 80 frame. You will have to install different coils and put in a much beefier rear sway bar for pulling bigger loads. I would probably put airbags in the rear or use the airlift bags that go inside of the coils. If you are going aqualu, I would at least do a extra cab, the 45 is a very small cab from the factory. I would also try to stretch the wheelbase as much as you can for stability. I also would go with at least 38 inch tires or else it will look silly with dinky small tires on it. Maybe some military tires of some sort since they are big, cheap, and usually wear well on the road.

 

[cruisermatt]

Land Cruisers =/= tow trucks.

Buy a good used Dodge dually and dump the money you won't be wasting on that into your Cruisers.

 

[Indestructible 47]

For all that expense, find a HDJ79 and chuck the 45 cab on it. You'll have all the mod cons from factory, plus a 1HD-T. And from memory it's not that big of a job.

then slip down to Gturbo and pop into cross country intercoolers, and then 3 inch straight through and then......
that would make one hell of a truck.