Cam's FJ60 Gets Sprung (8 Viewers)

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

Cruiserdrew said:
I am assuming that from the lack of pictures and updates, that the weekend was spent drinking all that beer and not working on the truck?

As you know Cam, the rear 80 suspension does work extremely well and more importantly is safe, unlike anything with a 3 link that you do not have. Cruisermatt has been reading too much.;)
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've been out of town, so no progress. I hope to show some later today though!

(Actually, there probably won't be any to show, it just the little detail work that nobody ever mentions)

In reality (where sh!t actually gets done vs. just me dreaming about it), my choice was not between doing this,a frame swap, a spring over, or a 3/4 link, it was between this or doing nothing. So I chose this:flipoff2:
 
I just looked at the weather before heading out. #%$&!!!

image.png
 
I agree with Andy on this one... there are a lot of guys out there tossing the different link suspension and geometry arguments out there, but why mess with that? You already have what you need in front of you, just go with a well done suspension that is tuff as nails and is safe at highway speeds. Look at Jcardona's thread and see how much time and money it took to leave the stock suspension and build a proper link suspension.... it's sweet but way outside my budget and pay grade.
 
FJ60Cam said:
I hear ya, if I was looking for more than a 3-4" lift, had limitless energy & budget, and another vehicle, I'd be all over it. But then a 60 might not be the best vehicle to do that too because the body wouldn't let you take it where it could go.

Plus the thought of the work required to do a 3/4 link setup makes me want to find a different hobby.

But that's outside the scope of what I wanted to do. Having owned/driven a stock LX450 and driven a few other 80's with various lifts, I've never felt they were a step back from the 60 in either on or off road capability or in terms of safety.
Click to expand...


Agree....Why go to suspension extremes with a "tank" body....a full blown 4 door SUV with a more body behind the rear axle than will clear some obstacles. Not my truck but I suspect the idea is to have a streetable rig that is reasonably off-road capable. You already have a drivetrain that works well for what it is and even in stock form a 80 drivetrain is good for what an 80 body can handle without major body mods. In this case a 60 body running 80 drivetrain plus v8.
 
As predicted, no real progress to show. It was friggin' cold, but the whole crew came out, we pulled it all apart and got everything fully welded up. I've got a coat of primer on everything and hopefully can run it through the paint shop if it dries anytime soon.

I did not get a chance to study the rear, but I'll post up the plans anyway.
 
So I totally suck at time estimates on these types of projects. I'll try not to make those anymore.

Rob helped me pull it apart yesterday so we could weld the hard to reach places and get it all painted.

Mark stopped by, and even though it was too cold to wear his lucky shorts, he got everything burned in.

I stayed up all night priming and painting and getting it ready to slap back together.

I took @TrickyT 's advice and put some diff protection over the ring gear. I looked at my 60 housing and it had a few dents up front, so this was definitely worthwhile.

image.jpeg


The steering box is in for good and all hoses are re-plumbed. We had to sleeve the last hole and patch some swiss cheese in the frame right by the box mount.

image.jpeg


I also got the hard brake lines on and ready to tie back to the drop from the frame. I re-used the brake tee fitting from the 60, as well as the mounting bracket that is welded to the housing. I also re-used/re-bent the long hard line from the 60 housing.

Not the prettiest, but it should work.

image.jpeg


The front just needs to be put back together and fluids bled. I will wait to change out the MC until all of the new brake lines are in place, front & rear.
 
Last edited:
I did crawl under the rear last night to get a better look at things. Unfortunately, I have even less room to work with than I thought, so I will have to come up with a more creative solution than what was in my head. The problem with coils in the back of the 60 is the gas tank. It is right behind the center of the axle, so there is barely room for coil buckets, let alone any additional structure.

Check out this thread of @hoser 's super clean BJ74 build over on Expedition Portal... BJ74 TD Build Thread - Stoffregen Motorsports - Page 4 - Expedition Portal (link goes to rear suspension portion of the build.) I am going to incorporate some of the same methods, but with the stock links.

Here is my half-cut...

image.jpeg


image.jpeg


The 60 is roughly 3-4 inches narrower between the frame rails in the rear vs. the 80.

This makes mounting the lower links easy, since the brackets attach directly under the frame.

The buckets will need to move in, as well the lower mounts on the axle by the same amount.

The front structure/upper link mount will get the ends chopped off and welded in the the 60 frame. Shock will mounts stay the same.

The buckets will get the rears chopped/capped to the absolute minimum as in the link above to clear the gas tank...

Les_4_Small_35_zpsffcyljnr.jpg


These will get welded to the frame, just like on the 80 series. I wanted to use a piece of pipe as shown for the rear support, but it doesn't look like I have room. I may just have to tie it between the buckets. We'll see what we can think up.

Les_4_Small_37_zpspjxjfost.jpg


The panhard mount will be a Ruff Stuff bracket, with the stock panhard bar...

Les_4_Small_67_zpska8ox9vb.jpg


The stock panhard will be shortened using the McMaster Carr adjustable panhard kit... Adjustable Rear Panhard Bar How To

image.jpeg


Fuel line, brake line, and exhaust routing will also need to be tweaked.
 
Will you need to move the fuel tank? I can see where fitting the buckets for the springs is going to be very close.

Can it be driven with the front done and the rear on leaf springs? In a way, just swapping the 80 axle in there would not be a bad plan. A bunch of later 70 series trucks are set up like that, and you could just use sightly lifted rear springs to make the height even with the front.
 
It could be driven, but would look funny with these front springs. I'm not ready to consider leaf springs in the back yet.

Unlike the front, I won't have to cut everything out of the way to play with it, so I won't have to part it out if it doesn't work. But it will work. Somehow. The tank can't be moved. There isn't any room to move it.

Like the rain and the cold weather, this is just something we'll have to deal with.

The front buckets don't have much holding them to the frame, and they don't seem to rip off too often. I may tie the back of the bucket to the frame similar to the fronts. I will have full support on the side and front of the bucket, so it may not need a full rear crossmember. We'll see when we get in there.
 
Last edited:
Post #37 makes more sense now
 
Might be too early to say, but will your current exhaust setup need to change?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 9 (members: 0, guests: 9)

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom