Cam's FJ60 Gets Sprung (1 Viewer)

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

To do list:

- Bleed brakes (got started last night, but can tell it will be a pain)

I've put together a pressure bleeder with a $12 Northern Tool 2 gallon sprayer and a few other bits. Took me a bit of tweaking to get it set up but with that done it works well. Lots of videos out there showing these things in use.
 
I've made one pass around the wheels, and have run a bottle of fluid through. It is close. One more trip around ought to get it. It was empty plus the donor lines were filthy inside.

Once I get that, it's time to :steer:
 
I still need to do some more brake bleeding, adjust the toe-in, and mount the steering damper, but I took her for a spin anyway...

Huge improvement! The heavy springs are pretty firm, but not as stiff as the leafs. It feels good for the 60 though, since it still feels like a truck. With a load, it should ride like a caddy. Medium springs might be a better fit for DD duty, but this is still better than the leaf springs.

These shocks are $$$. I went through a neighborhood with gently sloped speed bumps and flew through it at full speed. I found some tall, sharp speed bumps in a parking lot and it is much better than before.

Bumps at speed, like potholes and poorly leveled manhole covers are a joke. You start aiming for them because it feels good to hit them. It just soaks them up. It's much quieter over bumps too since it's not as much of a shock to the system.

Between the heavy springs, these shocks, the extra width, and the front & rear swaybars, it corners like a racecar. Ok, maybe not, but even with the extra height, it doesn't feel any less stable than before. Maybe more so.

Steering is squirrelly. The toe is off for starters, but it does need some caster correction. Mark put some caster plates on his truck today and said it made a huge improvement, I'll do the same soon. Effort at the wheel is much less. This 80 box is nice.

I'll try and tighten up the loose ends tomorrow and maybe flex 'er out.
 
Last edited:
How are the brakes?
 
So far, it's at least on par with the stock 60 brakes. Once I wear the tainted layer of brake material off, get them good and bled and re-adjust the rear drums, I think it will be an improvement.

It feels fine with no PV. I did a few hard stops and could not lock up the rear.

I'll be curious to see how the rear discs compare.

The front rotors and pads look fairly fresh. We think whoever changed the rotors had no idea how to set up wheel bearings, and fubar'ed the spindle when the end nut spun off.
 
Last edited:
Got the steering damper on using the 80's mount & damper. I had one threaded hole in the frame, so I drilled a hole and welded a second nut flush with the frame. It's tucked up nice and tight.

image.jpeg


image.jpeg


Mark stopped by and we ran a few more bottles of brake fluid through the system. It's still not there. I'm taking it to the exhaust guy tomorrow, so I'll let him finish bleeding them.

We got it good enough to go take it off some sweet jumps.
 
Last edited:
Haha, no. He yanked them off real quick.

We took it out for a little urban flexing. The pics (besides the crappy light) are a little underwhelming. It's no buggy, but it was impressive in person. Much better than spring under.

image.jpeg


image.jpeg


image.jpeg


image.jpeg
 
Mark stopped by and we ran a few more bottles of brake fluid through the system. It's still not there. I'm taking it to the exhaust guy tomorrow, so I'll let him finish bleeding them.

You might already be there. 80 brakes are the spongiest brakes of any recent Land Cruisers.

It's looking great though and the factory steering damper is a nice touch. I used weldable shaft collars like you did to make the mount on mine. Nice going.
 
You might already be there. 80 brakes are the spongiest brakes of any recent Land Cruisers.

It's looking great though and the factory steering damper is a nice touch. I used weldable shaft collars like you did to make the mount on mine. Nice going.

Yeah, you got the shaft collar idea from me back in the day! I've had this one a while.

I do still have some air bubbles hiding, as the pedal will keep sinking to the floor (unless my MC is toast). I may be getting a new one soon anyway. Amazon had the disc/disc/non-abs for cheap, but back-ordered. One will be on the way when they resupply.

The brakes did seem pretty strong when they worked.

One thing I noticed in the parking lot is that my turning radius has gotten smaller. The tires don't feel like they are fighting each other any more in tight turns.
 
You might already be there. 80 brakes are the spongiest brakes of any recent Land Cruisers.

100% agree. All 3 of our 80's have a weak brake pedal.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom