Chopping a Troopie, any hidden obstacles?

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abosely

abosely

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I am thinking about going this route for an Expedition Rig and wanted to see if there would be any serious problems or complications that I haven't thought of.

Option 1 (at this point my preferred way)

I can get a Troopie tub and would shorten the rear overhang to the same size as a 40 and cut the tub between the wheels and remove an 8" section and basically end up with a 40 with an 18" stretch and a 108" wheelbase.

Will use cut down Troopie side window panels and roof or see if I can get a roof top made for it from Gozzard.

I will be using a custom frame so the frame isn't an issue.

Other than keeping things lined up, square and welding slow to not warp things. Is there anything I'm missing that would make this not feasible?

I'm not going to be chopping up an existing Troopie for this, the tub will be from an already parted out Troopie.

Option 2
Use an FJ43 1/2 tub and cut out the wheel wells and move them back 4" and fill in the front of the part of the wheel well.

If I go this way the rear over hang will be about 4" longer than a 40 and be
10" longer between the wheels and have a 100" wheelbase.
Plus I will need to get and weld in the floor pan,cowl,sills ect.
So I don't think I would save any work going that route.

Roof and side panels would be the same situation for either option.

Input, thoughts?

Allen
 
Allen,

I don't know where you live, but bobbing a perfectly good Troopy just makes me kinda sick to my stomach...not because it wouldn't be kinda cool, but these things aren't exactly common, especially in the U.S., so it'd be kinda like taking a Chevelle SS and making a demolition derby car out of it...no...I take that back...there are more Chevelle SSs in the US than Troopys, but you get the gist...

I think Profitt's cruisers has taken an FJ40 and lengthened the frame and body to make a 43/45ish rig, including a new hardtop, but I've only seen some photos from the owner, so I no nothing other than that.

From an expedition standpoint, I don't see that the 115" wheelbase of a stock troopy is that much of a disadvantage. I've never dragged my propane tank and it sits lower than the stock spare tire....no problemos with overhang, and I've been in some areas that are really off the "expedition" type of terrain.

My vote is to start with a 40 series if you must start chopping...but maybe I'm just too much of a purist.

-H-
 
You should be censored and arrested for such thoughts.

Can you take a few 40 frames and tubs and re-create the same idea?? Seems that the frames would be cheap and easy to get and you're obviously skilled enough with a torch to make it happen.

Chopping up a 43 is far more insane. Regardless of the 43 condition you shouldn't kill it due to the rarity of the vehicle.

Adding 18" to a 40 seems more economical since 40's have become a dime a dozen due to the economy and the abundance of parts vehicles. The parts troopy tub you have could be parted easily to finance your evil doings.

That said, I might have an extra troopy top in a few months for sale for very reasonable $$$.

Sounds like a cool idea though. can you Photochop your idea to get us a better vision of what you're going for??
 
Easy guys, I'm not talking about using a whole Troopie, just a salvaged Troopie tub.

SOR currently has one that needs some tlc, they are asking $1500 for this one, they had one a while back that was in better shape for $3000.

The FJ43 would just be a Heritage 1/2 or 3/4 tub. I would not think of cutting up a whole FJ43! Way to rare.

I'm not even going to use a good Troopie or FJ frame, I can get a mandrel bent frame for not to bad of a price.

Allen
 
If you are thinking about using a heritage tub, have Loumas (sp?) make a custom one for you instead with the dimensions you want.

It would probably be cheapest to use the existing troopie tub though if you can get it for $1500 or less. Or like Jsaltlick says extend a 40 tub.
 
Hltoppr said:
I think Profitt's cruisers has taken an FJ40 and lengthened the frame and body to make a 43/45ish rig, including a new hardtop, but I've only seen some photos from the owner, so I no nothing other than that.
-H-
Click to expand...

You are probably referring to my truck as I believe I sent you some pictures of it a while back. It was actually a SWB 45 pickup and we used the factory frame with no extensions. And.... there was no extending of the body. The original pickup bed was cut in the front and blended with a FJ40 front. All the factory frame/body mounts are being used. Not to get picky, I just want to clarify.

We did make a custom hardtop for it out of 3 FJ40 tops. I refer to it as SWB Troopy. It's a little longer than the 43/44/46 but not quite as long as a real Troopy.

We have done other FJ40 extended bodies and frames and they have all come out great.

cruiser ken said:
If you are thinking about using a heritage tub, have Loumas (sp?) make a custom one for you instead with the dimensions you want.

It would probably be cheapest to use the existing troopie tub though if you can get it for $1500 or less. Or like Jsaltlick says extend a 40 tub.
Click to expand...


Aqualu makes a lot of extended tubs. They make a 12", 18", 22", and they can also make you any custom length of tub you want.

abosely: Make it how you want it and use whatever works best for ya. If you have the coin, I'd personally go the Aqualu route. It would have been a helluva lot easier than what I did. My rig is great and I love the additional space. The real 45 Troopys are a little too long in the rear overhang for serious wheelin'. Even my SWB Troopy has scraped a few times going off ledges and I'm SOA on 35's. It wasn't that bad but at least I had the proper armor for it.

For what it's worth, my wheel base is 105" and I'm about 18" longer in the rear overhang than a FJ40. If I were to do it over again (besides going with the Aqualu tub), I'd knock about 6" out of the rear overhang. So in essence, I'd go with a 105" wheel base (14" +/- longer than a 40) and add 12" to the rear overhang of a 40. That would be around 26" longer than a 40.

Hope that helps.
 
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