Copenhagen1 (new old stock) is now in! Pics

[Copenhagen1]

Rice rig man! What model bilsteins are those? Got Part Numbers- How did you decide on which ones to buy

The part #'s were F4-BE5-6253-H5 and F4-BE5-6248-H5 for the 5100 series Bilsteins. I decided which ones to buy by searching here on MUD. Everyone that had purchased them seemed very pleased with them. I have a 4" SUA lift on the truck and these part #'s seemed to be the general consensus. I am very pleased with them.

 

[Copenhagen1]

Still working on this same stuff since December. Between work and holidays and deer hunting, I just get a few hours here and there to work on it.

I got the front knuckles done and the new brake parts installed a couple weeks ago.



Rebuilt and refinished my Warn hubs



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[Copenhagen1]

Moved on to the rear axle and realized that I had seals leaking



So I got online and ordered new bearings and seals



Got them installed today and continued putting my new OEM brake parts on



Anyway, I am having a lot of fun fooling with it. I have realized that my least favorite thing to do is refinishing existing parts. I wish I had the patience that some of you guys do to spend the time to sandblast, paint, re-plate nuts and bolts but I just don't have the patience. I want it to run and drive like a brand new FJ40 but I really don't mind if it looks like a 35 year old truck.

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[77mustard40]

Anyway, I am having a lot of fun fooling with it. I have realized that my least favorite thing to do is refinishing existing parts. I wish I had the patience that some of you guys do to spend the time to sandblast, paint, re-plate nuts and bolts but I just don't have the patience. I want it to run and drive like a brand new FJ40 but I really don't mind if it looks like a 35 year old truck.

Man I think your doing great, keep it up! I just did my front breaks but now I need to go after the rears, hope mine looks as nice as yours when I get finished.

 

[Copenhagen1]

A while ago I mentioned that I installed a Skyjacker 4" lift. Since the weather has been nice I have been driving my 40 almost daily. It has begun to bug me how stiff the suspension is.
Is it because I have no weight on it? The top and rear ambulance doors are off. I do not have a spare tire carrier or spare tire installed. I also took the Warn 8274 off the front bumper in order to refurbish it.

I have been researching LCWIZARD's rear bumper with tire and cooler swing outs. Would the weight of this help make my suspension loosen up?

I will attach pics of my front and rear shackles as it sits right now.








I know shackle angle is important but what are some suggestions that i can do to affect it?

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[caz]

I have the same lift. It is pretty stiff!

I took the bottom leaf out of the rear packs and I do have a tire carrier. My shackles are much more angled than yours.

 

[Chamba]

I have always heard that the skyjacker spring pack is rock hard, so it sounds like unless you're going to buy OME springs you will just have to get used to it.

 

[Copenhagen1]

Ok. I ordered a 4 plus bumper with the two swingouts. Dave shipped it two days ago so it should be here this week.

In anticipation, I ordered a new OEM steel wheel and a new hubcap from Toyota. I got them yesterday and scuffed up the wheel and painted it to match my others. Krylon Smoke Grey is a very close match to the factory gray wheel color.



I also ordered a new BFG KM2 to use as my spare. My other 4 are the original style BFG Muds and I hate for them to mismatch but sooner or later I will replace the other 4 with KM2. Not sure I will ever wear them out but the age is going to come into play soon.



I will post an update after I get the new bumper installed.

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[nuclearlemon]

wow, i loved my skyjackers. that was 20+ years ago tho. i wonder what changed. i know a lot of harder core wheelers were bitching that the flexed so well they didn't last, maybe skyjacker made them stiffer for that.

 

[Copenhagen1]

I am thinking my problem is not enough weight. I read decent reviews of the Skyjackers. I rarely ever have the hardtop on. I own an original spare tire carrier but have not had an actual spare tire assembly so the spare and the carrier have not been on there. I am not fond of the bumperette look (to each his own), so I don't have those on there. No tailgate because I have ambulance doors that stay with the hardtop. I am probably missing 300-500# of factory weight back there.

That is why I ordered this bumper. My first thought was to change springs but my second thought was that if I was going to spend $600-$1000 for new springs, I might as well try weight first. Ergo, I ordered this bumper, wheel, tire, hubcap. I already own the Yeti beer cooler I am going to put in the basket .

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[Nottajeep]

You might want to think about some shims here. From my understanding, I believe that will bring your angles back to correct position. I read to be sure to buy the steel and avoid aluminum for longevity reasons.

Also, you might try flexing your axles on some ramps to see if that will loosen them up. I am going to try this to see if it helps at all.

A while ago I mentioned that I installed a Skyjacker 4" lift. Since the weather has been nice I have been driving my 40 almost daily. It has begun to bug me how stiff the suspension is.
Is it because I have no weight on it? The top and rear ambulance doors are off. I do not have a spare tire carrier or spare tire installed. I also took the Warn 8274 off the front bumper in order to refurbish it.

I have been researching LCWIZARD's rear bumper with tire and cooler swing outs. Would the weight of this help make my suspension loosen up?

I will attach pics of my front and rear shackles as it sits right now.


View attachment 742239



View attachment 742240

I know shackle angle is important but what are some suggestions that i can do to affect it?

Sent from my iPhone using IH8MUD

 

[lcwizard]

You may not have enough shackle for a 4" lift. . Most 4" springs are at least an inch longer that a stock spring. You might damage the spring under compression or, at least, the spring may not fully compress when the shackle runs out of travel. Find the eye to eye specs on the Skyjacker leaf and compare it to stock. Ad the appropriate length to the shackle

 

[thecrazygreek]

I ran a 2.5 inch skyjacker lift. It was a "Soft Ride" version. Is your 4 inch a soft ride? I think each lift size has a soft ride option. My 2.5 inch was the best riding set of springs I have had on a cruiser. And my shocks were just pro comps.

keep on keepin on'

 

[pavieSD]

I am thinking my problem is not enough weight. I read decent reviews of the Skyjackers. I rarely ever have the hardtop on. I own an original spare tire carrier but have not had an actual spare tire assembly so the spare and the carrier have not been on there. I am not fond of the bumperette look (to each his own), so I don't have those on there. No tailgate because I have ambulance doors that stay with the hardtop. I am probably missing 300-500# of factory weight back there.

That is why I ordered this bumper. My first thought was to change springs but my second thought was that if I was going to spend $600-$1000 for new springs, I might as well try weight first. Ergo, I ordered this bumper, wheel, tire, hubcap. I already own the Yeti beer cooler I am going to put in the basket .

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I had the same thoughts as you, add more weight, even though I was already running the hard top, full size spare, etc. My brand new lift had horrible shackle angle, pretty much vertical front and rear. I also have extended shackles, about 2 extra inches over stock.

I ran enough weight in the back that my tub metal actually got stretched in the rear , and still no change in the shackle. So after talking to a fellow cruiser head, he recommended pulling a few of the springs off and seeing where that netted me. Cost me nothing more then a few hours of work. I didn't completely remove the spring that is attached to the bushings/hangar, just dropped everything else. Once that was done, I cleaned up the rust between the springs (brand new springs and they were already rusting in the middle where the paint rubs off), and added a bunch of dry graphite spray.

I ended up settling at 3 spring removed on each corner, so I went from 7 springs down to 4. Now the truck rides like a new car, and the shackle angle has improved a bit. I'm finally getting decent flex! I did lose a little on the lift height, but not enough to matter. It's well worth a try, and you can always put the springs back in if it doesn't make a difference.

 

[nuclearlemon]

are you running aftermarket shackles? if so, how tight are the bolts? overtightening will not allow the spring to flex like it should

 

[pavieSD]

are you running aftermarket shackles? if so, how tight are the bolts? overtightening will not allow the spring to flex like it should

How tight should the bolts be? Do you know a rough torque spec for the shackle to spring? I had Mark's offroad initially install my lift, so I would presume it was torqued correctly, but I can always double check just to confirm.

 

[Nottajeep]

Kerry, I bet shackles help but no guarantee for smoother ride. I have these teraflex shackles and stiff rough country springs. The bilsteins helped but I need shims to bring the axle back to center..



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[Alz Toy]

Hey everybody,

I have been a member here for 2 years but haven't posted much. I have been reading and studying from you guys and waiting for the right project to come along.

Before I get to pics, let me say this is one of the greatest forums I have been on. You guys have answers for everything. You have "been there and done that" and you don't seem to mind passing the knowledge along. I hope someday when I have more knowledge about FJ40's, I will be able to help somebody else out.

Now my truck. It is a 1977 FJ40 that spent most of its life on a ranch in Abilene. That is good because it is dry and I seriously think it only has 44,??? original miles. It is bad because the PO made some crazy decisions on how to fix things. This is how it looked the day I bought it:
View attachment 225992


I took a power washer to it and it cleaned up pretty nice. It is very solid. It has a small amount of rust in the middle if the bed. I have punched around on it and looked under it and it does not seem to be very extensive. Since I am trying to spend money where it counts the most, I made one cheap mod in the first few days. After I pressure washed it, I pulled the chrome/painted wagon wheels and sanded them down and reshot them black. I had a set of 15" chrome trim rings at the farm and installed them. It looks pretty good but I am not sure how it would hold up under hard wheeling. Here it is 10 days after purchase:
View attachment 225993
The front bumper belongs on some kind of pickup because it has tabs on it to bolt to an existing bumper. In the case of my truck, it was welded on. The upright supports on the bumper are real narrow and my guess is that caused the headlights to have a very narrow beam. That in turn caused the PO to take the factory turn signals off and replace them ( read:new holes in fender) with auxillary lights.

I have had it about a month and my plans for it are to make it mechanically sound where it can be counted on to pull weekend duty. That could be wheeling or it could be hauling me and my son to the Little League. I ordered mirrors and Japan made turn signals and taillights from CCOT. I did that because they are about 80 miles from my house and I am in Dallas all the time. I got the tailights rewired with the original plug ( thanks to ih8mud) and everything is now working like a champ. I bought a bikini top here off the forum (thanks KgB). I plan on the top being off most of the time.Here are current pictures:
View attachment 225994


I have a couple questions. One is where do you put your license plate when you take your doors off? And second is, is there anybody out there in East Texas (Tyler) who likes to mess with these as much as I do?

Let me know what you guys think.

Copenhagen1

Looking at this from when you first got it, why do I think of the Campbells, from American Hoggers? Think the old man might have had a hand in customizing this? Good job, enjoy

 

[Copenhagen1]

You might want to think about some shims here. From my understanding, I believe that will bring your angles back to correct position. I read to be sure to buy the steel and avoid aluminum for longevity reasons.

Also, you might try flexing your axles on some ramps to see if that will loosen them up. I am going to try this to see if it helps at all.

I have actually left it parked in a bar ditch with the suspension torqued for a few hours at a time. It didn't seem to loosen up much. May try it again though since I haven't thought of that in a while.

You may not have enough shackle for a 4" lift. . Most 4" springs are at least an inch longer that a stock spring. You might damage the spring under compression or, at least, the spring may not fully compress when the shackle runs out of travel. Find the eye to eye specs on the Skyjacker leaf and compare it to stock. Ad the appropriate length to the shackle

This is interesting. Can I measure eye to eye with it on the truck and then measure the oem spring eye to eye on the shop floor? If I find out that the skyjacker spring is 1" longer (for instance), would I then buy 1" longer shackles than stock? Can you elaborate a little on this? I am not opposed to putting longer shackles on it than stock but I thought people usually put longer shackles just to get more lift. In my mind, I didn't know that it could correct suspension geometry. If you could tell me more about this that would be awesome or give me a link to study.

I ran a 2.5 inch skyjacker lift. It was a "Soft Ride" version. Is your 4 inch a soft ride? I think each lift size has a soft ride option. My 2.5 inch was the best riding set of springs I have had on a cruiser. And my shocks were just pro comps.

I purchased these used out of Houston but when I got them they still had the stickers. I am not sure they were ever actually mounted but I also do not know if they are "soft ride" since I didn't order them new.

....I ended up settling at 3 spring removed on each corner, so I went from 7 springs down to 4. Now the truck rides like a new car, and the shackle angle has improved a bit. I'm finally getting decent flex! I did lose a little on the lift height, but not enough to matter. It's well worth a try, and you can always put the springs back in if it doesn't make a difference....

I may have to try this eventually.

are you running aftermarket shackles? if so, how tight are the bolts? overtightening will not allow the spring to flex like it should

No. These are factory I am pretty sure. I was very careful when I installed them not to over tighten. I had to buy all new Skyjacker bushings because there were none in the springs when I got them. I made sure to leave them where they can cycle like they should but not tightened down to a point of crushing the shackle or bushing.

I appreciate all of the suggestions.

 

[Copenhagen1]

Looking at this from when you first got it, why do I think of the Campbells, from American Hoggers? Think the old man might have had a hand in customizing this? Good job, enjoy

It did spend most of its life on a ranch about 70 miles northwest of the Campbells hometown. It was definitely within their stomping grounds but Texas is loaded with vehicles modified for ranch and hunting duties.