Builds Cruisermatt's FJ62 Build-up (17 Viewers)

[cruisermatt]

The copper nickel is very nice and easy to work with. I like it a lot.
that being said if you want the ultimate in terms of corrosion resistance and strength then stainless is the way to go.
With the build this summer all the lines on the axles and frame are new, they are just standard steel with a copper zinc coat. It was towards the end money was out, and I just couldn’t front the extra few bucks for stainless. They’re already starting to get some surface rust if it rains and I don’t drive it for a few days.
I’ll have to redo them in stainless, then they’ll be good forever.

 

[cruisermatt]

So just a little update on the truck, finally had to do the classic starter relay mod, a few pages back I was mentioning I was getting voltage drop at the starter solenoid, turns out it's just the aging wiring and ignition switch. Relay installed and now have nice crisp starts every time.
I had to put a new battery in too. 2.5 year old Yellow Optima died. Done with them. Went with a Group 65 from Advance with a coupon, nothing special, it was $100 and has a 2-year warranty. I'm going to get one of their 850CCA Gold version that has a 3-year warranty as my main battery and move this one over to the aux. side. Group 65 is really as big as you can fit in these stainless battery trays. I had to trim a bit off the hold down too.
Need to finish my dual battery wiring too.
Before I found out the battery was bad I thought I had a bad alternator, turns out the one I had was fine but oh well. It was from a junkyard so who knows how old it was. Less then 2 minutes to swap the new one on.

I also got a good deal on a full RCV axle set during Black Friday. Really looking forwards to getting these installed.

 

[cruisermatt]

Pulled the front axle Sunday evening to tear it down for a rebuild, getting the RCV’s installed, knuckle gussets, some armor, and modifying the hubs for my ARP 7/16” bolts. I was wanted to remake the two hard brake lines on the axles since they are already rusted (got kinda scammed on what I thought was NICOP line). I love how easy it is to pull the front axle with SOA and heim joint steering. 30 minutes. No stupid tie rod taper to deal with.

I was planning on having it all back together this evening but didn’t get as much time to work on it this weekend as I would have liked.

 

[Tennessee80]

So just a little update on the truck, finally had to do the classic starter relay mod, a few pages back I was mentioning I was getting voltage drop at the starter solenoid, turns out it's just the aging wiring and ignition switch. Relay installed and now have nice crisp starts every time.
I had to put a new battery in too. 2.5 year old Yellow Optima died. Done with them. Went with a Group 65 from Advance with a coupon, nothing special, it was $100 and has a 2-year warranty. I'm going to get one of their 850CCA Gold version that has a 3-year warranty as my main battery and move this one over to the aux. side. Group 65 is really as big as you can fit in these stainless battery trays. I had to trim a bit off the hold down too.
Need to finish my dual battery wiring too.
Before I found out the battery was bad I thought I had a bad alternator, turns out the one I had was fine but oh well. It was from a junkyard so who knows how old it was. Less then 2 minutes to swap the new one on.

I also got a good deal on a full RCV axle set during Black Friday. Really looking forwards to getting these installed.

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Looking good dude!!

 

[cruisermatt]

I forgot to mention, I made the knuckle gussets myself, the ones on top are 3/8” plate and the bottom ones are cut down 1.75” tube, not as strong as the 3/8 on top but there’s no ground clearance issue.

 

[cruisermatt]

Of course I see this AFTER I went full viking to bend that 1/4" plate around the housing without an oxy-fuel torch. Would have definitely bought this instead.
@roma042987
Toyota 9.5" Landcruiser Diff Armor

 

[roma042987]

Of course I see this AFTER I went full viking to bend that 1/4" plate around the housing without an oxy-fuel torch. Would have definitely bought this instead.
@roma042987
Toyota 9.5" Landcruiser Diff Armor

Ah yeah good stuff. My buddy said he just made another run.

 

[cruisermatt]

Ah yeah good stuff. My buddy said he just made another run.

Does it fit an 80 rear end? I think the housing shape on that is slightly different

 

[NeverGiveUpYota]

Of course I see this AFTER I went full viking to bend that 1/4" plate around the housing without an oxy-fuel torch. Would have definitely bought this instead.
@roma042987
Toyota 9.5" Landcruiser Diff Armor

Boy those are spiffy as heck!

 

[cruisermatt]

I have a bunch of small miscellaneous updates that I’ve forgotten to add on here. I have been busy as hell working on other projects (mostly other people’s, gotta pay for this somehow ).

Ever since the SOA I had this weird oscillation in the suspension between 30-50mph. You would hit a bump and the truck would body roll and get into this sort of harmonic where it would keep doing it for a while, like several blocks. While it didn’t feel dangerous is was SUPER annoying. The shock valving is definitely way too loose front and rear for the big long springs I have. That being said I didn’t want to drop $1500 on a full set of custom valved shocks right now.
Don’t get me wrong, it rides awesome. Soaks up bumps with ease at high speed, nice and soft. I just want to kill the body roll.

So here is what I did (and am planning to do). I had two recommendations from two good friends.

@FL cruiser recommended rear airbags to act as basically a imposter sway bar. This makes sense as it is basically mega damping. It is also affecting weight transfer front to rear.
They are also dirt cheap (I’ll be into my rear airbag setup for less then $100). Of course since I’m
building my own “kit” it is taking awhile since I HAD to machine a full set of custom mounting brackets

@GLTHFJ60 recommeneded I find some less destroyed springs for the front (he also said I was on borrowed time with the springs I was using 10 months ago when I was first building my setup)
When I drove up to NC in December and bought his lathe, I drove Moonshine around the block and could tell an instant difference of how much better it was. Then he told me all the shocks and bushings were completely blown out

So, I got some nice used low mile FJ62 stock rear springs (FJ62 have an extra leaf but they are all a bit thinner, so they should ride and flex better)
Thanks @FL cruiser !!

Installed:

 

[cruisermatt]

And some pictures of what I was working with before. These pictures might not show the issue very well. These springs had 15 years in the rear of the truck and were completely blown out, AND I had pulled 3 or 4 leaves out of each pack.

I may pull the lowest leafs out of my current new frontpacks as I don’t think they will really affect the rate and they will lower the front about 1/4” (the thickness of the leaf). The truck is sitting a bit taller in the front now, I put 1” longer shackle in the rear to level it out though. I would like to go back to the shorter rear shackles and lower the front if I can.

 

[cruisermatt]

Here’s a good comparison shot of ride height difference between mine and a typical 60. The other one is running a brand new OME kit and I think 30” (pretty much stock size) tires. Also keep in mind mine is sitting about 3/4” taller front and rear then it was originally built at.

And some flex shots of course.

The rear does not rub at all. Here is full bump up front, actually a touch here then full bump as the spring is going into almost inverted danger zone, need longer front bump stops.
I’m sure this will rub a bit under steering but I am really happy so far.

Wheels are 16x7.5 with 5.5” BS with 2” spacers up front.
I am considering 17’s and 37’s with a wider rim for more positive scrub radius but I will probably just leave it alone for awhile.

And droop of course.
Wheel travel is about 6” up and 10-12” down.

Compare to before, same axles, wheels and tires.

 

[cruisermatt]

I also had this awesome electrical issue. I started a thread on it and you can read it all there so I won’t clutter this thread up with the same info.
Hazard lights cranking engine - “fun” gremlin

It is fixed now with a replacement used tailight harness.
I made a nice heatshield and triple insulated that wiring so as not to have another issue.

 

[White Stripe]

I also had this awesome electrical issue. I started a thread on it and you can read it all there so I won’t clutter this thread up with the same info.
Hazard lights cranking engine - “fun” gremlin

It is fixed now with a replacement used tailight harness.
I made a nice heatshield and triple insulated that wiring so as not to have another issue.


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How do you like the feel of the LS? What has your fuel mileage been? Do you wish you had gone 2uz or diesel instead or happy you went LS?

 

[cruisermatt]

How do you like the feel of the LS? What has your fuel mileage been? Do you wish you had gone 2uz or diesel instead or happy you went LS?

I haven’t really been paying attention to mileage as my speedo isn’t working (which means odometer doesn’t work), but I would guess based on the amount off driving to fill up time it’s basically the same (10-11mpg). Which I am 100% fine with since i have taken off from virtually every stop at WOT, cruising down the highway at 95mph, basically driving like a 16 year old all the time

I’m sure if I put small tires on it (big tires = big rotating mass and unsprung weight), didn’t carry around 3-400 lbs of spare axles, driveshafts, tools, spare tire, jacks, fluids etc, every day and lost the roof rack and then drove it like a normal person I would get good mileage. I might do all those things actually.

 

[Hojack]

Wow Matt a lot of nice work giving us all sum good reading material. Like the mid-evil face plate on the diff!

 

[cruisermatt]

Wow Matt a lot of nice work giving us all sum good reading material. Like the mid-evil face plate on the diff!

Thanks Hojack!

How do you like the feel of the LS? What has your fuel mileage been? Do you wish you had gone 2uz or diesel instead or happy you went LS?

I never addressed other part of your question comparing the 5.3 to the 2UZ or diesel.

For a long time I really wanted to do a diesel. I love diesel Land Cruisers. However I just could not get my hands on an Isuzu 4BD for a reasonable price after a year of shopping.

As for feel the V8 makes it feel a lot more car-like then a diesel cruiser or even with an F-motor. The fact that there’s 500lbs less weight over the front axle makes a huge difference as well.

So here’s the thing with the 2UZ. I’d say I’ve driven about 30 various Toyota’s with 2UZ’s, 100’s, GX, Tundras, etc. No question, a 2UZ is smoother and more refined. But this 5.3 is a lot more powerful then a 2UZ.
As you know the 2UZ is a lot wider, timing belt, harder to adapt transmissions too, and little aftermarket. It also has the starter under the intake. I would say the pros of the 5.3 faaar outweigh the 2UZ.

 

[cruisermatt]

Some other fun stuff. Here’s the lathe I bought from @GLTHFJ60. It’s a 1967 Delta Rockwell 25-100. Made in the USA. It compliments my 1965 Bridgeport nicely. It has a broken compound slide and I want to install a DRO on it so there’s some work to do on it but it will be nice for when I need to do small stuff quick.
I built this quick gantry out of wood to get it out of the bed of the Super Duty myself using a chainfall from Harbor Freight.

 

[cruisermatt]

Here’s the brackets I made for my rear airbags. I bought a pair of the Daystar airbag cradles so I don’t tear the bags apart with how much travel I have.
This project will get finished after the front axle, driveshaft and 4wd shifter get finished.

 

[cruisermatt]

I don’t see dropping the fuel tank as a big deal like most on here, but I decided to put in this marine access hatch over the tank. It was cheap and same-day on Prime ($50) so I just went for it. The quality is not great.
Because of the way I mounted it (I didn’t want to cut into the body crossmember) you can’t remove the pump module through the hatch with the tank still strapped because of the hardlines, but this will make getting the electrical connectors and bolts a ton easier.
It should come out through the top with the tank lowered a few inches.