CW 2.0 (7 Viewers)

[seapotato]

Make sure you get those yokes lined up before your third beer

Pfft, the 2 -5 range is where the magic happens

Steadier hands, more confidence in dubious or non-existant skills, less worrying about consequences, better looking, funnier...

The list goes on.






But yes, if you squint hard enough you may see tooth marks from the bf pipe wrench I used to line the marks back up.

Installed and now I'm 4wd and can resume making fun of certain 2wd persons.


Decided while I had the welder over where it would reach the lathe I'd stretch the rear shaft a bit. If it was an inch longer it wouldn't have fit on there. Had to take the damn ujoint apart so I could use a dead center on each end, and the tail stock is barely clinging to the last 1/2" of the ways, but it worked.

The splines on the longer slip aren't the greatest, but it's better than it was. Pretty quick and easy to do with the spinner. Makes me think if I do decide to get a proper lathe, I'm going to have to get something that's at least as long as this old piece of s***.

 

[cruiserpilot]

I’ve got a buggered front driveshaft on the 60. Have to see if I have a replacement in the pile.

 

[slowandsteady BJ]

I didn't think 35" bfg's would actually measure out much bigger than 285's cranked onto skinny ass rims, but it looks like they will. I'm sure they'll fatten up once they're on the rims tho. They were so freaking cheap I pretty much had to.
should finish off the clutch, and who needs a 5th gear anyways.





Decided to knock a front driveshaft together.

I have it straight now, the trick will be keeping it that way when zapping it together, but I had to drive it onto the ujoint so it's pretty tight, doubt it'll move if I don't go apes*** on one side. .

I should probably do a test fit on length before welding the s*** out of it...cuz I never f*** that sort of thing up...

Whenever I post a picture of the ghetto lathe, I can hear @Rigpig shaking his head.

Wow, that looks pretty sophisticated! I see a one piece rear driveshaft in my future... I know where to go to build it. Nice work, truck is really coming along.

 

[seapotato]

Anytime.

And yeah spinning them on center is a lot easier than using those v blocks.
Don't think you'd even really need a lathe, with a good solid bench you could clamp down a couple pieces of angle iron like bookends.

A sharpened bolt tapped in at the top for the shaft to spin on and away you go.

Lathe is kinda more fun tho.

Added bonus, the driveshaft pile I've been tripping over for months can finally go to the shed.

Shocks and bumpstops next i suppose.

I hate shocks.

 

[cruisedeisel]

I have had pretty good luck with DS welding with a carpenters square but I do like the ghetto lathe setup.

 

[seapotato]

I have had pretty good luck with DS welding with a carpenters square but I do like the ghetto lathe setup.

Many moons ago I built one , tack welded it to length, installed in the truck with a coat hanger bent from the crossmember to check for straightness. That worked too, but I like the lathe method better.

 

[cruiserpilot]

FYI found this revived thread. But thought you might like the pics POST#6 of the guys bracketry and
soft top. Looks okay. Just an idea anyhow, always find it’s nice to see ideas.

FJ45 Cab and Bed Soft top

So I've got a couple of these under my belt and pretty much have all the kinks out. It's not nearly as easy as bolting on a set of shortened 40 bows and here is why. The b pillar post that comes out of the stock 40 bows doesn't line up with the hole in the b pillar tub. It's off maybe 3/4 of...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[seapotato]

FYI found this revived thread. But thought you might like the pics POST#6 of the guys bracketry and
soft top. Looks okay. Just an idea anyhow, always find it’s nice to see ideas.

FJ45 Cab and Bed Soft top

So I've got a couple of these under my belt and pretty much have all the kinks out. It's not nearly as easy as bolting on a set of shortened 40 bows and here is why. The b pillar post that comes out of the stock 40 bows doesn't line up with the hole in the b pillar tub. It's off maybe 3/4 of...

forum.ih8mud.com

Those are pretty nice. Too nice
I'm thinking once I get around to cutting down a hardtop I'll use the fbg lid and make some sides and back that'll roll up.

My mom still has the old sailrite so it shouldn't be too big a deal to knock some side panels out. Won't have any complex curves, really just rectangles, so pretty easy.

I'll do some tin sides too, but I'm not quite there yet.

 

[seapotato]

Finally got the rear shocks sorted out.

Amuses me that I spent so long making mounts. In the past I just butt welded a bolt to the axle tube and it was fine.

Shock companies don't make it easy to search by length these days.

End up more vertical than on other trucks I've had, but they don't get in the way. Not like I'm building this for the island 4x4 ramp competition anyway

 

[cruiserpilot]

Well done, have to call you when I get to my 40. Vertical is actually better, the way they are
supposed to work. You’re on your own with homemade rig like that as far as length goes

 

[seapotato]

Well done, have to call you when I get to my 40. Vertical is actually better, the way they are
supposed to work. You’re on your own with homemade rig like that as far as length goes

Sure, angled reduces their mechanical advantage, but it also lets you fit longer shocks in that won't limit travel. the usual trade off.

With the lengths tho, you're on your own with ANY truck unless the shocks come with a lift kit. Most of the brands make it hard to even find shocks by length which is pretty stupid.

Parts guy had an old list on paper he'd kept because the new monroe catalog didn't even list lengths anymore. Only application. Rancho isn't any better either, but I wasn't about to overpay for a sticker and a red cover boot.

 

[seapotato]

One side of the ass end done.

Bedded it in grease so it doesn't turn into a rust catcher. Faster than the rest of a toyota anyways.

I made a bunch of these inserts that I could pass inside the frame and then weld, but ended up only needing the one for the side bolt. Underneath the fasteners catch the doubled section of frame so there's about a 1/4" of meat to tap into, so I didn't bother.

Side two tomorrow maybe.

 

[slowandsteady BJ]

One side of the ass end done.

Bedded it in grease so it doesn't turn into a rust catcher. Faster than the rest of a toyota anyways.

I made a bunch of these inserts that I could pass inside the frame and then weld, but ended up only needing the one for the side bolt. Underneath the fasteners catch the doubled section of frame so there's about a 1/4" of meat to tap into, so I didn't bother.

Side two tomorrow maybe.

Clever. Capillary action and salt are a motherfucker. Toyota seems to have been fond of lapping joints in both frames and bodies. That's always where the rust is the worst. Hell, I don't think they figured "e-coating till the early 90's.

 

[seapotato]

Clever. Capillary action and salt are a motherfucker. Toyota seems to have been fond of lapping joints in both frames and bodies. That's always where the rust is the worst. Hell, I don't think they figured "e-coating till the early 90's.

Yeah when drilling up through the doubled area a little orange puff comes out when you hit the middle. This is about the cleanest frame you'll ever see, but it's in there.

A good douche of krown is in its future.

 

[seapotato]

They paint drying update. Both literally and a metaphor

Kinda gross out so I didn't feel like turning it around to get to the other side, so I poked around on the front end. Turns out with a little slotting of the holes, the rear 40 series brackets fit up front.

I love it when a plan comes together...

I'm gonna have to make a decision on the 35's. They are...ahem, significantly larger than the 285's...

However only 3 of them were any good, so do I go for 35's, buy a couple new ones, and deal with all the extra work they'll cause (flares, plus raising the deck, maybe gears, probably a clutch ) or skip it.

Leaning towards skip it because I'm feeling lazy and a strong urge to go full Marie Kondo on my extra junk....although they do look pretty cool.

 

[cruiserpilot]

So what’s that on the bottom? That looks good.

 

[seapotato]

So what’s that on the bottom? That looks good.

bottom of which?

 

[cruiserpilot]

The bottom pic. The wheel and tire below the deck. Did it snow at your place? Glad that’s over!!

 

[seapotato]

Ah. Yeah that's a 35. Definitely look cool, but they do stick out a bit

Might steal steves spare so i can do a test drive. Suspect it'll be brutal without a turbo or gears.

Not today tho.

Not a snowflake here.

 

[seapotato]

So despite being off for the last week or so, I've accomplished very little on the cruiser. I did the mother of all shop clean ups, still not finished but it's considerably better, purpose of the clean up was to make room for the HMCS Bertram...

It's a way too big, way too heavy and somewhat impractical, but the price was right and it needed to be rescued, so it's just about perfect for me. Exactly the kind of s*** I love.

Now I just need to sort out a steam engine to power it. ( Swmbo assumes I'm kidding when I say that. )

Should be fun. I doubt it'll be laser accurate, but I pretty much eyeball everything anyways, so who am I kidding

It'll be a while before it spins anything again, but now that I have floor space again I can get back to the cruiser as I gradually scrounge stuff to get the old girl running again. Finding a bunch of flat belting will be step one, so I can figure out where to mount the upper shaft.