Dad's FJ40 rebuild (1 Viewer)

[FJ40 PTO]

Hi everyone,

My dad died in October and I have his '68 FJ40 that I want to rebuild.

I'm not planning on keeping it stock. I want to be able to drive it every day and be able to go off-road

I would love to get some recommendations from some of you

Thinking of,
Swapping the 6 cylinder for an LS

Swapping the 3 speed for a tremic 5 or 6 speed

Keeping the PTO winch on the front, what transfer would you recommend?

Will I need to extend the frame and body with an LS and tremic?

I would like to have power steering

I would like to run 37's but keep it low

I would like to move the front axle as far forward as possible and the back axle as far back as possible

Should I stay with springs or go linked

What will have the best ride

Should I keep the stock axels or swap out new ones, if so which ones

I would like to have an electric winch in the back for plan B

Planning on a custom family roll cage and spare tire mount

Thank you

I would like to keep the bench seats in front and add seats in the back all with heated seats

 

[Rock40]

That is… a lot of questions.

So here’s my personal opinion, because you asked.

For a wheeler and driver, I would not sink money into the stock 6. I did in the past, it was a regrettable mistake and now I have an LS

I’ve heard good things about the Tremecs, I’ve never driven one. If you go that route, you’ll have to find a compatible transfer case to go with it, the Toyota FJ40 one is fairly tough but I suspect adapting it to that trans might be difficult if not impossible. Again, I have no experience with Tremec transmissions. I doubt you’d need to extend the frame with an LS and Tremec.

For a transfer case, you could go for a passenger drop NP205, Atlas or Orion. I did run a stock FJ40 case for many many years on 37”s. Only destroyed 3 of them

You WILL need power steering. 4x4Labs makes a very nice frame plate kit

If you want 37”s AND keep it low, AND move axles forward/back AND have the best ride I’d suggest links and coils

On 37”s with lockers you are pushing the stock axles in my opinion. And you can spend a lot of money making a front axle stronger but it’ll be about as strong as a bone stock Dana 60. Most in this section are running 60 front axles and a 60 or 14 bolt rear. I currently have an 80 series rear in mine, never broke it but I’m swapping it out for a 60.

You are also talking a gigantic project, from your questions above you are essentially replacing everything. How are your fab skills? The shop bill for a build like this can get gigantic. And I should know how long this stuff takes as I’ve been plugging on one for nearly 9 years and it’s never left the shop.

You’ll likely get some different input and that’s good. Everyone has their own tastes, there’s lots of different ways to skin a cat (or an old FJ40)

 

[Rock40]

I’d also suggest looking through the builds on here. It’ll give you an idea of what you like and what you don’t so much like. All the stuff you mention above has been tackled before, it’s just of matter of what you want to end up with in the end and how you’ll get there in the meantime.