Does anybody use there 40s for daily driver? (1 Viewer)

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I’ve done it in short spurts. Then it cries out for maintenance. I’ve decided I’ve gotta have a backup or a primary DD with the 40 for driving “when I want to”. Most recently is my heater fan keeps blowing the fuse. Not sure where it is but think it’s in the harness somewhere. Not something fun to try and track down when it’s dark and cold and snowy in the middle of winter and you have to drive to work in the morning. I’m going to have to tear it apart to pull the harness and inspect.
 
So basically functionality,comfort,safety,convenience,
reliability,.....vs.....strong ,dependable ,and cool as hell......Im leaning toward the daily 40 .adventures are good...maybe not at the moment but a few years later they make good stories.plus I’m not rich enough to buy the car I want 🤓
 
I’ve done it in short spurts. Then it cries out for maintenance. I’ve decided I’ve gotta have a backup or a primary DD with the 40 for driving “when I want to”. Most recently is my heater fan keeps blowing the fuse. Not sure where it is but think it’s in the harness somewhere. Not something fun to try and track down when it’s dark and cold and snowy in the middle of winter and you have to drive to work in the morning. I’m going to have to tear it apart to pull the harness and inspect.
I’m rewiring and (budget)rebuilding everything best I can,taking the time to limit chances of future gremlins,I’m wrapping each set of wires separate .example fan wires shrink sealed together labeled then rubber strap them to the rest of the harness .that way everything is protected and visible for easy inspection
 
I dailied mine, it was my only vehicle, for about 2 years in college. Drove it from Utah to Colorado and back, 100+ weather to below 0. Besides that my seats were insanely uncomfortable, and that I had to have it at full choke idling for 15 minutes before my two mile drive to campus, I loved it! Wish the heater worked better, but it worked enough. It's now been retired to a backup/lunch/weekend vehicle, but I'd have no issue driving it 100% of the time.
 
I daily drive my bj42 since 2016, most of my driving is on rural road to get at work. , my lady have a small car so it is a good back up if something broke on the 42
I like driving it but I plan for something like a 2006- 2009 forester or outback as a daily driver ( I like wagon and factory top rack) I will keep driving my 42 and 40 two or three time a week but not in the salty winter road from mid december to mid march
 
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I've had spurts where I daily drove my 40... and it's a blast. But I don't want to rack up the miles to quickly doing commutes... I want those miles saved for more fun on unpaved roads.
 
I've had spurts where I daily drove my 40... and it's a blast. But I don't want to rack up the miles to quickly doing commutes... I want those miles saved for more fun on unpaved roads.
Exactly!!!!!!!!!!!
 
I dailied mine, it was my only vehicle, for about 2 years in college. Drove it from Utah to Colorado and back, 100+ weather to below 0. Besides that my seats were insanely uncomfortable, and that I had to have it at full choke idling for 15 minutes before my two mile drive to campus, I loved it! Wish the heater worked better, but it worked enough. It's now been retired to a backup/lunch/weekend vehicle, but I'd have no issue driving it 100% of the time.
Nice I figure people did it back in the day...I’m looking into ways to improve heating system and will upgrade seats for sure .looking into a heated seat conversion,I feel with comfortable heated seats I would be ok with stock ish heating system
 
I've had spurts where I daily drove my 40... and it's a blast. But I don't want to rack up the miles to quickly doing commutes... I want those miles saved for more fun on unpaved roads.
Mostly thinking for work and back ....sucks jumping in a nice car covered in mud and concrete ,couldn’t care less about my 40 getting dusty...for the summer I usually travel via motorcycle....minus shopping dog food that kind of stuff,me personally can’t wait to rack up the miles,parts are cheap rebuilds are easy .....so far lol messy!(ex.knuckle rebuild)parts take time to source out,but so far haven’t had to many issues.no more than finding parts for a new Audi,i plan to start Stockpile certain parts,I feel that secretly I’m ok if and my machine fails me ,gives me a chance to learn more about her.
 
I’m looking into ways to improve heating system and will upgrade seats for sure .looking into a heated seat conversion,I feel with comfortable heated seats I would be ok with stock ish heating system

It must be my seats, but I can't drive for more then 5 mins down the road before my lower back and rear end are sweltering hot. By 10-15 mins in, the lower back half of my shirt is soaked...and I'm not a person that sweats that easily. On my morning work commute, I can drive 30 mins in my 4Runner (with cloth seats), windows up, A/C off and be perfectly comfortable (and dry) when I arrive.

The seats that came in my 40 are vinyl and I assume that's the culprit. But wow, I've owned older vehicles before with vinyl seats and don't ever remember getting this hot driving. I remember driving the 40 back in Feb when the highs were in the 30s. Never had to turn the heat on b/c the seats kept me so warm.

Please share what kind of seats you have, b/c I desperately need a set. This is one persistent aggravation I have with my 40 that rules it out of ever being a daily driver.

And on topic- I have 2 young children. The back seats are cool, but my wife would take my keys if I daily drove the 40 and the kids sat in the stock rear seats. Granted, they love riding in it, but I only take them in it every now in. No way could I do that daily...even for my own sanity.
 
Old vinyl,lol I have a 72 datsun with bench seat the same thing,I tried seat covers didn’t really work,i cut some pieces of thin foam,kinda resembled sponge,used for back packs,worked ok, the vinyl is pretty torn up and I have thoughts of re wrapping them but I’m addicted to the smell of old vinyl,it reminds me of being a youngster driving around with my grandfather chain smoking....lol my 40 came with seats from a Toyota t 100 cloth
 
It must be my seats, but I can't drive for more then 5 mins down the road before my lower back and rear end are sweltering hot. By 10-15 mins in, the lower back half of my shirt is soaked...and I'm not a person that sweats that easily. On my morning work commute, I can drive 30 mins in my 4Runner (with cloth seats), windows up, A/C off and be perfectly comfortable (and dry) when I arrive.

The seats that came in my 40 are vinyl and I assume that's the culprit. But wow, I've owned older vehicles before with vinyl seats and don't ever remember getting this hot driving. I remember driving the 40 back in Feb when the highs were in the 30s. Never had to turn the heat on b/c the seats kept me so warm.

Please share what kind of seats you have, b/c I desperately need a set. This is one persistent aggravation I have with my 40 that rules it out of ever being a daily driver.

And on topic- I have 2 young children. The back seats are cool, but my wife would take my keys if I daily drove the 40 and the kids sat in the stock rear seats. Granted, they love riding in it, but I only take them in it every now in. No way could I do that daily...even for my own sanity.
Yea family,not a family truck .no doubt. i don’t even like bringing my dogs. I can’t imagine,brake downs with the fam could be a bad experience.
 
Nice I figure people did it back in the day...I’m looking into ways to improve heating system and will upgrade seats for sure .looking into a heated seat conversion,I feel with comfortable heated seats I would be ok with stock ish heating system

I mean back in the day was like 3 years ago, I only graduated in 2017 haha.

Aftermarket seat companies usually have options for heating. These are the seats I got from PRP for my FZJ80, they have heated bottom cushions and heated back. These ones specifically weren't that cheap, but they have cheaper models and then the heated option is like $125 extra I think. Food for thought, and the seat and materials are all made to order (assuming you didn't want red). Can also rig up forced air through the cushions, etc.

I0G8Cmvh.jpg
 
I mean back in the day was like 3 years ago, I only graduated in 2017 haha.

Aftermarket seat companies usually have options for heating. These are the seats I got from PRP for my FZJ80, they have heated bottom cushions and heated back. These ones specifically weren't that cheap, but they have cheaper models and then the heated option is like $125 extra I think. Food for thought, and the seat and materials are all made to order (assuming you didn't want red). Can also rig up forced air through the cushions, etc.

I0G8Cmvh.jpg
I like em how much $ for the pair?do you have them installed? Is it reasonably easy to get in and out of your truck?did you need to install switches?
 
The inside of my heater core looks like a limestone cave from the barbs on the outside. The rear heater is not much better. I'm going to try a new aftermarket front core just for efficient heat conductivity and integrity of starting with a new one. Having a cast iron head, it seems to take a bit longer to get warm than aluminum. In my first 40, I'd freeze, and had a hard time defogging.
 
I’m addicted to the smell of old vinyl,it reminds me of being a youngster driving around with my grandfather chain smoking....lol my 40 came with seats from a Toyota t 100 cloth

Cloth. I knew you had an ace up your sleeve. I’m with you though, there are very few things that smell better than old vinyl. When I was 16, my first car was a ‘69 VW. It was completely original; down to the seats (yet I don’t remember the heat). Every time I step into the 40 now, it reminds me of being 16. Wouldn’t trade the smell at all in the 40. But then again, I’m not daily driving the 40 either. Guess I can’t have both a cool smell and a dry back.


Yea family,not a family truck .no doubt. i don’t even like bringing my dogs. I can’t imagine, brake downs with the fam could be a bad experience.

Exactly. My kids get along great with each other, but force them to face one another on a daily basis and you’re asking for trouble. That’s just torture.
 
I like em how much $ for the pair?do you have them installed? Is it reasonably easy to get in and out of your truck?did you need to install switches?

Mine were for racing, so I got the most aggressive bolstered ones. They were $700+ per seat, but they wouldn't be good for a daily. These ones: Daily Driver | PRP Seats are what I want to get for my 40. They start at $329/seat and are meant for daily drivers (per the name obviously) and don't have high sides and stuff. You can buy seat sliders that bolt to the bottom and then they bolt to your seat mounts and have a bunch of options. I'm not sure how a stock 40 is, on my roll cage I have two bars running across (right over the stock gas tank) and theoretically would just drill four holes in that and drop the seat in. Any decent shop could do it for you easily I'm sure, though I've done it myself on everything with a bit of tweaking. There's also mastercraft, beard, corbeau, etc. My buddy also got some like heated seat covers off of amazon for his truck, and I know if you go to an upholstery shop they can usually open a seat up to add heating elements. Just to give some ideas since you said you wanted heated seats, in the event you don't want to fully swap out your seats. Though I will say my PRPs are the comfiest seats I've ever sat in, out of anything. Been in them for a full day and they hug you tight, and my ass never once got sore. Food for thought.
 
I have been DDing my truck for well over 27+ years... In that time I have logged close to 300000... i used to drive many years 25k miles ... now its like .7 miles from work.... so have not been racking up the miles as much

The truck overall has over 500k

I have rebuilt mine a few times as I live in the rust belt of NY and has drove in the New England/ny area it's whole life... It has been garaged for only several months here and there ... Everything else its been outside :) , if it can rust it will

Just got back from Maine 400 miles in two days ... going back on July 4th for another 400 mile round trip

It gets from point a to point b ... reliably and safely

:meh:
 

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