Early FJ40 FJ45 Oil filter alternative tech

[Cruiser Cult]

Hey all! So with the sudden discontinuation of the OEM 04152-60060 oil filter.... early 40series owners were left in a weird spot. Oil filters are a mission critical item and not having an easy option is unacceptable. Now I get that we were lucky Toyota continued to offer a oil filter for such old vehicles for only $5, but the loss still stings. As an owner of a 1965 FJ40, I wanted to make sure I had access to a easy supply of oil filters so I went hunting for an alternative. Options from Japan proved to be non-existent. So where does that leave us?

After a bit of noodling I remembered that the F135 engine was modeled after early Chevy engines! A look at the oil filter for the venerable Chevy 235 engine came up with a match! Well, one that is very close. WIX 51006 / Baldwin p53, or MANY other cross reference substitutes. These are available for cheap at most parts stores across the country.
The 235 also had a partial flow oiling system like the F135, which is an important note as partial flow oil filters are not the same as full flow. The Chevy oil filter is a little smaller in height and diameter compared to the Toyota but not a big deal. So I ordered one up. To my delight it fit perfectly in the Toyota housing! The oil filters have built in gaskets that seal very well. In fact, I remember back in my college days buying an oil filter from Car Quest a few times and I am sure this is the same filter they gave me back then. This was back before I knew you could buy an OEM oil filter. Tiny bummer the filter is a little smaller in terms of filter media area, but I doubt its a real issue. Our old rigs are not seeing heavy work anymore.

The one thing they could use are spacers to make up the height difference compared to the Toyota filters. Super easy to solve. What you need are two 1" OD, 9/16" ID, 3/8" H spacers. That's it. I was able to find aluminum spacers with a 1/2" ID for cheap and drill out the ID to 9/16. Worked perfect!

OEM filter height in housing:

Chevy filter in housing with spacers:

Internal rubber seal on Chevy filter:

Easy to make spacers:

I hope this is helpful to the other early 40 owners out there who still run the OEM remote oil filter system. Happy Cruising!
One other thing we lost with the oil filters was the replacement rubber o-ring and gasket kit for the oil filter housings. We have some being cut by a local gasket maker and they will be available soon as reproduction pieces.

 

[charliemeyer007]

I have a Frantz Filters | Advanced Oil Filtration Solutions - https://www.frantzfilters.com/ to put on some day. Back in the 80's I knew a guy who ran one from new on his Mercedes pilot car. He had 350,000 miles on it and the oil looked like new when changed at 3000.

 

[rainingagain]

Good stuff!!!!

 

[Cruiser Cult]

I have a Frantz Filters | Advanced Oil Filtration Solutions - https://www.frantzfilters.com/ to put on some day. Back in the 80's I knew a guy who ran one from new on his Mercedes pilot car. He had 350,000 miles on it and the oil looked like new when changed at 3000.

Cool! Yeah the oiling is not ideal on these old engines. In one sense the partial flow is supposed to filter finer particles vs full flow filters..... but of course only a fraction of the flow is filtered. I believe the Chevy guys have figured out a way to convert their blocks to full flow but I am not sure its possible on the Toyotas.

 

[charliemeyer007]

I like cow magnets on the filters too.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Nice work!

We still have a rather deep supply of the 04152-60060 (our part# OIL60060) but soon they will all be gone as we're seeing a huge uptick in orders as inventory dwindles. I did reach out to a filter manufacture in Japan that had showed an application for the F series used in HD trucks. Part should be the same BUT they require a rather substantial MOQ to spool up production on them again, we'll see, the WIX version looks totally workable. Mahle has a made in Austria version of that filter too.

How tall is the 51006? WIX has some others that are taller such as the (51143) at 5.75" (edit: wrong ends). The catalog I'm peaking at on my phone doesn't show the ends however so that may not work?

EDIT: 51006 is 5.007" H, 4.094" diameter and has .553" holes. I'm guessing a ~5.5" is needed to eliminate the spacer? I'll have to measure a 60060 at home/work. I don't see anything with the 4.094" dia and .553" holes in a taller size in the WIX catalog.

 

[Cruiser Cult]

Nice work!

We still have a rather deep supply of the 04152-60060 (our part# OIL60060) but soon they will all be gone as we're seeing a huge uptick in orders as inventory dwindles. I did reach out to a filter manufacture in Japan that had showed an application for the F series used in HD trucks. Part should be the same BUT they require a rather substantial MOQ to spool up production on them again, we'll see, the WIX version looks totally workable. Mahle has a made in Austria version of that filter too.

How tall is the 51006? WIX has some others that are taller such as the (51143) at 5.75" (edit: wrong ends). The catalog I'm peaking at on my phone doesn't show the ends however so that may not work?

EDIT: 51006 is 5.007" H, 4.094" diameter and has .553" holes. I'm guessing a ~5.5" is needed to eliminate the spacer? I'll have to measure a 60060 at home/work. I don't see anything with the 4.094" dia and .553" holes in a taller size in the WIX catalog.

Yeah, I am sure the remaining OEM stock is going to get consumed fast!
The OEM filter (plus the rubber seals) is about 150mm tall and the 51006 is about 107. So the OEM filter plus the gaskets - the height of the 51006 came worked out to be two 3/8 spacers to get very close. I don't have the exact numbers in front of me right now. Since the element has a spring under it in the housing, there is some wiggle room so it doesn't have to be exact thankfully. The Baldwin filter site is nice for narrowing down filters by criteria. There also seems to be a Baldwin P41 (partial flow as well) which is the same diameter as the 53 but a little shorter I think.

 

[middlecalf]

Just to be clear it’s not the filter or filter system that makes the F motors a partial oil filtration system, it’s that the oil circuit within the engine divides twice, and one of those brach divisions returns the oil directly to the oil pan without going to the filter. IIRC .

 

[Cruiser Cult]

Just to be clear it’s not the filter or filter system that makes the F motors a partial oil filtration system, it’s that the oil circuit within the engine divides twice, and one of those brach divisions returns the oil directly to the oil pan without going to the filter. IIRC .

Totally! I was referring to them as that because they are specifically designed for that type of setup.