Build Ed’s Un-Did FJ40

[Rock40]

Un-done, Un-did, who knows Helping a friends Dad with a ‘71 FJ40 that’s been in pieces 20+ years. So it’s definitely been undone and some of the “Did” by the PO needs to get done again if you know what I mean. Not the first 40 I’ve worked on in pieces, probably not the last either.

Build: Chevy 400 SB (built 20 years ago so hopefully that’s good), NV4500, stock ‘71 transfer, converting back to SUA, goal is 33”-35” tires with factory FJ40 axles. This is NOT going to be a hardcore wheeler.

This thread will probably just capture the rolling chassis stuff that we are working on together as the body is going elsewhere.

Picked up just the frame, hauled it out to my shop and torched the factory engine/trans mounts off.

Got it blasted locally, if you want to weld it right, get it clean

Cut off the factory steering stabilizer mount which comically was already 1/2 way torched off. Wrong location for power steering anyway

Using the 4x4Labs Saginaw kit. Done it before, IMO the best kit out there for a 40. Little free hand with the plasma The PO had done some sort of Saginaw on it before, fortunately he used a hole saw on the crossmember because I’ve seen WAY worse

 

[Rock40]

Cleaned up the plasma cut for the steering box. I use a high speed carbide for this

Looking at the frame horns prior to fitting any plates and sure enough, the driver is good and bent. Started at About 4° out of square, I’ve been pushing/pulling on it at this point.

My wife did some heating with a rosebud while I pushed it back into place. And it’s give and take, because at this point the outer vertical frame section is straight but the horn itself is now bent inwards towards the frame centerline by about .375” That’ll get addressed when the steering plates go on.

Pulled a 3 speed trans and transfer case from one of Ed’s “field” donor trucks. Poured the water out of the transmission and chucked that. Should have taken before pics but sometimes you forget.

Transfer case after cleaning and blasting, it had oil in it so it survived. Waiting on paint and a parts kit

Pulled a complete ‘72 front axle from the same donor 40 Ed has. The PO had some sort of SOA on the original axle many moons ago using factory leafs. Figured it be overall easier to start with an axle housing that hasn’t been molested, especially since this is going to be SUA. As a bonus, the differential in the donor one is good, the pinion bearings in the SOA converted axle feel absolutely wrecked.

Feast on the field patina!

 

[Mike Shull]

Sweet! I can’t wait to see this come together!

 

[Rock40]

Box mock-up. This would have been a good 4 turn box except the PO ground the 36 spline 13/16” input shaft down into some janky square drive thing instead of buying an actual u-joint

The frame horn has been straightened here also. We made a relief cut in both the upper and lower horizontal frame horns, then pushed it square. You can see the lower relief cut just in front of the rearmost DOM insert. It’ll all get welded back up

Burning in the plates once we were happy with everything. Old Japanese steel CAN weld pretty good if you control the heat and it’s clean

Frame is a March of ‘71 production. VIN stamp is terribly crooked, must have been done on a Friday by a day drinking employee MIG would have wiped the last “1” digit out, just got away with it doing TIG

 

[EWheeler]

Nice! Did you complete your scope of work on the M715 to make room for this new project?

 

[Rock40]

Nice! Did you complete your scope of work on the M715 to make room for this new project?

Yeah, that’s back with the owner who’s taking over the assembly at this point

 

[Mike Shull]

Did you make those frame stiffeners? They look slick.

I thought for a minute that you were working on a RHD until I realized that you had the frame flipped upside down.

 

[Rock40]

Popped the factory upper shock bar thing out. Goodness those Toyota hot rivets can be a bugger to remove

Using the full rear frame boxing kit from RuffStuff, never used it before. I figured if you’ve got a build torn this far down then it only makes sense to reinforce the weakest part of the factory frame. Especially given the drivetrain length with the NV4500

Overall a really good fit from RuffStuff. Required fairly minimal fitment with a sander and I really appreciate that they cut these out of cold roll so they need a minimum cleanup prior to welding

Was hoping to retain the factory bar since it’s got the correct shock mounts on it and this is going to be a simple SUA setup. Plasma made pretty quick work of getting the bar off the frame mounts

Oh yes, this’ll work. The Toyota tube measured right around 1.920” and the RuffStuff scab plates are cut 2”. It’s a bit loose but it’ll allow the bar to be installed AFTER all the scab plates are fully welded

 

[Rock40]

Did you make those frame stiffeners? They look slick.

I thought for a minute that you were working on a RHD until I realized that you had the frame flipped upside down.

Ha! No. This thing is getting flipped back and forth a bunch. The front frame rail pieces are all part of Luke’s 4x4Labs kit. I’ll have to fab a custom bumper tho

 

[Mike Shull]

Popped the factory upper shock bar thing out. Goodness those Toyota hot rivets can be a bugger to remove


View attachment 4062814


Using the full rear frame boxing kit from RuffStuff, never used it before. I figured if you’ve got a build torn this far down then it only makes sense to reinforce the weakest part of the factory frame. Especially given the drivetrain length with the NV4500


View attachment 4062815


Overall a really good fit from RuffStuff. Required fairly minimal fitment with a sander and I really appreciate that they cut these out of cold roll so they need a minimum cleanup prior to welding


View attachment 4062816


Was hoping to retain the factory bar since it’s got the correct shock mounts on it and this is going to be a simple SUA setup. Plasma made pretty quick work of getting the bar off the frame mounts


View attachment 4062817


Oh yes, this’ll work. The Toyota tube measured right around 1.920” and the RuffStuff scab plates are cut 2”. It’s a bit loose but it’ll allow the bar to be installed AFTER all the scab plates are fully welded

View attachment 4062818

I used the rear frame plates from Ruffstuff, too, and I really like them. Mine look a bit different than yours though.

 

[Rock40]

I used the rear frame plates from Ruffstuff, too, and I really like them. Mine look a bit different than yours though.

Weird. Took over 3 weeks to get these, they must have made a design change at some point

 

[Mike Shull]

Weird. Took over 3 weeks to get these, they must have made a design change at some point

Must have. Mine came in two pieces and welded to the original crossmember bracket, though I eventually cut that out anyway to notch the frame. These look more intensive to install but perhaps stronger

 

[Rock40]

A tutorial on how to wreck a 4 turn Saginaw box. Can’t not share it!!

 

[Rock40]

Any Landcruiser historians recognize this kit? Downey? AA?

It mated a Chevy SB to the stock Toyota 3 speed transmission using the factory rear bellhousing mounts. Definitely a production piece at some point, designed to run the small input retainer (SM420 4.687”) bellhousing.

The PO ran a bellhousing with the larger 5.125” retainer which defeated the indexing of the transmission to bellhousing

 

[Rock40]

Well color me tired of welding, steering plates are all done tho. Still need to weld the front hangers on and the drivers side needs a bit of a notch

Frame is upside down again…

Ed and I made a winch plate for the 8274. This’ll be the inner plate on the frame, front pattern sort of reminds a guy of an FJ40 hood shape

 

[Chamba]

I believe it's a Downey V8 swap kit for the three speed transfer case. Could be the '80 and older H42 transfer too, but I think it's just for the three speed.

 

[Rock40]

I believe it's a Downey V8 swap kit for the three speed transfer case. Could be the '80 and older H42 transfer too, but I think it's just for the three speed.

Nice! I was leaning towards Downey also. Pretty nice kit for was it was back in the day

 

[Rock40]

Well…. Not much meat left on those springs hanger threads. Probably severely over torqued or got loose and wallowed out. Only 2 of 8 are decent, several were already tapped for 3/8-16 bolts

Drilled them all out to 1/2” and M8-1.25 nuts fit pretty well. Just need to weld them. Correcting all the small nonsense makes assembly go so much better

Prepped the transfer case and related parts and shot it with Steel-It. IMO the best aerosol paint you can get your hands on, no primer required, just media blasted or DA’d material

 

[Rock40]

Friday Field Day!!! Need that rear axle with 54k on it from the donor 40

Drug that thing out. Fortunately the tires on it were only flat on one side

All this, packed into the interiors. Along with LOADS of squirrel turds and tree droppings. Off to scrap

 

[Rock40]

Great…. Rear axle drum with a pad welded to it. Pad actually separated from the backing plate. Going with disc anyway

Ready for blasting now

Donor front axle. It’s an unknown year 40 (pretty sure pre ‘75) with 79-85 Toyota mini truck knuckles, hubs, etc.

And one hub was full of water

Wheel bearings are trashed