FJ40 build - advice/opinions?

[BamaBleach]

Trying to plan my next wave of modifications on my FJ40 and wanted to hear thoughts from others.

Goal:
To have a capable trail rig that can take a moderate beating on Southeast terrain and still get me home later that day. About 90% of the wheeling I do requires 20-40 miles on the highway roundtrip.

What I currently have to work with:
'73 FJ40 - 2F (starting to show its age), H42 4speed, stock t-case
Front axle: 4.88 R&P, aussie, SOA, shackle reversal, 4x4lab hysteer, mini-truck disc swap
Rear axle: 4.88's, welded, SOA, shackle-style anitwrap bar
Other: Saginaw PS, 37" nylon Gateway Buckshots

My current setup performs ok but after wheeling it this way for over a year I know some things that I want:
- build a full cage
- lower gearing
- get a little longer WB (I'm at 90" and want to be out around 100")
- get a little lower (time to trim some fenders)

I know those are things that I want, the hard part is deciding the best route to get there. Unfortunately link suspension on both ends and a 4 speed Atlas are not in the budget at the moment.

Here's parts I've got that I can use currently:
- 1 set of rear FJ60 springs (I bought these with the intentions of stretching my rear like Isotel did

- an entire FJ62 that I bought last weekend (i originally bought it to harvest the engine out of for my 40, I got it on a smokin' deal)

- Minitruck rear axles (in case I wanna make a hybrid LC axle for a centered diff) and springs


My truck when I bought it in Jan 2007:

My truck as it sits now:

Thanks for any input you care to give. You guys are the reason I bought a silver star yesterday!

 

[RLMS]

Bama, Thats a good goal! to extend the WB do what Isotel did, then get some wheel spacers 1.5" should help out the stability of you rig, on the road as well as off! Leave the RP's alone and get an Orion, Then you will have good road and off road capabilities!

cage it, and wheel it!

Justin

 

[LC_Hamma]

I'd swap in the fuel injected FJ62 motor. SM420's are cheap..... Heck, just swap the FJ40 body on the 62, spring over the wider 62 axles & cut/ reweld the frame to your desired WB.

 

[bustanutley]

Buy an atlas and a diamond then get after it.

 

[mookie]

swap the whole fj62 drivetrain- engine/t-case and tranny into your 40. and do flipped 60 series rear springs front and rear in your 40.....and sell me those 62 axles

 

[BamaBleach]

The cage is happening soon. A buddy of mine with a bender and experience with exo cages has already said he would help with that. I just gotta get my Ehsan canvas top put on so I know the cage we build will fit nicely.

Ideally, I would like to go with a toybox from Marlin (if he'll ever offer them again). I plan to call them today and see if/when they will be available.

The gearing options are really nice to have around these parts. When it's dry it's nice to be able to crawl but when those limestone rocks get clay mud on them you need to be able to get on it.

If the toybox is an option I've got a question, can I use the splitcase from my 62? I know it has a vacuum shift case so it will need to be modified. Is it worth the hassle to upgrade (I know it will be stronger) over my current 40 case?

Thanks for the all the input!

EDIT:
Looks like I answered my own question with a search in the 60 Section (https://forum.ih8mud.com/60-series-...nual-shift-answer-using-all-toyota-parts.html)

 

[Tapage]

those 62 t-cases ( BF1A ) are not coming with the 2.48:1 low gears .. are they ?

 

[mookie]

sell the tracter engines and put a tbi 350 w/sm420 or sm465 mated to your split case in it- then you won't need a crawl box....where do you wheel at btw?

 

[BamaBleach]

sell the tracter engines and put a tbi 350 w/sm420 or sm465 mated to your split case in it- then you won't need a crawl box....where do you wheel at btw?

I'm kind of partial to the tractor motors.

There's a lot of local spots in Northeast Alabama that we usually hit up. PM me your emaill address and I'll give you more details.

 

[mookie]

straight six is ok for trail riding but it just doesn't have enough whoompow to get it done for the hardcore stuff in the dirtysouth imo, plus it's just not as much fun lol

 

[BamaBleach]

Ok, looks like I'm getting a LC t-case with a toybox adapter on the front of it from LukeZero that he has for sale. (https://forum.ih8mud.com/sale-parts/286958-sale-toybox-3-speed-adapter-plate-shaft-t-case.html)

So now all I will need is the output shaft that goes in the transmission and the adapter that goes between it and the toybox. The mini-truck case needed to make the actual toybox is easy to source around here. The problem is with the output shaft since that seems to be the hold up in Marlin making toyboxes right now.

That issue (along with the desire to have a tranny with overdrive) got me wondering if it is possible to take a R150F from a 3.0 V6 truck and throw it behind my 1.5F. Then I would only need the parts from Marlin to adapt it to the toybox.

Low gears for crawling + overdrive for highway = me happy

My dad runs a machine shop here in Huntsville so he could generate parts in surfcam and make it on a CNC. Has anyone ever tried this?

I ran a serach here and on pirate and saw one thread on here from back in '03 where a guy was talking about it.

Thoughts?

 

[BamaBleach]

Update:

Pulled everything out and getting ready to swap in the 3FE. Took a look at a R150F and I don't think it'll work very well in a 40 unless I want someone sitting in the back to help me shift! It's a pretty long tranny and the shifter is at the back of it. So I'm just gonna stick with my H42.

I called Marlin Crawler and was able to order the plate that adapts H42 to the crawl box along with the output shaft that goes in the tranny. Seems I was wrong about what part they were needing in order to sell the complete Toybox. It's the shaft that goes from the toybox to the LC t-case that they are having trouble sourcing. That's the exact part I got from LukeZero so I'm in buisness.

So my drivetrain will be:
3FE + H42 + toybox + LC t-case

I'll probably just start a build thread in the 40 section since I really don't consider this a hardcore build. Pretty standard stuff.

One question,
Is it worth the hassle of swapping over to the FJ62 axles for the extra 1.5" of width? With the toybox I probably won't need the 4.88's in the diff so the 4.11 fine spline in the 62 axles would be nice but I'd have to swap over the locker stuff, outboard my springs, and get longer steering links.

I'm already going to 60 springs in the rear so it would really only be extra work on outboarding up front. Plus the 4.11's will help out on the road since I'm sticking with the 4 speed.

 

[orangefj45]

i think you'll be happy with the 3fe. you might run into some brake booster/master clearance issues but it should'nt be a difficult swap.

the toybox will be a great feature as well. nice being able to select the gearing yet retain the freeway driveability.

i like the fj6x series axles for a few reasons, especially the fj62 axles:

wider stance
factory trussed front housing
strong 411 fine spline pinions
and this one's the clincher for me: great e-brake.

so i say go with the wider axles. you'll have to put new perches on the rear but that's no big deal. the front requires a little more work and you'll want to do a cnt as well but in the long run it'll be well worth it.

make sure you take all the ebrake parts off the 62, even the handle assy and bucket. i usually cut them out with a sawzall and then graft them into the 40 tubs. way better that what you have now.

hth

georg @ valley hybrids

 

[67azcruizr]

you guys probably already know this but Dave from 4plus makes extensions for a 40 series housing that steps it out to 60 series width. I'm not sure what he's doing for the short side inner axle shaft but in some short time you could fab your own gussets and not have to relocate your front hangers. just a thought

 

[orangefj45]

another option to widen the front would be to run the 40 series housing with ifs pickup wheel hubs.

 

[Radd Cruisers]

Cruiser Crap guy took me for a ride in his 3F powered FJ40, very very nice and pulled well.

Rob

 

[BamaBleach]

I've went back and forth on wether to swap over to the FJ62 axles but right now I'm leaning towards not doing it. I'm thinking I'll just sell the 62 axles and put that money towards something else (like a set of longfields).

As soon as the FSM for the 62 comes in I'll start pulling the 3FE. Also, I now have everything I need to build my Toybox.


Good to hear, Rob. I'm optimistic that I'll like it as well.

 

[Cruiserdrew]

I strongly recommend you swap to the FJ62 axles. Run polys in the rear and Longfields 30s in the front and that's about as good as LC axles get. You'll also get the larger and stronger knuckle pattern, better hubs etc.

If you can really cobble together a Toybox, that's great. Please keep us posted on that. I would run the split case for sure if that is an option. It's a much better transfer than the one piece case.

If not, do the SM420/SM465 swap and you are basically done for not much $$.

Or keep the stock 4 speed (which is a nice shifting truck tranny) and get an Orion. That saves a lot of driveline length.

Keep the tractor motor. 20-40 miles to the trailhead is nothing. If it was 300 miles, then the SBC swap would be nice.

Here's mine-SOA, 99 inch wheelbase, FJ60 axles, Longs/Polys, SM420 etc.

 

[BamaBleach]

I strongly recommend you swap to the FJ62 axles. Run polys in the rear and Longfields 30s in the front and that's about as good as LC axles get. You'll also get the larger and stronger knuckle pattern, better hubs etc.

If you can really cobble together a Toybox, that's great. Please keep us posted on that. I would run the split case for sure if that is an option. It's a much better transfer than the one piece case.

Nice looking rig!

Well I did the mini-truck disc brake swap so I've already got the larger knuckle pattern.

It's really going to come down to $$$ as far as the axle swap goes. If I don't run into a bunch of hidden costs when swapping in the 3FE I'll do it.

I'm good to go on the toybox, I'll document the build as I go. Unfortunately I won't be able to run the splitcase because the adapter plate and shaft I was able to locate is for a one piece case so I'll have to run that. I'll just build a t-case saver and hope for the best.

 

[mookie]

please pm me if/when you get ready to sell those fj62 axles