FJ40 Front Coil Over (1 Viewer)

[Mr. Notorious]

I just have a couple questions now that I'm getting back to this project. I'm going to link up the front of my FJ40 this weekend with 11" or 12" coil overs. It has a 350/sm465/FJ40 tcase. Front axle is factory FJ40 with 1.25" wheel spacers. Rear axle is a FJ80.

My biggest concern is the front driveshaft at this point. It's already at a pretty significant angle for a single ujoint at the T-case. Do any companies offer any conversions to shorten that front output nose cone do they? Also, called 6 states and they said they don't offer a direct bolt in front driveshaft that will give you a CV shaft with double ujoints at the tcase output. What do people do? In my case the front output is actually pointing upwards a couple degrees (looks like the previous owner installed the chevy drivetrain with dropping in rear output a little to help with angles in the rear.

Also, how do I figure out what caster I'm running with birfields (I'm more knowledgeable with two balljoints)? Or whats the factory relationship between pinion angle and caster? Or is there a known relationship to the angle steering knuckles?

I'm looking to do an independent 3 link but looking at my lift height I'm aiming for (want to squeeze in a 8ft tall door with 35's). Idealy I wanted to just run the upper link to the top of the differential, but the chevy small block starter hinders on that. Anyone have any pics of snaking that link up through that tight space? My backup plan is to just kick it over to the drivers side and build up a mount for the upper.

Anyone have an pictures of running a decent sized panhard bar? I don't want to run it just to the driverside of the differential like some, it would be about as half as long as it would need to be. Additionally I'm thinking its going to have to go slightly ahead of the axle instead of directly over it because of the upper link location.

hmm I think thats a decent starting point. Any input will be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[RLMS]

well the easiest way would be to do a cut and turn, then you know you have good seals and bearings and you don't have to get into fancy driveshafts!! my 2c

good luck

justin

 

[Mr. Notorious]

well the easiest way would be to do a cut and turn, then you know you have good seals and bearings and you don't have to get into fancy driveshafts!! my 2c

good luck

justin

Thanks, but the driveshaft bindage concern is at the Transfercase output, not the axle pinion. I don't think a cut and turn will help those angles. Now if I had a high pinion, now we'd be talking

 

[Mace]

why not lower the rig..

I have 16" travel shocks and a three link front.

22"-23" to the bottom of the frame with 40" tires..

 

[mookie]

maybe you could use some thinner motor mount bushings to level things out? also you might try the front driveshaft out of a 84-85 mini-truck, it has a high angle cv joint on it....

 

[Mr. Notorious]

Cool I'll look into the mini-trucks...

I always forget to bring my camera to the shop but this sucker is pretty low at this point. The upper mount at the axle and the panhard mount are all a little close to the undercarriage. Definitely going to be using bumpstops before the run this weekend I'm shooting for.

Is there a high pinion front end that will bolt into 40 or 60 series front end without major work? Or are the 80 series complete front axle assembly the only option for high pinion?

 

[mookie]

Or are the 80 series complete front axle assembly the only option for high pinion?

pretty sure that's it....they ARE a very stout axle though

 

[Isotel]

You could use a mini truck housing and slap an 80 Hi Pinion in it, but i don't think that's a good option..

I would try and find an FJ60 housing (to better match width of the 80 rear).. The cut and turn will help a little on the Angle of the shaft, Move your Engine as far back and as low as you can, and move your axle forward (All good things anyway)..

What sort of driveline do you have? if your still running a stock t-case i would say money better spent would be on a doubler or better t-case, Leaf Springs work just fine in the front of an fj40, gears and strength are more important at this point!

to answer a your other question, You caster angle is based on the flat surface your steering arms mount to, your caster bearings ride in this axis..

 

[Mr. Notorious]

Yeah I'm running the stock toy T-case with a SM465 tranny, I'd like to try and get a hookup for an orion or something but can't afford full tag right now. Well it's all linked up, wish I held off for a 60 series front. Even with the coil over tabs all the outboard on the axle, it's still needs a sway bar without stiffing up the springs quite a bit. So I'm working on stuffing a YJ sway bar with disconnects in there now and see how it goes. With a little more with it would have been nice to outboard the coil overs more for a little more body roll control on the street.

 

[Off-Road Master]

Yeah I'm running the stock toy T-case with a SM465 tranny, I'd like to try and get a hookup for an orion or something but can't afford full tag right now. Well it's all linked up, wish I held off for a 60 series front. Even with the coil over tabs all the outboard on the axle, it's still needs a sway bar without stiffing up the springs quite a bit. So I'm working on stuffing a YJ sway bar with disconnects in there now and see how it goes. With a little more with it would have been nice to outboard the coil overs more for a little more body roll control on the street.

Hi Mr. N,

Any updates on the build? Lets see those pics!

 

[Mr. Notorious]

Does anyone know the factory caster spec for an FJ40 front end? I'm at around 2-3*. I saw in one thread they said 1* is factory spec. I'm having an impossible time trying to get it to recenter. I used tight trac bar heims for the steering so I'm going to order up regular steering heims tomorrow. I was thinking possibly the heims are too tight. I'm also running wheelspacers, which is killing my scrub radius, which I'm not sure how badly affects birfield joints. I'm going to toe it in and/or add more caster now too see what happens. If not I'm ordering different heims.

First day above 50 here in the Northeast