FJ60 steering box conversion to an FJ80 box AND gutting smog pump while your there. (1 Viewer)

[60TOY]

So it's been awhile since I posted something useful for the community. Actually this might not be useful, but I'm trying to give back ; - )
My last post was the beauty shots of my restored FJ60. Anyway the improvements moved to the ragged out original FJ60 steering box. After researching, I figured I'd take the leap and upgrade the box to the beefier FJ80 steering gear box. This is a heavier duty box and it improved the steering feel and overall responsiveness of my rig. I'm running 33" with a 3 1/2 lift and it's a notice lee improvement. Not SOA, but it's still cranking some heavy tires and it seems to just work better. Also I'm still running my 60 steering pump, all fitting match up perfectly and the pump seems to keep up with the 80 box just fine.

Ok so the box deinstall is easy as long as you have a good quality puller for the bitchy idler arm. And as you can see this project led to replacing the u joints in the column. 220k and they were pretty sloppy.

- Talk with Cruiser Dan at Toyota, NM, very nice guy and he will set you up with the correct U-joints. Trust me, when ordering the replacement u-joints for the column go with the 1975 TOYOTA COROLLA 1.2L Universal Joint. THERE IS A POST STATING 1.6L Corolla...these are flat out wrong and unless you like being annoyed go ahead and try them, they won't fit. Too big! Go with the 1.2L motor and you won't get stuck with a column on your bench for a week. Also be very gentle when pressing the old ones out, I ended up cutting mine and this made the caps pop out so much easier (I'm not a big u joint replacement guy so maybe that the way your supposed to do it). When installing the new ones be careful to not overpress the caps into the ends...you will load the joint and it will not move correctly. Then you have to futz with the caps to balance the pressure on them which can be frustrating. If you not sure on the joint part find a local old time mechanic and get him to help. Probably take them 15 minutes to do both.

SIDE NOT FOR THOSE THINKING OF de-vaning your air pump. When your original box it out you can literally remove the airpump in about 10 minutes. Unbolt it and pull it thru the gaping hole where the steering box was. Ez mod and less hassle from doing it up top.

Ok next, you need a decent FJ80 steering box. I got mine from cruiserparts.net , a bit pricey but the box was tight with no leaks so pay the extra $100. and save yourself the hassle of a sloppy box (I could probably word that differently).

I was admittedly nervous tackling this conversion, but thankfully everything about the FJ80 box works for our 60's. Bolt pattern, Input and output splines are exactly the same and your idler arm will work perfectly as well since the box is the same dimension at the output shaft. There is one exception, the top left corner (10-11oclock) is beefier so you will need to cut a small arc out of the inner fender liner. Ez with the right tool, even a dremel would work but u will probably eat a few blades (damn Toyota makes a stout fender liner !) . As you can see from the pic I went a bit high, but I wanted clearance to the the adjustment nut as well.

Next, reinstalling the column shaft. The input spline shaft on my truck was slightly longer than it needed to be, but after cleaning it up I was able to get to to slide easily past it original stop point. So in hindsight I really didn't need to pop the cap from the slip tube for the column since the shaft doesn't extend that close to the backside of the cap (this will get a runner boot in the near future) . See the pic and it will make sense.
Also, you will need to cut back the tin dust cover to clear the beefier input shaft are of the 80 box. If you've made it this far what's another grinder wheel!

So after you've rechecked all you bolts you should be good to go.
Oh, another trick I stumbled across is the LANDCRUISER emblem in our stock steering wheel pops right out. So when you need to access the nut holding on the wheel to straighten your wheel (because it will most likely have moved while you do this mod, esp if you pull your column and go deep) this is a huge time saver.

Ok I hope this is a useful to those thinking about doing this conversion. On a scale of 1-10 I'd give this a 6 or 7. Take pictures, take your time, fix whatever else is worn while your in there and you will be a happy camper with a better steering 60.

 

[MANUCHAO]

Great info... to add to this you can also add new parts to that new to you 80's box (worm gear & 105 sector shaft).....

 

[60TOY]

Great to know. Longer story is I went through two supposedly rebuilt 60 boxes before making the move to the 80 box. Bunch of scam artists, especially car steering.com stay far far away from those clowns. Took me four months and lots of nastiness to get all my money back. Thank god I'm the labor, otherwise I would have been crused financially with all the in/outs.

 

[DoubleNickels]

Just curious about the bolt pattern. I thought I read somewhere that the bolt holes were only the same for later model FJ60's? Something about the first few years using a different pattern... ? Might be worth investigating for other MUD members.

Regardless, glad it worked out! I too just put an FJ80 steering gearbox on my FJ62. Schveet.

 

[FJ40Jim]

Correct, the SBX mounting pattern changes 4/85. The 85-later FJ60/62/80 mounting pattern is the same.

What is the advantage to upgrading the 80 box w/ the 105 internals?

 

[Mace]

The 105 Sector shaft is much beefier.

80 series guys have started snapping their stock sector shafts lately (they finally started to wheel). It's essentially a drop in upgrade and seems to increase the strength considerably.

I keep wondering why 60 series sector shafts are not as prone to failure. You really don't hear about it as often, but it's essentially the same as a 80 series.

 

[TS888]

Did you notice a big improvement in "tightness"? I'm running a rebuilt (by West Texas Offroad), and the truck still wanders like a lost cow. All my steering parts are new, the box is just loose. I've been pondering a swap to a Saginaw from a Chebby pickup or suburban. The boxes are similar in form to the Toyota, but if an 80 box is a bolt in and really better, why not?

 

[FJ40Jim]

Tony, if your SBX has 350K miles, it needs replaced, not rebuilt. Just sayin...

The 80 box won't bolt to the 81-84 FJ60 frame. Find a low mileage rustbucket to harvest the SBX from & rebuild it.

 

[MANUCHAO]

Is that a 60 & 80 series or 60 & 105 series sector soft?

 

[Mace]

80 and 105

 

[Randy88FJ62]

I'm skimmed the long article and I'm not following this 100%.

The 'sector shaft' pictured above that is beefier; where does this install in the vehicle?

Does it go in right after the steering wheel and connect the steering wheel to the steering box b/w two steering wheel/shaft u-joints?

I've looked in my 62's engine bay and always thought it would be nice to swap the u-joints in there and if I can upgrade the sector shaft that would be nice to do at the same time.

 

[lcwizard]

the sector shaft is the splined shaft that exits the bottom of the box and drives the pitman arm. Generally boxes with longer sector shafts are more prone to sector shaft failure than the same box with a shorter shaft. Scout and Ford truck boxes are other examples of this style box.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

I keep wondering why 60 series sector shafts are not as prone to failure. You really don't hear about it as often, but it's essentially the same as a 80 series.

To comment on the sector shaft strength discussion, in an earlier thread where this was being discussed (80 ps box swap to a 60), one of the things brought up was strength between the 60 and 80 box, with me arguing that the 80 box was weaker due to the sector shaft issue.

The 80 box has a larger power piston, so the thinking is that the 80 box can exert more force on the sector shaft (to turn the tires) and the weak link that was revealed is the sector shaft. The fix is to move to a stronger sector shaft (105).

Thus, the 80 box is more powerful than the 60 box, and with the 105 sector shaft, the 80 box is both more powerful as well as stronger.

Makes sense to me!

 

[lcwizard]

I don't know limits of 60 /80 boxes but in many cases with these long sector boxes the
cases break at the mounting ears when the pressures are modified. Case failure is common with Scout boxes. These components were designed around 28~31 ynch tires and stock pump pressures. Whether the case on the 80 is the same as the 105 would tell you if
Toyota recognized a need to beef up the case to handle the capacity of the new shaft
I would question whether simply increasing the diameter of the shaft and leaving the splines the same would actually make the shaft less prone to twist. I would have first assumed it was to allow a larger bearing surface giving it greater sideloading capacity rather than addressing a twisting issue that probably doesn't concern Toyota. I doubt a 60, 80 or any other series has an issue in stock form. Toyota doesn't really concern themselves with the what if's of the aftermarket world

 

[Mace]

105 series shaft has more splines than an 80 series shaft.

It just does not taper as much before the splines

 

[Randy88FJ62]

With 35's and a stock PS box with no upgraded hyro assist I have never had any issues. I see the stock steering configuration as my checks and balance. If the wheel won't turn by mw yanking it with two hands on the wheel then there is probably a big rock there holding me back that I should concern myself with.

So after seeing this thread and understanding that the sector shaft is inside the steering box I would say I have no use for this upgrade unless I wanted to install hydro assist.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

So after seeing this thread and understanding that the sector shaft is inside the steering box I would say I have no use for this upgrade unless I wanted to install hydro assist.

You're missing the core concept. The upgraded sector shaft goes inside the 80 series PS box.


I think this is an extremely worthwhile mod. I will be doing this mod when I can free up the funds/time to purchase a new J8X box, 105 sector shaft and pitman arm.

 

[Mace]

Hydro assist reduces stresses on the sector shaft

 

[TS888]

Tony, if your SBX has 350K miles, it needs replaced, not rebuilt. Just sayin...

The 80 box won't bolt to the 81-84 FJ60 frame. Find a low mileage rustbucket to harvest the SBX from & rebuild it.

No, the replacement box was from a lower mile 62. And I know it isn't supposed to fit, but with a slight ovaling of one hole it mounted with 3 bolts of 4. Two years on it hasn't caused any problem, no cracks in the frame or the box. It's just loose. I have considered cranking up the preload to make it better, since it's loose all ready it's not a great loss if it wears out sooner.

If the 80 box is really better (tighter, I'm not beating on it to need stronger), it would be easy to plate the frame and re-drill the mount holes to match.

 

[FJ40Jim]

The 60 & 80 boxes are identical, design-wise. The 80 box is not inherently tighter. Getting the 62 box or an 80 box properly rebuilt will get the box play back to zero.