fj62: out with the auto, in with the crawler (1 Viewer)

[dieselbigot]

While Georg was doing the hard work, I spent some time last weekend getting the new boots on my low-buck champion beadlocks...36x12.50 Radial TSL's. I put them up against my (nearly) new 37 MTR's on the minitruck and they actually sat just a shade taller. I'm getting way excited about this project

 

[orangefj45]

Hey Georg don't tell Melissa about this or I'll kill you. Good looking, I'll be following this.

that'll cost ya! how much beer do you plan on bringing to the next event?!

 

[baldredhead]

yup, with an H55F in there it would be roughly 3.5" longer due to the 5th gear assembly/housing. you'd have to run a the same adapter between the trans and toybox. the mainshaft on the H55F would have to be changed iirc.

gotchya. sweetness

 

[Radd Cruisers]

Wow George, that should rock with the h55, man you do clean work.


Rob

and a "dry run" of the whole combo. i always like to assemble major components like this without gaskets/sealants first in case there are any clearance or fittment problems. turns out that everything worked out perfect. great parts quality, everything fit perfect and very nice machine work as allways from marlin crawler!!!

 

[chicago]

Hey gents,
Looking like things are coming together very well Brett....and George...
Sounds like a really BIG job to do. the type I would end up in a mental institution over doing!
Cant wait to see/ hear how it all turns out.

Hey Brett, I thought you were planning on selling that mini truck?

Chicago

 

[dieselbigot]

Hey gents,
Looking like things are coming together very well Brett....and George...
Sounds like a really BIG job to do. the type I would end up in a mental institution over doing!
Cant wait to see/ hear how it all turns out.

Hey Brett, I thought you were planning on selling that mini truck?

Chicago

Yep...pretty big job...that's why Georg is doing all the hard stuff, if it were left to me it'd never get done And I'm not sure about selling the mini now...I kinda like it and I'm just about to put a flatbed on it. I'll see how broke I feel after this 62 is done.

 

[chicago]

Yep...pretty big job...that's why Georg is doing all the hard stuff, if it were left to me it'd never get done And I'm not sure about selling the mini now...I kinda like it and I'm just about to put a flatbed on it. I'll see how broke I feel after this 62 is done.

Its a bad ass little truck...
If youre looking to sell it, I may know someone who is interested...
I cant even begin to imagine how BROKE I would feel after your project...Im feeling broke with just the SOA!
It will be worth it for ya though.

NICE JOB, seriously. Id love to have the lower gears! When my auto dies, Ill be hittin you up for deatils!

Chicago

 

[orangefj45]

thanks for the props chicago.

dig your avitar. i miss my "moose". seriously thinking about getting another mastiff.......

 

[72cruiser]

daddy like...

 

[dieselbigot]

dig your avitar. i miss my "moose". seriously thinking about getting another mastiff.......

Ya...I miss my Diesel dog too. He sure was a pretty boy...but not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed

 

[chicago]

thanks for the props chicago.

dig your avitar. i miss my "moose". seriously thinking about getting another mastiff.......

That's my Gunner man...He's the best dog Ive ever owned!
135lb and he was the runt of the litter ! Its a real bummer hearing about the dogs dying...Sorry George!

Brett,
That is a NICE LOOKING dog. I remember you saying you had mastiffs! Sorry he passed. I donno what ill do when Gunner goes...Hopefully that wont be for a LOONG time.

Chicago

 

[orangefj45]

maybe this spring i'll look for a pup. it's a big decision...

here's a shot of the moose. 150 pounds and none of it brains.

 

[chicago]

Nice lookin pooch George! BIG BOY at a 150 lbs...
He's very light colored...
What they lack in intelligence, they more than make up for in LOYALTY!
If you think of it, lemme know where you find a breeder. I got Gunner back in Chicago, but a more local breeder would be nice to know of.

Chicago

 

[orangefj45]

alright, doggie hijack over!

so here's an update.

finally got a chance to do some work on the wagon. i started by removing the trans and t-case as an assembly as complete as possible in the interest of saving time. these parts will not be reused in the wagon so there's no need to get too picky about pulling it out piece by piece.

here's what it looked like after i removed the trans and t-case combo:

 

[orangefj45]

next i removed the flex plate, the transmission adapter housing, the trans dip stick, the cooler lines and the trans shifter assy.

i'm also replacing the oil pan gasket and rear main seal (always a good idea when the trans is out) so i pulled all the oil pan bolts and set up a bottle jack to slowly put pressure on the pan from one side in order for it to be removed without damaging it.

next i pulled the radiator, rad hoses, some of the heater hoses and the thermostat housing. this is not necessary for the conversion itself but the rad had a leaking top tank and the thermostat housing had a stripped bolt hole. i'll be replacing the lower half with a new unit. a new rad is being installed as well along with lots of new hoses. we're in this deep so we might as well do everything right.......

 

[orangefj45]

then i got started on the most tedious and frustratin part of this conversion; the pedal buckett replacement. since the FJ62 did'nt come with a standard trans, it does not have the necessary provisions to install a clutch master cylinder and a clutch pedal. well, almost but not quite all of it is there.

in order to remove the pedal buckett, i had to pull the dash, then the heater ducts under the steering column, then loosen the column and lowered it to expose the mounting bolts for the pedal assy. it's m,uch easier to get to some of the bolts and to remove the assy if you pull the pedals out beforehand. i also unbolted the fuel door release along with the other release next to it in order to have as much room as possible to get the pedal assy out of there without breaking or scratching anything else. next i unplugged the brake switch, then unbolted the three bolts on the left of the windshield defroster ducting. removing it alltogether would require tearing the entire dash out so i just unbolted three bolts so i ould gently pull it out of the way of one of the bolts i had to get to.
then i removed all 7 bolts and the 4 nuts holding the pedal buckett in place. after that i had to pull the brake master towards the fire wall so i unbolted the three closest bracketts holding the braks lines to the fire wall. this allowed enough room to manouver so the master could go forward enough to get the push rod thru the fire wall and out of the way. pulling the vacuum line to the booster made this much easier.
i then got back in the truck and slowly worked the pedal buckett out from under the dash.
here's a pic of the 60 (left) and 62 (right) pedal assy. you can clearly see that the 60 has an extra stamped brackett incorported for the clutch pedal, missing from the 62. interestingly enough, they both have the opening for the clutch master and mounting bolt holes.

 

[orangefj45]

this is what the dash looked like; kinda like a bomb went off under there!

 

[orangefj45]

and a pic of the fire wall from inside the rig. you can clearly see the outline of the holes needed to install the clutch master cylinder.

 

[orangefj45]

i used a punch and hammer (my spring loaded punch retired just in time) to mark the center of the holes needing to be drilled and then drilled the two holes for the clutch master mounting studs. doing so under the dash was lots of fun. there's soooo much room to move around.
i used a hole saw to cut the required hole for the clutch master push rod to go thru the firewall. after a little filing the holes were debburred and looked just like they were meant to be there.

 

[orangefj45]

then i tried to install the fj60 pedal buckett. i said "tried" cause it was a major pita. i knew this was coming so i did'nt get frustrated. the insulating foam and rubber seemed to have their mind set on getting in the way and not budging after the pedal assy was in the proper location. i wrestled with them for a few minutes and then decided it would be much easier and less time consuming to trim them slightly after removing the pedal assy once more. so i did.
i then re-installed the pedal assy. this time, it was for the last time. everything went together really well. a couple of the bolts were tough to get started but with the help of a "ladies foot" i was able to line them up and they all went in without a sinch. i re-installed all the dash components in the reverse order of removal and got that part of the job done. took a few hours but i had counted on that.
here's a pic of what it looks like under the dash now. this was taken right before i re-installed both heater ducts.