Front Disc Axle Swap

[clemson55]

I'm going to do a fairly in depth thread talking about my front axle swap so that I can get discs on my 55. There is at least one other thread but I thought I'd go ahead and do a good thread about it so there would be another. I'm putting an axle out of an fj60 under my piggie. The first step of course was to secure an axle, the second step was to order new spring hangers, spring perches, u-bolts, and any brake lines that might be needed due to missing or damaged lines (pic 1). The hangers and perches came from Proffitts the U-bolts from Man-a-Fre and I got a couple of lines from the local Yota dealer. The next step was to remove the old spring perches from the fj 60 axle grind down the old welds and prime the housing so it would be ready for new perches (pic 2).

 

[MiniPigg]

I'm installing FJ60 axles front and rear on my '77 FJ55 and then placing the axles that came from the 55 under my 1965 FJ40. Nice to see someone doing another write up. Take plenty of photo's.

 

[andrew.fletcher]

Clemson-
Thanks for starting this one, this is one of the planned upgrades for my '72. Please lots of pictures!!

 

[clemson55]

Ok so first step today was to pull the old axle (pic 1) unbolted shocks, driveshaft, u-bolts, brake lines, shackles, tie rod. Got the old axle out the springs off for later and gave myself plenty of room to work on the next step. second job of the day was to remove the stock spring hangers, I just cut the fronts off and cleaned it up so I had a good spot for mounting. For the rear hanger I decided to reuse them and put them on the front so I could do shackle revearsal while I was at it. First I ground off the rivets on the underside of the frame on the inside of the shackle and then cut the strip that goes up the side of the frame, this allowed for the hanger to be reused later. After pulling it off the rivet studs that are left just grind them off down to the frame. (sorry didnt photo this) Be sure that your mark the center of the hole for the stock location so that you can put your new hangers back. (pic 2) Youll see the stock location marked I did this front and rear. (I later moved the rear location forward 1/2" to try and get a little better shackle angle but it doesnt appear to have made much if any difference.) The next thing I did was take the stock hanger I was reusing and the new hangers from Proffitts and measure/mark them 1.5" so that when remounting them I would be able to stagger them outward. (pic 3) This is to counteract the extra width of the axle compared to stock (special thanks to Andre's thread cause I didnt know that previously).

 

[clemson55]

The next thing I did was to weld on the new spring hangers. I had a square so that I could keep things squared to the frame. In order to make up for the large cantilever on the new hanger locations I put in some gussets. You can see theres currently 2 on each hanger I may go back in later and beef them up a little more maybe box them in just cause I have intentions of thrashing it eventually. You can see the hangers in pics 1 and 2. The next step was to start reassembling with the new axle. What I ended up doing was lifting the axle up on a couple of jacks bolting the springs on under the axle with no weight on them, setting the new perches in place and lowering the axle down onto the perches thereby putting the weight on the springs. After adjusting the axle to get it lined up and tilted the right way the new u-bolts from Man-A-Fre went on using the stock spring plates. (pic 3)

 

[clemson55]

Pic 1 is shot of the new perch and u-bolts on the passenger side so you can see how it is sitting in relation to the differential. Its seemed to me to be sitting pretty close to the stock perch location. Pic 2 is after pretty much everything was back together and shes on her wheels again, you can see the new hanger and the shackle angle now. Pic 3 is just a good shot of it finished with Eventhoughs pig in the background. Big thanks to Steve for busting butt out there with me for about 10 hrs and dealing with the little learning bumps on the fly with me.

 

[clemson55]

This is a pic of Steve doing some cutting or grinding or something up where the front hanger was getting it ready for the rear hanger to be swapped to that location. Meanwhile I stood around sipping some water and taking stupid pics

 

[clemson55]

Hope this has been helpful thus far I am not done as of yet I still need a couple brake lines which are in the mail, and the axle was missing 2 of the 4 caliper bolts so I have to match those guys. But I made it a long way on day 1 of this project.

Some issues that I have come across are:
1. My extended shackles do not fit either inside of or outside of the new hangers so they currently are in the makeshift position of one side in and one out as seen in my horrible diagram. Not sure what to do about this guess I'll have to look at some new shackle or something. (pic 1)

2. The bolt pattern on the diff is different then the one on the diff from my 73 fj55 so I can't bolt the front driveshaft up at the moment. The plan is simply to drill some new holes I have to look at it further it may be that I just drill new holes and leave the old or I may weld the old holes up and then drill all new holes. Another option might be to take the front driveshaft off the same as the diff and put it together with a 55 driveshaft not sure if they have the same spline count it might be as easy as just sliding the 2 halves together.

3. The t in the brake lines on my 55 is on the drivers side but on the axle its on the passenger side so the stock brake hose which runs into the t does not reach. Havent decided what I'm doing about this probably just getting a longer brake hose theres a place that makes them semi-local to me.

I didnt take as many pics as you all probably wanted so let me know and I'll take them of whatever you want to see if you have any questions I'll answer them the best I can.

 

[Trollhole]

Good job Richard cannot wait to see it.

 

[Southeast Overland]

I think I was the one learning on the fly - not you.

Oh, and thanks for the flattering pic!

 

[jm599]

clemson55, concerning #2 above, it the driveshaft ends don't interchange you might call Kurt at Cruiser Outfitters he has lots of pinion flange parts.

I just outboarded my front hangers last week, I was able to invert my frame on rotisserrie and it was still tough. You should be proud to get done what you have. not sure on the shackles, I hopefully will get my frame painted soon and alcans installed, but have to get the axles but back together first. Kurt got my ARBs 3rds back to me last night, but haven't even had a chance to open them yet.

Are you going to run low backspaced wheels too. ?

We are going to need some flares!

 

[clemson55]

Thanks Marshall hope to get it to an event sometime soon.

jm - Thanks I'm about to shoot and pm and see about getting the front driveshaft from the parts rig this axle came off but if not Kurt will get a call. I definitely felt good about what we got done today. Hadnt thought about backspacing, some of this is just getting figured out on the fly, the fab is the easy part for me its all the little details that will end up bogging me down now. No flares for me though I'd rather have a little mud coming over the 1/2 doors just not a fan of flares.

 

[89s rule]

Looks good Richard! Let me know if I can help with anything else.

 

[scouthead]

This is off subject, but this is the first time I have actually seen a pic of the Orange and White Piggy Truck. I have seen this done to other 55s and never cared for it.
I am so sold on it now! I just picked up a beater to build and I may have to chop it.
Looks great Clemson55!

 

[clemson55]

New Issue realized in hindsight it seems painfully obvious guess I just wasnt thinking to hard. Stock 55 steering linkage is not the same length as the fj 60/62 steering linkage. This is an easy fix though. Option one would be to just use the linkage off a 60 or 62, option two would just be to cut each one and extend it the few inches necessary by inserting a rod inside or a sleeve on the outside. Tried to take a pic but you couldnt really see it basically 1 wheel is straight the other is turned about 3 inches in.


Matt I sent you a pm get back to me.

Scouthead - thanks I appreciate it I love stock pigs but I love the way mines chopped up to, it just made sense with the rusted out body I had to work with.

 

[clemson55]

Fixed the steering linkage issues today. Sliced a small section out of each and took them to a shop and got some 10" long pieces of solid round stock that fit snug into each. Next step was to drill some 7/16" holes through the stock linkages. Next I put the round stock into the stock linkage making sure to get everything squared up straight. Then welded it all up.

 

[clemson55]

Dealt with issue 3 the brake lines today. Put on all my new lines for starters then started working on the issue of the T being on the opposite side. I decided to just reroute the stock lines. The reason I did this is because the stock line loops back on itself in a big u-shape and after some measuring I decided it would be long enough to reach the other side. In pic 1 you can see the stock location in red and then where it was rerouted in yellow. The new location is in yellow in pics 2 and 3 as well. The lines reach just fine and I didnt have to buy any new lines have any lines made get any extended lines or anything of that nature.

 

[dieselcruiserhead]

right on richard... Only thing was you weren't interested in putting a sleeve through the frame and doing a more traditional shackle reversal? Prob would have been tough with the outboarded springs uh? Anyway, looks good.. I had to beef the crap out of mine up front with the stock 55 hangers. They are good but need some renforcement.. Yours look pretty good though..

 

[clemson55]

I considered putting a sleeve through but I was on a time constraint with living in an apt. right now I also don't really have a way to cut a hole through the frame. I just went with what I thought would be fastest and easiest since it needed to look normal again by the end of the day. I definitely plan on doing some more reinforcing on the fronts before to long.

 

[Trollhole]

Richard when you said you axle housing would go over any further because of the pumpkin were you talking about this pic?

If so the only way to move it more over is to cut the perch. and move it up. I know this is SOA but the pricipal is the same.