Thought I might start a thread on putting FZJ80 axles under a 40. I had done a lot of research and found several threads where they were doing this or contemplating it but never seemed to be enough pictures or the thread never seemed to be finished.
I put the rear axle in prior to this. I had cut off all the coil spring mounting hardware ( Still not sure whether that was wise or not.) and welded on leaf spring shackles. Got it done pretty quick, pretty straight forward. Axle is approximately 8 inches wider and the rear end had the Toyota Locking diff. (The front I am putting in has lockers as well and both the front and rear are wired the same for the E-Lockers, but I'll show that later.)
WOW what a difference. Never knew life was so much better with a locker.
Left the front end alone for the time being and bought military 37.5's. Cut centers out of them and welded in Trailworthy Fabs centers. Trying to rush around to get all this done so I could take it down to Disney for the Big Meat Run.
Played at Disney then the picture below is what made me go ahead and put the front axle under the 40.
We were crossing the river and I ran right into a bluff/ledge under water. Wasn't going to hit the clutch so I powered on through it at an angle (After ricocheting backwards). We took a high lift jack on the bottom of the spring and a bottle jack in between the spring and the frame to straighten it out as best as we could. Which wasn't too bad. Took some bailing wire and wrapped the spring approximately 50 to 60 wraps. I was worried that as the spring would flex the bailing wire would slide and allow the spring to bend again. Therefore we wrapped the bailing wire with Duct Tape. (I know all you boys out in California keep that in the back of the truck, but in Kansas I go nowhere without bailing wire and Duct Tape.) It worked for the remainder of the weekend.
Lasted the rest of the weekend but I was done with the front leaf springs. The other thing that I noticed was with the 37.5's I kept grabbing the front fender with the tire. But man o man did I love the lockers in the back end, skinny pedal not needed as much.
Another view of the carnage on the front fender. Didn't realize the PO used that much Bondo and glass on the fenders. No wonder I was always having grounding issues with the lights.
Next rip axle out and start cutting everything off. I wanted to keep the coil suspension on the front as I thought it would greatly enhance approach angles but would also provide superior ride. Contemplating moving axle forward 8 to 10 inches which would require a new drive shaft.
Two days of measuring with the front FZJ80 axle and tires under there. Heavy You get pretty creative on how you move the front assembled axle with 37.5's (still have the rubber run flats in them as well) when your by yourself. One complication is that I have an independent front suspension power steering gear box and I want a longer wheel base. I want a good approach, I would love to have the front tires ahead of the bumper and winch. I've seen those guys that go right up to a straight wall and just crawl the front end right up it, this is what I want.
The front of the frame has been cut and welded on, there seems to be no consistent place to measure from on both sides of the frame. Considered a central reference point and triangulate from there. Finally found an oval hole on both sides of the frame that is approximately at the firewall. This seemed to make the measurements a little easier. I want to use the 80 radius arms but the further I go towards the front the higher I get on the arch of the frame not to mention this stupid IFS gear box sticks out!!! Need more to figure this out. As with every modification I'm upset because it's taking me way too long to get this done.
I took a compromise of moving axle forward approximately 8 inches. I say approximately because I didn't mark where the original one was. Typical project, I just started cutting and grinding till later I thought to myself I probably should have marked and measured it would at least help me on my driveshaft length. Below is where I mounted my Radius arm bushing bracket. (I don't know if that is the correct terminology but that's what I'm going with.) Tack welded in place to determine if I have made correct measurements. In the first picture you can see the oval hole I used for measuring references for placement of the axle.
Got a plasma cutter on this project WOW! Sure is easier and cleaner on cutting. I made these brackets out of 3" heavy walled square tubing I had laying around. Lost the attachment bolts when I got the 80 axles (Actually wife and daughter took the truck so they could haul something. She told me later that she threw away a bunch of nuts and bolts. Couldn't say much because she had been after me for over a week to clean the truck up so they could use it because it's so embarrassing with all the junk in the bed! I guess they don't realize that all that junk of nuts, bolts, wire, pliers, etc. has gotten me out of many jams before.) So I had a 3/4" grade 5 bolts that I used which are just slightly bigger so I drilled out the bushing. It worked but I think it's pretty hillbilly approach to it. Just didn't have the patience that night and didn't want to wait another day for running to get bolts.
Next is building the Coil Spring Buckets. I had a bunch of 1/2" and 7/16" plate laying around so this is what I went with. Besides I have a new plasma cutter I want to play with. Pretty straight forward: Top plate 6"x 6 5/8" sides 10" x 5 1/4" down to 2".
By the way I screwed up earlier when I was setting up the placement for the radius arm attachment point to the frame......I don't realize it yet because I'm always assuming that the shocks are perpendicular or straight up and down. Did I mention that I know nothing about setting up suspensions? I eyeballed the driveline and thought it looked pretty close. Ended up on this getting a negative 2 degree castor. I think that's the right term. My buddy has a shop and set it up on his alignment rack but that's later.
Weld the coil buckets to the frame and it's holding it's own weight. WOW!!
MEASURE MEASURE MEASURE MEASURE..................Drink a few adult beverages
and measure again. There is no straight place on this frame as well as all the 1/2" steel plates I've welded on for the stupid IFS power steering gear box let alone any symmetry on the axle. Finally ended up using inside of frame and the front bracket for the radius arm on axle to measure with to have the axle centered. Seems so obvious as of this writing. Maybe I drank to many
One reason I was apprehensive about this approach was that on one side I could only get a straight edge down on the outside of the frame the other on the inside and you have to tilt your straight edge backwards toward the axle. I had some dents in the frame (How do you get dents in the frame? Really, what did a previous owner hit? Or what hit him?) on one side and on the other the plates welded on for the strengthening of the frame for the power steering,. With tilting the straight edge back I wasn't too confident I was right. Two people would be better at this than one. Most frustrating part was I would need to move the whole assembly over 1/4". This thing is heavy. I move it and sure enough overshot. Move and measure.....Move and measure......
Somewhere in here there started to be copious quantities of Adult refreshment. Finally got it where I wanted it and had the bright idea of using ratchet straps to hold it steady.
Wish I had thought of the ratchet straps earlier because it would have made the adjustments a lot easier.
Now that I have it centered (wasn't really confident that my frame wasn't off somewhat) I have to figure out the panhard arm placement.
Built a Pan hard arm attachment point. Going to use the base plate of the winch welded in between the frame for the cross bracing tying both frame rails together. Spent a lot of time reading about suspension set ups. I don't know that I'm any wiser for it but one thing I did learn was I needed to keep my pan hard arm the same angle as my drag link. That was my main goal here.
Forgot to mention and I had to go back out just now and take a picture of it. I built a bracket for the rear radius arm bushing mount. It was a 4 1/2" square tubing cut at an angle to match the width of the bushing mount I had tack welded on and cut to the height of the frame for full welding on three sides
Here's what she looks like after the shocks mounted. I am excited. It's getting close. Couldn't stop working on it as it gets closer and closer. Wife would call me and ask if I was coming home?
Because of pushing the axle forward 8" I needed to build tube fenders. I love the look of the 40 fenders and wanted to maintain their angles. I mean we all LOVE the angles. They look cool. I have a buddy who has a tube bender so we loaded the 40 and the fenders up and took out to his place. First I had to build the tubing thing (I really don't know what it's called) in front of bezel. So we bent it and tacked it on.
Wasn't going to hit the clutch so I powered on through it at an angle (After ricocheting backwards). We took a high lift jack on the bottom of the spring and a bottle jack in between the spring and the frame to straighten it out as best as we could. Which wasn't too bad. Took some bailing wire and wrapped the spring approximately 50 to 60 wraps. I was worried that as the spring would flex the bailing wire would slide and allow the spring to bend again. Therefore we wrapped the bailing wire with Duct Tape. (I know all you boys out in California keep that in the back of the truck, but in Kansas I go nowhere without bailing wire and Duct Tape.) It worked for the remainder of the weekend.
WOW! Sure is easier and cleaner on cutting. I made these brackets out of 3" heavy walled square tubing I had laying around. Lost the attachment bolts when I got the 80 axles (Actually wife and daughter took the truck so they could haul something. She told me later that she threw away a bunch of nuts and bolts.
Drove it around out in the field and it bounced pretty good.