Has anyone ever seen an FJ40 tub on a chevy frame/running gear? (1 Viewer)

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Well I just bought a 60 for expedition type travel and light trails. Now my rockcrawling itch is back full swing. I was 4wd drive free for 4 years...what do you expect.

Anyways, I have been looking around at fj40's and I knew I was going to be going with all chevy running gear, so I started thinking how difficult it would be to put the tub on a chevy frame? Sounds a hell of a lot easier than swapping everything over to a 40 frame and tub? Anyways it sounds to good to be true so maybe it is impossible. I saw a guy on pirate with a 55 body on a blazer frame.

Anyways, if you have seen it or have links to pics that would be awesome.
 
Guy in Palo Alto, or Mountainview did one (Cali)

Stretched the body to boot...

I think he's more on Pirate though..

Edit: You might want to put this in the Hardcore section, or you're going to get responses like the :rolleyes: one below....
 
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Seen a couple, looks like an FJ-40 tub on a chevy frame. What more is there to say, I think it looks like crap, and if you want an FJ-40, than drive an FJ-40. If you want to drive a Chevy than buy an old beat up pickup, yank the bed off, pull the doors and beat the s*** out of it.

The reason most drive FJ-40's is because of how capable and impressive the orignal design was in the first place.

Running gear is very wide, tires stick way out, may be very illegal in your area, don't know. Frame lenght, not even close to any Chevy offering. Either cut the chevy frame, or extend the body of the FJ. Mounting to frame will take some fab of course. Maybe a little less than moving spring hangers and perches on the 40 frame. But still work.
 
Well I just bought a 60 for expedition type travel and light trails. Now my rockcrawling itch is back full swing. I was 4wd drive free for 4 years...what do you expect.

Anyways, I have been looking around at fj40's and I knew I was going to be going with all chevy running gear, so I started thinking how difficult it would be to put the tub on a chevy frame? Sounds a hell of a lot easier than swapping everything over to a 40 frame and tub? Anyways it sounds to good to be true so maybe it is impossible. I saw a guy on pirate with a 55 body on a blazer frame.

Anyways, if you have seen it or have links to pics that would be awesome.

I agree with MoCo - why would you want all Chevy running gear under an FJ40? Some of the best and toughest parts of an FJ40 are the frame, suspension, axles and diffs, not to mention transmissions and transfers. Heck, one of my CJ buddies mentioned not too long ago that a popular CJ mod was to put Land Cruiser axles under it! I know by comparing the springs, frame, etc with my brother's CJ5 and even with his newer Ruby, that the Cruiser's are much stouter.

That said, anything is possible. I used to see a Chevy Vega body on what looked to be something like an F150 4x4 chassis running around town! Looked sort of like a Vega Big Foot if you can imagine that!

Pete
 
Thanks a lot sno bored that is awesome. I found a great intact fj80 running gear with crushed body at the junkyard today. HMMMMNNNNNN!

Hey YZFTaco, Do you know that guys screen name or any keywords to search for him with? None of my searches are bringing anything up.

Yeah I know that the stock fj40 components are great I just thought it would be cool. I found a nice tub for sale a few miles away, and I really nice chevy 1 ton setup with a mangled body close by as well. Both of them were great prices too. So that is what got me thinking about it.

I am just trying to build a fun full size buggy, and thought using an FJ40 tub would look awesome, especially an extended one.

I love Landcruisers! It is my dream to have a cherry stock 40 one day. I knew people were going to take offense to this.

Any other links or photos?
 
I love Landcruisers! It is my dream to have a cherry stock 40 one day. I knew people were going to take offense to this.

Any other links or photos?
Let them take offence,
It is your money , time and desire, who cares.
There is another build , a 40 body on an 80 frame and drivetrain.
Mud member in England is doing it.
I don't know how far he is into that, but I can't seem to find the thread.
Now , I wonder how a 40 would look on an HJ60 frame and drivetrain, with a 1/2 top and streaced tub, sounds like a near project for sure. Or is that too offencive,,,,,,,,,,,
 
Had one parked at our front door 15 minutes ago. Tires were about a foot outside the wheel wells. Used Chevy V8, SM465, long-ass adapter, 205 T.C., and had very little rear drive shaft.
 
A guy around here has a 1962 FJ40 with a 455 Olds on nitrous turning 44 inch ground hawgs on a 60 front and 14 bolt rear. The front end comes off the ground when he hammers it. :clap:
 
...the tub on a chevy frame? ...

Why go to all of that work? Just slap the bezel on, instant cruiser!:hillbilly:

attachment.php
 
Damn I don't know his screen name..

His real name is Rodney, orangefj45 knows who he is....

i do have a couple pics of before he finished it.... only 2 I have..
coastal-023.jpg
coastal-024.jpg
 
Cool thanks guys.

ANy pics or info on the one you know of, Downey?

Anyways, I am not going to go through with right now. It just got my imagination flowing.

I searched Pirate and found a Mini truck/fj40, fj60/custom made FJ45, and a fj80/fj40. All of which lengthened the tubs, were on a budget, and turned out awesome.

So what else do you guys have? FJ tub on what.....?
 
I'm doing something similar shortly to mine. Not using a chevy chassis, using the existing 40. 350/th400/203*205 doubler/d70rear/60front on 42's. I'm not stretching the body or frame, just pushing springs outboard in the front and to the edge of the bumpers/frame on both ends.

Do some more searching in the hadcore section here and on pirate. Some are link'd and some are still leaf'd, but they will give you a good idea on length and what not.

:beer::beer:
 
Well I see the majority of people swap all the running gear to there 40 frame and body, rather than the body to the existing frame and running gear. I guess swapping the body seems so much easier to me cause everything is "basically" set up.

What are the drawbacks and attributes to each way?
 
First of all , chevy frames suck. They flex so bad you can't open your doors with a front tire up on a rock. The frames cracki all around the steering boxes shock mounts and bumper mounts, ( if you do winching ) . The frame flex tears up your tub. Jeep found this out with the CJ and YJ series. The floors would crack under seats and roll cage feet.
Unless you upgrade to dana 60's or 14 bolts, there is no axle advantage unless you consider
20 extra inches of width an advantage on a trail. Chevys seldom ran a Dana 60 front. More likely to find them on a GMC 1 ton but you are still more likely to get a dana 44 heavy which is just a 44 with heavier 8 bolt spindles.
 
Since we are on this subject,
I am thinking to stretch mine like shown in the photo.
What do you guys think???
my40.jpg
 
That would be sweet! extra cab half top
 

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