Kayaker
SILVER Star
Have you ever wondered at what speed your unfastened FJ40 hood will gain sufficient lift to fly up and hit your roof? Well no need for you to run your own experiment. It’s 54 mph.
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RevISK
SILVER Star
It’s your cruiser, but if it was mine, I do it. F the purists.
Sure is nice having that extra layer of security.
Ian
"It’s your cruiser, but if it was mine, I do it. F the purists." I'm no purist but I don't think we need to "F" anyone around here. Just sayin'.
RevISK
SILVER Star
Where I'm from it means a lot worse. I'll try FU at work and see where it gets me
or better yet a recording that says: "Hey stupid, you need to fasten your hood latches!"
Gotta be in a totally obnoxious, way down yonder, chain smoken’, okra eatin, sa-weeeeet tea drank’en, hair up in curlers, four dogs a barken’, southern mother-in-law voice…
I‘d buy one….
My cruiser is a 11/73 build and it didn’t have the bracket for the secondary latch for some reason and I believe it’s the original for the cruiser. I also looked at the breakdown on SOR’s sight a few years ago and noticed as you mentioned it was add in 11/73. Maybe they still had inventory of the previous product date.
I was able to get another bib from a later model with the mounting bracket for the latch and had the bracket removed and tacked in place on mine so I could have that secondary latch.
The first picture is the mounting bracket that is circled that I pulled of Mud
The second picture is my cruiser
The first picture is the mounting bracket that is circled that I pulled of Mud
The second picture is my cruiser
Living in the Past
SILVER Star
11/73 doesn't mean every 11/73 had one. Just the earliest month they were added but not necessary starting 11/1/73. Have Toyota literature showing changing by VIN not any date. These were in the early 1960s.
Roastchestnuts
TLCA #28675 Salt wagon Fj40
This certainly happened to mine in the past. when I re did the fiberglass top I realized the rain gutter was cracked all the way through on both sides where it over hangs in the front. The hood spear was also kinked. Luckily It was not terrible and almost not noticeable to the untrained eye.
Roastchestnuts
TLCA #28675 Salt wagon Fj40
OMG I litterally drove off the other day with my wallet and camera on the hood! luckly they did not slide off. Also constantly leave stuff on the fenders.
RevISK
SILVER Star
I usually (now) know where I lost my “canned beverage”.
@Kayaker Lots of likes under that photo…i want add my name to that list but i cant….just because it seems like blasphamy. So sorry for that happening. I can’t imagine how you felt when this flew up at 54 mph. I am sure this had almost happened to me without knowing it but…never has. My 1974 FJ40 did not have that hood latch and i had purchased it new.
Last edited:
ginmtb
'74 FJ40 - my first!
Saddened by this but thankful you are okay!
wind gust and or meeting a semi on a small country road.......... experienced it coming part way up, didn't reach the windshield though.Perhaps there are more variables.
Heard about this happening to other 40 owners for years and I've even forgotten to latch my hood a couple times then foolishly drove off. Didn't realize anything was amiss until the hood started wiggling while driving. That safety latch definitely saved me and I think retrofitting these into older cruisers is a very worthy safety upgrade. Slamming your hood shut and knowing it will stay that way is a convenience of modern vehicles, not so with the old relics we drive here. Good luck fixing your hood @Kayaker, your 40 and it's half century of history with you is amazing!
Around 1985 my wife drove our 40 to town with a friend.
On the way home the hood flew up.
She said she was doing about 40mph.
Put a small ding on the left side of the hood some crack lines on the front of the roof.
Best guess is someone lifted the hood for a look or just an a hole in general.
For the passed 30 years now have been saying I aught to put an extra latch on the hood.
I do check the latches quite regularly though.
On the way home the hood flew up.
She said she was doing about 40mph.
Put a small ding on the left side of the hood some crack lines on the front of the roof.
Best guess is someone lifted the hood for a look or just an a hole in general.
For the passed 30 years now have been saying I aught to put an extra latch on the hood.
I do check the latches quite regularly though.
Kayaker
SILVER Star
- Thread starter
- #38
First, thanks for all the commiseration. It was not a pleasant experience but I learned a couple of valuable lessons and took the opportunity to address some hidden rust during the repair.
So now for the rest of the story. First lesson: always refasten the hood as soon as you close it! Second lesson: don't try to remove the dents yourself unless you don't plan to engage a professional later. Oops.
I knew from the get-go that I was going to have to rely on a body shop to get the hood back to pre-incident condition. The curves were crimped, and the paint cracked so I wasn't going to be able to fix that. But I couldn't resist so I removed the hood placed it upside down on a bed of pine needles and did what any self respecting FJ40 owner would do, I stepped on it with my bare feet. Now, it did look better but turned out to be a mistake. The dent was partially removed, but there were still high and low spots that went away with a push, but returned when the pressure was removed. Time to take it to the pros. I found a shop that specialized in restorations and took the hood by for an estimate. His first recommendation was to call a dent specialist (pop a dent type) and have him get it straight before he touched it in order to minimize the need for any bondo. So I gave him a call. A week later he showed up at my house with his small bag of tools and began to work his magic. And it was magic. It was well worth the $100 he charged me just to watch him work. A little push here, a tap tap there and an hour later it was almost good as new (except where I had ground off the paint where the crimps were). He even removed a couple of small dents and dings that pre-dated the incident. Sweet! I ended up tipping him an extra $25 for the educational demonstration in dent removal.
I had removed the center reinforcing beam so he could reach the now flattened center hump from the underside without the obstruction of the beam. Turned out to be a good move as it revealed some rust under the 50 years of dirt and grease between the beam and the hood. I ground out the rust and primed the metal on both the hood and the beam before taking both to the body shop for the final body work and painting.
The end result was quite good but not perfect. While they had totally erased the dents and ripples on the top side, they didn't feel the need to do the same on the underside. My bad; should have mentioned that. So while the incident is invisible on the top, it is detectable when the hood is up. Not horrible, just there as a constant reminder of Lesson 1 above.
So, total cost $696 for the paint and body work, $100 for the metal work and $24 for seam sealer for the beam and I am back on the road. That's about $350 more than it cost me to repaint the entire Cruiser back in 2001. It's also 25% of what I paid for the Cruiser new in 1972. Gotta love inflation!
So now for the rest of the story. First lesson: always refasten the hood as soon as you close it! Second lesson: don't try to remove the dents yourself unless you don't plan to engage a professional later. Oops.
I knew from the get-go that I was going to have to rely on a body shop to get the hood back to pre-incident condition. The curves were crimped, and the paint cracked so I wasn't going to be able to fix that. But I couldn't resist so I removed the hood placed it upside down on a bed of pine needles and did what any self respecting FJ40 owner would do, I stepped on it with my bare feet. Now, it did look better but turned out to be a mistake. The dent was partially removed, but there were still high and low spots that went away with a push, but returned when the pressure was removed. Time to take it to the pros. I found a shop that specialized in restorations and took the hood by for an estimate. His first recommendation was to call a dent specialist (pop a dent type) and have him get it straight before he touched it in order to minimize the need for any bondo. So I gave him a call. A week later he showed up at my house with his small bag of tools and began to work his magic. And it was magic. It was well worth the $100 he charged me just to watch him work. A little push here, a tap tap there and an hour later it was almost good as new (except where I had ground off the paint where the crimps were). He even removed a couple of small dents and dings that pre-dated the incident. Sweet! I ended up tipping him an extra $25 for the educational demonstration in dent removal.
I had removed the center reinforcing beam so he could reach the now flattened center hump from the underside without the obstruction of the beam. Turned out to be a good move as it revealed some rust under the 50 years of dirt and grease between the beam and the hood. I ground out the rust and primed the metal on both the hood and the beam before taking both to the body shop for the final body work and painting.
The end result was quite good but not perfect. While they had totally erased the dents and ripples on the top side, they didn't feel the need to do the same on the underside. My bad; should have mentioned that. So while the incident is invisible on the top, it is detectable when the hood is up. Not horrible, just there as a constant reminder of Lesson 1 above.
So, total cost $696 for the paint and body work, $100 for the metal work and $24 for seam sealer for the beam and I am back on the road. That's about $350 more than it cost me to repaint the entire Cruiser back in 2001. It's also 25% of what I paid for the Cruiser new in 1972. Gotta love inflation!
RevISK
SILVER Star
Kayaker
SILVER Star
- Thread starter
- #40
One of the other problems I encountered with this project was that my 51 year-old rubber latch bumpers finally gave up the ghost. So, if you also wondered about the life expectancy of those, there's the answer. If you have had the same problem finding replacements that I had, you might consider my fix. Got the rubber feet off Amazon and attached them with stainless steel rivets. Though not OEM, it works quite nicely and was a pretty economical fix. The foot print isn't identical (and it has a hollow center for the fastener) so it doesn't perfectly cover the area where the old bumpers rubbed off the paint so I need to address that before it starts to rust. But fortunately, I got the left-over paint from the shop that painted the hood, so I'm all set for touching up that and a dozen other nicks and scrapes on my Cruiser!
