HJ47 welcome here?

[Henry James the 47th]

Uh, yeah, i think I'm a good candidate for therapy. Thanks for the positive words!

Had a scary day at work today, when a wall fell over. Fortunately, no one was hurt and the damage was minimal, and I'm still a little worked up about it. It was a result of hurrying just a tad too much and focusing on small things without the occasional glance at the big picture.

Got some more work on Henry the 47th today. Took the plunge and chopped out the corner of the cab at the door. Then I noticed that there was no internal remnant of the tube supports, and that the way the door frame section was assembled from formed sheet was different between the patch piece and the original. One of those differences in the '79~'84 trucks from the earlier versions I guess.

So, I chopped the flange-mount on the end of the receiver tube off, then took the small section of door frame top that i had just chopped off and slid it over top to compare them.

 

[Henry James the 47th]

As you can see there is about 4mm size difference in one axis between the pieces. That means i have to do some additional sectioning of the patch. That I will do after fitting the whole unit into position, so I can keep the top side captive nut portion in the correct position. The first fit was a little gappy on the vertical sheet abutment.

 

[Henry James the 47th]

A bit of grinding a refitting helped that problem largely go away. Then I partially sectioned the patch, as it was easier to make that cut while the piece was out.

 

[Henry James the 47th]

I was okay with the fit to this stage. I needed more of the tube for the pin receivers, and thought I would be a good idea to go and look at a couple of 40 series wrecks to see if there were any tubes that I could raid. However, both 40's i looked at were just like my cab, having no receiver tubes at all. So, now I'm left wondering if mine ever had tubes or should have tubes. I think they must easily rust out or crack and fall out, I'm just speculating though. Anyone have any idea?

After I put that job to one side, I picked up some 12x1.5 mm threaded bolts for mounting the p/s gearbox, but they turned out to be the wrong size - I think I need 1.25 mm thread pitch. Another trip to the store for two lousy bolts

I turned my attention then to the captive welded nuts that need to be put in for the air cleaner to mount, made some marks and then changed my mind and decided to wait until the engine is back in, and the brake booster, so that the air cleaner can be put into position with more confidence as to getting the right placement.

 

[MoCoNative]

I think that your replacement cab never had the tubes. My 73 FJ-40 does not have a tube, it is just a hole, with a setscrew down below that holds the pins/tubes from the top down in the cab. And truely, the tubes are not that good of an idea. If it rusts down in there, the top is welded in that tube from rust. Try sticking two pieces of pipe together, one inside the other, then hide them from site and let some water run down in there, or just humidity, bad combo.

Also noticed on your thread, that you had a hole ripped through the door on both doors. I think, that is where the door limiter mounted. Check into that, but I bet they were opened too far, too many times and that part of the door cracked and ripped off. Check a newer 40, I bet you will see it. You will need them, although you can open the door almost 90 degress or more, if you go further the mirrors will strike things, or the door could hit the fender.

Edit, looked back through some more photos of your doors, I see that the limiters are intact, son't know why you have holes on each door now.

Great looking build though, you're picking up the welding very nicely, that's how I learned too, just going for it.

 

[Henry James the 47th]

Hey MoCoNative, thanks for the excellent feedback and information.

I note your point about the possibility of rust inside those tubes, and that it is a place that rust could freeze up, making removal of the rear cab section difficult.

However, I was faced with either going with a tube on just one side, or both, or somehow chopping the tube out from the patch piece, which I feared would be easy to make a mess of, so I decided to get a piece of stainless tube for the passenger side and leave the middle pin without a tube. So, the top section will locate with the two outer pins locating snugly in tubes, and the one in the middle will be left alone. I also will coat the pins with anti-seize thoroughly before putting the cab rear section on, and I hope that will be sufficient to stave off rust problems.

I've seen this sort of problem frequently with bicycle seat posts getting stuck into a steel frame from corrosion, a situation easily avoided by putting adequate grease on the post in the first place before fitting it.

I'll post picture a little later this evening of the tube refit.

 

[Henry James the 47th]

Some pictures from tonight's round of welding and grinding on the truck. I was feeling pretty fatigued today, and the seemingly endless welding and grinding is starting to get me down a bit. Still, I must forge onwards...

Here's some pictures of welding a piece of stainless tubing into position on the passenger side.

 

[Henry James the 47th]

more work on that tube. I wasn't sure about welding stainless with the Mig set up I'm using, but it seemed to go just fine. After the tube was in, I temporarily mounted the rear cab section to make sure all was well - it was.

 

[Henry James the 47th]

Then onto the troublesome driver's side section, where I set about repairing the seat belt mounting point. I used 14g. metal, quite a bit thicker than what was in there, and reinforced the mounting point for the belt.

 

[Henry James the 47th]

3 more. I reused the welded nut from the old piece as it has a different thread pitch and I didn't have the patience to drive down to the auto parts store to buy just one nut. I sprayed the piece with weldable zinc primer before tacking it in

 

[Henry James the 47th]

Whoa, page twelve of this thread! This is further along than I thought...


Here's the last one from tonight. I got it tacked into position, and the spot weld holes on the exterior are filled in. I will be able to complete the fabrication work on that corner tomorrow. I certainly hope I can get it done in another couple of hours - all this work on such a little tiny piece can be a bit frustrating when I'm wanting to make 'big strides'.

To do:

-weld in the brake booster mounting holes and re-drill
-complete welding work on the floor pan.
-rebuild lower edge of the upper cab section
-continue with dash modifications; figure out mountings for warning light, tachometer, and clock
-complete work on the steering column shaft, graft on the 40 section to the lower end, mock it up and get it aligned right (hopefully).
-weld in mounting tabs on the hood for the silencer and the hood support rod
-weld up spray nozzle hole on hood (or go with the dummy nozzle)
-re-do the side cowl panel on the passenger side (it didn't turn out as well as I would have liked)
-weld in the outer rocker-to-floor support brackets
-modify driver's side fender to mount the air cleaner

I need a friggin' vacation!

 

[MoCoNative]

Well, vacation or not, things are looking very good, you started a very ambitious project, but you are moving along quite well actually.

Antisieze is an excellent idea on the posts. I just brought it up, as they may not be nescesary at all in your case. The top mounts fairly well with all the bolts in it. But you will have a good solid cab when done.

Good luck, keep on going, you are getting there.

 

[Henry James the 47th]

Thanks dude, the encouragement is great. Actually, I am taking a vacation starting in August for nearly 4 weeks, so that will give me a good chance to recharge. I'm hoping to have the welding and grinding over with by then.

Well, vacation or not, things are looking very good, you started a very ambitious project, but you are moving along quite well actually.

Antisieze is an excellent idea on the posts. I just brought it up, as they may not be nescesary at all in your case. The top mounts fairly well with all the bolts in it. But you will have a good solid cab when done.

Good luck, keep on going, you are getting there.

 

[Henry James the 47th]

Well, today a package from SOR arrived, only 4 weeks late. They sent me somebody else's order by mistake and it has taken this long to get the correct package.

In the box were the deflectors for the diff pinion flanges, and they don't fit. The windshield washer pump was the wrong one (my bad I guess). The 9" square u-bolt fitted perfectly and replaced the 8" one the 4WheelAuto had sent me months back.

I've been trying to obtain the correct mounting bolts for the Bandeirante steering box. I tried 12x1.5mm, and that was wrong. Today I picked up 12x1.25mm, and that was wrong too. I just checked out a page on metric thread standards, and I conclude that the ones I need are 12x1.75mm. That's the only possibility left in 12mm bolts.

I managed to do some more welding on the cab corner, and I'm nearly there. I didn't have the camera with me today, so pictures will have to wait until tomorrow. I am planning to pick up a couple of bags of crushed glass media tomorrow a.m., and then blast the air cleaner, the inside of the cab corner patch piece, and the hood clips for the silencer. Hoping to make good progress tomorrow.

 

[DanS HJ-45]

Looking great. The top set on the tub really is exciting. Your project is really moving along nicely. Considering I've got a project in the shop that is going on 4.5 years, and it's finally down to the frame, might actually start coming back together for the final time in a month or two, I'd say you're flying.

Dan

 

[Henry James the 47th]

Looking great. The top set on the tub really is exciting. Your project is really moving along nicely. Considering I've got a project in the shop that is going on 4.5 years, and it's finally down to the frame, might actually start coming back together for the final time in a month or two, I'd say you're flying.

Dan

Thanks Dan, your perspective is very much appreciated. This phase only seems endless, and I know in time I will get there. My bank account is even beginning to recover somewhat!

 

[Henry James the 47th]

After some running around this morning to wrecking yard hoping to find a decent set of seats to replace mine (no luck), and picking up a couple of bags of blast media, i finally got to work on the HJ after lunch.

Started out by blasting the cab corner patch piece, the hood clips and support rod holder, the air cleaner, and a couple of the set bolts for the front knuckles. Then into primer they went (blue caliper paint for the bolts).

 

[Henry James the 47th]

Then it was back to the work on the cab corner...

 

[Henry James the 47th]

another set

 

[Henry James the 47th]

and another three. While the corner came together, I wanted to not overdo the heat, so I moved to something else: the brake booster mounting holes on the firewall.