Intro - 1972 FJ40

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

Joined
Sep 21, 2025
Threads
1
Messages
1
Location
Rapid City, SD
Hi all,
I purchased my FJ40 over a decade ago and I am finally getting around to making it drive-able. A few years ago, I swapped the front axle from a donor fj40 that came with the driver so I could have disc brakes, but soon found out it may not be from a land cruiser. I can't remember if I verified the gear ratio matched the original :censor:. The hubs make me think it's from an early 4Runner.

Skip to present day, I replaced the rear brake shoes, cylinders and emergency brake shoes (on the transfer case output shaft) and replaced the output shaft seal that was leaking. I bought a tune-up kit and installed it but the carb seemed to have a dead spot so I ordered a carburetor rebuild kit as well. After fixing the rear brakes, I tried driving it home from my dad's shop and the clutch master cylinder piston seized up, so I had to jam it into 1st gear and blow through the stop sign to get it home (driving in 1st gear all the way for 2 miles, in the dark, with only one visible tail light and no working brake lights). Now I've just replaced the master and slave cylinders only to find a leak where the hard line from the master cylinder threads into the clutch hose to the slave cylinder. This truck is def giving me a workout but I look forward to having it become a solid driver. Eventually I plan to do a full resto and a slight lift and possibly 33's but I'm not sure how that will workout with the original 1F engine and 3spd trans. Any ideas on what to modify or swap that is a "must have" for an enjoyable weekend driver, please feel free to comment.

72fj40.webp
 
Welcome from a fellow ‘72 owner.

Your disc brake front end may have come from a later 40. Sometime in the late 70s the gears went from 4.10 to 3.73 I believe. If you could find a used 4.10 third member, you could swap that in and be good to go?

Did you change out the brake master cylinder as well? Disc and drum brake master cylinders have different internals.

Anyway good luck with your project and please post more pics!
 
(Also whenever I lose clutch I like to just start the truck in 1st rather than cramming it into gear). After a bit of practice you can even shift through the gears once you get the knack of matching engine speed to drive trail rpm
 
Welcome. It looks like a real nice 40 to start with. Don't put into 4 wheel drives until you confirm the frt end gear ratio. The 1st thing you should do is getting it running, stopping and driving consistently. Then baseline it. You're not ready for any major mods yet
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom