JT's FJ40 build

[fountainhead]

Bodean pretty much summed it up. Seats, seat belts, and tuffy bolted into cage. Picked up drive shafts yesterday afternoon...got them cleaned up and painted. Front bumper and winch were bolted back on. Tranny hump was bolted in. ARB gear was all wired in and tested (happy all that worked!).

According to FedEx's site, the second fuel tank is on the truck in Jackson and out for delivery. Plan tonight is to get this installed and plumbed and then get the caged bolted back in. Also hope to get the drive shafts on and fluid in the tranny, tcase, and axles. Very close to the first test drive.

For documentation sake regarding the drive shafts - 100% Georgle'd - the shafts are from an '83 FJ-60. Delivered to Texas by Georg and brought home by WCT - thank you sirs. The front DC shaft was lengthened to run in the rear of this 40. The rear shaft was shortened to run in the front. Flange to flange measurements were 35.25" in the front and 30.25" in the rear. Per Georg, the shafts was modified to fully compressed lengths of 33.75" and 28.75" respectively by the guys at Jackson Powertrain.

Not many pictures from last night:

 

[Bossman]

Little help here... I need a new adjective. Cool, sweet, awesome, etc just ain't cuttin' it any more on this rig!

 

[FJ60Cam]

Bitchin'? Ballin'?

 

[fountainhead]

How bout grateful? I think that accurately describes both the rig and the owner at this stage of the game.

 

[FJ60Cam]

Hung?

 

[Bossman]

No, I was kinda going for a channeling Spivey vibe like:

splendiferous or resplendent...

Something like that.

 

[Bossman]

Ballin' works too though...

 

[77TLCFJ40]

I am positive that EPIC accurately covers all the effort and results!

 

[Bang Bang]

This is really a great build and I am always intrigued by the choices people make when building. Just curious as to why use the rear shaft in the front and front shaft in the rear. Is there a specific reason for that?

 

[Bodean]

JT like the front shaft in the rear... He said it. LOL

 

[fountainhead]

This is really a great build and I am always intrigued by the choices people make when building. Just curious as to why use the rear shaft in the front and front shaft in the rear. Is there a specific reason for that?

Short answer - because Georg told me to.

Longer answer - Since the pinions were rotated up towards the outputs of the transfer case, I needed DC shafts to prevent against possible vibration caused by unequal u-joint operating angles. I was planning on having two custom DC shafts made, but, after I Georgle'd it, he convinced me otherwise. To summarize, his points were 1) Toyota joints are beef so use them, and 2) since the truck will never see significant speed in 4wd, a DC shaft in the front is pretty much a waste of money. So, ultimately, I was looking for one Toyota DC shaft to run in the rear, and one long standard drive shaft to run in the front...i.e. shafts sourced from an early FJ-60 used on the opposite ends of the truck.

 

[fountainhead]

Got the fuel tank in, lines plumbed, sender wired, and cover installed.

Got the throttle pedal/cable assembly fine tuned (Jrob wizardry).

Got the cage back in and bolted down.

Got the timing set on the motor, and let her run for quite a while.

Got the front bib, grill, etc all buttoned back up.

Got oil in the tranny, transfer case, and front axle...still need to fill up the rear axle (RuffStuff diff cover fill plug requires a giant hex head socket bit).

Still need to get the drive shafts in and do a bunch of other little odds and ends.

Obligatory pics:

 

[wngrog]

Low side suspension seats. Well played.

 

[Bodean]

They are not suspension seats but are heated and have an attachment for a "blow up doll". PRP seats that are light and sit real nice!

 

[fountainhead]

GT was a bit upset with me because I've been getting home around midnight every night this week. When she texted me this afternoon and asked if we were working on the truck AGAIN tonight I knew I was in trouble. I told her that I'd love to get the drive shafts in and drive it out of the garage for the first time under it's own power and then call it a day. She obliged, so I left work early, got the shafts in, got oil in the rear axle, and buttoned up a couple of other loose ends and called her and the girls to come over. The truck fired right up, backed right out of the shop, and rolled down the driveway and back with no issues at all.

When we made it back to the shop Jrob had us (GT was riding co-pilot) thoroughly test the ARB's, and then we headed to test facility...aka ditch. The suspension worked pretty damn well:

 

[fountainhead]

More:

 

[fountainhead]

Really happy with the results. The truck ran well, and the suspension worked really well too. The passenger front was pretty much stuffed and the spring was inverted. The driver front had about 2 - 3" left of droop. Was hard to tell exactly where the rear was in terms of limits. The driver rear tire was stuffed, but that spring was inverted as well. That shock had a bit more uptravel, but I think it was pretty close to reaching the limits.

It must have rained 20" over the past 24 hours...it took about an hour to wash all the mud out off the tires.

Today was a good day.

 

[SHUSH]

Outstanding! I know you are fired up. What kind of rear seat are you planning and are you keeping the hard top?

 

[77TLCFJ40]

You can say that again!

Good homework/planning
Great execution
Epic results!

 

[wngrog]

SOA for the win.