Build Julian's 1989 FJ62 Build

[julianramirez1005]

My biggest fear was realized when I got up to highway speeds for the first time. Lots of not so good noises. I'm thinking its driveshaft related or maybe bad pinion bearings and also torque converter issues (I did drop the torque converter about 4ft onto concrete when i had engine out) Driveshaft is probably completely out of balance, haven't got it balanced yet.
Symptoms:

1. Metal Howling noise under load at speeds greater than 45mph. Seems to come from trans tunnel When I let off gas it subsides.
2. When I touch the gas at 30-40mph+ I can hear a clunk/click grinding noise that engages every time I tap the gas while cruising.
3. I slight vibration when coming to a stop. A kind of consistent low vibration that shakes the steering wheel when coming to a stop even if i let off brakes it stays consistent until I come a stop.
4. clunky shifts, but i think this is just a bad cable adjustment ive been fiddling with it trying to find the sweet spot.

So, I have a DS that came with my rig that is a sixteen-spline double cardan, but it didn't come with a slip yoke. I'm hoping this will solve some of these issues but i need to find a yoke that will fit it and i have no knowledge of where it came from. Any recommendations on this?

 

[julianramirez1005]

Making big changes:
I have decided to go back to stock fj62 axles for a couple of reasons.

1. I have a pair on my donor with 150k miles
2. They will be more than sufficient for what I will be doing with my cruiser for the foreseeable future (Camping and some off-roading here and there)
3. I am going to sell the soa setup right now and buy all the stuff for an h42 swap and a h55f swap in the future.
4. Gas prices are at $6.29!!! at Costco!!! No better time to have the cruiser on the back burner.

I am perfectly fine with losing several inches of lift and rear disc brakes for a more reliable and tried and true set of axles I know inside and out. Personally, I am of the opinion that Toyota knew what they were doing when they designed these rigs minus that a440f trans haha.

Sourced the full swap kit from an 87 with only 140k miles for a great price I can't say no to. I am so excited for this next phase of the project and can't wait to have a third pedal. Overall, having a manual trans is the biggest goal I have had for my land cruiser and to be able to see that coming to fruition is incredible. Even if it will only have four gears for now

Taking the axles off my rusty donor 89 FJ62 with minimal busted knuckles. Thank God for electric impact guns

lots of wire wheeling and por15 in my future
Cheers

 

[toy_tek]

Wow that’s a lot of work - sounds like you’re on the right path and determined though! Kudos to you. Cool to see the progress.

 

[julianramirez1005]

Wow that’s a lot of work - sounds like you’re on the right path and determined though! Kudos to you. Cool to see the progress.

You can say that again. By the time I’m done I don’t think there will be a piece on this cruiser I haven’t touched. Thank you

 

[julianramirez1005]

Starting point:

Started with a few hours of scraping grease and wire wheeling until I got tired of wires and rust flying into my skin at Mach 2. Enlisted the help of my gf somehow, very tough sell. After we got done yesterday they looked like this.

Started up again today with some more scraping and then some very underwhelming purple degreaser. Switched to some commercial oven cleaner I scored from a sizzler going out of business years ago. Works very well I strongly recommend.

After a couple cycles of that I pulled out some copper scrub pads I had and that took care of most the tight spots. Probably should’ve spent some more time getting the nooks and crannies but I was happy enough with it.

I am going to do a knuckle rebuild and sandblast everything I can so I didn’t worry about anything not on the housing.

Then I moved to the por15 cleaner degreaser. Applied with a brush and let it soak in for 15 min while I kept scrubbing. Pressure washed and repeated once more. Then I took a leaf blower to blow out the water, followed by a blow torch to dry the surface.

Now it’s time for the por15 metal prep. Nothing new just spray and keep wet for 20 minutes. Fun stuff

Not even close to perfect but I was satisfied enough

I decide to spray instead of brush. You have to dilute with 10% reducer and your good to go. Paint job looks great but this poor VEVOR paint sprayer will never be the same.

Boom! Now the rear as well as all the goodies.

Touched up the thin spots with a brush. I believe it’s self leveling so shouldn’t make a difference on the final product.

One step closer

 

[julianramirez1005]

Just pulled my t case apart for the first time after experiencing loud noises under load mentioned in past posts. Something else to note is that the day before i pulled it apart it was lurching on the highway or what felt like slipping. My main concerns are the huge amount of wear on the idler gear shaft, the race for the rear output shaft was very worn, and the splines on the transmission output shaft are pretty smoked.
Holy crap the housing was stuck to the front t case bad. my poor dead blow hammer was really putting in some work but eventually I had to get a puller on the rear output and shaft and pop it off.
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