Hey guys!
My brother and I just picked up a 1978 FJ40 this last weekend. Both Toyota guys but I’ve never owned one and tend to hang around the mini-truck forum, but we saw this thing for sale a couple weeks ago and just had to have it.
After meeting the owner and talking to him over a couple of drinks, we negotiated a price, put down a deposit and made plans for us to pick it up when we were back up in a couple of weeks. Here are the specs:
40” Bias ply tires
5.29 gears with Detroit locker in rear, trac-loc in the front
Full cage and 4 point harnesses tied into it
Longfield front axles, shackle reversal kit installed, custom steering setup
4” Rough Country lift kit w/ custom rear shackle
Stock 1978 Drivetrain (2F, 4 speed) with 83k documented original miles, factory PS
Custom tub with full cage going around
We had the original owner drop it off at my parents place in the White Mountains where I quickly got to work on it. When he sold it to us he told me it had a bad slave cylinder and even included a new one, so I was able to start it (after a jump) and drive it to the barn to get the slave replaced and keep me out of the rain. Took only a matter of minutes and it’s really an easy job when you can fit your head in the entire wheel well!
Got it replaced and bled and it was nice to have a clutch again! Took it for a short drive down the pasture and once it started raining really hard, it died right outside the barn. It would start up but I couldn’t get it to idle and after confirming it had gas realized it was very, very VERY old gas. We limped it over to the barn again and we subsequently pumped all the old gas out of the tank. I took the top of the carburetor off and emptied the fuel bowl and replaced it with some fresh 91 octane. It really liked that and started up! Without hesitation my brother hopped in the thing and drove it up the mountain. It did awesome!
Spent the next couple of days driving it up and down the mountain and took it on some gnarly trails. It runs surprisingly cool, the mechanical temp gauge had it averaging 170 degrees as we bombed it up and over rocks. Wish I had some more pictures but I was too busy driving! The thing does really well off-road, but with 40” tires it is super sketchy. The fastest I was able to go (and was still sketchy at that) was 43 MPH. It literally just darts all over the road. We’ll be fixing that with a steering ram soon! But before I could do that I needed to get it back to Tucson where I can actually work on the thing.
I loaded it up on a U-Haul yesterday and started the drive home. It was really uneventful, but we did some massive amounts of hail in northern New Mexico as we passed through!
Got it home late last night and unloaded it. She started right up and drove right off the trailer. From my observations we’ve got a little bit of work to do. So far here’s my list:
-Steering ram assist to help with the 40’s
-Transfer case is leaking really badly
-Some front hub studs have broken off – will replace with Grade 8’s
-Cage needs to be reinforced and gusseted
-Knuckles need to be rebuilt
-Could use spark plugs and an oil change
-Needs to have a proper spare mount (one on it is sketchy)
-Needs new lights and a CB
-Warn 8274 down the road
I’ll post up here as much as I can and when we cross projects off the list. I don’t know if this thread should go into the Hardcore section instead, but I figured I’d start here since I’ll be asking for help at some point. This cruiser is so much fun and it came with a good amount of original parts too. I’m excited to finally own a FJ40 especially given how cheap this was compared to what else is out there. Once my brother and I are done thrashing on this thing, we do plan on getting an Aqualu tub and putting it back together, but that’s a couple years down the road,
Thanks for reading and happy to be the proud owner of a 1978 FJ40, or what’s left of one!
My brother and I just picked up a 1978 FJ40 this last weekend. Both Toyota guys but I’ve never owned one and tend to hang around the mini-truck forum, but we saw this thing for sale a couple weeks ago and just had to have it.
After meeting the owner and talking to him over a couple of drinks, we negotiated a price, put down a deposit and made plans for us to pick it up when we were back up in a couple of weeks. Here are the specs:
40” Bias ply tires
5.29 gears with Detroit locker in rear, trac-loc in the front
Full cage and 4 point harnesses tied into it
Longfield front axles, shackle reversal kit installed, custom steering setup
4” Rough Country lift kit w/ custom rear shackle
Stock 1978 Drivetrain (2F, 4 speed) with 83k documented original miles, factory PS
Custom tub with full cage going around
We had the original owner drop it off at my parents place in the White Mountains where I quickly got to work on it. When he sold it to us he told me it had a bad slave cylinder and even included a new one, so I was able to start it (after a jump) and drive it to the barn to get the slave replaced and keep me out of the rain. Took only a matter of minutes and it’s really an easy job when you can fit your head in the entire wheel well!
Got it replaced and bled and it was nice to have a clutch again! Took it for a short drive down the pasture and once it started raining really hard, it died right outside the barn. It would start up but I couldn’t get it to idle and after confirming it had gas realized it was very, very VERY old gas. We limped it over to the barn again and we subsequently pumped all the old gas out of the tank. I took the top of the carburetor off and emptied the fuel bowl and replaced it with some fresh 91 octane. It really liked that and started up! Without hesitation my brother hopped in the thing and drove it up the mountain. It did awesome!
Spent the next couple of days driving it up and down the mountain and took it on some gnarly trails. It runs surprisingly cool, the mechanical temp gauge had it averaging 170 degrees as we bombed it up and over rocks. Wish I had some more pictures but I was too busy driving! The thing does really well off-road, but with 40” tires it is super sketchy. The fastest I was able to go (and was still sketchy at that) was 43 MPH. It literally just darts all over the road. We’ll be fixing that with a steering ram soon! But before I could do that I needed to get it back to Tucson where I can actually work on the thing.
I loaded it up on a U-Haul yesterday and started the drive home. It was really uneventful, but we did some massive amounts of hail in northern New Mexico as we passed through!
Got it home late last night and unloaded it. She started right up and drove right off the trailer. From my observations we’ve got a little bit of work to do. So far here’s my list:
-Steering ram assist to help with the 40’s
-Transfer case is leaking really badly
-Some front hub studs have broken off – will replace with Grade 8’s
-Cage needs to be reinforced and gusseted
-Knuckles need to be rebuilt
-Could use spark plugs and an oil change
-Needs to have a proper spare mount (one on it is sketchy)
-Needs new lights and a CB
-Warn 8274 down the road
I’ll post up here as much as I can and when we cross projects off the list. I don’t know if this thread should go into the Hardcore section instead, but I figured I’d start here since I’ll be asking for help at some point. This cruiser is so much fun and it came with a good amount of original parts too. I’m excited to finally own a FJ40 especially given how cheap this was compared to what else is out there. Once my brother and I are done thrashing on this thing, we do plan on getting an Aqualu tub and putting it back together, but that’s a couple years down the road,
Thanks for reading and happy to be the proud owner of a 1978 FJ40, or what’s left of one!
Flip the bezel at some point (asap). 
