Builds Let's not call it a restoration... Chopped down FJ40 to 45ish on an FZJ80 chassis BUILD! (3 Viewers)

[HandForged]

After watching some Aussie movies today, I think it is going to be a necessity to have some decals made for the doors and hood possibly with something similar to "Never Never overlanding... Never go out with us and if you do, you'll Never come back". HA!

I'd love to see someone with more computer skills than me do a cool decal rendering.

 

[HandForged]

Had time to get a little work done today. Got a few more parts in so I started back in on the rear structure for the winch cable. So the first version of this I will try is essentially just doubled aluminum hawse fairleads. I used a piece of 1/4" 4x4 angle to connect the two frame rails together. I have read in other postings about these kinds of setups that strength in the rear of the truck as a problem when under a heavy load. In some cases bending the frame. To combat that I thought angle across the frame would provide a good bit of strength. If this works I'll go back and triangulate and gusset this so that there will be no movement. Keep in mind this is NOT the rear bumper. This is just a temporary setup to proof and test the setup.

OK, so the fairleads are setup in such a way that the center fairlead allow the winch rope to feed centered on the roller fairlead on the winch. The left side is set to feed straight down the tube to the front of the truck. It looks like they are facing the ground but they are actually straight in line. This is all figured under load. All that will be exposed on the rear of the truck is the short length of winch rope. Once the rear bumper is built this will all be protected.

 

[HandForged]

I hate rag joints:

Today I had a little time to play with the steering. I've been plotting on it for a while now and being able to steer the project for moving it around would be great. I went up to the little junk pile I have here and found a GM steering shaft from an 83 chevy suburban. The slip joint on these is a D shaft and as it turns out is the same size as the Toyota column. I removed it and started going over the parts. The splines on the GM shaft are also the same as the Toyota with the addition of a flat side on the splined shaft. So a little work with the flapper wheel and it was a perfect fit. The factory 80 steering box shaft was shortened. The exposed splines on the box end of the shaft were 6" over the coupling so that was shortened to the minimum and tightened down. The D shaft was removed from the GM shaft and the slip joint was installed on the Toyota column with no modification needed. Slick as snot!

Now with all of it assembled the first thing I realized was that the angle was too steep at the rag joint. That isn't really an issue as a slight adjustment at the horse collar of the steering column seemed to ease the angle just fine. I will most likely put a pillow block at the firewall to give the column some extra support but otherwise I am happy with it. Of course the first time I bolted it all up and cranked the wheel hard it ripped the old and sort of ragged rag joint....Damnit... So at this point I will probably take a step back and put a U-joint in that position instead of the rag joint. I Might go get a new rag joint just for fun for now, maybe. All in all it worked really well and has slip at the steering column and retains the factory collapsible joints. Took a couple of hours to figure and cut but was a really easy job.

 

[HandForged]

I drew up some final designs for the rear bumper that will support my double fairlead plan. I did a little testing on the 4" angle this evening. Pulling winch rope from the front of the truck and it works well! Feeds back in properly too. I think the angles are a solid idea so I will move forward with it. I still have a few ideas to work on but all in all I am happy with it.

 

[HandForged]

Rag joint deleted! I had an extra u joint from another shaft so I removed the rag joint, corrected the angle on the steering column. Voila! Steering is nice and tight although I didn't bother to align the steering wheel. Now I can take it all apart and tig all the joints up for keeps. I'll be headed into town tomorrow for a 1" pillow block to mount on the firewall to give a little more stability to the shaft. Clearance is good in all locations and I still retained all of the factory safety measures including at least 2" of slip on the column. Even without the pump I can steer the truck around now if I need to move it. I like it.

 

[HandForged]

found the wheels I was looking for. You'd think these things were laying around in piles but they are getting harder to find in 16x8. I have 6 of them coming. Contemplating rock rings or hub caps, bead lock them or hub caps...LOL

 

[cult45]

After watching some Aussie movies today, I think it is going to be a necessity to have some decals made for the doors and hood possibly with something similar to "Never Never overlanding... Never go out with us and if you do, you'll Never come back". HA!

Which Aussie movies?

 

[HandForged]

Which Aussie movies?

Well of course the Americanized ones! Crocodile Dundee (all of them) and Man From Snowy River....

 

[HandForged]

Borrowed an FJ hubcap from a friend and tried it with the Wheels I picked up today and it could not look better. I'm tickled to say the least. This is exactly the look I wanted. 16x8" steel wheel with a factory hubcap....does it get any better? I don't think so.

 

[archie73]

Borrowed an FJ hubcap from a friend and tried it with the Wheels I picked up today and it could not look better. I'm tickled to say the least. This is exactly the look I wanted. 16x8" steel wheel with a factory hubcap....does it get any better? I don't think so.

Internal beadlock??

 

[HandForged]

I am really wondering what the steel OEM wheels would look like with a hubcap AND a beadlock...

 

[matzell]

I am really wondering what the steel OEM wheels would look like with a hubcap AND a beadlock...

Check out Proffits. I think he has some on his stretched 40, seafoam green. I looked at it at SEMA a few years ago. Looks really hard to get hub cap on and off. I am not sure what diameter the wheels are but I am sure it has hubcaps and beadlocks.

1971 FJ40 Retro Crawler - Proffitt's Resurrection Land Cruisers

www.resurrectionlandcruisers.com

 

[G-Cat]

Proffitts

 

[HandForged]

That isn't the look i want at all. Might just stick with the hubcaps. If i need beadlocks a wheels swap before going to play would be in order.

 

[HandForged]

Proffitts

View attachment 2186806

I might play with this idea a little but beadlocks aren't a necessity for me. I'm building an all around truck, not a dedicated rock crawler. I have some ideas to hash out. In that picture it looks like that hub cap has a crease or dent in it. HA! Those look to be 10" wide 15" wheels. Not sure, that's just what it looks like. Not a fan.

 

[matzell]

I might play with this idea a little but beadlocks aren't a necessity for me. I'm building an all around truck, not a dedicated rock crawler. I have some ideas to hash out. In that picture it looks like that hub cap has a crease or dent in it. HA! Those look to be 10" wide 15" wheels. Not sure, that's just what it looks like. Not a fan.

17" wheels

 

[HandForged]

Here's what I need just updated and redesigned.

 

[HandForged]

here is a picture of the wheels I brought home with the FJ hubcaps on them.

 

[HandForged]

Need to give a shoutout AGAIN to Diesel Conversion Specialists in Kalispell, MT. Got a nice little package in the mail today with some of their decals for the truck! These guys are just a class act and I can't say enough about their adapter for the 1.9 TDI diesel. They are local folks and that's just where I like to keep my business.

 

[76 PTO]

Do the hub caps snap on the fj cruiser rims?