My 1978 FJ40: Fixes, Mods & Trips

[NW40]

I'm home sick with the flu, and it's been forever since I've made any updates to my build/trip thread, so what better to do than to post some pics! The lack of updates doesn't mean the truck hasn't gotten some love.

Without fail, I arrive at camp after the sun has long gone down, so to alleviate the struggles of setting up in the dark, I installed some 18W LED camp lights on the left and right side of the truck, mounted to the back of the roof rack using some custom aluminum L-brackets. The lamps can be swiveled as desired with a quick loosening of the nut. We've been loving these, although they do emit an annoying high pitched noise. Cheap capacitors, maybe? I don't know. I didn't pay much for the lights.

With and without a camp light:

I also installed a 36W LED flood light at the front of the rack, although the install method (using hose clamps...) wasn't meant to be permanent. Was just a trial run to see if I liked the idea, and would come up with a more elegant solution down the road. Also have/had plans to install 2 narrow beam lights in the outer two rack openings up front. Not sure if or when I'll get around to that. If I go forward with the idea, I'll likely end up doing a hood blackout. The reflection off my hood is so bright that it nearly defeats the purpose.

Not as exciting as adding camp lights to the rig, but I spent a couple lunch breaks at work removing the Wipe/Wash switch, giving it a good scrubbing since the twist action wasn't grounding my windshield washer pump. Works now! Only downside is I scratched my dash trying to remove the retainer nut...

And thanks to the MUD forum search function and this old thread (link) that showed me how to get the AM radio out to get access behind the dash. Would've never figured that out! At least not over a couple 30 minute lunch breaks. Now to get the radio working... Powers on, but no sound.

While I was refurbing the switch, I installed a pre-78(?) hood mounted washer nozzle since I had read the windshield mounted nozzle tubing can leak and cause rust in the windshield frame. The hood mounted nozzle works great. Not sure why Toyota moved it to the windshield frame.

 

[Landpimp]

thats a great looking 78! congrats

keep it off the road when the idiots in Seattle/King use salt when it snows, thankfully down my way in Gig Harbor they have not started using any salt

maybe get some collector plates on it, then you can toss the front licence plate

thats a very nice super clean 40 to take and black out the hood.....I understand the issue......but dont do it

 

[tls3601]

Nice rig NW!!!! BTW what is the rack you are using? Looking around for one for my '78 as well.................

 

[NW40]

Nice rig NW!!!! BTW what is the rack you are using? Looking around for one for my '78 as well.................

Thanks, tls! The rack is made by DiamondRax in Lake Arrowhead, CA. I love it, and Greg the owner is really great to work with. His username here on Mud is CruiserStuff.

 

[handcannon]

(quote)"Also have/had plans to install 2 narrow beam lights in the outer two rack openings up front. Not sure if or when I'll get around to that. If I go forward with the idea, I'll likely end up doing a hood blackout. The reflection off my hood is so bright that it nearly defeats the purpose."(quote)

My experience is that any lights, facing forward, above the windshield will cause some reflection on the hood. My uncle had a pickup with the clearance lights on top of the cab. Even the amber lights caused reflections. He hated them enough to disconnect them. I rode with him at night and came up with the same conclusion, disconnecting them was the best solution.

My recommendation for any lights that are to be used while driving would be to place them below the hood level to keep reflection problems away. This would also keep you from needing to black out the hood. I'm definitely not a purist, but that is such a clean, original 40 that it would be a shame to do anything to take away the original look.

Don

 

[NW40]

My family is out of town for a few days, so taking a few minutes to update my build thread! It's way out of date on some of the mods I've done.

Back in 2013, I decided I wanted to mount my Hi-Lift on the side of the truck, with the base resting on the running board; I'd seen a few others do this and liked the idea. Thought I'd take it one step further and make the Hi-Lift bracket double as a CB antenna mount. I took some measurements, made some drawings over my lunch break at work, bought some metal from a local supplier www.onlinemetals.com, and knocked on my neighbors' door. My neighbor is a hot rod guy and former weekend race car builder/driver that has a few more tools at his disposal and is always willing to help. So we got to work. A few cuts on the table saw, a few rough welds with a stick welder, a bit of grinding, some holes drilled on the drill press, and we were in business! The design changed a bit from the original drawing below. I decided to use 2 bolts to mount the bracket to the truck and 2 bolts to mount the Hi Lift to the bracket, all for redundancy. Didn't want single bolt coming lose and have the Hi Lift fall of the truck. That would be bad news. Also added a hole for the antenna, which isn't shown on the drawing. The final product looked a little rough in raw metal since we're not pro metal fabricators, but once it was spray painted black, bolted to the truck (using existing holes, of course!), with a Hi-Lift and CB antenna mounted to it, it was just what I needed! I also put a rubber gasket between the bracket and the body as well as a gasket between the foot of the Hi Lift and the running board to help protect the paint.

I just realized I don't have a pic of the final product, or even the last few steps of the fabrication, but I'll try to snap a pic of the installation tomorrow and edit this thread. Photos found from the original install! See the last 2 photos in this post.

Test fit before paint (note the rubber gasket between the bracket and truck, and the more obvious rubber gasket which isolates the Hi-Lift from the bracket):

And the final product, painted and installed with Hi Lift and antenna:

 

[NW40]

Another project I completed late last year was an iPad mount. I needed something that could firmly hold the iPad on the trail for navigation purposes, and didn't think a suction cup mount would be up for the task. I figured a RAM Mount Systems tele-pole and swing arm setup designed for a laptop would be sturdy enough for an iPad when bouncing around offroad. Yeah, sturdy is an understatement. Probably overkill. Also picked up the quick disconnect bracket so I can take the mount out of the 40 when it's not in use.

RAM Mount Systems is manufactured right here in Seattle, so made my order and picked up at will call the next day. As usual, I didn't want to drill any holes in the truck that weren't necessary, so picked up some aluminum from Seattle-based OnlineMetals.com and teamed up with my neighbor again on a Saturday afternoon to fabricate a bracket that would mount to my passenger seat frame rail. Turns out aluminum is more difficult to cut than steel, and it kept tripping the breaker on his little metal-cutting table saw. So we pulled out the Sawzall! Yeah, you can laugh. But it worked like a charm. Drilled a couple holes to match up with the seat frame rail and four more to match up with the RAM Mount base, bolted it into the truck, and voila, I had an iPad mount that would still be standing after a head-on collision with an 18-wheeler.

The aluminum bracket was cut long so I could fine-tune the placement of the RAM base; turns out the initial placement based on our measurements was pretty much spot on. I've also realized after some use that I didn't need the double-swing arm. A single arm would have been fine and will eventually make the switch. Anyone want to trade? I also plan on painting the aluminum bracket black so it disappears against the black seat frame rail and black floor mats, but haven't gotten around to it yet.

The mount is great on the trail, and it's really nice having an iPad-sized GPS map so conveniently displayed for both me and my passenger and within easy reach.

Here's a pic of the mount removed, leaving just the aluminum seat track mounting bracket and RAM quick-disconnect base. Excuse the mess of wires...they've since been cleaned up a bit.

 

[NW40]

Another task I checked off the list was replacing the door window felt guides. If I recall correctly (it's been over a year!), I decided to replace the guides because the windows were rattling enough to annoy me. So I bought the genuine Toyota guides and had the good guys at my local Cruiser shop, TorFab, tackle this one, as body, glass, and trim work often intimidate me. Didn't realize how easy it was until I watched them do it! Snapped just a couple photos of the work in progress. I also checked the condition of the inside of the doors while the door cards were out. Everything was looking pretty good for a '78!


You can see in this photo how the original felt guides were wore down. Not much felt left in places:

Original guides coming out:

Pics of inside of the doors:

No more window rattles!

 

[NW40]

So many projects to catch up on! Also sometime last year, I removed the rear flip down seats and installed a Bestop fold & tumble bench seat (this one) and lap belts (these) so I could drive my kids around town in their carseats. My kids, now 4 and 2, absolutely love taking rides in the 40! And the seat fits PERFECTLY.

Only a couple photos to show for it, which I took months later right before I removed the rear bench seat to install a rear drawer unit (yet another post to come!), but here you go:

I had to drill 4 holes for this project, but again tried to use factory holes where possible (forward seat mounts). And while the forward seat mounts that were included with the Bestop seat probably would've worked, I instead used some simpler mounts that another MUD member had designed and had fabricated by a machine shop. I believe they were modeled after the Cool Cruisers design, which I don't believe Cool Cruisers will sell separate from their seat kit.

Finally, I backed up the Grade 8 seat belt mounting bolts with massive fender washers, and the center seatbelt L-bracket mount pictured above was an extra seat belt bracket that my neighbor had in his race car parts stash. I think this is the same one on Amazon: link. This was, of course, also backed up with a massive fender washer.

 

[NW40]

Here's a distant shot of the Hi Lift and CB antenna bracket installation on the truck. I had just finished waxing the truck, too...still cleans up good!

Note the broken AM antenna in the last photo. In an effort to get the stock AM radio working again, you'll see that gets fixed in a future installment of this build thread!

That's enough posting for tonight. Sure was fun digging up photos of the 40 from the last 18 months! And I only focused on the build....there's several trip reports I have yet to post as well!

 

[warpdriv]

Very nice. Keep the pics coming.

 

[fj401978]

Great write ups and pics...and ideas! She looks great!

 

[kling-on]

Awesome keep em coming

 

[tls3601]

I did the exact same rear seat, love it! If I may ask, how did you get your valve cover looking SO good???

 

[NW40]

If I may ask, how did you get your valve cover looking SO good???

Noah (1973Guppie) cleaned it up and painted it with silver caliper paint. Turned out nice, didn't it?

 

[NW40]

Can't believe it's been almost 6 years since my last post! Have had lots of fun with my 40 in those years exploring the Pacific Northwest. Also had a third kid, so the 40 sees less use than it once did being that it can't carry my family of 5. I bought a diesel 98 Land Rover Discovery about 5 years back for family camping duty...sacrilege, I know! Should've bought an 80, but the Disco has provided some great memories, too, along with its own fair share of blood, sweat, tears, and plenty of oil. LOL.

The 40 still brings a big grin to my face every time I hop in, whether it's for weekend trip on the trail or a quick trip across the neighborhood for groceries with one of my kids. Y'all know the feeling. With my kids still young, though, I've deliberated about selling the 40 to put the money into something more family-oriented...a camper van, maybe. I'll keep y'all posted.

Will try to make up the last 6 years with a few photos to capture some of those trips and wrenching sessions that have happened since 2014.

 

[NW40]

My wife and I took one of our most memorable overnighters in the FJ40 a few years back. It was Spring, maybe May, with a bit of fog and light rain still lingering in the Pacific Northwest mountains. We dropped our kids off with my parents and headed east for a date night in the Cascade range. I don't recall how we'd heard about the valley we were headed to; we were still new to the world of forest roads and dispersed camping, but eager to explore this new world and find our way. (It's crazy, you know, for those of us who grew up in the city or suburbia with no knowledge of the thousands of miles of remote gravel and dirt roads. Those people exist...we were two of them! In those first couple years of ownership, this FJ40 literally extended the map of our known world!) A couple hours of pavement later, we hit dirt. Spring brings the snow melt, and the streams of waterfalls were in full effect on the valley walls above us.

We followed the white capped, emerald green river some number of miles before finding the perfect, secluded, river-side spot to set up camp. I don't remember why, but we had decided we'd set up our ground tent on this trip rather than use the RTT. Being a family of 5 combined with my wife's aim for comfort, our go-to tent is an REI 8-man, 2-room condo of a shelter. We use it even when we don't have the kids with us. I grumbled when we bought it, thinking at the time we needed to feel the pain of squeezing into the smallest tent possible (why???). But my wife was right...it's made camp life pretty luxurious without kids, and comfortable with kids (or 5-6 other guys). 10/10 recommend.

After the condo was set up, we did what any camper would do: fire, camp chairs, and beer. Cooked up some salmon, too.

 

[NW40]

Slept well next to the rushing river and started slow the next morning.

Eventually cleaned up, packed up, and headed higher up the mountain to see what we could find.

 

[NW40]

It was on this quick overnighter trip that we took our first foray up a 4x4 trail, and man, was it epic. The trail, the weather, the mountains were all incredible. Do you remember the first time you locked the hubs on your Cruiser and let it climb up the side of a mountain? Biggest grin ever!

After an hour or two of exploring, climbing higher and higher, we eventually hit the snow line. Wisdom prevailed and we turned back rather than attempting to push further through the icy spring snow alone.

A few hours later, we were back in the city picking up our kids from my parents' place and heading home. Found myself driving into work the next morning with my eyes on these mountains in the distance, pondering this newfound adventure we'd had. Wasn't until the following year that I'd finally make it back up this particular trail to find what lies at the end. Will save those photos for a future trip report.