Builds My first FJ60

[g-man]

Nice work. Looking good. One trick I learned here many years ago is that you can swap out the center vents for the side vents that close. Just look for some in the classified section. All you do is turn the vent (ball shaped part) sideways and yank it out, then push the replacements in. Now you have center vents that can open and close.

 

[FJ Noob]

Nice work. Looking good. One trick I learned here many years ago is that you can swap out the center vents for the side vents that close. Just look for some in the classified section. All you do is turn the vent (ball shaped part) sideways and yank it out, then push the replacements in. Now you have center vents that can open and close.
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Awesome, thanks! I ran across someone mentioning that, but hadn't found anything about how to remove the old vents. I was afraid I needed remove the dash pad and pull them from the back. I was going to pull the dash during the tear-down, but after pulling all the screws at the sides and along the front it didn't want to budge. I decided to leave it alone for now and not break anything. It has a cap on it and is doing ok. I just wanted to address a warp and the beginnings of a crack in the cap.

 

[Gretsch]

Great looking truck and good work on diving in right away. Looks like you have done a ton in a short period. Another one saved. Your 60 thanks you.

 

[FJ Noob]

Got something from the FEDEX guy today!!!

 

[4runner2FJ60]

Looks like Christmas in September! I am not new to Toyota but am a new FJ60 owner as well. I have lots of plans for it in the future, one being the OME suspension lift. Do you mind sharing what you ordered for yours and why? I'm a bit confused by the heavy medium light options. Looks like you got a good one with lots of work already done in the engine compartment! Congrats

 

[FJ Noob]

Looks like Christmas in September! I am not new to Toyota but am a new FJ60 owner as well. I have lots of plans for it in the future, one being the OME suspension lift. Do you mind sharing what you ordered for yours and why? I'm a bit confused by the heavy medium light options. Looks like you got a good one with lots of work already done in the engine compartment! Congrats

Congratulations on your new (to you) FJ60. Yeah, my suspension isn’t shot, but it’s definitely tired. I porpoise across the parking lot at work in the morning because of the speed bumps! I decided to go ahead and do it right with the OME setup.

I went ahead and bought the whole kit instead of buying individual parts so I knew it was all there. I ordered from the “heavy/medium” 2” lift kit from Cruiser Corps, but you can find it elsewhere. It comes with heavy springs for the front and medium for the rear. I tend to always over engineer and/or go more heavy duty than I need to “just in case”. I’m pretty sure the “light” would have been fine for the majority of my needs, but wanted to have the ability to expand some in the future. My understanding is that the “heavy” rear is good if you plan on building out with heavy bumpers, big tires on swing outs, etc. My plan is to build out a capable vehicle that looks fairly stock and not scream “off-road” vehicle. I personally prescribe to the “grey man” school of thought and don’t do much to attract a lot of attention. Between that and my obsession with the minimalist camping style, I don’t plan on needing to support a ton of weight in the rear. Maybe one day I’ll be able to get a long range fuel tank and put the spare on the back, but that blends right in with all the other SUVs on the road.

The only thing the kit doesn’t come with is the extended sway bar links. Not sure if they are absolutely needed, but I remember them from a Jeep lift I did years ago. Maybe somebody with more knowledge/expertise could chime in here. The PO added a rear sway bar, so I ordered both sets. Hope this helps some.

 

[Gretsch]

The only thing the kit doesn’t come with is the extended sway bar links. Not sure if they are absolutely needed, but I remember them from a Jeep lift I did years ago. Maybe somebody with more knowledge/expertise could chime in here. The PO added a rear sway bar, so I ordered both sets. Hope this helps some.

I am not sure I could/would have re-used the end links when I did mine. The extended ones from Kurt are good. Mine was OME heavy/heavy but with a slightly longer shackle setup in the front to compensate for the rear rake the OME kits tend to leave you with when done. Even with the extended links it was hard to get them attached once the font spring setup was on. I am pretty sure the old ones would have never worked properly with the lift installed. I don't know how I would have ever gotten them attached. Good on you for getting the extended ones. You will be much happier with the ride of the truck after its all done. Worth every penny. Adding the lift transformed my truck.

Good luck on getting the old fixed spring pins out. Lots of ideas on the forum about getting those buggers out. I was lucky with mine as most of them came out with just a few blows with a sledge. One wouldn't budge however. A trick I tired was getting a tie rod end separator tool between the inner hanger and the end of the spring pin. Along with tons of PB Blaster that finally pushed the pin right out for me.

Lots of folks resort to melting the bushings with heat. I did not want the mess so went this route. HTH and GL.

 

[Gretsch]

After talking about it and reviewing some finances, she convinced me to not pass it up and regret a lost opportunity later even though I didn't "need" it.

Your wife is my hero.

 

[mep1811]

Very nice. That interior looks factory new.

 

[4runner2FJ60]

Thanks for the all the info. It seems most people are going the heavy/medium setup. I am curious how your install goes and hope you post some pics. It seems like a fairly easy install minus getting the spring pins out. (im comparing it to a procomp 4" suspension lift i put on my IFS 89 4Runner about 20 years ago!) Although everyting is harder to do now! That was interesting to drive to the local alignment place after install. Thanks again

 

[FJ Noob]

Your wife is my hero.

Yeah, I absolutely knew I'd found the right woman when she said "well, maybe we should just get a second gun safe".

 

[FJ Noob]

Time to get started on this suspension install. Looks like it’s gonna take a while because I keep stopping to clean up parts as I go. I know it’ll be worth it in the long run though.

Skid plate cleaned and wire brushed...

Add a little rust converter...

Let it dry and I’ll hit it with a coat of POR-15.
Now to start pulling the old suspension off..

 

[FJ Noob]

Good as new...

 

[Gretsch]

Looks like it’s gonna take a while because I keep stopping to clean up parts as I go.

That's what always seems to make these jobs take so long for me as well. If it were just doing the work, not as bad. But trying to get things cleaned, painted, and protected takes forever. I have found that these parts just get all dirty again almost as soon as you drive a bit. But still I always clean and paint with any job I do on mine. Any chance to sort of 'restore' these old parts I take it. Looks good man.

 

[4runner2FJ60]

Looking good. There is always more things to find! Since i am new to this, dumb question but i assume everyone is using the POR-15 in a spray paint can not the gallon paint can? Probably doesn't matter but i was just looking at getting some. Amazon has 1 can for $24!!! Is there a better source? Thanks again.

 

[FJ Noob]

Looking good. There is always more things to find! Since i am new to this, dumb question but i assume everyone is using the POR-15 in a spray paint can not the gallon paint can? Probably doesn't matter but i was just looking at getting some. Amazon has 1 can for $24!!! Is there a better source? Thanks again.

I’m using a combination; the spray for hard to reach parts and the brush on for the easy large parts. I actually rolled it on the skid plate. 1 can of the spray wouldn’t make it anywhere near covering the frame, axels, etc. Not sure yet, but it looks like the quart can will go pretty far. Haven’t really seen any better sources.

 

[FJ Noob]

Minor update....

EASY SHACKLE REMOVAL

I started disassembly of the front suspension last night. All bolts came off fairly easy, so I took the opportunity to do some degreasing, clean-up, spot rust treatment, and painting all the parts I can't get to when the wheels are on. Like so many others, I got stuck on trying to pull the old shackles out. I screwed around with the first one for over an hour with hammers, pickle forks, and a pry bar to only get the first one out about half an inch. I finally gave up around midnight. While I was taking a shower before crawling into bed, it hit me..."just drill them out". I busted out of the office during lunch to come home and test my idea. Worked like a charm. I had the front PS shackle out in about a minute and a half! I'm sure this idea isn't new, but haven't run across it yet. He's what I did.

Removed bolts and shackle side plate. Chucked up (5/16th I think) drill bit and drilled into the old bushing. Drilled a couple holes around the bushing and hogged out material until the pin was loose enough to tap out easily. Chucked up a 1 1/8" spade bit and ran it inside the remainder of the old bushing. With the pin out and the spade reducing the amount of inner material, the old bushing popped right out after a couple seconds.

I'll get some pictures on the next one.

 

[FJ Noob]

good job on the interior. I was lucky and didn't have the normal front seat tear in mine but they were totally saggy....SOR seat cushions make a world of difference. I have since gutted mine and did the carpet as well. One other low cost upgrade was changing out the sway bar links. Mine was all over the road when I got it and I refreshed the suspension with an Old Man emu that included a steering stabilizer. Really helped, but I still had some roll. New sway bar links were like $25 shipped from an AU company off ebay. You can see how worn out mine were and I bet I had about 2" of play. This really made a difference and took no time to replace.

SOR Seat Cushions

So this weekends project was my new SOR seat cushions. Truck is an 83 and I have had it less than a year. Always felt like I was going to slide out of the seat when I turned with any speed. Seat was comfy and all but just offered no support. I ordered the seat cushions from SOR and big...

forum.ih8mud.com

So I pulled the original front sway bars links last night. One was actually bent and looks like it had lost some diameter thickness to rusting. Definitely putting in the new ones. I found some on TPI4x4 for ~$25 like you said...unfortunately one of the anodizing machines broke and has delayed delivery.

PO installed a rear sway bar and I have those extended links. Wondering if that would be good enough for driving around town until the fronts are delivered since the original design was only one set up front.

Maybe when I eventually head back to TX for my post-Army life, I'll make a pit stop and give you a hand with the "hog patrol"!

 

[FJ Noob]

Started installing the OME lift this weekend. It was slow going and I only got the front finished. I didn't run into any real issues with the install that slowed me down. I spent a lot of time just cleaning up everything I could easily get to with the old suspension pulled out. That and I was flying solo with the kids while my wife was out of town. It seemed like they constantly needed me to do something for them like "feed them" and such. Kidding aside, I got about 2 1/2 hours of help from my oldest daughter (10yr old) painting and installing the PS. She got a kick out of using the air tools. Unfortunately no good pictures of that because I was covered in grease and grime and not focused on working my phone.


DS was actually looking really good overall, but went ahead and treated it like the PS.

Cleaned, POR-15 applied, and wheel well hit with some rubberized undercoating...

PS finally back together...

Front is finished. Looks like I gained about 3 1/4 - 3 1/2 inches over what it was when I brought it home.

She's back in the garage and staged for the rear work. I'll tackle that an hour or two at a time in the evenings this week and hopefully be back on the road by this weekend!

 

[4Cruisers]

Did you install longer flexible brake lines front and rear between the frame and axle? You can move the rear to the front and buy a new rear from a '95-'98 Toyota T100 pickup, Part Number 96940-34705. This set-up is good for 4/85 and up FJ60s and FJ62s.