My FJ55... Put in your 2 cents please.

[scouthead]

New here, any suggestions for my truck would be awseome...kind of hate to change things for the worse and find out later.

Had my '76-55 for a couple years now and just put it on the road. Stock 2f(30,000 miles--all off road though, and the rest of the truck shows it),stock A.C.
I put on A Downey smog header and FJ-60 power steering, but everything else is stock. I want to lift it about four inches and have the stock wheels widened a little so I can run 33 inch tires and keep my hub caps. I'm thinking SOA might be a little bigger than I want for 33's. Anyone run Alcan springs? I've Heard bad things about Manafre's stuff(dealt with them a few times and not impressed anyway). Anyone reuse stock brackets for Shackle Reversal? And it really feels like I want an H-41. Anyone run one? How about sound supression(freeway=ear plugs=very few passengers on wheeling trips=W.T.F. are all my seats for?!!)
Lay it on me... Thanks

 

[nuclearlemon]

i run alcans on my 60 and love them. fjben ran them on his pig and loved them.

i reused the stock parts when i went shackle reversal on my 40. very easy. weld rear bracket up front, and cut tube out of front bracket and weld it into the frame rail.

 

[rapovt]

I am building my pig (see pigster). I want about 4 inch lift. It is a daily driver so I choose 2-3" OME Dakar and 2" body lift.
I wanted to widen stock wheels until I checked it out with Sockton Wheel. old wheels($40)+$125(for stockton)+ shipping both ways = over $200 per wheel. Anybody know a cheaper way to widen stock wheels?

 

[clemson55]

I'd say Alcans are a good bet since you can customize them based on your other mods and weight distribution. I dont have them but have heard nothing but good things. They were in the works for me til I decided to go SOA one of these days. I would also say to skip any body lift unless all you want is bigger tires because it provides no real advantage wheeling other then those bigger tires. I haven't done shackle revearsal on my own rig but helped someone else, they purchased the brackets from somewhere and got the extended ones so they added a little lift probably 1-1.5" You can also get stock height or do what Nuclear said.

Question back at you I have all the stuff sitting here for a 60ps setup on my rig just have yet to do it. How long did it take you and how difficult was it? I basically can only do jobs that can be done in 1-2 days max right now since I'm living in an apt. So I have just been getting loaded up for the end of the summer when I will be back in a house with a garage.

 

[Wayneraintree]

Mis dos centavos...

Alcan are a great option, had em' on my old 60, 4".. great ride, great flex.

Can't you run 33 X 10.50 on your stockers?

Soa on stock springs for "mostly offroad" driving is fine for 33's unless your looking for a proportional tire to body look... then you looking at 4D's
33's will definately not rub and the SOA ride on stock springs are nice.

H41 is a good option, Gary S. runs one in his 55 on 35's and it helps alot...

Fatmat on the floor, doors, etc. will help, same stuff used to keep the trunk from vibrating on a low rider bass thumper

Do you run lockers? well now you've gone and done it... we need pics please

 

[nuclearlemon]

Anybody know a cheaper way to widen stock wheels?

ask them the cost to weld your inners into wider chevy outers. should be much cheaper.

 

[nuclearlemon]

Soa on stock springs for "mostly offroad" driving is fine for 33's unless your looking for a proportional tire to body look... then you looking at 4D's
33's will definately not rub and the SOA ride on stock springs are nice.
QUOTE]

gotta disagree..33's on soa look way gay... i put my 33x10.5s on my soa piggie while i ran the 35's on my 60...wayyyyy too much fenderwell

 

[clemson55]

I agree 33's on soa are way to small.

You can fit 33's on a stocker though as was mentioned earlier. But I imagine your goal was for a little lift and a little more aggressive look and such.

 

[scouthead]

Fj60 power steering took me about 4 days. Could probably do it in a full weekend now but hadn't done any steering conversions before so...
Built my own; shock mount, pump mount, drag link, lower column.
Had some custom fittings welded onto some power steering hoes as I used a mini truck pump with remote reservoir and it had different hose fittings than the old FJ box.
Totally worth it--no regrets.
I will have to get back in there and have a custom one piece drag link made when I lift the truck, and get rid of the spring loaded drag link end-hey it was free with the box! (my drag link is rigged together with 55 and 60 pieces as the 60 uses larger rod ends). I will also most likely plate the frame and/or weld tubing into the mounting holes to keep frame rails from colapsing when bolts are tightened, and I may build some sort of gusset running at an angle from the crossmember to the framerail where the box is mounted(once saw a 55 with a twisted driverside framerail from trail use with a scout box and 33inch tires. I saw a diagram of a 60's frame and it looked like toyota desined the 60 with similar gussets.
I would suggest anyone attempting this to allow a week for their Cruiser to sit, have plenty of scrap steel avail., and have understanding neighbors.(and beeeer)

 

[PabloCruise]

Fj60 power steering took me about 4 days. Could probably do it in a full weekend now but hadn't done any steering conversions before so...
Built my own; shock mount, pump mount, drag link, lower column.
Had some custom fittings welded onto some power steering hoes as I used a mini truck pump with remote reservoir and it had different hose fittings than the old FJ box.
Totally worth it--no regrets.
I will have to get back in there and have a custom one piece drag link made when I lift the truck, and get rid of the spring loaded drag link end-hey it was free with the box! (my drag link is rigged together with 55 and 60 pieces as the 60 uses larger rod ends). I will also most likely plate the frame and/or weld tubing into the mounting holes to keep frame rails from colapsing when bolts are tightened, and I may build some sort of gusset running at an angle from the crossmember to the framerail where the box is mounted(once saw a 55 with a twisted driverside framerail from trail use with a scout box and 33inch tires. I saw a diagram of a 60's frame and it looked like toyota desined the 60 with similar gussets.
I would suggest anyone attempting this to allow a week for their Cruiser to sit, have plenty of scrap steel avail., and have understanding neighbors.(and beeeer)

That looks sweet! What rubber did you use for a shield?

 

[scouthead]

To: Nuclearlemon re:shackle reversal

What do you mean cut tube out of front bracket? Are you talking about drilling a hole through the frame and running the shackles in the back with no brackets hanging down?

Here's a pic of my 55 and my scout that was sacrificed to finally make it roadworthy Pics removed to make room for others...

 

[scouthead]

The rear mud gaurd is sheet metal that i formed and welded over the hole where the old box used to be. The mud gaurd over the box is the from a mid to late 80s 4runner. I was down at Cal-Mini getting my pump and some parts for my buddies mini truck. Looked like it would work so I picked it up for a couple of bucks with the snaps( one of the guys that runs the place-Troy-has a sick mini truck). Had to flip it upside down and trim it, but fits the fender pretty well and doesn't rub really hard on the box and take off my pretty black paint that will soon be covered in crap anyway.

 

[scouthead]

about widening the rims

Haven't been quoted on having them widened yet. A friend of a friend suposedly does this in the LA area. He used to take his bus there to have tires mounted and dismounted,but I can't remember the name of the place. If I can have it done there I won't be worried about shipping as it's not far from me, but not too serious about it yet- need a lift first. Kind of like the narrow look 33/10.5 but most of my friends use 12.5s and I wouldn't mind having a little wider contact patch. Made a few heart stopping decents in the old suburban with tires about 10 inches wide...slip and slide...

 

[clemson55]

Thanks for the info, I imagine I will allow myself all the time I want by waiting til after our annual meeting in Aug to start the ps conversion. I'd like the pig to make its first annual meeting this time. Plus I want to do it right and not rush so I have to think through it all. Can you take a couple pics of your pump mount for me and send them to rrudnic@clemson.edu don't want you to waste your attachment space on here if you dont want to. Thanks.

 

[cruiserbrett]

That looks great! I need to do this to my FJ55. got all the parts, need to find the time. BTW, was that the piggie that was for sale in lakeside/santee area?

 

[FJBen]

I"m currently running an H41 in my HJ45. I can tell you with my 29" tires BLEH...buying new soon, it's too low with the diesel. But with 33's it would proabably be really nice.

I had one to put in my 55, but the wreck changed that idea...

I'll be able to tell more as I change tire size, but I think it's a great transmission...low range is REALLY nice opposed to US stock w/35's...

 

[scouthead]

No, this little piggie hasn't been up for sale for a long time. Second owner bought this one from an Exec. at Toyota of Hollywood who drove it for a couple months...He then parked it on the Tejon Ranch in '80 or '81...got driven about twice a year until about ten years ago when the mice that inhabited it decided to go all out and eat a whole lot of anything important. This guy restores his old wagoneer and replaces the Fj55 with it as his hunting truck. He then GIVES the Landcruiser to a friend of mine for FREE!! Even claimed he tried to give it away to some of the ranch hands and nobody wanted it!! I went with my buddy to go pull the thing off of the ranch,and the guy even put the thing on his towing service and had it towed like 90 miles for free!! I then later bought the truck for $$$$$ considering it was coming from a good friend(who paid zero for it), But I Had TO have it...

Here's a pic of the 55 on it's way off the ranch...

 

[PabloCruise]

No, this little piggie hasn't been up for sale for a long time. Second owner bought this one from an Exec. at Toyota of Hollywood who drove it for a couple months...He then parked it on the Tejon Ranch in '80 or '81...got driven about twice a year until about ten years ago when the mice that inhabited it decided to go all out and eat a whole lot of anything important. This guy restores his old wagoneer and replaces the Fj55 with it as his hunting truck. He then GIVES the Landcruiser to a friend of mine for FREE!! Even claimed he tried to give it away to some of the ranch hands and nobody wanted it!! I went with my buddy to go pull the thing off of the ranch,and the guy even put the thing on his towing service and had it towed like 90 miles for free!! I then later bought the truck for $$$$$ considering it was coming from a good friend(who paid zero for it), But I Had TO have it...

Here's a pic of the 55 on it's way off the ranch...

Very cool story - get us pics when you can...

 

[n2666s]

need to do the same for my rustbucket..........pix pix and more pix please deserving of beeeeeeeeeer!!

Lou

 

[scouthead]

I'll post some pics pretty soon...need to play around with the resizer and find out how to shrink 'em down and not have them look like S-H-I-crap.