My frigid 60 build (1 Viewer)

[AKcruiserfreak]

Well, it's -40 below tonight, and I have no desire to wrench on anything, so I guess I'll do a writeup on our 1985 FJ-60. Pardon the long-winded nature of my writing, but my wife won't make me work on honey do projects if I look busy.
My first vehicle ever was a 1974 FJ-40 and I've been hooked ever since. I've owned 3 FJ-40s, 2 FJ-45lvs, 5 FJ-60s, and a FZJ-80. I have a SERIOUS problem passing up a forlorn Cruiser needing a good home.
This particular FJ-60 was purchased in early 2009 from a Mud member in Anchorage. He was a pleasure to deal with, and I flew down to Anchorage with my 7 month pregnant wife to buy it. THis is the second rig I've bought from Mud members and both have been great experiences. Here's a couple pics of the 60 when we bought it and drove it the 400 miles back home without any issues of course. Even at 150,000 miles she drove great!

 

[AKcruiserfreak]

Well, first things first, I'm a clean freak, so the Cruiser got a good buffing, polish and wax. I also switched out all the fluids to synthetics, and installed a block heater, oil pan heater, tranny pan heater, and a battery tender. Here's some pics of that as well as the then..uh ugly engine bay. I can't believe that radiator lasted that trip! What was I thinking?

 

[AKcruiserfreak]

Here'a pic of the (running) fleet shortly after buying the 60. I just sold the 80 a few weeks ago.

 

[MANUCHAO]

So, what are the plans for this litle piggy ???

It looks kind of cold eh !!!

 

[AKcruiserfreak]

The next phase was primarily mechanical. I fixed the oil galley plug. (Look at the pic for am intresting po fix of the oil galley.) I also had the manifolds machined three times trying to chase a vacuum leak that still isn't fixed. Also had Mark A. rebuild the carb, installed all silicone vacuum hoses, new radiator, new push rod cover gasket, plugs, wires, bla bla bla. A few more pics of the "fun". The good news is I am now fairly comfortable with the seeming nightmare of hoses in the engine compartment. The bad news is that I'll be digging into the intake again, as my studdering/ hesitation problem has never gone away.

 

[AKcruiserfreak]

As you can tell I'm playing catch up, so bear with me. It gets better, I promise.
Finally on to the mods. The first real "mod" I did to the Cruiser was apply Herculiner to the lower portions like a ton of other folks have done. Kinda a two fold reson behind this, to cover raw metal from years of gravel roads and to protect from future gravel road/ trails. The 60 was fairly rust free with the exception of the rear frame rails, so fortunately I didn't have to deal with welding in new body parts like many of you have done.
The second mod was installing a OME Heavy /Medium lift and adding some 33x10.50 BFG AT's. Here's a link to that mod:https://forum.ih8mud.com/60-series-wagons/339733-60-gets-lift.html The poor stock springs were beyond tired as you can see in the pics.

 

[AKcruiserfreak]

Now that the lift was on, my wife at 5'4" had a hard time getting in the ol' Cruiser so I found a set of sliders originally for Tacoma on craigslist and shortend them up for the 60. Here's the link: https://forum.ih8mud.com/60-series-wagons/363449-finished-my-diy-sliders.html
I also started on a rear bumper that still isn't finished. Here's the link for that: https://forum.ih8mud.com/60-series-wagons/367552-another-rear-bumper-build-pics-inside.html Fourrunner does a great job on these bumpers, and it was a fun diy gig. I have parts for the swingouts that I should be starting on soon. Here's more pics just cause I know we all like our pics.

 

[AKcruiserfreak]

Alright, next on the list was installing $OR's seat covers, hooking up the rear light bar, retrofitting a set of HIDs in my Hella 500's, and a center console. I can't begin to tell you how great the light is out of those HIDs, and that console is something that should have come stock in every 60. cupholders and a ton of room for stuff. Here's a link to the afore mentioned stuff: https://forum.ih8mud.com/60-series-wagons/457441-new-stuff-installed-weekend.html

 

[AKcruiserfreak]

This Spring a some of us in Fairbanks had a group buy opportunity through a Mud member that deals ARB stuff, so I picked up a ARB front bumper and, a while later, a snorkel. Here's a pic of the ol' girl at a car show this Summer. It got third in the 4x4 truck segment.

 

[AKcruiserfreak]

I sold our beloved FZJ-80 a while back due to a brief moment of sanity in which I purchased a 2010 Corolla. 35mpgs as opposed to the 80's 10mpgs...it had to be done. Fortunately this freed up some money to fix up the 60 a bit.
As surprising at it may be, I've owned Cruisers for over 15 years and have never done a complete birf rebuild. Well, I had noticed an ever growing rumble in the front end and decided to dig in. Good thing, as the smaller wheel bearings were toast and the axle seal was allowing copious amounts for gear oil into the birf grease. That was a very messy job, but easy enough as long as you keep track of where things go. The main bit of advice I'll give anybody doing that job is to spring to Marlin's inner seals. They are soooo much beafier than stock. I'll see if I can find a pic showing the difference.

 

[AKcruiserfreak]

Prior to selling the 80 I took the Warn M12000 off of it and installed it into the 60's ARB. Almost plug and play. Here's the thread: https://forum.ih8mud.com/60-series-wagons/526469-warn-m12000-new-arb.html
I also installed a DieHard Platinum group 31M at the same time. Also a nearly plug and play upgrade. Here's that thread: https://forum.ih8mud.com/60-series-wagons/528442-biggest-die-hard-platinum.html
Due to the winch and battery I noticed the fronnt of the Cruiser started sagging something fierce, so I called up Kurt and ordered a OME add a leaf for the cs004's, turning them into cs005's. It still sagged so I bought a pair of Man a Fre's 6" shackles. I re-installed the sway bar up front with some added length as well as installed new tie rod ends and had it alined.
Also, while I was at it, I called up a couple of our great Mud vendors and purchased Forrunner's battery and ground cables as well as slcfj62's headlight wire harness. Both are great products and bolted up quite easily.

 

[AKcruiserfreak]

Now I think we are current. Future mods will include:

a light bar for a set of four hid's I picked up this Summer
finishing the rear bumper swingouts with a tire carrier and gas can holder
hooking up the snorkel to a hacked up air filter housing
installing some new gauges
Hooking up a cb
Installing a new radio
once agian diving into the manifold set for the ever elusive vacuum leak


It's been a blast so far, and I'll contiue to update as I go along.
Any comments or questions are welcome!

Thanks for all the help so far! This forum has been a great resource.

 

[lovetoski]

Sweet writeup!

 

[Kanatii]

Wow, I was just up in North Pole in August and it was 70+ and great weather (when it wasn't raining). What a difference a few months makes. That whole state just blew my mind...and then I spent a week solo back-packing in Denali NP and had my mind blown again. I'm jealous of you guys up there, sometimes

 

[AKcruiserfreak]

Thanks for the props, but this writeup kinda reads more like a ROTM. Oh well, I'll keep adding onto it as I go.

It is record breaking cold for November. i really hope that this isn't a sign of things ahead. Anyways, if you ever make it back up here, look me up. We've had a number of mud members crash at our place while tooling around up here. It's a great State and both my wife and I absolutely love raising our family in such a beautiful allbiet cold place.

TK

 

[AKFJ80]

Awesome work! I was curious if that is a tuffy console you put in? If so did you delete the rear heater blower? My center console needs a lift kit but I like your idea much better.

And yes, we are blessed to live in the most beautiful state

Most people don't "get it" until them come up and see for themselves. I used to be one of them!

 

[Devils Paw 80]

.. It is record breaking cold for November. i really hope that this isn't a sign of things ahead. ..

It's 16 here in JNU, which is damn cold for us in November. And yes, this winter and spring are forecast to be colder than average all over AK. ;p
Do you know how much the ARB bumper weighs? I've been considering one of these too, but not sure I want to upgrade my suspension to handle it.
BTW, very nice 60.

 

[jgordon]

Hey man, great build, and congrats on getting the 40 mobile. I think you hosted me shortly after getting the truck and the kid home.

 

[AKcruiserfreak]

Awesome work! I was curious if that is a tuffy console you put in? If so did you delete the rear heater blower? My center console needs a lift kit but I like your idea much better.

And yes, we are blessed to live in the most beautiful state

Most people don't "get it" until them come up and see for themselves. I used to be one of them!

It's a smittybuilt console, and FJ-60's don't have the rear heat under the console, so it was pretty close to bolt on. Somewhere there is a smittybuilt thread where a few guys have made the console work for FJ-62's.

It's 16 here in JNU, which is damn cold for us in November. And yes, this winter and spring are forecast to be colder than average all over AK. ;p
Do you know how much the ARB bumper weighs? I've been considering one of these too, but not sure I want to upgrade my suspension to handle it.
BTW, very nice 60.

Not sure the exact amount the ARB wieghs, but if were to guess, it weighs about 75 pounds. If I were you, I'd throw 75#'s of free wieghs on the front bumper and see how much it sags. If it's acceptable, go for it! These bumpers are beefy and hopefully will help keep moose out of the radiator. Thanks for giving me hope for a warm Winter.

Hey man, great build, and congrats on getting the 40 mobile. I think you hosted me shortly after getting the truck and the kid home.

Hey! Good to hear from you again! Yes, you were the first to show up after we got the Cruiser and our daughter home. We just added another baby to the family 6 months ago and the poor 40 only gets driven when I'm out tooling around by myself these days. sigh. I really need to get started on tearing it down for a restoration one of these days, but i think I'll finish up most of the loose ends on the 60 first.

Thanks for the questions and comments. It's been a fun rig to wrench on with the exception of the whole carb/ manifold issues I've had. I'm to the point that if a manifold doesn't fix stuff I'll be looking for something with 8 cylinders to fill the void in the engine bay. Hopefully that won't happen.

TK

 

[Fourrunner]

Looks great...keep up with the pics/work.