Hey guys, been reading up on the TON of info here over the last few weeks and thought I'd finally get around to signing up.
Here's my '71 FJ40. Picked it up about a month ago for around US$800. Most of the cheaper ones down here have been used as a farm-hack, so are full of dodgy/cheap home fixes. Dunno what happened in its past life, but the wiring (entire loom) has been replaced by the PO, who was an electrician for the government
. All seems ok though and the wires go where they should as per the wiring diagram, just different colors for most of it and much thicker wire than normally used on a stock harness, apart from the Alt>Voltage Regulator, where he used speaker wire... Some nice thick house-wire and spade terminals later and shes charging nicely at 13.5v . The rest of it is fairly stock, apart from some rust which I'll try to weld up over winter.
It runs on LPG (Liquified Petroleum Gas), which is good, being around US60c/L here compared to US$1.40/L for regular gasoline.
Engine (1F) seems to run well, gearbox and T-case doesn't have excessive play. Rear diff whines a bit; I think its out of a 60series LC, as it has bigger drums than at the front...
The diff leaks oil out of the 3rd member and the driveshaft has a bit of play in it, so I'll probably rip into it over winter. For now, I'll just keep topping up the oil every few weeks. Split one of the oils lines from the oilpump to the filter last week. A TRICKLE of oil onto the exhaust makes for a nice smokescreen on the highway. Lost about 2L of oil in 15mins, luckily, I was close to home and just kept stopping to top it up until I got home. $100 later to the local hydraulics place got me some nice new shiney steel-braided replacements...
Hit it up with 'hammer tone' machinery (think lathes, drill presses etc) paint from rattlecans and seems be fairly durable so far, and cheap!!
It has the stock 3sp on the floor, and I did the 'T-case gate mod' so now I have 2-Low as well...
Handbrake doesn't work; the cable seems 'bunched up' under the dash, so I think it's snapped. Might just put a mechanical line-lock to the rear brakes for when I need to leave it running, otherwise just park it in gear and chock it.
Now for the questions.
It has the stock manual steering, and I just replaced the tires with new stock-ish sized (205R16... 29in?) ones on stock 16in split rims. How hard should it be to turn the wheel? I've gone through all the grease points with Molygrease and made sure the steering box oil level is good. On asphalt and not rolling, I can turn the wheel about 1 turn either way from center before it gets rediculously difficult. Is this normal, and just the tires biting into the asphalt, since on loose gravel, I have no issues. Rolling is much easier, although the steering doesn't want to return to center, and I have to feed the wheel back to center.
Right now, parallel parking is a royal PITA...
I'm also 5'6", 130lb and Asian, so that might be the problem...
Thanks in advance
Here's my '71 FJ40. Picked it up about a month ago for around US$800. Most of the cheaper ones down here have been used as a farm-hack, so are full of dodgy/cheap home fixes. Dunno what happened in its past life, but the wiring (entire loom) has been replaced by the PO, who was an electrician for the government
. All seems ok though and the wires go where they should as per the wiring diagram, just different colors for most of it and much thicker wire than normally used on a stock harness, apart from the Alt>Voltage Regulator, where he used speaker wire... Some nice thick house-wire and spade terminals later and shes charging nicely at 13.5v . The rest of it is fairly stock, apart from some rust which I'll try to weld up over winter.It runs on LPG (Liquified Petroleum Gas), which is good, being around US60c/L here compared to US$1.40/L for regular gasoline.
Engine (1F) seems to run well, gearbox and T-case doesn't have excessive play. Rear diff whines a bit; I think its out of a 60series LC, as it has bigger drums than at the front...
The diff leaks oil out of the 3rd member and the driveshaft has a bit of play in it, so I'll probably rip into it over winter. For now, I'll just keep topping up the oil every few weeks. Split one of the oils lines from the oilpump to the filter last week. A TRICKLE of oil onto the exhaust makes for a nice smokescreen on the highway. Lost about 2L of oil in 15mins, luckily, I was close to home and just kept stopping to top it up until I got home. $100 later to the local hydraulics place got me some nice new shiney steel-braided replacements...
Hit it up with 'hammer tone' machinery (think lathes, drill presses etc) paint from rattlecans and seems be fairly durable so far, and cheap!!
It has the stock 3sp on the floor, and I did the 'T-case gate mod' so now I have 2-Low as well...
Handbrake doesn't work; the cable seems 'bunched up' under the dash, so I think it's snapped. Might just put a mechanical line-lock to the rear brakes for when I need to leave it running, otherwise just park it in gear and chock it.
Now for the questions.
It has the stock manual steering, and I just replaced the tires with new stock-ish sized (205R16... 29in?) ones on stock 16in split rims. How hard should it be to turn the wheel? I've gone through all the grease points with Molygrease and made sure the steering box oil level is good. On asphalt and not rolling, I can turn the wheel about 1 turn either way from center before it gets rediculously difficult. Is this normal, and just the tires biting into the asphalt, since on loose gravel, I have no issues. Rolling is much easier, although the steering doesn't want to return to center, and I have to feed the wheel back to center.
Right now, parallel parking is a royal PITA...
I'm also 5'6", 130lb and Asian, so that might be the problem...
Thanks in advance
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