pickup conversion.??? (1 Viewer)

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lispeej

lispeej

Joined
Sep 10, 2006
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Location
Minnesota
I'm thinking about chopping the back of my cruiser and turning it to a pickuptruck. I know the bed will be extremely small. I know it'll be easier to just buy a pickup truck, but why have the best of both worlds? A pickup and a landcruiser in one?
Any suggestions?
 
They do similar projects over in Australia, I think the call them "ute's". Search will show something.
 
There are couple on here that have done it but most leave the area behind the rear seats open. Are you thinking something like Slee's Short Bus with rear seats?
 
Check out the Slee site and look under project vehicles. Awesome, if you don't have three kids to haul to the trail.
 
There's a fruit seller in Queenstown, New Zealand who has done this exact thing. I spotted him when I was there last year.

Didn't have my camera the day I seen him, he wasn't there the day I did (have my camera)!

It looked awesome, when my 80 gets too battered, this is the big mod on my list.

Yes, the tray is small, but ohhh the look...........
 
Man....I can smell it. I've been thinking of it day and night. It's funny......I'm having trouble sleeping thinking of this... I've been talking to a buddy about doing this, and he's been supportive of the idea.
 
Topic comes up every 3-4 months. there are several threads on this and searching 80 pickup yeilds several hits, from as recent as 10/10 :D

check lorena Bobit build by LandSpeeder and the Vlakvark build by slee and a few others to consume your day.........
80 pickup 2.jpg
pickup 80.jpg
 
Last edited:
Yikes with a name like that I hope it's just the fj that's getting cut.
 
Here is mine. I will post the lastest pick tomorrow when I have me camera, with the snap-on cover, the crossbars with the Wilderness rack. I am almost finished. I need to finish up on the sealing up of the rear pillar. I used expanded foam and fiberglass resin.

Stock springs in the rear have given 1.75" of lift plus a 30mm spacer for a level look with J's up front.

It removed a lot of weight, prolly 400-500 lbs. including the middle-row seats.

I made a half-wall, or bulkhead, bolted down and sealed up. The cover snaps on from that upto the roof.
IMG_0104.jpg

IMG_0103.jpg
 
Bikeman said:
Here is mine. I will post the lastest pick tomorrow when I have me camera, with the snap-on cover, the crossbars with the Wilderness rack. I am almost finished. I need to finish up on the sealing up of the rear pillar. I used expanded foam and fiberglass resin.

Stock springs in the rear have given 1.75" of lift plus a 30mm spacer for a level look with J's up front.

It removed a lot of weight, prolly 400-500 lbs. including the middle-row seats.

I made a half-wall, or bulkhead, bolted down and sealed up. The cover snaps on from that upto the roof.
IMG_0104.jpg

IMG_0103.jpg
Click to expand...

Thats exactly what I plan on doing in the next few weeks. Followed by a bob of the rear.
 
@ Bikeman



If you dont mind I have a few questions about the process, since I will be taking this on very soon.

1)How did you go about the cutting? Sawzall? Cut off blade on a grinder? ??

2)Did you remove the headliner first? How did you finish off the exposed edge of the headliner.

3) Did you remove the side windows first? If so, how?

4) If you could do it again would you do anything differently?

5) any other tips/tricks/advice you want to share?

Thanks! :cheers:
 
Brunt Force Trauma said:
@ Bikeman



If you dont mind I have a few questions about the process, since I will be taking this on very soon.

1)How did you go about the cutting? Sawzall? Cut off blade on a grinder? ??

2)Did you remove the headliner first? How did you finish off the exposed edge of the headliner.

3) Did you remove the side windows first? If so, how?

4) If you could do it again would you do anything differently?

5) any other tips/tricks/advice you want to share?

Thanks! :cheers:
Click to expand...

1) I used an angle grinder with a cutoff disk. I only used a sawzall when I had to cut thru the triple-wall rear vertical pillar (there are 3 vertical walls, like a sandwich. The cut is right behind a structural cross bar.

2) I didn't pull the headliner. I dropped it down a little after removing the back dome light and grab handles an cut it easily with a razor knife. The exposed edge of the headliner is covered with the same tan rubber strip that came off the top rear below the hatch hinges. The dome light easily relocates to the next forward structural cross bar. The two wire harnesses unplug from the hatch from the top and the alarm and dome light still arm and work!

3) the side windows were lifted out contained in an aluminum frame work that just lifted out after all the cutting was done. They lifted out when 2 of us could lift up on the whole piece of cut body that is being removed. I tried to remove the windows earlier, but couldn't for the life of me. After the windos are out, it leaves a perfect sealed bedside until you go back to the cut rear pillar area. I filled it with expanding foam and have laid 2 coats of fiberglass resin that I will sand and paint.

4) The only thing I would do differently would be to use a different soft top maker!

5) Advise: not too much more. When you cut with the cutoff wheel, make several passes several inches long and go back 2 or 3 times until you cut thru. I had awesome straight lines and had very little finish grinding to do with a flapper wheel. I used touch up paint, black, on a brush, instead of spraying.
 
Here is the soft top. It could have come out better I thought, but there were numerous angles and corners that the guy had to work with. He used a very heavy-duty material, and the window material is very optically clear. I have used stick-on auto weatherstripping to make it virtually watertight. That he did well on. I am happy with the low noise factor. Part of it has to do with the bed liner material covering the 3/4" plywood half-wall that is completely sealed to the body, and that came out very well. You can see the "security bar" that was made that attaches to the seat belt mounting holes. With the off-road rack, security bar, and alarm, I feel good about it.
IMG_0108.jpg

IMG_0106.jpg
 
I really want to convert one of my FZJ's into something like SLEE's.

How much do you think it would cost for all the body work for the conversion?

Anyone have a picture of SLEE's rear bed?
 
If ever I get substantial damage behind the rear doors, mine is going the same route. Quad cab tray back UTE.
 
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