Builds Project Pikachu: 1977 FJ40
- Thread starter cbmontgo
- Start date
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
sterling
SILVER Star
Those old school stripes man.Just one of the coolest rides on the forum!
FJBen
SILVER Star
Love it...those pictures make me miss home and growing up a lot.
- Thread starter
- #744
So my starter has been having a delayed “click” about every tenth start lately, so I went ahead and ordered a gear reduction starter from Toyota before I got stuck somewhere. As many others have said before, this thing is a huge improvement over the old tractor starter, and a very simple install.
- Thread starter
- #745
Well, the delayed start that I mentioned above didn’t go away with the new starter. Turned out to be an ignition switch going bad. So, I’ve got a new GR starter AND my old tractor starter is still good. All good news, actually. I’d been wanting the gear reduction starter anyway.
New OEM ignition switch went in today. Works great so far.
New OEM ignition switch went in today. Works great so far.
Where did you get the new ignition switch? I'm in need of one.
- Thread starter
- #747
I buy my stuff from Groove Toyota up in Denver because I’ve worked with them for years. It’s readily available and relatively inexpensive.
You can have my old one if you want to try to solder/repair it. Your fabbing and mechanical skills far exceed mine.
Don't let me touch anything electrical. I have an affinity to become the ground. Really, I just need keys, as I never got any for either of the projects. Do you know if they still have keys they can match?
- Thread starter
- #749
Sounds like what you need is an ignition cylinder, which I think is still available too. I assume that they come with new keys.
I've read that you need your old key to remove the old one though (turn it to ACC position and pop the pin out).
tlaporte
SILVER Star
I’m pretty sure @ToyotaMatt has the tools/machine to cut new keys. I think if you can provide him with the info that’s printed on your cylinder he can make you a brand new set of keys from OEM blanks.
ugh. This will be interesting.
- Thread starter
- #752
It’s official Fall in Colorado, so I zipped up the soft top and got Pikachu ready for the cool weather season. My son and I ran into Woodland Park, grabbed lunch, and then hit the hardware store.
Got into three separate Land Cruiser conversations today. My favorite was this...we walked out of the restaurant to find a father and son literally crawling underneath the 40 and looking everything over. They were pretty startled when we walked up. Turns out the dad owns a ‘77 and used to drive it all over the state of Alaska when he lived there in the 1980s. He had done some interesting cold weather modifications, including the addition of rubber padding on the fender aprons to help break the icing up during the Alaskan winters. He said that it would get so cold that the hood latches would be encrusted in ice and that the rubber aprons would help break them free. He also built some tail light protectors to keep from breaking the lenses when he backed into snowbanks. At one point, he even fabbed a small crane to the front bumper and did some logging up there along the Dalton Highway. Anyway, his son now has it in New Mexico and clearly took pride that it was still in the family. Showed me some pictures and it still looked solid. Is currently blue, but was originally mustard a la Pikachu.
Always so fun to hear these stories.
Got into three separate Land Cruiser conversations today. My favorite was this...we walked out of the restaurant to find a father and son literally crawling underneath the 40 and looking everything over. They were pretty startled when we walked up. Turns out the dad owns a ‘77 and used to drive it all over the state of Alaska when he lived there in the 1980s. He had done some interesting cold weather modifications, including the addition of rubber padding on the fender aprons to help break the icing up during the Alaskan winters. He said that it would get so cold that the hood latches would be encrusted in ice and that the rubber aprons would help break them free. He also built some tail light protectors to keep from breaking the lenses when he backed into snowbanks. At one point, he even fabbed a small crane to the front bumper and did some logging up there along the Dalton Highway. Anyway, his son now has it in New Mexico and clearly took pride that it was still in the family. Showed me some pictures and it still looked solid. Is currently blue, but was originally mustard a la Pikachu.
Always so fun to hear these stories.
- Thread starter
- #753
I’ve been needing to move some very large logs on my property and the Polaris just couldn’t get the job done. It’s about time to go Kubota shopping.
In the meantime, I put Pikachu to work. The 40 reminded me of my old International tractor that I learned to drive on as a kid. Pulled these 18” diameter logs up a very steep incline with ease.
By the way, these will be milled into my guest cabin eventually.
In the meantime, I put Pikachu to work. The 40 reminded me of my old International tractor that I learned to drive on as a kid. Pulled these 18” diameter logs up a very steep incline with ease.
By the way, these will be milled into my guest cabin eventually.
I think that you would like a good skid a lot better than a small tractor, especially for the stuff that it looks like you are doing. The small farm tractors have a high center of gravity and are extremely unstable on sideslopes. I hate running them out here unless it is on flat ground.
- Thread starter
- #755
That is a great point. I do not enjoy running a tractor on these slopes. Got one stuck last winter on our road when it slid off.
I'm always running a tracked skid for work, and although it is not the best in the snow, it dozes really well and I can push it really far on side slopes. Plus, it has a/c and heat.
Last edited:
- Thread starter
- #757
We’ve got a cold front moving through tonight, so we decided to scout for big game on the move in the National Forest and cruise back roads for a bit. Nice [cold] evening. Ponds are beginning to freeze over, the Aspens have shed all of their leaves, the wind is cold, and the days are getting short as winter creeps in.
The FJ40 is such a reliable, fun workhorse for making these sorts of memories with the heater on and the 2F humming along.
The FJ40 is such a reliable, fun workhorse for making these sorts of memories with the heater on and the 2F humming along.
middlecalf
SILVER Star
Morning for us, this is probably coming your way
It's currently snowing now.
I'm surprised to see it brown. I've had the white stuff recently, and yesterday's rain was enough to make snow above 9K. Always good to hear from Pikachu.
