Builds Helga: 1966 FJ40 FST (1 Viewer)

[locklaw]

My advise was to slowly raise the front of the leaf spring to align the shackle pin holes, assuming you have an appropriate jack stand at the frame behind the hanger. This is the easiest and safest way unless you remove unbolts and support axle so you can align by hand.

That can work if you are lucky but can, when you are unlucky, cause the axle to move out of place or even sometimes lift the vehicle off of the axlestand. Bashing out frozen bushes compounds the risk factor.

We do a lot of suspensions each month on new 70 series Cruisers and even highly experienced staff have come close to hurting themselves when they take a shortcut by not undoing the ubolts. The safest way for arelatively inexperienced wrench is to take the tension out of play.

Good opportunity also to check the condition of the centre pin and locator hole in the axlehousing and smear some grease on the axlepad to combat rust.

 

[KennyBob]

Been an eventful few weeks for me and my family. Unfortunately, I was laid off on the 20th from a job/company that I cared a ton about. So I’ve been job hunting like crazy with the exception of the week we took the kids to Disney World. Would’ve skipped it but we had been planning it for a year and it was mostly paid for already. In between all of that I’ve been trying to squeeze as much cruiser time in as I can where I can.

Been jumping around a bit but I’ve been getting a few things knocked off the list. Still in progress is the front axle. Started with the passenger side replaced the soft brake line and tore into the knuckle. Love how it still had safety wire in the bolts. (Can I just put some thread locker on these instead?)

Replaced gaskets and replaced/added more grease to the knuckle and spindle. Didn’t do a full teardown because I couldn’t free the trunnion bearings for some reason. First time that’s happened to me. So I buttoned it back up but had to stop while I waited on a 50mm socket from Cruiser Outfiters. Turns out the early cruisers have a 50mm not a 54mm spindle nut.

 

[KennyBob]

While I waited for parts I decided to try scrubbing the crappy white paint from one of the original turn signals. Using a purple scotch brite and some acetone I was able to get most of the white off but was less than successful at just going down to the original spring green. Any advice here would be huge. I’d really like to attack the whole thing at some point but I can’t if I can’t get the process/materials right.

 

[HelloKitty65]

If you want to take this back to the original spring green it will be extra tough removing both the white and red layers, and their primers. Your tuna cans tell that story. It's difficult to even know which primer your removing, hence the bare metal corners and such.
Two ideas:
1) Find a nice set of matching patina tuna cans and install them;
2) Send a kick vent to Automotive Touchup, and they can match your _present_ color.

 

[KennyBob]

If you want to take this back to the original spring green it will be extra tough removing both the white and red layers, and their primers. Your tuna cans tell that story. It's difficult to even know which primer your removing, hence the bare metal corners and such.
Two ideas:
1) Find a nice set of matching patina tuna cans and install them;
2) Send a kick vent to Automotive Touchup, and they can match your _present_ color.

Those are some good ideas. I may end up needing to repaint the whole thing at some point if the rest of the cruiser goes the same way as the tuna cans. I was really hoping I could just take off the top white coat but I think you are right. It would likely end up very multicolored. This means I’ll need to get the stuff and learn how to paint.

 

[KennyBob]

Got a lot done today… well at least I feel like I did. Buttoned up the passenger knuckle. Had to ground the spindle nuts down so I could get the socket over them. Never seen them that mangled before.

I was finally able to finish replacing the spring bushings. Still hate that job more than most. What a royal pain in the ass that task is. But it’s done!!!

To celebrate I decided to install the pure sex wheels and tires I picked up a couple days ago. Decided to go with a new set of Toyota steelies and the new Kenda Klever RTs in a 33x9.5 flavor. The goal here is to make the drive to Lonestar Roundup as comfortable as possible (and anywhere else). Hoping the rubber overdrive and modern radial construction will be game changers.

Still have the issue of the brakes staying engaged after a drive. I’m really hoping replacing the other two soft lines and adjusting the shoes out will address that issue. Any insight here y’all?

 

[nuclearlemon]

Still have the issue of the brakes staying engaged after a drive. I’m really hoping replacing the other two soft lines and adjusting the shoes out will address that issue. Any insight here y’all?

are the shoes adjusted equally? that is often the biggest issue, but also, what kind of condition are your springs and and are the shoes moving freely without binding up on anything? have someone work the pedal with the drum only half on so you can see.

 

[KennyBob]

are the shoes adjusted equally? that is often the biggest issue, but also, what kind of condition are your springs and and are the shoes moving freely without binding up on anything? have someone work the pedal with the drum only half on so you can see.

Ok, gave the front brakes the old college try on adjusting them. Two out of the four wheel cylinders were relatively easy to adjust but the other two didn’t seem to want to move.

I’ll likely pull the wheels and drums off tomorrow to see if I can adjust them at all. What’s strange is I adjusted them all down when I replaced the soft lines and all of the wheel cylinders are new.

On a related note, I also adjusted the master cylinder rod to make sure it wasn’t engaging the piston with my foot off the pedal.

 

[KennyBob]

Ok, gave the front brakes the old college try on adjusting them. Two out of the four wheel cylinders were relatively easy to adjust but the other two didn’t seem to want to move.

I’ll likely pull the wheels and drums off tomorrow to see if I can adjust them at all. What’s strange is I adjusted them all down when I replaced the soft lines and all of the wheel cylinders are new.

On a related note, I also adjusted the master cylinder rod to make sure it wasn’t engaging the piston with my foot off the pedal.

Success! After pulling the drums on the two stuck wheel cylinders and freeing them and a ton of adjusting I finally got the brakes to be in acceptable working condition. No more getting stuck engaged or pedal going to the floor. Turns out following the FSM to the T is the solution… Who knew!?

That was Monday. Yesterday I put in a lot of hours on the parking brake and rear t-case seal. Got the cable and the seal replaced. Pro tip: Attach the top of the cable before attaching it to the brake. I spent way too long trying to connect it the other way. Everything went back together smoothly after that except the driveshaft decided to fight me. Eventually I was able to wrestle it back on and expand it out to meet the flange.

All in all very happy to have working brakes and parking brake finally!

Good news, that new rear seal still leaks after all that hard work!

Guess I’ll be trying that speedi-sleeve fix next.

 

[samc2447]

Good news, that new rear seal still leaks after all that hard work!

Guess I’ll be trying that speedi-sleeve fix next.

Was the seal surface scored up? Did you put a bit of sealant on the shaft splines before putting the parking drum on?

Georg makes a dual seal output housing that should fix that leak. Just give Valley Hybrids a call.

 

[KennyBob]

Was the seal surface scored up? Did you put a bit of sealant on the shaft splines before putting the parking drum on?

Georg makes a dual seal output housing that should fix that leak. Just give Valley Hybrids a call.

Hmm, I did not. That would just seal the interface of the splines correct? It would leak where the drive shaft flange bolts on, right?

The only leak I've spotted is between the backing plate and the drum. I will definitely give Georg a shout if the speedi-sleeve doesn't work. Hope the two fixes don't interfere...

 

[samc2447]

They can leak along the splines and out into the parking drum. If you put a speedi sleeve on, it's going to change the diameter of the drum shaft and if it doesn't seal you'll be carefully removing it and replacing the seal. The double seal will work without the sleeve since it's putting a new seal in an area that won't be worn on the parking drum.

 

[KennyBob]

Well today was a big day. Drove the cruiser the furthest it’s been driven so far. Took it about 30 minutes away to a muffler shop and had almost the whole exhaust replaced. Basically, I was completely missing the tail pipe, the muffler was original and perforated and I had a hole in the horizontal section of the exhaust. All in all I am very happy with it so far. I would’ve liked to keep it original looking but this’ll do for my purposes.

The drive there and back went alright all things considered. I had to pull over on the side of the highway to clean the fuel filter. That was fun. Fortunately I’ve done it so many times now it’s second nature.

The only other “issue” I had was that the coolant temp would go down pretty low, ~120 when I was cruising.

The biggest thing I took from the trip is how insanely loud this thing is at 60 or 65. I’m hoping a lot of it is this crappy bestop and the fact that the weatherstripping is completely shot on the doors. I knew it was going to be loud but holy hell. I think I lost some of my hearing.

 

[tucker74]

You’re riding in a tin can over an extremely loud drivetrain, I recommend noise cancelling earbuds . Seriously, a carpet kit helps with sound & noise … over a liner/deadener is even better. Soft tops are just loud, the factory hardtop does help with wind noise -

 

[KennyBob]

You’re riding in a tin can over an extremely loud drivetrain, I recommend noise cancelling earbuds . Seriously, a carpet kit helps with sound & noise … over a liner/deadener is even better. Soft tops are just loud, the factory hardtop does help with wind noise -

Good advice, thanks Tucker. Do you know if an OEM type soft top would be an improvement at all over this Bestop? I have been planning on going that direction when my wallet recovers a bit more. Also, do you have any recommendations on carpet/vinyl and sound deadening?

 

[tucker74]

The OEM are a little better due to the more structured frame and heavier material. I did the raptor liner kit in mine and a SOR carpet kit, it turned out great with some prep. A lot of threads on lizard skin etc if you do some searching -

 

[KennyBob]

Been doing relatively little things and driving her around the past days. Mostly just around town, but I did make the trek to San Marcos via the back roads which is about a 30 minute cruise each way.

She did great with the exception of the overcooling issue. I pulled the thermostat and verified that it does open like it’s supposed to. I’m wondering if the combo of the aluminum radiator and the direct drive fan is just too much cooling while at speed. Anyone else experienced this? I’ve been thinking converting it to a fan clutch setup might solve this issue.

One of the things I decided to finally knock out is cleaning up the wiring. I realized the other day that I did not have a way to charge my phone or anything else in the 40 for when I’m out at say Lonestar Roundup camping for a few days. So I decided to include that whole system into my wiring job as well.

I decided to go with Blue Sea stuff as they seem to have a great reputation and I wanted to make sure everything was robust enough for the hot, bouncy and vibration riddled 40 series. Some/all of this may be overkill, but I wanted to make it a bit future proof in the event I want to add more accessories later. I went with a 100A circuit breaker, a 6 circuit distribution block, 4 awg supply wires and 10 awg wiring to the 4.8A dual usb charging port. I mounted all of that to a piece of flat stock I had and attached the whole thing to the battery hold down hardware.

 

[KennyBob]

Finally knocked another long overdue big to-do-list item off the list yesterday: tie rod ends. Feels good to check this one off. I was kind of dreading it but I wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been I guess.

Y’all think they needed replaced?!

Setting toe-in. 1/4” should be good right?

Also knocked out the front shocks while I was in there. Probably should’ve waited since that pushed the wife’s patience and my hydration a little too far. Oh well, they are done! Today, rear shocks hopefully during my job hunting break.

 

[KennyBob]

Finished up the shocks. Stitched up the Bestop like the complete novice that I am and replaced the ignition switch with a later one with spade terminals.

I’ve just got to take a sec to shoutout Mark aka @Coolerman for his beautiful and affordable wiring work and amazing customer service. I will continue to let him take my money as long as he’s doing what he does.

 

[KennyBob]

She made it all the way to Mason, TX (~2.5 hours) and back with minimal issues. In an attempt to keep it at normal operating temperature I placed a piece of cardboard in front of the radiator. This resulted in overheating at the radiator twice but still showing 120-130 F at the Sniper sensor. Fortunately I had some water to put back in the system after it spewed some out. All was good after that if I didn’t mess with the cardboard. I just let it stay at those low temps. On the way back, I had to pull the fuel filter to clean it out. Did a few trails but mostly just drove around with the kiddos and wife. Managed to get a little stuck once as well. Had to get @patride71 to come yank me out.