Those shackle angles look good for brand new springs that have not broken in, especially compared to the Rough Country springs Ive got. Hell Creek seems like a good option
Project Ugly Duckling: 4WD Toyota Owner Magazine's 1970 FJ40 build/3B swap (1 Viewer)
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4WD Toyota Owner Magazine
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- Thread starter
- #102
You're good.
August 1969! Title says 1970, PO said 1970. A closer look at the almost unintelligible door tag says Aug 1969. PM me your address, I'll send you some schwag! Cheers--dave
Is that the production date? Mine is November 69 and is a 1970. Lots of people on Mud use the production date to track changes that happened during particular model years. I think 9/69 saw some changes which would make your 8/69 different than my 11/69.
This is a very nice and detailed writeup.
4WD Toyota Owner Magazine
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- #105
I think that would still a 1970 model year, just with a 69 build date. Cool to think there were ~4100 made between yours and mine!
Wish I could have been there when the piston turned sideways in it's bore. Sounds like a party!!!
- Josh
- Josh
4WD Toyota Owner Magazine
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- #108
HAHAHAHA! Right?! Me too!
4WD Toyota Owner Magazine
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- #109
We are refreshing the body mounts on this old rig, the 1970 FJ40 we have dubbed “Project Ugly Duckling.” The original bushings are the rubber type and have seen a better day many years ago. Energy Suspension (www.energysuspension.com) makes a great kit for our tired old FJ40. They offer bushings in a huge variety of applications and the FJ40 fit ours perfectly.
Body, suspension and engine mounts all suffer the ravages of abuse from oil leaks, road contaminants, road salt, plus the sheer weight of the body on frame in our case, which squashes and distorts the mounts to a ghost of their former self. The Energy FJ40 kit (street price around $88) consists of their Hyper-Flex bushings, made of high-quality polyurethane.Hyper-Flex is manufactured in a variety of durometers, depending on the specific application for each vehicle.
By the time we received the Land Cruiser there were literally only two body bushings left. And they didn’t go easily. We were still plagued with rust and grime in the body and frame and had to torch the remaining two body mounts. We used our lift to help replace the old bushings; once removed we could make room for our new Energy Suspension polyurethane bushings.
Laying them out from the directions proved to be a challenge for the student mechanics; they don’t have much patience and preferred to use the instructional photos. Energy Suspension’s detailed written directions proved that reading is best. After multiple questions, they read and laid out the bushings and got to work! Then it’s lowering the body down, tighten the hardware and we have a vastly smoother ride with all new mount bushings. Here's how we did it.
Body, suspension and engine mounts all suffer the ravages of abuse from oil leaks, road contaminants, road salt, plus the sheer weight of the body on frame in our case, which squashes and distorts the mounts to a ghost of their former self. The Energy FJ40 kit (street price around $88) consists of their Hyper-Flex bushings, made of high-quality polyurethane.Hyper-Flex is manufactured in a variety of durometers, depending on the specific application for each vehicle.
By the time we received the Land Cruiser there were literally only two body bushings left. And they didn’t go easily. We were still plagued with rust and grime in the body and frame and had to torch the remaining two body mounts. We used our lift to help replace the old bushings; once removed we could make room for our new Energy Suspension polyurethane bushings.
Laying them out from the directions proved to be a challenge for the student mechanics; they don’t have much patience and preferred to use the instructional photos. Energy Suspension’s detailed written directions proved that reading is best. After multiple questions, they read and laid out the bushings and got to work! Then it’s lowering the body down, tighten the hardware and we have a vastly smoother ride with all new mount bushings. Here's how we did it.
4WD Toyota Owner Magazine
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- Thread starter
- #110
With a body like this, you can easily imagine what the body mounts on our 1970 Project Ugly Duckling were like. As Marlon Brando said in Apocalypse Now: the horror…the horror.
4WD Toyota Owner Magazine
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- #111
With the FJ40’s body and frame already separated, we had to take the body off the dolly to remove the old bushings. Our Dover two-post lift made this an easy task. The front two lift arms were positioned along the running boards while the back two were right at the corners of the FJ40.
4WD Toyota Owner Magazine
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- #112
Bringing up the body proved to be a tad difficult because the front was lifting before the rear would. It only took some readjustment to make sure to make sure it would lift safely. Regardless no one was keen on dropping the body so we double and triple checked.
4WD Toyota Owner Magazine
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- #113
With the body on the lift, we began to remove the old bushings. They were totally beat and in need of replacing anyways so most of them came out with a tug with some pliers. However, the two front-most bolts had to be torched out. We cleaned and prepped the frame perches for the brand-new Energy Suspension body mounts. We found this pencil topper lodged in the body, and she quickly became the Ugly Duckling mascot.
4WD Toyota Owner Magazine
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- #114
The chassis needed to be rolled underneath the body straight and it took a few attempts, so we enlisted the assistance of the after-school program. With the alignment close, we lowered the body and checked fitment as we went along. Seeing where the new bushings would go gave us a general idea how things would play out.
4WD Toyota Owner Magazine
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- #115
It was important to make sure we rolled it in correctly so that the frame matched the body when we lowered the body down.
4WD Toyota Owner Magazine
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- #116
Energy Suspension body mount kit. You can also get the bushings in black.
4WD Toyota Owner Magazine
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- #117
We laid out all the new Hyper-Flex polyurethane bottom bushings. Reading the excellent instructions paid off right here, even though the pictures (see photos) lay it out simply, we struggled a bit. It was crucial that we made the effort to line up everything so that when we lower the body down its close as possible.
4WD Toyota Owner Magazine
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- #118
The instructions are very good.
4WD Toyota Owner Magazine
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- #119
Time to double check our work, making sure that we are lined up in the correct position. Some of the bushings are different so be sure to note these locations because they also use a different length and size bolt.
4WD Toyota Owner Magazine
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- #120
All the holes lined up near perfectly requiring only the least amount of realigning that is a given on a job like this.
