red beard

[franklin40]

ok so answered my own question. simple to remove the grille and replace. just open the vent and there’s access.

here’s the old crumbly one. while it was still there i’m not convinced it was sealing anything!!

here’s the new one from city racer. it’s a little different that oem but i think it’ll last longer as its i denser type rubber .

 

[franklin40]

painting large flat surfaces with rattle can is hard!! i’ve never done something this big. i think it turned out ok but will have to wait for it to cure and be seen in the sunlight to see if it’s stripey

 

[franklin40]

we’ve got the roof insulated with a thin closed cell foam. now we’re making a headliner out of marine carpet

while the glue is drying i replaced a broken signal lever. the housing where the spring loaded pin broke jamming everything up. so now we should have signal lights again.

while i was doing that my son took the windshield wipers apart as they’ve started to jam and are not functional when raining.

we found quite a jerry rig on the drivers side gear

 

[franklin40]

so the passenger side was stuck inside the bushing tube but we got that out and cleaned it up so it moves freely again. the drivers side as you can see is all rusted and the shaft is broken. there are no threads on the one end of the tube that it’s supposed to mount in. i believe both tubes have been turning instead of the shafts inside. this one has been welded before and poorly ground so there’s no way it’s running smoothly inside the tube. so now i’m not really sure what to do other than look for some used parts.

if anyone knows where to get a new gear and tube please let me know

 

[firemanj92]

Check with John @pardion or Mark @65swb45

edited to add: Matt Shea (?). He's on the FB so I don't know his handle on here.

 

[65swb45]

@thundermcawesum makes brand new tubes. They are a thing of beauty and very reasonably priced. I wouldn’t be surprised if he has the shaft as well. I’m sure I have several, but people don’t want to deal with my minimum order policy.

 

[franklin40]

@thundermcawesum makes brand new tubes. They are a thing of beauty and very reasonably priced. I wouldn’t be surprised if he has the shaft as well. I’m sure I have several, but people don’t want to deal with my minimum order policy.

mark is it best to call with parts requests? i have a few needs that may meet the minimum order amount?

 

[65swb45]

mark is it best to call with parts requests? i have a few needs that may meet the minimum order amount?

Yes, the phone is still my link to the outside world for conducting business.

And for anyone else reading this, apparently I am not doing a good job of reminding people that I stock a full line of mainstream maintenance parts for the FJ40, just like the more popular vendors on this forum, and I would very much appreciate the opportunity to have some of that business as well.

 

[franklin40]

found tubes and a gear. thanks @thundermcawesum!! we’ll get this back on the road again real soon!!

 

[franklin40]

while it’s far from perfect i think this turned out pretty well for a home brew headliner. i’m pretty pleased. now i just hope the glue holds!! . i’m did use the good 3m stuff but these trucks do bounce a little and i do wonder if that’ll affect its hold.

total cost was $180 for the carpet $40 glue and $80 insulation foam. and that’s CAD so way cheaper for the americans!!

 

[knuckle47]

So the carpet is glued to the sound deadening material and that is glued to the top…correct?. As long as each surface holds to the next

I did something along those lines with laminate flooring on a set of steps…..BUT, I urethaned it to the plywood sub-floor and it had a cushioned back which was NOT Properly attached to the laminate…within a few months the foam back pulled away from the laminate and the plank rose up about 1/8”.
A real issue re-doing that

I’ll bet this will really help control noise. I love the idea

 

[franklin40]

So the carpet is glued to the sound deadening material and that is glued to the top…correct?. As long as each surface holds to the next

I did something along those lines with laminate flooring on a set of steps…..BUT, I urethaned it to the plywood sub-floor and it had a cushioned back which was NOT Properly attached to the laminate…within a few months the foam back pulled away from the laminate and the plank rose up about 1/8”.
A real issue re-doing that

I’ll bet this will really help control noise. I love the idea

i’ve had the same issue with foam in laminate on stair noising. what a pain

the foam had an adherent side and i added glue. it stuck very well. it’s the foam that tore when i tested it. not the glue letting go. now the carpet is glued to the foil. it seems secure but that’ll be the weak link if there is one

 

[knuckle47]

Same here,, glue was fine I the substrate was the weak link

 

[franklin40]

while i have the roof and wipers off…

might as well put a new windshield seal in. my old
one is all cracked and leaks everywhere.

glass came out in one piece single handed in about 10 minutes. hope the new seal goes in just as easy.

 

[franklin40]

got the seal on and the frame all cleaned up. seal is from city racer. nice quality but a pain to get on. it really likes to roll off while working other areas . i’m kind of stuck now though as i’ve misplaced the paracord i bought for this job. i can’t for the life of me find it tonight
i used some electrical tape to hold it in place while working it onto the glass it worked ok

 

[franklin40]

well frustration city!! i cannot for the life of me get this windshield seal to go. every small move i make pops it off the window. so i tried putting it on the frame first and while it was working we hit the third corner and the seal tore. so the lock strip wont work. oh well. i tried. i’ll take it to a shop and have them install it. i may also see if i can get an oem seal. this city racer one while nice was really a constant wrestling match. maybe oem is easier?

also despite everything i read stating those are rectangular windows mine is definitely not. there is a narrow side that goes to the top

 

[franklin40]

win number one…. windshield is in!! i decided to give it a go with the OEM seal. it’s sooooo much easier to work with. lots of windshield cleaner but we got it in. i bought an amazon lock strip tool and it worked perfectly!!

i’ve started to reassemble the wiper system. i have got to put kids to bed but ill go at it a little more tonight i hope!!

 

[franklin40]

broken gear and stripped brass tube

new tube and gear installed!

main housing cleaned out of old grease and new “packed” (but not really packed) and reassembled

hopefully i’ll get this stuff on the truck tomorrow and the roof after that!!

i was reflecting on this fj40 a little and it made sense a little that it was sold with the problems it had. i bet it came from someone who was more than capable of fixing it (especially if i can) but wasn’t connected to this community. these rare parts that can’t just be purchased would overwhelm a guy but because this group is so supportive and wide spread it really makes these fixes possible. so thanks everyone who chimed in with ideas and connections. that’s such a big part of what makes fixing these things fun!!