Just found your build thread. Great job and thanks for all the reference material.
Builds Reddog90's 40 Thread
- Thread starter reddog90
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And the purpose of me daily driving it in this heat instead of my King Ranch is to flush out every problem I can before I take it on a trip somewhere.
I was parking in my office garage a couple weeks ago, threw the truck in reverse and everything died. I ubered home and came back with tools later. I am not a wiring person, and even a facetime call with @HemiAlex didn't get it fixed. I towed it home the next day with my FiL. No pics of that...
More digging and calls with @HemiAlex, @RAGINGMATT and the Jedi Wiring Master @Coolerman himself.
- My fusible link is aftermarket and possibly oversized and/or too long.
- Someone swapped all the fuses in the fuse block for 30A...
- My ammeter is blown
I don't exactly know the root cause yet, but the three things above are bad and there was some major wire damage right behind the ammeter which cut power to my ignition. @Coolerman suggested starting with opening up the harness just beyond the ammeter following the white and white/blue 10 ga wires to see if they had a meltdown anywhere else and damaged any of the smaller wires. If I am lucky, all the damage will be near the ammeter and I can splice in new wiring from him and bypass the ammeter. If I am unlucky, I will end up pulling the entire harness, laying it out in my study and really digging in. Wish me luck.
FJ40 Wire Harness Reference - September 1976
I am in the process of doing some work on my 40 and I have the wiring harness out of the truck. I took this opportunity to photograph the harness in detail in the hopes of developing a useful wiring reference. (I have a MUCH larger version of this image also) I believe this to be an unmolested...forum.ih8mud.com
Good Luck. I just inspected a full wiring harness that will go into my 73’. It’s not as daunting as some claim. If you do remove the entire harness, It might be a good idea to label some of the connectors with painters tape as you remove them. It will make your install much easier instead of having to search back and forth between your wiring diagram and the harness.
reddog90
SILVER Star
- Thread starter
- #104
I removed the fuse box, soaked it in vinegar for 5 min, and then scrubbed all the connections clean. I threw away the old fuses and installed new 15 & 20 amp fuses.
I opened up the harness ~2' behind the dash and it looked like the damage was isolated to the last few inches of the white and white/blue stripe wires that connect to the ammeter. @RAGINGMATT came in with the hookup and built some pigtails for me. I wanted to make the repair as factory appearing as possible, so I opted to use ring terminals and boots in case I ever replace the ammeter. The two ring terminals are bolted together to bypass the ammeter and the connection is insulated with a small piece of heater hose.
I spliced those in last night.
I also spliced in the male harness connector for a factory fusible link. Matt built me that pigtail, three fusible links and a new battery connection pigtail as well. I have a new battery cable kit in the mail from @fourruner.
Unfortunately this did not fix my ignition issue. I still have no power to fuses 5, 6, & 7, so I have no spark.
I opened up the harness ~2' behind the dash and it looked like the damage was isolated to the last few inches of the white and white/blue stripe wires that connect to the ammeter. @RAGINGMATT came in with the hookup and built some pigtails for me. I wanted to make the repair as factory appearing as possible, so I opted to use ring terminals and boots in case I ever replace the ammeter. The two ring terminals are bolted together to bypass the ammeter and the connection is insulated with a small piece of heater hose.
I spliced those in last night.
I also spliced in the male harness connector for a factory fusible link. Matt built me that pigtail, three fusible links and a new battery connection pigtail as well. I have a new battery cable kit in the mail from @fourruner.
Unfortunately this did not fix my ignition issue. I still have no power to fuses 5, 6, & 7, so I have no spark.
reddog90
SILVER Star
- Thread starter
- #106
@RAGINGMATT saved the day again with a Toyota ignition switch.
One terminal and the connector housing in the harness for the ignition switch was damaged. I got these parts from Matt as well, and got a double open barrel crimper on Amazon.
New connector built and ignition switched installed:
Finished battery setup with a cable kit from @Fourrunner and proper fusible link installed.
One terminal and the connector housing in the harness for the ignition switch was damaged. I got these parts from Matt as well, and got a double open barrel crimper on Amazon.
New connector built and ignition switched installed:
Finished battery setup with a cable kit from @Fourrunner and proper fusible link installed.
samatulich
SILVER Star
I had the same thing happen with my ignition switch, where the connector was burned up just like yours. Matt and I talked about the connectors, but I never followed through and purchased what I needed. What crimper did you go with from amazon? Are you back on the road now too?
samatulich
SILVER Star
Nice!
reddog90
SILVER Star
- Thread starter
- #110
I got this crimper:
Amazon product ASIN B0050KDKUC
I can't complain for $30. I am a total noob at using this tool, but my crimps turned out just fine and everything is working great now. I laid each wire inside the open crimp and put a dot with a paint pen to mark where I needed to strip insulation so I would have the correct amount of wire exposed. I used the largest die for an initial crimp and then the middle die for a final crimp. I should have taken a picture during this but I was in too much hurry to get the damn thing back together. You can source your connector and terminals from Matt. Here is some good crimping info:
rkymtnflyfisher
Trout Bum
Really like that wheel color....I have smoke grey now, but may change it up
Didn't the truck have a lift on it when you got it?
Didn't the truck have a lift on it when you got it?
reddog90
SILVER Star
- Thread starter
- #115
It had dry rotted 33/10.5 KM2s, stock height shackles, and every single bushing, spring, and shock was worn out. It had major rear sag, and one shackle had flipped backwards against the perch. I'm happy with the complete suspension refresh so far. Even topless and unloaded it is 100x better than when I got it.
reddog90
SILVER Star
Always a fun day in the garage! Thanks for the help. We had a blast!
