Replacing Fj62 A Pillar (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Jan 28, 2005
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BOZEMAN, MT
Yo! My landcruiser got crushed last May during a heavy snow storm that split a large box elder tree in half. I wasn't there when it happened. Half of the tree landed on my house w
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here my daughter was sleeping. Luckily she was completely uninjured and didnt even wake up. The house was hardly even damaged. Half the tree crushed the A Pillar and fenders and hood on the driverside of my 1989 fj62. Has anybody replaced this A pillar before? I plan on documenting what I do. I do steel fab, but not bodywork, so I have tools but could use some support. Thanks guys! Carlos



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need more pics of the damage.
if the A pillar was crushed, it most likely damaged part of the roof structure also.
fender, inner fender and hood are easy
if it damaged the cowl or rad support along with the roof it will be more involved
 
any updated pics?
 
Hi, I’d sure try and fix it. I’ve seen worse repaired.
 
Porta-power is your friend. Try using 4x4 wood blocks against the corner of A-pillar / roof horizontal junction, push up off Mother Earth / concrete slab. Complex angles there. Good Luck!
 
Hi, I’d sure try and fix it. I’ve seen worse repaired.
Yeah I'm going to repair it for sure, but I can't tell if I should cut the damaged part out whole or if there even is an A pillar. Specter website shows a tub that includes the A pillar. It also lists the A pillar as 2 parts, an inner and outer so I am confused. The roof above the door is severely damaged so I'm leaning on cutting the whole damaged area out, reinforcing the cut area. After that, I could get an oversized part cut from a doner vehicle, fit it and weld the two together.
 
I know a guy with a 60 who had his entire roof replaced. The rusty roof was cut off at the top of all the pillars and the new roof from a donor was welded to each pillar. The end result looked perfect. But he had perfect pillars to weld to.
 
I'd say buy a replacement screen and see if you can get the structure straight using the screen, get the structural members back into alignment, then see how it looks, if you need to do some serious hotworks to make it cosmetically straight again, then brace the heck out of it before you start cutting and replacing.

I'd not cut out and try and put in new metal without bracing the roof back into a known good reference position.
 
I'd say buy a replacement screen and see if you can get the structure straight using the screen, get the structural members back into alignment, then see how it looks, if you need to do some serious hotworks to make it cosmetically straight again, then brace the heck out of it before you start cutting and replacing.

I'd not cut out and try and put in new metal without bracing the roof back into a known good reference position.
That's exactly what I was thinking. Use the other good side as a reference and brace the other side before cutting. I'm a little hesitant to do anything until I can visualize the whole project. So it might take a while before I get the nerve to cut into it.
 
need more pics of the damage.
if the A pillar was crushed, it most likely damaged part of the roof structure also.
fender, inner fender and hood are easy
if it damaged the cowl or rad support along with the roof it will be more involved
I attached a couple more photos. I have not cut into it yet of the holidays but as you can see the roof above the door is damaged. The A pillar is pushed in probably 3/4". The door also took a hit and has some deformation. I think I need to find someone with a doner vehicle. Then I can cut out the damaged roof, A pillar and part of the door frame and give it to them so they can oversize it and cut it out of the doner. Then fix the door and fenders etc...
 
Porta-power is your friend. Try using 4x4 wood blocks against the corner of A-pillar / roof horizontal junction, push up off Mother Earth / concrete slab. Complex angles there. Good Luck!
agreed with the porta-power but not pushing off mother earth, you'll just pick the truck up. i'd suggest blocking up to the underside of the body where you're planning on pushing from. that way mother earth will hold your base in place
 

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