Reviving My 1975 FJ40

[ranchdawg]

Another month has gone by. Did a little stuff and spent more money. Story of my life and pretty much everyone else here I’m guessing . Anyway, I rolled my frame outside to wash some crud out and found this.

Passenger side above the rear spring mount. Well ****. It looks like it’s only cracked on the inner c-channel which is good. But now I want to see all the flaws, so this frame is getting naked and going to get blasted on Monday. I’ve already ordered some square tubing after reading some people’s fixes on here, in particular these two threads.

Recommendations for a reputable shop to do frame repair - East Valley?

-Good to hear that. Any idea how this happened? That's some scary looking damage!- *Que up the Waylan Jennings - "Justa good ol' boys....never meanin' no harm...beat all you eva saw, been in trouble with-a-law...." * It prolly happent that thar one time ol' Rosco was chasen em' down ol'...

forum.ih8mud.com

Rear spring mount (FWD) frame crack repair.

As many know the problem with pre 80's 40 frames cracking due to excessive flexing ( cold rivets) and lack of proper support on the cantilever spring mount. This Arizona rig is cancer free and freshly sand blasted making it much easier to repair the crack and improve the spring mount design...

forum.ih8mud.com

Pulled the motor and tranny and unhooked the springs and this thing is ready to go in the back of my truck on Monday.

 

[ranchdawg]

Another month and a half has gone by. Got a little stuff done. I got the square tubing for the spring mount repair, but I didn’t like the fit. It needed to be a little wider to fit center better over the mount, so instead I had some plates made and welded on.

Debated chopping off some frame in the front and welding new, but many of you chimed in and talked me off the ledge and the frame is at the shop now getting straightened. Meanwhile I dropped off this at Valley Hybrids…

Today I took off the flywheel and bell housing and removed the pilot bearing. I tried just using grease to pop the bearing out, but it kept escaping. So then I mixed in a hamburger bun and that sucker popped right out. This is what I’m looking at:

Looks like oakum. Also, can anyone tell me what that plug(?) is at 11 0’clock?

 

[ranchdawg]

Another month and half… Spent more money, but not a lot of progress. I tried my hand at replacing some rivets and failed miserably. The rivets didn’t like getting hot and staying hot and large pieces were falling off despite out best efforts to evenly heat them up. I spent $100 and wasted a lot of time on an experiment I kept going back and forth on. So instead I perused the forums for ideas and went with button head bolts and nord lock washers.

This puppy is on the back of truck and we’re going to the blaster/powder coater.

 

[ranchdawg]

Got the frame back yesterday and went to work trying to tidy up my garage. Which really means putting stuff back on the frame.

Picture me rolling…

 

[ranchdawg]

Next, I dropped the motor back onto the frame. Got to use my fancy new VTP rear motor mount bolts.

 

[ranchdawg]

Finally, I put the head back onto the block.

 

[ranchdawg]

Got some work done this weekend.

Gotta say, did not enjoy this one. The rear main seal was fine, but the pan was fussy. Working off my back for most of the job, at least I didn’t bump my head on anything, but I’m sore as hell now as I type this. After that, I put in a new pilot bearing, reattached the flywheel, and mounted a new clutch.

Big thanks to @orangefj45 for his write up and selling me most of the parts. I also put some new wiring in the rear. Lucky for me I has the foresight to send my harness for refurbishing to @Coolerman and bought a new rear harness.

 

[orangefj45]

Got some work done this weekend.

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Gotta say, did not enjoy this one. The rear main seal was fine, but the pan was fussy. Working off my back for most of the job, at least I didn’t bump my head on anything, but I’m sore as hell now as I type this. After that, I put in a new pilot bearing, reattached the flywheel, and mounted a new clutch.

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Big thanks to @orangefj45 for his write up and selling me most of the parts. I also put some new wiring in the rear. Lucky for me I has the foresight to send my harness for refurbishing to @Coolerman and bought a new rear harness.

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Thanks for the honorable mention. And we appreciate you supporting us as a customer!!!!!
Glad to hear that my “how-to” thread helped.

Georg @ Valley Hybrids
Shop 209-475-8808
Sales@valleyhybrids.com