Rotm Hj40

[rapovt]

I got my start in Landcruisers in 1976,soon after I got out of college. I rode with a freind's cousin on some old roads and I was hooked. I bought my first cruiser in June of 1976. A cherry 1972 with 40,000 miles for $2350. I had 3 other freinds with 40's and we would wheel every other weekend. I had monster tires(for that time) 11.00x15 Tru Tracs. Swampers were just coming out. I put on a pto winch and had some 3" lift springs specially made. The best place to get parts at that time was Man-A-Fre(located in Idaho). We used to wheel with alot of Jeeps and our cruisers would go way bettter than the jeeps. They would always break driveshafts and we very rarely broke anything. I had the 72 until 1980 when I traded for a 1980 F150. Here are some pics of my 1972

 

[rapovt]

Here are a couple of my freinds. This was a 71 that he bought for $1200

 

[rapovt]

Moving ahead to 2000. A couple of houses and 2 kids in college and the itch started again. I started looking around Vermont and found a lot of rusty trucks. One day I was on the net and saw a 75 fj40 in Arizona that looked good from abot 75 feet away. I emailed the owner and said I wanted about 25 more pictures all around and under the truck. Ten minutes later he sent me theses.

 

[rapovt]

Another 10 minutes later we had a deal. It had a 350 chevy with an automatic. It came about 2 weeks later

 

[rapovt]

It was in very good shape with no dents or rust. The paint was chalking so I decided to paint it.

 

[rapovt]

I started spending some time on mud and got interested in diesels. I read alot and decided that I would try to find one. I ended up buying a wrecked 86HJ60 in New Brunswick. We brought it into Maine 2 weeks after 9/11. The US Customs were "FREAKED OUT" over what had just happened. You used to be able to bring anything across very easy. Not any more! The front end was pushed in and it was dented and rusty. It was used to haul around hunters by an outfitter. After a lot of reading, we cut out about 18" of frame and said it was going to be used to power a sawmill. There were 5 customs agents and 4 said okay and one said that we could weld the frame and drive it-no go. So we went back into Canada and cut it in half under the front seats and back we came. Ol#5 agent said okay and we were back on our way.
It went in pretty easy. I fabbed some motor mounts and a crossmember.

 

[rapovt]

I also put in mini power steering,
1982 rear axle(with parking brake)
old man emu springs and shocks
disc brakes from the HJ60
new seat covers(from cruiser solutions)
tuffy console
33x9.50 BFG on new rims and caps
Aussie mats

 

[rapovt]

a few more

 

[Sporin]

gorgeous truck.

 

[JJS]

Very clean.

 

[Leaping Deer]

I thought it was a Cruiser Solutions resto when I first saw it. Nice truck!

 

[Sporin]

Guessing from the picture and knowing you are tall, what, if anything, did you do to add more legroom up front?

 

[Mad Jack]

Very nice!!!!

 

[82cruiser]

Nice write up Gary and sweet 40.

 

[peepers]

that sure is puuurty. thanks for sharing!

 

[rblank]

For the benefit of those of us without a lot of knowledge, I'm ASSuming that an HJ40 is a 40 series with a hard top? Still trying to learn all the designations.

Very clean truck though. Good find.

 

[rapovt]

HJ= 6 cyl diesel
BJ= 4 cyl diesel or something from wife or GF
FJ=6 cyl gas

They never made a HJ40, they only put 6 cyl in a 60 series so aHJ60 & Hj62(turbo)
They did make BJ40,BJ42,BJ43, Bj44 and there is talk of e few BJ55's

 

[rapovt]

Dave , being 6'3" I got a seat extension kit from Classic cruisers. It gives about 3" more needed legroom

 

[fogblanket]

that is really a nice 40 Gary that would be very nice to commute in. very nice job
Jason

 

[kkt]

Diesel

We need pictures of the motor.