any reason to not just get a disc axle and swap it in?
Build Salted Pork fj55 family wagon build
- Thread starter Roastchestnuts
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Cool, we’d love to help!
- Thread starter
- #423
Not really other than finding one and Driving off the island and getting it to Ocracoke. I still need to contact that guy you sent me information from. either way Id assume redoing the important bits on the axle but its a better starting point for sure. Would be cheeper probibly too. are fj60/62 axles easily swappable? They would be easier to find I would assume over the fj55 front axle.
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- #424
I have not had any good 55 photos latley because its under the knife. But I snagged these shots yesterday. It was a beautiful evening. Hoping to get some fj55 stuff sooner than later!
Not at all if you can find a complete disc 40/55 axle which is hard to find. Either way I’d rebuild so the effort is about the same?
6x axles are the easiest to source fwiw. For anyone hunting, you want a 9/75-1/79 4x/5x, 1/79-1/90 4x/6x/7x or 79-85 Pick-up 4Runner.
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- #426
Most of my money that should have gone to new 55 parts went to this epic New dad tool gift. But its the gift that will keep giving. It finally showed up. went home on my lunch brake and it was delivered. Put everything inside. I cant wait to play with it when I get off work. quality of the tool feels 1000x better than the eastwood 140. checked to make sure nothing looked broken then I moved it inside and went back to work.
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- #427
yeah was thinking the 60 series axle would be the easiest to find. but yeah in the end I am not really sure what the most cost effective solution would be the answer.
Cost of the conversion is the same once you have a donor axle. It really comes down to cost of donor parts and how good of shape they are in. Check out my thread when you're ready to dive in as I make some arguments as to which source of donor parts makes the most sense for ones needs. Example, if you're building a heavy duty off-road use Cruiser, the 79+ knuckles have many benefits. If your building a cool Sunday canyon Cruiser and want it to be 'more' original, the early 4x/5x axle would make sense. Lots of ways to tackle it
- Thread starter
- #429
I posted this else where on mud too - I got the Miller 142 yesterday and just the build quality of the product is 1000X better than the eastwood. I would have thought (not looking at the size) that they would be the same size but the miller is bigger. some things I noticed: the Millermatics power cable is substantially more robust than the eastwood. even the regulator seems of better quality. Hell even something as simple is the chart on the inside door is a better quality sticker with better information in terms of how to use the machine. the chart is really not much different. I only have two minor qualms with the machine. One of my qualms is more with the packaging. for being delivered to my front door I kinda dont like that it says MILLER in big blue letters. not that theft is a major issue where I live but I would not have wanted this to sit here all day while I was working. 2nd thing I was hopping my tweco style contact tips that I just got over christmas for my .024 wire would work on the miller. turns out they are for sure different. Thats fine I just ordered the correct ones. I probibly have 50lb of .024 wire (a bunch of 11lb rolls that I picked up from a friend) but only 1 roll of .030 flux. So I am glad it came with a small roll of .030 so I could test it out
I will also say my eastwood might has well have been broken this whole time because hot damn the Miller welds so much better! it is night and day how much better it welds. I tested the autoset feature out on some 20 gage scrap with the .030 wire it came with and while I would not want to use this .030 wire on my land cruiser it did do a butt weld without burn through that was strong. I would worry about heat worpage on the car with that wire I like using .025 and .024 It would have taken me alot of trail and error on the eastwood. Confirmed that the autoset feature when turned off keeps the voltage and wire speed when turned to manual mode too. so you can fine tune.
I did notice that the autoset is constantly adjusting as you weld. When you pull the trigger it shows on the screens what the wire and voltage is doing. Its pretty cool.
again this machine is so much easier. I think its going to help me get alot of my car projects done for sure. Time will tell but for anybody getting their first mig machine I would say skip the cheeper stuff. I wish I had gotten this miller machine 4 years ago.
Next to the busted eastwood 140. I think I am going to load up some flux core in the east wood and see if it will work well enough. I did check the liner and it was fine on the eastwood with no kinks. but honestly It might be in a land fill soon. somthing is wrong in the machine I think though.
The bottle is attached to my welding cart btw. I need to find a more user friendly way to cart everything out of the "machine shed". Maybe a little wagon would be good.
I will also say my eastwood might has well have been broken this whole time because hot damn the Miller welds so much better! it is night and day how much better it welds. I tested the autoset feature out on some 20 gage scrap with the .030 wire it came with and while I would not want to use this .030 wire on my land cruiser it did do a butt weld without burn through that was strong. I would worry about heat worpage on the car with that wire I like using .025 and .024 It would have taken me alot of trail and error on the eastwood. Confirmed that the autoset feature when turned off keeps the voltage and wire speed when turned to manual mode too. so you can fine tune.
I did notice that the autoset is constantly adjusting as you weld. When you pull the trigger it shows on the screens what the wire and voltage is doing. Its pretty cool.
again this machine is so much easier. I think its going to help me get alot of my car projects done for sure. Time will tell but for anybody getting their first mig machine I would say skip the cheeper stuff. I wish I had gotten this miller machine 4 years ago.
Next to the busted eastwood 140. I think I am going to load up some flux core in the east wood and see if it will work well enough. I did check the liner and it was fine on the eastwood with no kinks. but honestly It might be in a land fill soon. somthing is wrong in the machine I think though.
The bottle is attached to my welding cart btw. I need to find a more user friendly way to cart everything out of the "machine shed". Maybe a little wagon would be good.
The 60/62 axles are about 3" wider, the spring perches are spaced differently. I think most folks outboard the spring hangers on the 40's frame. The knuckles are swappable to the 40/55 axle. You have to clearance the inside the axle balls for the slightly larger birfield.
- Thread starter
- #431
Something to think about. I like the idea of trying to keep the original axle on mine too. I go back and fourth on what I will do. Luckily I have time to decide. But leaning toward to what Kurt was saying above and I am looking to more of a "sunday canyon cruiser" I think. the 55 plan has always been a family rig for adaventures on the beach that I could take off the island If I needed too. Not really a hard core wheeling machine. although I do use the 4x4 almost everyday checking the surf out. its not Florida sand out here its deep stuff that you will get stuck if you dont have real 4x4. But I dont think I will be doing any real crawling in the 55. I hope that made sense?
I wheeled my 40 with 33" tires with the stk axle and a V8 for years and never had a problem with the knuckles. Once I put a lockrite in the front, then I started to breaking birfs. I think the 60 birfs would have broken too. If you have a locker in the front you need to run alloy birfields.
- Thread starter
- #433
Not really planning to run a locker or anything. The most I might ever plan on doing to the fj55 in terms of off road mods would be to get the dobinsons 1.75 inch lift you can get and maybe upsize my tires to 33x9.50 kendas or somthing. But for the moment I kinda like the stock 750 r16 look on there. it does what I need it to do. Like I said not really planning on wheeling it that way. Maybe if I go to the relic run one day! its always before or after my spring break from work...
Fwiw, it's not the 9/75-79 birf that is the issue so much as the small knuckle studs and more so parts availability if/when you break studs or a birf. They will all break eventually but if you start with the 79+ larger birf and larger knuckle studs, you have 10x more parts availability to upgrade, swap, trail fix, etc. But again, if it's a tidy Cruiser that isn't getting flogged, may never be an issue. 
- Thread starter
- #435
Bad news Coronado Beige is not the color of the fj55. Here is the spot I tested it on. this area will be sanded again so its fine. Looks like I might have to take the fuel door off and send it someplace to be matched like @roadstr6 did.
at this point the color thing is annoying me and I want to figure out what actual color it is!
at this point the color thing is annoying me and I want to figure out what actual color it is!
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Here is the color and spec chart for the US-Spec Land Cruiser from 1968-1979. If you see an error please post it here and I will correct the page and graphic ASAP. You can upload a photo of your car to the site by clicking on the above graphic, then clicking on the appropriate camera icon next to your color.
I will make updates on the chart within a day of any errors or additions posted. To confirm or add your color to the chart just post a photo or description of your car along with the model year (or production date) and...
- Thread starter
- #437
Thanks. I have seen that chart. Yeah the only paint color left on that chart I have not tried is the Appenino Brown looks like it could be it too. I was hoping somebody could tell me definitively before I spend another 20-40$ on a sample of paint.
Here is the color and spec chart for the US-Spec Land Cruiser from 1968-1979. If you see an error please post it here and I will correct the page and graphic ASAP. You can upload a photo of your car to the site by clicking on the above graphic, then clicking on the appropriate camera icon next to your color.
I will make updates on the chart within a day of any errors or additions posted. To confirm or add your color to the chart just post a photo or description of your car along with the model year (or production date) and...
- Thread starter
- #438
yeah I have seen all the paint charts. Just wanted some input if anybody had actually bought paint for their brown chocolate milk fj55. I think I am going to try t-1455 Appenino brown. It its kinda my last try before just get some paint mixed. without actually seeing a paint sample it actually looks close.
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I am going through a similar challenge with my 40, which white is the correct white. The question is if the charts are correct my model year or build year. I can’t find anything definitive so I ordered a can of Cygnus white from the same place you did. Fingers crossed but it’s a $40 bet
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- Thread starter
- #440
haha yeah its tough to figure out. I have already spent 20$ on the pueblo brown and 40 on the coronado. I am hopping spending 100$ is the win haha. at least I have some automotive paint that I can use for an art project or something
If I do find the correct paint I am going to buy probably a gallon from TCP Global Corporation - Quality & Service Since 1974 - https://tcpglobal.com/ I bought from these guys for my samurai paint and I like the product.