Build Sandy the Tan FJ60

[Hokie LX]

Drove Sandy down to Uwharrie this past week for ONSC Carolina Relic Run. Great event and great turn out! @roadstr6 brought out his beautiful tan 40 so we had to get a picture together before they got dirty.

Got to wheel with the new dobinsons which did great and provided a lot more flex and ride comfort than the old setup. It only took 4 trails before the rear leafs settled ~2" so the rear leaf I pulled will go back in.

Friday was a great wheeling day at Grand Overland which the club rented just for our event and had a blast wheeling with @GLTHFJ60, @liz, @NCLARKIN, and @AJR. Ended up completely tearing my driver side motor mount doing a hill climb and then, more unfortunately, I tagged my roof gutter/roof on another trail. Was going up a deep v-notch and fully slid into it and into the hillside which tagged the roof. The gutter was pushed in as well as the metal right below the gutter but above the window and got some scuffing on the top of the roof as well. I didn't notice it until later in the day but I was a little bummed about it. The truck got some new scars and dents on that side as well but it just adds to the character of the truck. It was an awesome day!

Put a couple large worm clamps around the motor mount and it held great all the way home. However, this morning when I started the truck to leave, I noticed it wasn't charging. Voltage was showing just under 12V when I hit the road for the 2 hour drive home. About 20 mins from the house, miraculously when the voltage was showing 10V or less, the volt meter suddenly jumped to 13V+ and the truck started charging again. No idea what happened but will need to dig into that another day. I've been wanting to redo all the grounds and power cables to the alternator so this is a good excuse to do so. Will also likely pick up a higher amperage alternator at the same time.

Next year is the 10th anniversary of Carolina Relic Run so if you haven't been but have been thinking about it, next year would be a great one to go to!

I also made out pretty well in the raffle winning a prize pack from @TRFarmers which I’m stoked about. My HVAC bezel been cracked/broken since I got it and this new one will be a nice refresh for the interior along with the new ebrake handle. I did pull out my plumbing and sprayers for the headlight washers so the tank may be for sale but it is a very nice piece. To be honest, all of these items are top notch quality and extremely nice reproductions that stay true to the originals.

 

[liz]

Drove Sandy down to Uwharrie this past week for ONSC Carolina Relic Run. Great event and great turn out! @roadstr6 brought out his beautiful tan 40 so we had to get a picture together before they got dirty.
View attachment 3613298

Got to wheel with the new dobinsons which did great and provided a lot more flex and ride comfort than the old setup. It only took 4 trails before the rear leafs settled ~2" so the rear leaf I pulled will go back in.

Friday was a great wheeling day at Grand Overland which the club rented just for our event and had a blast wheeling with @GLTHFJ60, @liz, @NCLARKIN, and @AJR. Ended up completely tearing my driver side motor mount doing a hill climb and then, more unfortunately, I tagged my roof gutter/roof on another trail. Was going up a deep v-notch and fully slid into it and into the hillside which tagged the roof. The gutter was pushed in as well as the metal right below the gutter but above the window and got some scuffing on the top of the roof as well. I didn't notice it until later in the day but I was a little bummed about it. The truck got some new scars and dents on that side as well but it just adds to the character of the truck. It was an awesome day!
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Put a couple large worm clamps around the motor mount and it held great all the way home. However, this morning when I started the truck to leave, I noticed it wasn't charging. Voltage was showing just under 12V when I hit the road for the 2 hour drive home. About 20 mins from the house, miraculously when the voltage was showing 10V or less, the volt meter suddenly jumped to 13V+ and the truck started charging again. No idea what happened but will need to dig into that another day. I've been wanting to redo all the grounds and power cables to the alternator so this is a good excuse to do so. Will also likely pick up a higher amperage alternator at the same time.
View attachment 3613306
Next year is the 10th anniversary of Carolina Relic Run so if you haven't been but have been thinking about it, next year would be a great one to go to!

I also made out pretty well in the raffle winning a prize pack from @TRFarmers which I’m stoked about. My HVAC bezel been cracked/broken since I got it and this new one will be a nice refresh for the interior along with the new ebrake handle. I did pull out my plumbing and sprayers for the headlight washers so the tank may be for sale but it is a very nice piece. To be honest, all of these items are top notch quality and extremely nice reproductions that stay true to the originals.
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This was so much fun! I told several people that I tagged along with you, Adam, Johnny, and Larkin… they told me that was mistake number 1.

 

[HemiAlex]

I support going over the grounds. I just did a bunch of that in the 62. I’ll slow you my excess.

 

[Hokie LX]

Did some cleaning today. I was asked to post something like this showing my cleaning routine by a few folks in the past year so here we go. The truck saw quite a few deep mudholes and sloppy hillclimbs during the trip which left mud packed everywhere. Luckily it poured on the way home so it washed a lot of it off already.

After each trip I take where the truck gets in a lot of mud, I completely clean the whole truck top and bottom. I put a lot of time into the underside of this truck so I like it to stay clean. She has quite a few scars from various wheeling trips but still looks good underneath!

Post wheeling:

After the drive home. A lot of the mud was washed off the front and rear axles and wheel wells.

I always start with cleaning the inside of the chassis. When I bought the truck, it had mud and garbage caked in there up to the access holes. I hope to prevent that from ever happening again. I use this to clean the inside of the chassis which works great. The tip free spins and creates a backwards cone of water which is perfect for dragging out mud, rocks, sticks, etc from the frame rails.

Amazon.com

After that I pressure wash the chassis and underbody to get as much mud off as I can. It's extremely dirty and mud gets all over you while you do it. I use a stubby pressure washer handle so I can get into all the nooks and crannies. I recommend goggles. I prefer torture so I usually do this in the driveway on a creeper. When I get motivated, I put the truck on ramps to help give me more space.

Then comes the foam cannon to help clean off residual mud spray from pressure washing. Let it marinate for 3-5 mins then wash off.

Then final rinse and the underside is done.

The body is then foamed and rinsed to help get the mud off. Then hand wash to finish it off.

 

[Hokie LX]

Noticed this on my way home from CRR but I bent my draglink during the event on a trail. Looking into replacing the pitman arm TRE with one from an FZJ80 along with the 4x4 labs tapered insert or switching to an 80 pitman arm. It'd be nice to get rid of the 60 series style adjustable TRE that loosens over time. However, looking at the two pitman end TREs between the 60/80 the 80 one is shorter so I'll need a longer drag link which means making one. I see FROR makes some that are threaded already which would be an option as I'm not finding any M23x1.5 weld in bungs out there to make my own. I see a left hand thread one on a vendor site but not a RH thread.

You can see the bend in this pic. It was hitting my stabilizer mount which scarred up the bar and bent it. Seems the new suspension flexes quite nicely.

Debating deleting the stabilizer when I fix this.

 

[cruisermatt]

how did you manage to bend that.

FROR makes the M23 inserts as a kit with tubing that you cut to length.
If you are willing to modify stuff I would go to their flat or mid-steer keyed arms and 80 joints everywhere. Have @GLTHFJ60 mill your knuckles. That way you'll be able get the tie rod up and the drag link nice and flat.

Steering link, Toyota ends, Builder style for Custom steering

Shop the best parts and accessories for Toyota Hilux, 4Runners, Land Cruisers, FJ Cruisers and more. Find the right parts for your rig and budget today!

frontrangeoffroadfab.com

 

[Hokie LX]

how did you manage to bend that.

FROR makes the M23 inserts as a kit with tubing that you cut to length.
If you are willing to modify stuff I would go to their flat or mid-steer keyed arms and 80 joints everywhere. Have @GLTHFJ60 mill your knuckles. That way you'll be able get the tie rod up and the drag link nice and flat.

Steering link, Toyota ends, Builder style for Custom steering

Shop the best parts and accessories for Toyota Hilux, 4Runners, Land Cruisers, FJ Cruisers and more. Find the right parts for your rig and budget today!

frontrangeoffroadfab.com

It was hitting the stabilizer mount. There’s scars on the bar that match up with that when I jack the wheel up.

He and I were talking about options, but did not talk about doing the keyed arms. I’ll look into it more, thanks.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

how did you manage to bend that.

FROR makes the M23 inserts as a kit with tubing that you cut to length.
If you are willing to modify stuff I would go to their flat or mid-steer keyed arms and 80 joints everywhere. Have @GLTHFJ60 mill your knuckles. That way you'll be able get the tie rod up and the drag link nice and flat.

Steering link, Toyota ends, Builder style for Custom steering

Shop the best parts and accessories for Toyota Hilux, 4Runners, Land Cruisers, FJ Cruisers and more. Find the right parts for your rig and budget today!

frontrangeoffroadfab.com

He doesn't have hi-steer. Don't need keyed arms for 33" tires either, but it is a good option for future proofing.

 

[cruisermatt]

He doesn't have hi-steer. Don't need keyed arms for 33" tires either, but it is a good option for future proofing.

I know he doesn't have high-steer, I'm saying it would be neat for him to do their flat or Mid-steer arms, not quite high-steer but in the middle so it will have the benefit of flatter drag link without the links hitting his frame at flex, and no more 60 TRE Springy-bois

 

[GLTHFJ60]

I know he doesn't have high-steer, I'm saying it would be neat for him to do their flat or Mid-steer arms, not quite high-steer but in the middle so it will have the benefit of flatter drag link without the links hitting his frame at flex, and no more 60 TRE Springy-bois

I may be remembering incorrectly, but I thought you can do the 80 TRE pitman arm to axle rod without highsteer (flat/mid) arms?

 

[Hokie LX]

I ordered all 4 80 TRE and when they show up I’ll measure and order the FROR bar

 

[TRFarmers]

I also made out pretty well in the raffle winning a prize pack from @TRFarmers[/USER] which I’m stoked about. My HVAC bezel been cracked/broken since I got it and this new one will be a nice refresh for the interior along with the new ebrake handle. I did pull out my plumbing and sprayers for the headlight washers so the tank may be for sale but it is a very nice piece. To be honest, all of these items are top notch quality and extremely nice reproductions that stay true to the originals.

Thank you for that feedback. We are glad those parts went to a good home. If you want to send the bottle back to us for a trade in other parts, please PM us directly.

 

[Hokie LX]

Got the driver side motor mount replaced today. Will drill out the studs in favor of a long bolt sometime before GSMTR but for now this makes it drivable again.

Easy enough job but had to take the fan blade loose and radiator shroud to jack the engine up high enough to get the old one out and new one in.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

You can chain it down too if you don't want to take it back apart and drill through the mount.

EDIT: Also, you can drill through the old mount and just stick it in the truck with a bolt. Since you're bolting it together, it doesn't matter if it's ripped or not, and it's pretty easy to swap out on the trail if the new one rips down the road.

 

[cruisermatt]

I've been able to drill through the frame bracket, motor mount bracket and the whole isolator with it all assembled and run the bolt alonside the original studs instead of removing them. Start with a good 1/4" bit and work up to 3/8 or 7/16". 3/8" Gr8 bolt is plenty. It's kind a tight and tricky to get the drill in and lined up right but it is possible, that's my preferred way to do it

 

[Hokie LX]

Made up some new ground cables for the 60 today and got them installed. Tcase-body, block to body, starter to frame, battery to motor mount, and battery to body (no pic of this short one). Not sure if I missed any or not.

Used 2ga wire with nice copper ends and waterproof heat shrink. I forgot to put sheathing on them so need to do that.

 

[Hokie LX]

Got some voltage readings with the new ground cables. At idle (~700), battery shows 13.1V with fan on 3/4 setting and lights on. Using the factory 55amp alternator. Pretty happy with this. I had been debating upgrading to the 3FE alternator but this seems to be suiting my needs well for now.

 

[cruisermatt]

your clutch slave hose looks terrible. need me to send you a new one?

 

[Hokie LX]

your clutch slave hose looks terrible. need me to send you a new one?

It’s on the list before GSMTR but yeah I need one. I’ll text you.

 

[cruisermatt]

Thanks for the business!