Stevo's Unofficial Build Thread, FJ60 + FJ62 + FJ80 Axle = FJ68?

[StevoJonesFJ60]

I don't know if I will have the time/opportunity to do an official build thread, but I have had a bunch of people ask me about my planned springover conversion with 63" Chevy springs in the rear. So I decided to start this thread to document the progress of my 1987 FJ60 build. I know how everyone likes pictures, so there will be plenty of those. But now for some background on my project.

In October I purchased a 1987 FJ60 for $800 It was mechanically sound, just needed a battery. It did have some rust though. Here she is.

 

[StevoJonesFJ60]

Body Work

So with my newly acquired cruiser, I decided the first step was to tackle some of rust that plagued the body.

I wanted to do it right so I spent the time cutting out all of the cancer, and replacing it with fresh new metal.

Also I will apologize in advance for the crappy photos, I have been documenting this with the camera on my cell phone.

 

[StevoJonesFJ60]

Body Work

Once the metal was fully stitched on, out came the bondo to make it look a little bit nicer.

 

[StevoJonesFJ60]

Quarterchop

The next thing to go were those rear quarterpanels. They were rusted to death, and were just waiting to get slammed against things off road. Passenger Side:

 

[StevoJonesFJ60]

Quarterchop

Driver Side:

 

[StevoJonesFJ60]

Frame, not so much

So I got to looking at the frame a bit. I examined it when I was looking at the truck it looked rusty, but I figured it was almost 25 years old that's how I expected it. But as I went around knocking mud and other debris off of it I noticed that pieces of the frame started breaking off and falling to the ground. Not too good.

When I realized I could look through both rails and see the wall on the other side I decided to do a little strengthening.

 

[StevoJonesFJ60]

Frame

So I looked around the shop and found some very stout C-channel, I looked around under the frame for the worst spots, and also spots that would see the most stress being driven hard off road. These were the spots I decided to beef up:

 

[StevoJonesFJ60]

Parts Truck

Pretty much as soon as I finish doing my ghetto strengthening of the frame, I find a local mud member who has a parts fj62. At first I am just interested in the axles but when I ask about the frame, he says its in great shape. So for $400 I buy the rest of the truck.

As you can tell the beast has been gutted, I salvaged whatever that was good, and stripped the rest off to be scrapped.

 

[StevoJonesFJ60]

Strip down

So I get my new donor rig into the shop and tear anything of use off of it. Not too much left when I got it. But I was left with an almost perfect frame and rolling chassis.

 

[StevoJonesFJ60]

63" Chevy Springs

So I had a bunch of things in the mix for this truck. I wanted it to be a monster off road, but still drivable on the street. So to help with its off-roading prowess I decided I wanted to spring it over. The springs on the FJ60 were totally shot, but the FJ62 Springs still had a bunch of life in them.

I wanted to have some beefier springs up front so I decided that would be the perfect home for the current rear 62 springs, after a little clean up.

I had read a couple of threads on people putting Chevy 63" springs in the rear, with great results. So I decided that was the path I would take. They are more flexy, yet able to carry a large load which would be good for a heavy wagon. So off to the local U-pull I went, and it just so happened that they had a new Chevy Silverado 2500 that had just come in that day. About $100 later I had a practically new set of springs. I brought them back to the shop and cleaned them up. Decided blue was my color. Don't hate on them.

 

[StevoJonesFJ60]

I ordered a Chevy 63" Swap kit from Ruffstuff,63" Chevy Spring Swap [63swp] - $120.00, very straightforward install too.

First weld up the hangers in the kit.
I decided to do one side at a time.
I took a plumb bob and used that to mark on the frame the location of the rear axle. I decided to keep it in the stock location.
So I unbolted the old U-bolts and freed the old springs from the rear axle. I cut the old spring hangers off the frame since I wouldn't be using them anymore.
Set the new spring under the axle, bolted it up. and then proceeded to tack the new hangers in place. I know the shackle angle is not the best looking but I figured since there was no weight on the frame it would look better once the FJ60 body and drivetrain was in. If not, I just tacked the hangers in place so I could easily cut and relocate them in the future.

Also, the only rusted portion of the FJ62 frame was the rear C-channel insert so I removed it and replaced it with some quarter inch angle iron in increase the strength of the rear frame. It was welded in, but I also plan on using some grade 8 bolts to ensure its strength.

 

[StevoJonesFJ60]

63 inch Chevy springs

Same goes for the other side. Once one side was hung, I tested the difference between the stock springs and the Chevys. The new 63" Chevy springs are noticeably more flexible. I can't wait to hit the trail with these. Also If there are any questions about this process let me know, I sorta zoomed through it. BTW the shackles included in the kit were designed for a 1/2" and a 9/16th bolt to be used. I increased the size of the holes and decided to use 5/8ths bolts that I converted to greaseable bolts. By doing this I needed to find new inserts for the bushings which I made from some galvanized conduit that was around.

 

[Butt Ugly Chuck]

I'm here

The spring-over is coming later?
Butt

 

[StevoJonesFJ60]

Yeah, Unfortunately the shop I am working in is not mine, and I have to keep the truck running and driving. They are some really great people and I'm so thankful that they are letting me use it. Its their busy season so I am currently in the process of collecting parts for the SOA conversion. Should be starting June 1st when their busy season is officially over.

I also helped a fellow MUD member drop the rear axle on his FZJ80 so this baby is going to get prepped in the meantime.

It sure will be nice having a full floater in the back.

 

[StevoJonesFJ60]

Other odds and ends

I had some downtime before repairing the frame and getting the parts truck so I decided to do some other things to the truck. The list includes some new rear storage panels, and an on-board air system. The new panels were pretty easy to make, all it took was some sheet metal, I traced the old cardboard panels onto them and marked out a few of the holes. I also pulled out all of the ratty looking carpet and rolled some bedliner on it.

 

[StevoJonesFJ60]

OBA

So upon inspection of the AC system I found that the condenser coil was totally dryrotted and worthless. The system would not be usable unless I wanted to pony up the dough for the new coil and braze it in. All possible to do, but I got to thinking about using the AC compressor as a compressed air system. I started reading up on this on this forum and researched all of the things I would need to do in order to do the conversion. I know a york would have been better, but the stock compressor still worked and was already installed. So I bought all the components needed, and set it up. I have it plumbed into a pressure switch which activates when PSI <90 and shuts off automatically when PSI = 125.

 

[Butt Ugly Chuck]

Cool. I've wondered about SUA with 63 Chevies before, but never seen anyone blaze that unorthodox trail yet. I'll be interested in your thoughts if you put some miles on that setup before jumping into your SOA.
Butt

 

[klinetime574]

Good thread going on here.

Nice work man

 

[StevoJonesFJ60]

Sorry to let you down, but its gonna go right from the frame swap to the SOA. I will probably take her out for a spin once the frames have been swapped and after I have fully welded the spring hangers, just to test everything out. But no long term tests. I'll let you know how she handles.

Right now I would be willing to bet the handling would be much improved over stock. Those springs are just so nice and flexy but still strong.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

I was going to tell you in the other thread to start a build thread. I'm looking forward to this, you have the same goal / problems that I do. Good luck man.