STLCA 60 Series Club Thread

[Elbert]

looks like wd40 is the magic trick....truck started fine today, temps in the low 30's this AM. so maybe I'm good for the next few years. Truck is over at a friends house or I would try and Start on Mon-Tues when its suppose to get crazy cold.

verified...after the polar vortex...key turns ok in the ign switch, end result is that WD40 is the "Shizzle"

 

[sk8salomon]

looks like wd40 is the magic trick....truck started fine today, temps in the low 30's this AM. so maybe I'm good for the next few years. Truck is over at a friends house or I would try and Start on Mon-Tues when its suppose to get crazy cold.

Cool, I will give mine a squirt too then.

 

[Elbert]

do it today and let it soak....its not a real time thing... See what happens tomorrow or Tuesday. I was surprised at the positive change.

 

[Elbert]

ok...I've made a few more mods. 2inch body lift, changed my fuel filters and hose setup, changed to a PSC p/s pump and remote reservoir and different p/s cooler, modified fan shroud for body lift, added electric pusher fan in front of radiator. Temp using some FJCruiser 17 inch black steel wheels. Wheel mount and clear front axle fine, rear axle they need about 1 to 1.5 spacer to give me better clearance on my 35's. Installed new tires //35/12.5/17. These are probably pushing it for a 60 with body lift and heavy/heavy SUA OME lift but we'll see how it goes. Dropped radiator about 1 inch.

Found an almost perfect replacement radiator hose (had to swap out to a different hose on the lower radiator hose due to radiator drop. I'll have to go find the pn and I'll post it for others. its basically a large 90 degree type hose. GATES PN# 20573

Installed a oil pressure electrical sender (te'd off the fitting near the distributor) and a coolant temp sender in the passenger side cylinder head.

Planning on buying these Rock Crawler wheels in the future...
PCW98-7983S3.5
17 x 9 6 x 5.5 3.5BS

I still have to finish my heater core job.

Oh yeah...also got some tc shifter extensions made...where the gear shifters for the transfer case are easier to reach and I don't have to lean over to grab them.

The psc power steering pump setup is working great so far....we changed everything I had previously and the only think that stayed the same was the rebuilt gear from WTO.

Guy on the main forum gave me a lead on the pn for the above wheels and he runs 35's as well. They are $$.. I've not ordered wheels yet as I'm just trying to get things wrapped up enough to make GSMTR if I can.

The 35 spare now blocks most of my car tag...so I gotta figure out something to remount the tag...I'll probably just do something simple off my gas can mount.

In the works...ubolt flip kit from Aplus, finish the dreaded heater core, fix car tag mount, repaint the sliders at some point, clean up under the hood and change dual batter cable configuration, along with the heater core, setup my gauges for where the radio use to be.

 

[DSLTOY]

You have been busy. Have you looked at MRW for rims, they build them to spec. Mrt-wheels.com

 

[Elbert]

You have been busy. Have you looked at MRW for rims, they build them to spec. Mrt-wheels.com

I've looked at the site before, I'll go check it out again. I'm leaning towards the other wheels I mentioned because another guy confirms they work without issue and he is running a 60 with same tire size. From what I can tell....the game changes a little when you run 17 inch wheels or larger...some of the clearance issues go away..depending on style and design of wheel vs 15ich wheel.

I also learned that the 1inch wheel spacers I was using on the rear axle allowed the OEM lug studs to clear the spacer to far...which was causing problems with the FJCruiser wheels ability to mount flush to the rear axle hub (actually the wheel spacer face...not the hub). Only way to fix that is to run 1.5 inch spacer or get custom wheel as mentioned to avoid spacer use or potentially roll the dice with another wheel and depending on design another wheel might work without issue...in regard to the wheel spacer issue I'm noting. I have temporary shimmed the 1 inch spacer but that's only until I get new wheels or 1.5 spacers, so I can test drive and drive the truck. I"m not advocating that this is a good solution...just something that works temporary.

The issue is inherent in the 1 inch spacer design (thickness and the length of the OEM Toyota lug nut studs). Also depends on wheel design as well. Since I did not have to run a spacer with the FJ cruiser wheels up front...its not impacting the front axle.

So to check the issue with a 1inch wheel spacer....(the kind with lug nut studs). Install it, torque the lug nuts and then take a straight edge to check the flat plane of the spacer across the lug nuts...if the lug nuts stick out or the studs stick out (just 2 or 3 16hs)...it can interfere with the proper install of the wheel, depending on wheel design.

 

[Elbert]

Pictures show the 1 inch spacer with studs and also attempt to illustrate the issue showing where the OEM lug nut studs interfere with the wheel sitting flush with the spacer. Given the use of the 17 inch FJCruiser Black Steel wheel I'm only having this issue on the rear. If I had a narrower tire I dont' believe I would have to use a spacer and I would not have this issue.

I'm now running 35/12.50/17 tires... with these tires and wheels, on the rear axle the tire just barely clears the leaf spring and rubs the inside wheel well too hard on any flex. By the way the wheel well has a nice sharp edge that will shave rubber off your tires.

Given above, my assumption is that if you were running a tire that was less in width than 12.50 inch width or less than 315 mm you would foreseeably be good. No need for spacer if running this 17 inch wheel. Of course that would require some checking into. I mean a good bit narrower...like a 10.5 which I think is the next size down in width. Slection of tires sizes in specific brands/design becomes a problem. Metric sizes may be a workable solution but I'm not sure what size narrower would also get you the same approx height/diameter.

 

[Elbert]

This picture shows the inside of the FJcruiser wheel and the marks the studs left on the wheel. See "finger" for direction

A couple of things to note as I stated above. This is a 1 inch spacer. I think a 1.5 inch or 1.25 inch spacer would not have this problem since the thickness of the spacer would exceed the length of the OEM lug nut stud and problem solved. Or run a set of different wheels. These are 17inch wheels I had on hand so that's what I'm using right now.

What I did to temporarily solve the issue was put a .25 spacer between the spacer I have now and the hub. This keeps the OEM lug nut studs from hitting the wheel. I don't consider this a proper solution and I'll either get some 1.5 spacers or change wheels soon.

 

[Elbert]

well I guess you win some things and loose on others. GSMTR 14 dealt me some funny cards.... First I won a highlift jack...that was cool, as I've not "won" anything in a long time. But then the trail dealt me a nice one. First of all I know that i"ve done a number on my lower shock mounts and ubolts over the years and I was on track to deal with that...but the trail decided to let me have it..(I learned after I got unloaded and the truck off the trailer).

So unloading the truck off the trailer I noted a lot of fluid on the deck of the trailer and was looking around trying to figure out what it was and then I noticed the bottom of the rear passenger side shock was wet and on top of that I noticed a puncture ih the shock housing at the lower bottom...area that is near the spring pack. At first I assumed the I had hit something or somehow wedged something in there to puncture the shock housing.. What It appears now is that I must have hit something fairly hard or I just had a ubolt failure...because the inside u bolt failed. I don't know for sure the exact combination of events but I have a busted shock and a broken ubolt (which I noticed today when looking at the shocks).

So I had the parts to do a ubolt flip but did not have time to put them on before GSMTR...well I guess I have time now. I ordered 4 shocks for fun too...since I noticed I had really beat up on them in the past.

The good...at least the 2nd bolt on the right rear did not fail. I never felt the rear end walk around....and I only really gave the truck hell on one particular hard hill climb...which I guess was good too.

May get around to doing the a-plus ubolt swap kit, plus install 4 new shocks this coming weekend.

Lesson learned...when parts look worn and in need of replacement...maybe I should fix that before I go on the next trail ride. I knew the ubolts had taken a beating and also the lower shock mounting points and lower portions of the shocks were also rough. I was lucky in that the 2nd ubolt did not come loose and allow for additional damage. I did not think the ubolt would fail and I was proven wrong.... Glad I did not have a total failure on the trail or certainly on the pavement. I can't blame the parts as they have been beat up on the rocks pretty bad and I should have dealt with it sooner than now.

 

[sk8salomon]

Shocks are overrated!

 

[Elbert]

yea...I like the Cadillac ride the that the shocks provide... OH YEAH.. OME shocks $$

The crazy part was that we were all prepped to address the ubolt problem....but it bit me in the @$$ first

Just part of the game....guess I get 2 or 3 stupid points for not fixing earlier...

 

[LDowney]

View attachment 895252 View attachment 895253 View attachment 895254

Pictures show the 1 inch spacer with studs and also attempt to illustrate the issue showing where the OEM lug nut studs interfere with the wheel sitting flush with the spacer. Given the use of the 17 inch FJCruiser Black Steel wheel I'm only having this issue on the rear. If I had a narrower tire I dont' believe I would have to use a spacer and I would not have this issue.

I'm now running 35/12.50/17 tires... with these tires and wheels, on the rear axle the tire just barely clears the leaf spring and rubs the inside wheel well too hard on any flex. By the way the wheel well has a nice sharp edge that will shave rubber off your tires.

Given above, my assumption is that if you were running a tire that was less in width than 12.50 inch width or less than 315 mm you would foreseeably be good. No need for spacer if running this 17 inch wheel. Of course that would require some checking into. I mean a good bit narrower...like a 10.5 which I think is the next size down in width. Slection of tires sizes in specific brands/design becomes a problem. Metric sizes may be a workable solution but I'm not sure what size narrower would also get you the same approx height/diameter.

Based on the picture showing the stud proud of the spacer, moving up to a 1.25" spacer looks like over kill. What about installing a thick washer on each stud then installing the spacer? This would not be an ideal solution, but the washer selected would allow you to tailor the thickness to only what you need to clearance the studs through the spacer.

Considering your ubolt - shock issue, a simple solution for the spacer could help the wallet while you give it a trial test. Good luck

 

[Elbert]

I have shimed the spacer temporarily...which I don't like....I'm using a crappy .25 dorman spacer behind the 1 inch spacer just on a temp basis. I don't think this is safe or the right approach...its just a thing for now. I have 1.5 inch spacer on order to replace that mess, and later on I will mostly likely change to different wheels.

in a sense I 've done what you have suggested...just used the dorman spacer in lieu of washers...but I don't think its a good idea overall as I noted.

 

[Elbert]

I should also add that given off-road flex...that I will probably need a wheel spacer on the front to reduce hard tire scrub in the wheel well, otherwise everything worked on the front with the wheels as far as mounting.

 

[Elbert]

This might have been the magic point in time when the rear ubolt let loose and then the shock took a hit.

 

[Elbert]

installed two new rear shocks (fronts on the way), installed front and rear a-plus ubolt flip kit. (u-bolt hard-ware is well made and looks like it will be a good solution). Mods to install the flip kits are simply moving a brake line for clearance and we trimmed the excess on the rear u bolts. Also installed 1.5 inch spacers on the rear wheels to deal with tire scrub on the inner wheel wheel. I need to look at the front and may need to do the same for the front in regard to wheel spacers.

Future work: Install front shocks, install new p/s pressure hose. rig up wiring for electric pusher fan, finish heater core swap.

 

[FJCRAWLER]

Elbert.........Where did you get the u-bolt flip kit ?

 

[Elbert]

Elbert.........Where did you get the u-bolt flip kit ?

http://www.4plusproducts.com/home.html

Bought the flip kits here....Dave is a good guy and I've bought a number of things from him over time...

 

[FJCRAWLER]

http://www.4plusproducts.com/home.html

Bought the flip kits here....Dave is a good guy and I've bought a number of things from him over time...

Thank You

 

[Elbert]

well I had a hydraulic hose made up and I swapped that out (high pressure hose) and I'm back in business. The PSC pump has been a great performer so far. I've got to give it a good stress test in 4wd to make sure my ps leaks are solved but took it on a long drive on the street with no issues.

Next on deck is getting the long over due heater core job done, and swapping out my ham antenna to this larsen model I bought which has a spring loaded based and should be tough for trail rides...etc.