Stock height springs for an FJ60 (1 Viewer)

Content may include affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

Joined
Nov 25, 2021
Messages
40
Location
Southeast
Hey everyone, following up here with the actual suspension refresh. There were some major delays: the springs and shocks took months to come in, then I broke my wrist in a mountain biking accident and had to go through surgery and recovery. This past holiday weekend, though, I finally got around to tackling the job. My dad was kind enough to let me use a lift at his shop on the weekend, which was a significant help.

The install was generally very straight forward—nothing really painful or tricky. The existing setup had been installed quite some time ago and not maintained, so the biggest challenge was being careful not to damage threads on the bolts that run through the fixed leaf spring mounts when trying to remove them. Also, I wish I had purchased u-bolts initially because my front ones were completely shot, but live and learn.

Having it on the lift was also a great opportunity to do a deeper inspection on any rust. The rear quarter panels have some damage from wheel spray and there is a little bubbling on the roof (not excited about fixing that), but the frame and floorboards are in great condition, which is encouraging.

I took it for a test drive this morning and the ride quality is outstanding. I need to put more miles on it for the leafs to settle in and re-check all of the bolts. Also, there seems to be a slight difference in height between the front and rear, with the front riding slightly higher, but I expect a small amount of sag to normalize that. If not, I might have to lift the rear slightly to compensate for the sag.

Next up I'll be installing a 5 speed transmission and once that's done I'll decide on final tire size to get the overdrive gearing ratio right.

2023-01-16 09.00.03.jpg


2023-01-16 09.39.18.jpg


2023-01-16 10.52.57.jpg


2023-01-17 09.28.35.jpg


2023-01-17 09.27.56.jpg
 
Joined
Nov 25, 2021
Messages
40
Location
Southeast
One additional piece of intel on the 555 tie rod ends that I forgot to mention: the lower ends don't come with Zerk fittings, which was a little surprising, but the size (M6) is common and they are pretty cheap.
 

cruiseroutfit

Supporting Vendor
Moderator
Joined
Jan 9, 2003
Messages
11,723
Location
Utah
Website
cruiseroutfitters.com
One additional piece of intel on the 555 tie rod ends that I forgot to mention: the lower ends don't come with Zerk fittings, which was a little surprising, but the size (M6) is common and they are pretty cheap.

I'm not sure where you bought your tie rod end kit from but if they came from Cruiser Outfitters | CruiserTeq.com, it shouldn't be a surprise. :D

Screenshot_20230118_082217_Chrome.jpg
 

ToyotaMatt

Factory Focus-Point Mind-Set Approach
Supporting Vendor
GOLD Star
Joined
Aug 12, 2007
Messages
24,018
Location
EAST COAST
Website
vintageteqparts.com
I'm not sure where you bought your tie rod end kit from but if they came from Cruiser Outfitters | CruiserTeq.com, it shouldn't be a surprise. :D

View attachment 3222779


so Kurt

does this then imply that all zerk-less land cruiser tie rod ends are pre-greased for plug and play use from the OEM parts maker they come from ?

thanks for your in-site here on this tech question


matt
 

cruiseroutfit

Supporting Vendor
Moderator
Joined
Jan 9, 2003
Messages
11,723
Location
Utah
Website
cruiseroutfitters.com
so Kurt

does this then imply that all zerk-less land cruiser tie rod ends are pre-greased for plug and play use from the OEM parts maker they come from ?

thanks for your in-site here on this tech question


matt

I can’t speak to all manufacturers just Toyota, 555 and Joint Fuji, 555 and JF are not direct OEM’s.
 
Joined
Jul 18, 2017
Messages
600
Location
Portland, OR
you're telling me the proper grease procedure isn't to stuff it full of grease until clean grease blows out of all the cracks?
 

cruiseroutfit

Supporting Vendor
Moderator
Joined
Jan 9, 2003
Messages
11,723
Location
Utah
Website
cruiseroutfitters.com
you're telling me the proper grease procedure isn't to stuff it full of grease until clean grease blows out of all the cracks?

No :D
 
Joined
Nov 25, 2021
Messages
40
Location
Southeast
I'm not sure where you bought your tie rod end kit from but if they came from Cruiser Outfitters | CruiserTeq.com, it shouldn't be a surprise. :D

View attachment 3222779
Ah, good to know! I think I got confused because two of them had Zerk fittings and two didn't. I could tell the ones that didn't had grease in them, so I didn't add any, but I'm used to greasing my own fittings, which is why I called it out. Thanks for sharing.
 

cruiseroutfit

Supporting Vendor
Moderator
Joined
Jan 9, 2003
Messages
11,723
Location
Utah
Website
cruiseroutfitters.com
Ah, good to know! I think I got confused because two of them had Zerk fittings and two didn't. I could tell the ones that didn't had grease in them, so I didn't add any, but I'm used to greasing my own fittings, which is why I called it out. Thanks for sharing.

It never hurts to have the zerk, and on the spring-loaded drag-link ends, it's quite crucial as they do require more adjustment/maintenance by design. The other ends have the spring loaded boot retainer and can/do blow apart when shops toss the battery powered grease gun on them and fill em up :D
 
Joined
Oct 30, 2011
Messages
201
Location
Valley Center, CA
Hey everyone, following up here with the actual suspension refresh. There were some major delays: the springs and shocks took months to come in, then I broke my wrist in a mountain biking accident and had to go through surgery and recovery. This past holiday weekend, though, I finally got around to tackling the job. My dad was kind enough to let me use a lift at his shop on the weekend, which was a significant help.

The install was generally very straight forward—nothing really painful or tricky. The existing setup had been installed quite some time ago and not maintained, so the biggest challenge was being careful not to damage threads on the bolts that run through the fixed leaf spring mounts when trying to remove them. Also, I wish I had purchased u-bolts initially because my front ones were completely shot, but live and learn.

Having it on the lift was also a great opportunity to do a deeper inspection on any rust. The rear quarter panels have some damage from wheel spray and there is a little bubbling on the roof (not excited about fixing that), but the frame and floorboards are in great condition, which is encouraging.

I took it for a test drive this morning and the ride quality is outstanding. I need to put more miles on it for the leafs to settle in and re-check all of the bolts. Also, there seems to be a slight difference in height between the front and rear, with the front riding slightly higher, but I expect a small amount of sag to normalize that. If not, I might have to lift the rear slightly to compensate for the sag.

Next up I'll be installing a 5 speed transmission and once that's done I'll decide on final tire size to get the overdrive gearing ratio right.

View attachment 3222014

View attachment 3222016

View attachment 3222020

View attachment 3222021

View attachment 3222022
Hey so stocked to see this as an option. Could you post a pic of the stance so i can see what its looking like?

Cheers!
 
Joined
Nov 25, 2021
Messages
40
Location
Southeast
I'll definitely post photos of the stance as soon as it's off the lift out of the shop.

My dad owns a manual transmission shop (and let me borrow a lift for the suspension refresh!) and we decided to just go ahead and do the conversion to the 5-speed H55F while it was there but taking a little time because they are running through the transfer case to replace bearings and make sure nothing needs to be replaced (like the pin, etc.).
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Top Bottom