Techster’s 1973 FJ55 buildup...

[LC_Hamma]

How about some nekkid lady gussets? These are easy to make I've also seen chubby chick gussets, but that ain't my style.......

 

[Gumby]

Drove out of the shop today under it's own power. Drove back in at the end of the day too.

No brakes. No throttle cable on the way out. but


It is alive!

I don't think Igor got me Hans Delbrook's brain, though.

 

[Goebeler]

aby normal?

 

[Goebeler]

update time here.....

what's remaining to be done?

 

[Gumby]

progress has been slow, but moving along.

shocks are in.

p/s reservoir is mounted. The mount is slick.

fuel cell is in, plumbed and cover/hold down made, powder coated and stickered.

Inner cage is in. Still have to make supports for it. I'm trying to decide if they are going forward or back.

I'll get some pics tomorrow.

I should be able to get it done in a couple of weeks once school is out.

 

[Gumby]

The inner cage supports went back and support a rack made from a roof rack I got somewhere. The rack will allow me to have flat storage above the shocks and fuel cell and have a shelf that I can reach easily with the tail gate up for stuff like straps, tree saver and shackles. I can also put the spare on it for the few times I might carry one.

I put the drivers harness on the inner cage.

We also finished the exhaust. It took a lot of looking at it before I came up with a compromise solution. I really didn't want a rear exit because the exhaust comes up through the rear window at higher speeds. OTOH this rig never sees higher speed. I have no room in the wheel wells. I was looking at under the bumper on the sides or out the back.

We ended up cutting a hole in the bumper and sleeving it, then running the exhaust not quite to the end. I didn't want the end of the exhaust being thigh high when I lean in to get something.

I also did a little detail cage work.

 

[Gumby]

Looks like it's gonna get done this week. At least done enough to wheel this summer.

Got the brake lines in today. still got to get em bled. Took care a pretty good chunk of my punch list too.

Tomorrow is winch day. It should be good for some pics. The rope came today. I started turning the 2" round fairlead that will fit in the guide tube.

With a bunch of luck it'll be rolling around tomorrow.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Sweet. This is quite the build!

 

[Gumby]

Worked on the winch almost all day today. Got a few other little things done including some troubleshooting, so it was pretty productive. Would have rather been able to say I was all done, but it usually doesn't work out that way.



About 100 pages ago i talked about putting the winch inside the truck, under the passenger's knees. It was a bunch more work, but I think it'll be worth it. The winch rope is guided from the passenger footboard to the bumper through a tube. Of course, the rope wouldn't last long without fairleads on both ends. A 2" round fairlead is not something Warn carries so I made a pair out of 2" square stock.

The outer end is almost 2" in diameter. The other end is 1.5" to fit into a 1.75 x.125 tube. I tapped the tube and end for 2 3/8 set screws to hole the end to the tube. I drilled a 1" hole through the center and polished it smooth. The hole is also rounded over at both ends.

I drilled a 1.75 hole through the front bumper (3/8 plate) and through both layers of front crossmember. Then I welded the 1.75 inside and out and to the 1.5" tube that will route the rope to the passenger compartment.

The other end I left the outside edge square thinking I would bolt through it. It is set into a 1.75 tube as well that is welded to a 1/4" plate. Drilling the hole through the plate at that angle was not a lot of fun. There is another plate on the outside as well with (4) 3/8 bolts sandwiching the floor. The pic is before I drilled the holes in the floor and put the bolts in and before I welded the tube to the plate. The 1.75 tube goes through the floor to the 1.5" routing tube.

No pics of the winch yet. tomorrow, I promise. I had some issues with the winch not working when I hooked it up to spool in the rope. I ended up leaving it in a big messy pile on the floor of the truck. I think I've got it fingered out though.

The mount is a class IV receiver welded and gusseted to the frame. A 3/8" plate is welded to a hitch tube to hold the winch.

 

[DesertLake]

Dude. In awe.

 

[4rnr]

Let me know if you need a hand with anything tomorrow. I took the day off to get ready for the trip. I can shoot up to the shop.

 

[Gumby]

I spent almost all day chasing parts and fixing the damn winch. I got it all installed, it pulled about three wraps with no load and stopped pulling. I pulled it all apart and found the stage 1 planetary gear set had a gear that was supposed to be attached to the planet carrier and was just spinning. A couple of tack welds and a whole lot of time getting 3 sets of planetary gears lined up right and it's back in the truck.

I've got about a half dozen little things on the punch list, then I have to get it off the hoist and spin it around to find out what else might be wrong.

I'd like to get the trailer in the air to scope it out, but that might not happen.

Going shopping tonight for supplies

 

[4rnr]

Damn sexy if I do say so myself!!!

Seriously let me know if you hit a speed bump, ill be in stand by. You arent missing this trip.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

That mounting position is wild. Very creative.

 

[Gumby]

4rnr showed me a thread on Pirate where a guy did that. We'll see how it works in practice.

 

[Gumby]

Seems to run and drive OK. ready for the shakedown run.

 

[Gumby]

Not a great first day. Bad miss under load. New plugs and wires and it runs great. No brake boost though. Rained out today flat nasty tomorrow.

 

[toyman317]

Need Pics. Good luck guys.

 

[Goebeler]

...and...

how did it do?

 

[Gumby]

Just got back.

It was a shakedown. Found lots of stuff that made it frustrating at times.

The biggest problem was that the hubs kept shearing off all of the hub bolts. I guess I found the next weak link after putting 30-spline Longs in and then replacing the Warn hubs with Aisians. I broke a total of 30 studs over the week. I'll order a couple of sets of Toyota ones tomorrow and see if that fixes the issues.

The stock wiring harness I was so happy to use has an ignition feed problem. I found and fixed a couple of other problems while looking for an intermittent no start issue. I ended up splicing in a switch from a constant hot to the distributor as a midnight trail fix to get the truck off the trail.

A blowing radiator hose was a repeating problem as well. Easy fix at home. Not so much on the trail. I'll have some scars for a while from that one.

The winch under the seat worked great. Because of the hubs it needed it a few times. The last time it broke again. Something inside this time.I'll take it apart this week.

I have about one link too many in the front limit chain. If I hang a tire in the air, which is pretty hard to do on this rig, it binds the driveshaft and blows all the bolts. Again, I found the weak link after using Georg's output shaft saver. I'm much happier shearing bolts than shearing output shaft housings. The broken driveshaft did take out the 4wd engagement fork housing.

I also found the 73 master cylinder will not work with a 78 front disc and Monte Carlo rear disc. Even after pulling the residual valves it was way too hard to push. That's an easy fix as well.

110 lbs of pressure in the Fox shocks isn't enough. very bouncy to the point that hill climbs were very difficult. That was a big problem at SMORR. I think I'll try to find some higher rate front springs too.

I have a lot to fix and a really busy week next week, but I hope to tackle at least the worst of it for next weekend.

I don't have any action pics, but I saw a lot others should be posting soon. She is very flexy.