Builds "The Milk Truck" FJ45 Preservation Sorta (2 Viewers)

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Raising the bar! I do like the recessed fairlead. Maybe copy that idea later.
 
I appreciate everyone’s comments and support. I feel good about the bumper. I added a few finishing touches to it today and have if done except for clean up and paint.

I sat in the garage for a few minutes to absorb having one more piece of the build checked off the list. On to the next piece. Here are a few more pictures after I was done today.
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Yeah, I am so copying that for Vera..... Since it was your prior project I am sure that exempts me from any copyright issues, correct?
 
Yeah, I am so copying that for Vera..... Since it was your prior project I am sure that exempts me from any copyright issues, correct?
You are welcome to copy anything I post up. This bumper would look good on Vera. My bumper is not exactly the same as what Proffitt's made but I got the idea after seeing their bumper, I don't feel entitled to any ownership of the concept. Build away, you have to get going on Vera. She has been a project for a long time now between both of us.
 
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Thanks for sharing the pictures on this! The bumper looks great and very fitting for the truck.
 
I moved to the back of the frame to finish the frame side mounts for the pan hard bar. The mounts I used are originally from a 60 series that I cut down. The heavy duty pan hard links were perfect to tie alll together.
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I am trying to turn the corner on this build this week. I pulled it apart and have been going over the frame finishing up some welds and cleaning the slag off in places. I flipped it over and drilled some holes for the winch mount, rear bumper, and trans crossmember.

Before I broke it down I was checking the suspension clearance with the bump stops installed. The front pan hard bar was contacting the frame support.
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I took it all apart and flipped the frame over. I shaved a piece of solid bar stock down, so it would fit inside the frame support. I drilled three holes to weld the stock in place then cut a notch to clear the pan hard and welded all the seems. Hope it clears when it goes back together.
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Frame is ready to go to the blaster. I will have a little bit of welding to do after it comes back but I am looking forward to finishing it enough to hopefully put it back together for the last time.
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The rear bumper has 3” holes in it that I wanted to use to place backup lights in. I looked at using clear bib lights but because of the location I expect they would take a beating. I kept looking and found these KC cyclone lights and a company that makes a 3” aluminum housing for them. They fit nice and tight. They look a little more modern for what I hoped to find but the fit is exactly what I wanted. I am going run with them.
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My garage looks like a Land Cruiser BOMB went off. There are old, new, and refurbished parts spread all over. In the last week I have been attacked by the 4.5" wire wheel a few times - each time losing a little skin, busted my knuckles and bled, made a trip to the eye doctor to have a metal shard removed from each eye (I was wearing safety glasses the whole time) and I still have specks of POR15 on my neck ears and face. I survived the week and the frame is waiting for a scuff and top coat. I blasted and coated the axle housings and have been building them in-between prepping other parts and working on the frame.

I decided to use POR15 to coat the frame as I have done two other frames with it before following the directions to degrease and use the metal prep prior to coating and it turned out fine. This time I decided to spray the POR15 through a bed liner gun, so I could really coat the inside of the frame. It worked great to coat the inside of the frame but the exterior went on a little thicker than I would have preferred. Because of that there are a few spots that bubbled and I will have to sand down and touch up. Not a big deal since I need to go over it to apply a top coat any way.

After the frame came back from blasting I put it back on the lift to finish welding a few more spots on it.
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I expected shooting POR15 through the bed liner gun was going to be messy, so I put it back on the trailer and did the dirty work out side.
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The axle housings were blasted and coated with epoxy primer and black top coat before I started the assembly process.
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I have been collecting parts for this build for years now. It is nice to start pulling The parts out and empty some boxes which allows me to reclaim some space in the garage. All of the boxes and tubs in the center are new parts just waiting to get incorporated into the build.
 
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I strated this build with a set of ARB thirds that I was going to use but I really wanted to go with the Harrop elockers. I sold the ARBs to fund the Harrops. I sent one empty 80 series carrier to Valley Hybrids to have it built with one of the Harrops and 4.88 gears. I had another 80 series carrier that had previously been set up with a locker and 4.88 gears. I sold the locker out of it but left the pinion installed, so I could cheat on the set up. I spent a little time reading the Harrop installation instructions while enjoying some Planters courtesy of George. Thank you!
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After heating the ring gear for 20 minutes in the oven it slid on the carrier with ease.
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When trying to set the backlash I took the carrier out and started fresh a few times. No matter what I did the backlash was either good for 14 or 3.5. The one VH setup was 7-7.5 and that is what I was aiming for. In the end I accepted 3.5. The gear pattern looked really good I thought.
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After it was done I cleaned up the exterior of the housing and applied a black coat to give it a fresh look.
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I am going to install the VH built third in the rear and mine in the front. Since the one I half set up is my first I figure it is safer in the front in the event I have an issue with it but I expect it will work fine.
 
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Damn, you have been kickin' it! Seems like when I brush on POR15 it looks great, then I go to bed, get up and it has drips on the bottom of the frame. However, that is doing one coat, waiting 4-6 hours (whatever the label says) then putting a second coat on. I guess my question is ... what is your method. Just one coat, then dry, scuff and a second later?
 
Damn, you have been kickin' it! Seems like when I brush on POR15 it looks great, then I go to bed, get up and it has drips on the bottom of the frame. However, that is doing one coat, waiting 4-6 hours (whatever the label says) then putting a second coat on. I guess my question is ... what is your method. Just one coat, then dry, scuff and a second later?

The last two frames I used POR15 on I brushed it on then again in the 4-6 hour window followed up with their top coat.

This time I used a bed liner gun to spray it on mostly because I wanted a better way to coat and reach inside the frame in areas where it was boxed. I kept going with the gun and sprayed the outside too. Iapplied a pretty thick coat on the exterior thicker than what would be brushed on, so I did not go back for a second coat. I did end up with some dripping on the bottom. I will have to go back and sand them down and reapply or just use the POR15 primer spray and then the top coat to even it out.

In the future I probably wouldn’t use the gun to spray the exterior and would brush it on instead. I think the gun worked well for reaching inside the frame.
 
Keep an eye on those sway bar frame mounts
 
Keep an eye on those sway bar frame mounts

Definately. Because of the taper on the rear frame the sway bar ends don’t rest directly under the frame like the 80. I consider building a more stout mount but figured I would give these a try since I had them. There is a chance I don’t run a sway bar at all after I get the chance to drive it with and with out. The sway bar I am going start with is my own cut and weld version, so I will be watching it as well. It is an experiment.

Curious what your thoughts are on the mounts after seeing them. Do you think the torque will brake them? Maybe a test of my welds.
 
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Not your welds, but the material next to them. My thoughts were that it’s could potentially be too far away from the frame rail in the horizontal direction for the forces applied. I would add some support on top of the mount up to the top of the frame rail as easy insurance. That will pretty much guarantee it won’t break, or bend the frame rail in since it’s not plated between the mount

Green lines are where I would add support, red arrow pointing to where I’d guess it will probably cave the frame rail in a bit otherwise.

You have pretty long sway bar arms with a low rate bar so it might not be an issue at all. I’d just keep an eye on it

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Not your welds, but the material next to them. My thoughts were that it’s could potentially be too far away from the frame rail in the horizontal direction for the forces applied. I would add some support on top of the mount up to the top of the frame rail as easy insurance. That will pretty much guarantee it won’t break, or bend the frame rail in since it’s not plated between the mount

Green lines are where I would add support, red arrow pointing to where I’d guess it will probably cave the frame rail in a bit otherwise.

You have pretty long sway bar arms with a low rate bar so it might not be an issue at all. I’d just keep an eye on it

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Thanks, I agree that is a good idea. I will go ahead and do that before I finish up the final coating on the frame. I appreciate your comments.
 
I have been building the axles and thought I would share what I did on the front. I read that the dust shields wouldn’t fit with the Hellfire Knuckles. I decided to try and make them work. With just a little hammer work they fit. There is not a lot of space between the dust shield and the knuckle. I think my only concern might be debris building up in the narrow space. I am going to try and run them and see how it goes.

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The axles are almost done. I am waiting for a few pieces to show up to complete them. Everything seems to be fitting together fine. I was able to tweak the original hard brake lines to fit the narrowed housings. The majority of all the new parts in this project are attached to the axles. I bought new bushings for all the control arms. I will start working on them next.

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Little bit of a set back. For what it is worth don’t do what I did and spray the outside of your frame with POR15 using a bed liner gun. It cured fine but left a really crappy finish with a lot of bubbles and drips. The bed liner gun applies it too thick. I tried sanding the drips, runs and bubbles down but after spraying a coat of etching primer over it. The imperfections and such are just too many, so I am thinking about blasting it a gain and coating the outside with epoxy primer.

Taking a brake to think about it. Here it sits.

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