Builds The new FJ 73 Build (1 Viewer)

[Alex gee]

high clearance mounts sorted,

New U bolts, will be changing the fronts to over the axle style to accomadate the new mounts, they are usually square and mount laterally along the axle on a few mounts.

Nuts sit up nice and high.

Shock mount, will weld the bolt on when i have decided on the correct length.

turns out something like this.

 

[sadam_husain]

I've got pretty much identically made recessed U-Bolt plates like those on my fj40 they make a significant difference over the standard ones they slide over s*** a lot easier without getting hooked up, nice work on all the modifications you've been doing mate

 

[Alex gee]

Been a busy week on all fronts,
Trying to get the truck ready for a week away.

Fitted up an Air on Board compressor and tank kit. Very nice kit comes witheverything needed and seems to pack quite a punch.

Shoehorned the compressor beside the draws, this is with the cover taken off.

Manifold with pressure switch, outlet, air release and guauge.

Mounted on the inner side of the timber.

Plumbed the 9L tank, this is the medium size in there range.

Cleaned up the positive terminal and lengthened the bolt.

Switch fits in quite well,

Mounted, a little close to the exhaust but its the only good spot for it.

The Bilsteins also landed, i ordered 33-230382 12 inch with eyes top and bottom and 33-230399 with eye and stud, very nice looking units.

Welded the pins on the hoop.

Had to make some cupped washers as evrywhere i looked and spoke to couldnt help out.

Machined a dished reccess and a plug and pressed some normal hd washers with around 10t of pressure.

Welded M16 bolts.

Chopped u bolts.

 

[Alex gee]

Turned out to be alot tigher than expected, fairly hard to cut out the factory bar, used the old mounts for a tube gussets.

the hi-clear plates worked a treat, along with the dished washers.The u bolts thread was just long enough.

 

[Alex gee]

Todays mission was the fronts.

Could have possibly just got away with the factory top mounts position but didnt want to take the chance of it being to long.

Built some extensions for the stock hangers.They raised the mount by 60mm.

Chopped off the old mounts, the passengers side had a large crack trravelling from the mount hole to the outer edge.

Front passengers side, out with the sqaure u bolts the new u bolts now go over the axle not over the mount that you can see on the leading edge of the axle.

Had to weld a spacer to push the u bolt up the hill to try and keep it parralel.

Old and new.

The old set had absolutely no rebound at all , no wonder the front end felt so bouncy and rubbish.

Loving the high clearance,

Peek a boo, back on the ground.

 

[BlackBetty74]

Nice work mate ! Loving all the fab work!

 

[Alex gee]

Big thanks to Josh at AllShocks for sorting the shocks,

Unfortunately its way cheaper for me to buy from the States than local,
Great service price and shipping.

AllShocks.com - Bilstein Offroad Shocks

Sized up the bump stop extensions, at 25mm.This left about 45mm of shock travel left,

So all the calculations worked out pretty spot on,Very happy with the outcome, cant wait to get out on the trails.

Fully compressed.

Rear ends a treat , still need to lighten the rear springs.

Pretty tight on full compression but enough room all round.

Big droop now.

And massive droop on the front.

Small amount of space.

rear end working well now.

Extended bump stop.

Front foot well false floor, kept getting sick of getting my foot caught in betwwen the ribs

 

[Alex gee]

Had a massive wobble from the tyres at about 20 to 40km,
Did some research and found the best method for balancing was with beads,
Lined up a tyre joint to do it but on arrival they didnt want a bar of it and only had the sand/powder.
Which is no good for deflating and so on.
I found an Austrlain mob doing ceramic balancing beads called ABC Beads, a quick trip out to The Ulimate suspension i picked up 4 8oz bags.

Now i was a bit sceptical but thought its worth a go and after seeing the below video was impressed( think its the powder in the video but same principle.

very serious bead, super hard to break, had the hole of the steel bench floating at one stage.

Still needed tyre leavers to open the bead a little.

Gotta say, first drive around the block and instrantly the wobble is gone, very impressed.
Another great feature is they adjust to mud on the tyres or wheels and continually adjust.

 

[Alex gee]

Just back from a week away,
Clocked up 1000 odd km on the truck and evrything went pretty well, went for a drive evry day for a week running.
Had a few little problems with a blown fuse and so on and an idle problem late in the trip but on the tracks supension and tyre wise it went amazing.
Its fairly good on the highway cruising at just over 100km it stils on around 85 degrees with a nice steady oil pressure and alternator charge.

Next on the list is to give the steering a birthday, there is a good amount of play in most of the balljoints and really need a stronger robust set up.

High clearance doing there work,

Thers an exhaust under there somewhere

Super grease,

very impressed,

Not suited for the soft stuff but at 10psi they definately worked,

Under a large fallen trees root ball,

The clean up,

 

[Alex gee]

 

[Alex gee]

 

[Alex gee]

Had known the rear drums were pretty shot but what was inside suprised even me.

Stripped and cleaned,

Rooted shoes

New shoes cylinder adjustor rod and spring kit,

bit better,

All dialed in and working a treat, handbrake even works , winning.

 

[Alex gee]

Got out for a little blast today,

Morning views.

 

[Alex gee]

 

[baroudeur73]

greats vidéo and nice sound

 

[Alex gee]

Got out yesterday to Ourimbah State forest for a few hours,
Truck is going very well, have the bits on the way for tierod and drag link build.

Looking forward to getting back up ther for a full day.

 

[Alex gee]

Got the spherical bearing rod ends in for new tie rod and drag bar.

The tie rods will be 5/8 ends and the drag bar 3/4 with high mis align spacers taking it back to 5/8 bolt size,
I also sourced some 5/8 unf bolts and conelock nuts to suit.
Have some 30mm 1045 bright solid bar that will suit nicely.

 

[Billyfj7312ht]

That's some heavy duty hardware Alex, nice work on ALL mods, i wish I had your skills.
Make sure you replace those conelocks after one or two uses as they're really only a one use item......after that they tend to loose their grip.
The compressor you put in behind the rear wheel arch, does it make much noise?

 

[Alex gee]

Cheers pal.
I have some half nuts too that I might introduce to be sure to be sure.
The compressor is pretty quiet but having said that the truck is far from a peaceful environment, not insulation or carpeted and fairly load motor and exhaust.
It's mounted on some rubber grommets so vibration is reduced a little.
I aired up from 22 to 32 the other week and each tyre was fairly quick.
Very happy with the setup.

 

[Alex gee]

Made a start on the tie rod, waiting on some hi misalignment spacers for the drag bar.
Popped the driverside tie rod end and the tapered hole is almost perfect to be drilled out to 5/8 so I got started on prepping the solid bar for the sockets.

Started by boring it out to 24mm

Final cut with the small boring bar.

Cut a nice chamfer on the leading edge for nice penetration.

Snug as a bug.

Also cut some holes to plug weld it, to be sure to be sure.

That should hold it lol

Test fit with a M12 bolt, will be drilling out the arms to 5/8 to receive the new hardware.

Wanted to make some venting for the hood as the engine temps get pretty hi. so knocked this up.
Mainly using 50x25m angle and variously flat bar.

chopped the hood and used the leading edge to transition into the vents.

Added some mesh to stop any debris and or little fingers.

Gave it the textured treatment.

Subtle enough.

Very happy with the finished product.