Builds Trail buggy FJ40 tear down and build up. v2.0 (20 Viewers)

[Francesco_from_Italy]

Your shocks probably have 5w oil in them now. You can continue to use this, or if you don't get the ride out of it that you want, you can go to 10w oil.

What size are your shocks?

I run 2.0" shocks in the rear and 2.5" in the front.
If with "ride" you mean shocks' travel I'm quite satisfied; the problem is that they are too soft and they don't hold properly the car, spcielly on side slopes; so you suggest to keep 5w and just increase the level? But 10w wouldn't make them a little bit roughter?

Francesco

 

[brimy311]

Yep. I would try running more fluid. You do need to figure out the max amount of oil or you can hydro-lock the shocks. On my 14" travel shocks, 400cc's is the Max before hydro-lock. You can try to add like 50-75cc's and if that does not work, you should check how much you have in your shocks before going any further. My shocks from the SAW came with random amounts of oil in each shock. One had 200cc, one had 100cc. I would no trust what they come with from the factory. You could have different amounts in each shock.

One more questions, are you shocks mounted straight vertical or did you angle them in at all? Straight vertical will cause alot of problems too.

 

[Francesco_from_Italy]

Yep. I would try running more fluid. You do need to figure out the max amount of oil or you can hydro-lock the shocks. On my 14" travel shocks, 400cc's is the Max before hydro-lock. You can try to add like 50-75cc's and if that does not work, you should check how much you have in your shocks before going any further. My shocks from the SAW came with random amounts of oil in each shock. One had 200cc, one had 100cc. I would no trust what they come with from the factory. You could have different amounts in each shock.

One more questions, are you shocks mounted straight vertical or did you angle them in at all? Straight vertical will cause alot of problems too.

I'll try to set better oil level.

Front shocks have a little angle of 10/12°, I've been told that this is the best way to mount shocks.
Rear ones are almost vertical (just a few degrees of angulation, I guess 3° or 4°), this becouse I wanted to fit them between wheel and frame, without making holes in the cabin.
You say that this kind of mounting causes problem? I had some problems becouse in compression wheel hit the shocks, but I work out making a couple of higher bumpstops; you think that stright vertical they suffer more car's weight?

Francesco

 

[Francesco_from_Italy]

You might see rear shocks' angle from this pic:

 

[Southeast Overland]

I have put about $4500 into this conversion. No labor though. I would guess it would be around $3000 in labor to do it again.

$7500 for that work is a deal (if paid out). Very very nice work.

 

[Francesco_from_Italy]

you can see better from this video: YouTube - Tribe Maggiora 2008

 

[brimy311]

It's done.

 

[brimy311]

Francesco, I am finishing some rigs to leave on our trip in the morning. When I get back next week, I will let you know how mine handles and get back to you will getting your shocks tuned and such.

 

[FLYINGLOW]

Very nice work!

What is the material that you made the inner fenders from? I love the look of trimmed or tube fenders but hate all the dirt and mud that gets in the engine bay.

You might want to wrap some safety wire on the "clips" holding the pins in the ends of the steering ram or replace them with bolts. Circlips might work also. We used similar rams and pins on a grapple for helicopter logging a few years ago and we safetyed the clips with 0.040 safety wire and the were still getting knocked off. I can just imagine a small branch hooking the clip and popping it out.

 

[brimy311]

The inner fenders are made from floor runner mat. I bought it from Lowes.

 

[Francesco_from_Italy]

Francesco, I am finishing some rigs to leave on our trip in the morning. When I get back next week, I will let you know how mine handles and get back to you will getting your shocks tuned and such.

Thanks a lot!

 

[Gib009]

top job. Looks like it would be awesome on the trails

 

[Sputnik40]

Awesome! More impressive is being able to get it done in such a short turnaround time - damn focused. Good luck on the weekend run.

 

[ibinazbass]

offroad action?

 

[brimy311]

Well, Took it out this weekend. Overall it preformed well, but I did have a few issues. First, the factory fan ended up being took close and when I high centered on my front driveshaft the fan chewed a hole in my radiator. I had to replace the radiator and install an electric fan.

When this broke, we had to spend about 6 hours recoverying my rig out of Windrock and in the process I ended up warping the head and blowing the head gasket. We were having difficulty getting it out of the park and I had to start it and drive it a few times. One time I had to drive a little too long and I believe that is when the Motor problems began.

Basically now, the motor won't run over 210 degrees. So I will be replacing my motor with a fresh rebuild this winter.

The only other thing was that the shocks are a little too stiff. I am going to take some of the oil out and try it again. I might also add a sway bar to the rear. Otherwise, I was very pleased with it's performance.

Now for the pics.

This is where I blew the radiator:

 

[brimy311]

 

[Tapage]

normal on the rad issue .. bud sad to know you toast your head due to rad problem .. there wasn't a way to quick repair the rad just to keep the engine mid cool and get out there ..

thought the new engine will come with more goodys !

 

[brimy311]

We crimped off the cores, but it tore apart at the tank. We put epoxy putty in the tank and left the cap off. It was good enough to get me off that riverbed trail, but blew climbing a hill out. In hindsight, I should have removed the fan...

I doubt the new motor will have too many bells and whistles. With Diesel prices down, I might hurry a new motor together so I can get back out on another trip before the prices come back up!

 

[Francesco_from_Italy]

I'm so sorry for the radiator...
But seems that air shocks have satisfied you, didn't they? Actually you say that your shocks are too stiff, exactly the opposite of what I think of mine; if you take out some oil and try the car again in a short period let me know if something changes!

Francesco

 

[brimy311]

I'm so sorry for the radiator...
But seems that air shocks have satisfied you, didn't they? Actually you say that your shocks are too stiff, exactly the opposite of what I think of mine; if you take out some oil and try the car again in a short period let me know if something changes!

Francesco

Yah they seemed to work fine on side hills and such. Only a couple of times did I feel like it was going to roll. I am going to get a swaybar hooked up, as I am hoping to help make it a little more stable.

It was kind of a rough ride around the trails, and I think I can get away with a little softer spring rate. I am going to try to run again before too long, but it might be a month before I am ready to hit the trail again.

I would recommend adding some oil to your shocks and trying that first. If you already have the sway bars, go ahead and put them in. A good sway bar system will not make your handling worse, and it can only help.