Builds Trail buggy FJ40 tear down and build up. v2.0 (1 Viewer)

[brimy311]

I full rolled my FJ40 after 3 years of hard wheeling at the end of July. I jacked it up pretty good (worse then pics show) plus the combinations of many other flops had the body looking less then desireable.

I contiplated for a while on what to do with it, then I decided I wanted to build something new that would still be fun to have on the trail and something that would hold up better then the wide body cruiser. So I started tearing it down :nana:

Started cutting the tub.

3 hours later...

Finished the tub/firewall cut on the passenger side and then started working on removing the Dash and then reworking the cowl. I really did not want to have to remake the dash for a third time, so I am going do some flaring off the new cowl to make it fit. Should look pretty nice when it is completed.

Damaged cowl, both sides pretty much the same.

Cut out the sides, and then removed the dash.

New side and new top. I am going to have to wait for another person to be around to help me bend the outers in and force the top flat. For now it looks kind of wavey and out of square.

 

[brimy311]

I am going to be linking the front and running Air Shocks.

My plan currently is:
-Cutting the frame off just behind the front seats, cutting the frame in front of the Bib and putting the winch behind the bib.
-Boatsides (not really huge but somewhat)
-Going to try to keep the rear of the FJ at about 35-36" wide.
-Leave the wheelbase at 103"ish

Stuff I am up in the air on:
-Trail gear rear housing, or use the currently housing I have.
-Full hydro or leave it with assist.
-Trentfab hood or use a stock hood
-Air bumps or not.

After I rolled the FJ on the last trip, I beat the crap out of it for the rest of the day. After about 3 hours of water crossings like this, the cruiser finally stopped working and we had to drag it out:

Everyone suspected that the clutch pressure plate was packed with mud, but I some what thought maybe I broke an output shaft on the dual tcases.

Well, everyone else was right:

Amazingly, this autozone clutch disc is over 3 years old!

New quality clutch pressure plate vs. Cheap Autozone pressure plate. This should keep that from happening again!

UPS dropped off some parts today! Going to start putting the front 4-link together.

 

[brimy311]

I am using Johnny Joints on one end, but wanted to use poly bushings on the other end to help with some dampening from shock load. The Links I got were premade and taped for LH and RH. So I made up these to allow for them to still be adjusted when installed:

Front Uppers Mount/truss:

Links in place:

Still have to finish the lower axle mounts and make a small truss for the passenger side of the axle. Then I can make the air shock mounts and move on to chopping the frame up!!!

Air Shock Mount:

On the ground, ready to cut the frame.

Before:

After:

DOM here and ready to go! Starting tube work on Sunday.

 

[brimy311]

Rear Frame before:

Rear after:

Capped:

Cut off the sliders and cleaned up the prepped the frame for the boat sides:

Started working on the Boat Sides, just finished up the Dside. Thye are going to be skinned with 1/2" UHMW eventually.

I used 1 3/4 x .188 tube for the rockers/boatsides. Here is what the thickness looks like! BEEFY!

 

[liljlandon]

Awesome, keep it coming!
BTW- Love your rims!

 

[LC_Hamma]

You're workin pretty fast. Looks great so far Any pics of the frame mount brackets? Did you fab up all the brackets yourself? Only thing I'd look at doing is reinforcing those bushing ends where the threaded rod meets the tube. I'd add 2 angled gussets & run another wider pass around the entire rod - turn up that welder on this. I think you're okay w/ the hydro-assist w/ the sized tires you have. What drivetrain are you runnin?

 

[brimy311]

Any pics of the frame mount brackets? Did you fab up all the brackets yourself?

I don't have any pics, but I will try to get you a couple later today/tonight. Yep I fabbed up everything on my own. I am kind of cheating, as I work for a Offroad Shop .

I think you're okay w/ the hydro-assist w/ the sized tires you have. What drivetrain are you runnin?

I decided to go ahead and run full hydro. I ordered everything last week and hopefully it will all be here by earliy this week. My biggest issue became clearance of the big Ford steering box and my air shocks.

What drivetrain are you runnin?

22r on Propane, L52, Dual mini truck cases. The axles are Mini truck's with 5.29's. Front has longs and an Elocker, rear is welded with stock shafts.

 

[brimy311]

Bending tube is not my forte, so MonkeyEvil is going to be doing all the kick@ss tube work on this thing. He is absolutly AMAZING at creative tube work! He has a pretty bad@ss idea for the top half, which will be built tomarrow. The middle section of the cage so far is 1 piece, bent from 199" of tube and has 8 bends in it.

Here is what it took to finish up the bends:

Test fit driver:

For the fun of it, we test fit a YJ bench:

Rest to come tomorrow!

 

[brimy311]

Door Bars:

Rear Tailgate bars:

Top view, Big Props to Daryl for the awesome tube work:

 

[brimy311]

I finally found someone selling a Bib and Bezel reasonably priced. This came from somewhere in Georgia.

I cut all of the tube work remaining off the front end and got it ready for the end front end.

Frame rails prepped.

Mockup of Radiator, Bib, Winch.

Teaser shot of what Daryl is working on:

 

[brimy311]

Last pictures for tonight.

 

[hudyhue]

ok first offf god you suck....nah just jealous that ris going to be sweetkeep us posted

 

[TachedOutOffRoad]

Good job. Have always liked your 40

 

[FLYINGLOW]

Nice work. I really like the cut fenders and dovetail look.

 

[Tapage]

nice build dude .. I had to said years that I didn't saw one of those infamous Platinum 9.5i winches .. keep the wire ( or change to rope ) under 90 feets ..

 

[brimy311]

.. keep the wire ( or change to rope ) under 90 feets ..

I currently have 100' of rope, it is OD green rope.

Updates to come later today!

 

[brimy311]

Sorry for no updates yesterday, I ended up going home with the flu or something about an hour after I got to the shop.

Still not feeling all that great, but I am still working on it!

Daryl wanted to chop 2" out of the old height, so we started on that one night last week. We got it chopped down and back on the cruiser, but then we found that the upper halo and the middle halo had some alignment issues. We can to get the upper halo pulled over. We did not notice the problem until we started playing with the back bars. We ended up having to use some ratchet straps to get the halo over.

Back bars, and ratchet straps:

New front Profile:

New side profile:

Here is what I have got done between an hour yesterday and a couple today:

 

[brimy311]

Lower rear air shock mounts:

Upper rear air shock mounts:

My Nitrogen bottle setup.

Rear at ride height. The cage is 6' 4" at the highest point:

My helper today! Well not really a helper, she just lays around and come checks on me every 20 minutes:

 

[prado t]

Nice Work!

 

[Tapage]

Damn dude .. I hope I can weld as fast as you ( and with this quality .. ) you thought you upper air shocks mount will hold .. ?