We recently purchased a nice 6/76 Texas FJ40 with almost no rust, original paint and mostly complete with original parts. I'm excited to own this one because its not a cobbled together "restoration". It does have a few modifications, most of which I would do if they weren't already done. This truck was a wheeler at one point, so it's not pristine, but whomever owned it over the past 50 years cared for it and was a Toyota enthusiast. It even has a small plaque on the dash for the 1980 Escondido Run. I like that someone was wheeling this before I was born. The person we bought it from only owned it for a year and didn't know the first thing about Toyota's and had a truly impressive Mopar collection in his air conditioned shop. He couldn't tell me anything about it that I didn't already know.
I've worked Land Cruisers off and on since 1998, even worked for a well known LC restoration shop for almost 4 years. I've wrenched on a lot of cool stuff and I've seen even more completely garbage work on Cruisers. I have a good grasp of what I am looking at when buying a 40 thanks to that experience.
However...
I may have let my excitement for the newest 40 give me tunnel vision and look past some obvious issues. Nothing that can't be fixed. I've been fixing a few things that bothered me about this 40 since we got it in June. My most recent discovery was on my first test drive since fixing the cooling system and rebuilding the carburetor. I had taken a test ride with the previous owner just to verify that it drove, but we only went around the block in town. We loaded it on the trailer and took it to my shop. I drove my nephews around on a slow bumpy back road. After that it wen up on the lift and I started addressing a few things. Full fluid swap, ditch the Edelbrock electric fuel pump for OEM mechanical pump, plumb the PCV system, rebuild and tune the carb, address the bypassed ignitor, install Pertronix, flip the thermostat to the correct position, get the correct thermostat housing for the oil cooler, replaced rusted closed heater valve and completely clogged coolant carb heat riser due to an imaginative coolant hose routing that created dead spots, get the correct battery and tray, ditch the Cressida alternator for a FJ40 option because the upper ear is was not at 12 o'clock and they butchered the tensioner bracket to make it work, fix the wiper res, new battery cables, etc. The list goes on, but that's not important.
I got to the point I could go to the gas station and fill it up finally. I left the shop. Once I hit 50 I was feeling a growl/vibration which I hadn't noticed before. I came back to the shop to investigate:
Out of phase rear drive shaft. I had even bumped my head on that sucker more than once, but I didn't pay much attention to it otherwise because the seller had clearly recently greased it. Of course I pulled the shaft only to find out the pinion bearings and/or crush sleeve are wrecked. I have a parts FJ40 with 4.10's and some spare 3.70 thirds in the shipping container, so I have options but I was ready to get out driving again. I ordered gaskets this morning at the Toyota dealership which will be here over the next few days. I am tearing the axle down this evening. I am probably going to swap in a 3.70 third in the rear to see if I like it before doing both. I am going to cut the perches off and rotate the housing 5 degrees. I can get that done quicker and cheaper than waiting for shims and longer center pins, plus I can only find 4 or 6 degree shims at 2.75" wide.
Anyway, I feel sort of silly for not seeing the problem while I stood under the truck. This all makes me wonder how the previous owner and the guy before him were driving around with the out of phase shaft.
I've worked Land Cruisers off and on since 1998, even worked for a well known LC restoration shop for almost 4 years. I've wrenched on a lot of cool stuff and I've seen even more completely garbage work on Cruisers. I have a good grasp of what I am looking at when buying a 40 thanks to that experience.
However...
I may have let my excitement for the newest 40 give me tunnel vision and look past some obvious issues. Nothing that can't be fixed. I've been fixing a few things that bothered me about this 40 since we got it in June. My most recent discovery was on my first test drive since fixing the cooling system and rebuilding the carburetor. I had taken a test ride with the previous owner just to verify that it drove, but we only went around the block in town. We loaded it on the trailer and took it to my shop. I drove my nephews around on a slow bumpy back road. After that it wen up on the lift and I started addressing a few things. Full fluid swap, ditch the Edelbrock electric fuel pump for OEM mechanical pump, plumb the PCV system, rebuild and tune the carb, address the bypassed ignitor, install Pertronix, flip the thermostat to the correct position, get the correct thermostat housing for the oil cooler, replaced rusted closed heater valve and completely clogged coolant carb heat riser due to an imaginative coolant hose routing that created dead spots, get the correct battery and tray, ditch the Cressida alternator for a FJ40 option because the upper ear is was not at 12 o'clock and they butchered the tensioner bracket to make it work, fix the wiper res, new battery cables, etc. The list goes on, but that's not important.
I got to the point I could go to the gas station and fill it up finally. I left the shop. Once I hit 50 I was feeling a growl/vibration which I hadn't noticed before. I came back to the shop to investigate:
Out of phase rear drive shaft. I had even bumped my head on that sucker more than once, but I didn't pay much attention to it otherwise because the seller had clearly recently greased it. Of course I pulled the shaft only to find out the pinion bearings and/or crush sleeve are wrecked. I have a parts FJ40 with 4.10's and some spare 3.70 thirds in the shipping container, so I have options but I was ready to get out driving again. I ordered gaskets this morning at the Toyota dealership which will be here over the next few days. I am tearing the axle down this evening. I am probably going to swap in a 3.70 third in the rear to see if I like it before doing both. I am going to cut the perches off and rotate the housing 5 degrees. I can get that done quicker and cheaper than waiting for shims and longer center pins, plus I can only find 4 or 6 degree shims at 2.75" wide.
Anyway, I feel sort of silly for not seeing the problem while I stood under the truck. This all makes me wonder how the previous owner and the guy before him were driving around with the out of phase shaft.
you got because everyone had them.
