weight questions (1 Viewer)

[hfpieratt]

I am a new owner of an 97 FJ80, I know the truck is very! heavy so I am wondering about certain weight issues.

I want to do my own oil and brake pad changes in my garage. What weight rating of floor jack and jack stands do I need to get? The sturdiest I can find on sears.com is a 3.5 ton hydraulic floor jack, they sell it packaged with 3.5 ton floor jacks. If the truck is less than 6000 lbs. will these work just fine? Oh, I don't have a lift kit or anything so height should not be a problem.

When shopping for wheels, I see some have a load rating. What is that? One particular wheel has a 2400 lbs. load rating. Would you multiply that by 4 to see if it will hold up the TLC FJ80? Or does it work differently? Also are there any other particular issues I should be aware of when shopping for wheels?

Thanks A Lot, I'm looking forward to owning this wagon for a long, long time.

-hfpieratt

 

[cruiserdan]

Welcome.

The average el-stocko 80 weighs about 4900 lbs +/-. Modified trail rigs run around 6000 lbs (mine weighs 6200). Photoman's tips the scales at a bit past 8000 lbs.


D-

 

[Brentbba]

Yup, mine weighs in at 5200 stock '94 with nothing but gas in her.

 

[Photoman]

Welcome,
That jack and stands should be fine. Usually you are just lifting one corner at a time, so basically total weight/4. If you lift one side or the front or the back it is basically the total weight/2. The other thing to keep in mind is the surface you are jacking from and putting the stands on. If is is a hard surface like concrete or such you are fine; if it is dirt etc. could be trouble. I just did a foolish thing not long ago and had to take all four tires to get them balanced so I jacked it up outside on the dirt. I have very heavy duty jack stands out of 5/16" angle iron and when she tipped over it bent them up like pretzels and was on the ground flat as a pancake. Fun getting it jacked back up.
Basically you are correct about the tires. Inflation pressure will affect the rating among other things.
Here are some weights from my vehicle on my last trip to demonstrate how different corners of the vehicle can weigh differently depending on loading etc. and affect tire decisions. This is for a US vehicle; DS = LS.
Total weight = 3690kg = 8135lbs.
Front = 1610kg = 3549lbs.
Rear = 2070kg = 4563lbs.
DS front = 870kg = 1918lbs.
PS front = 780kg = 1720lbs.
DS rear = 1040kg = 2293lbs.
PS rear = 1070kg = 2359lbs.

 

[Eduardo96FZJ80]

Photoman, what's in the fridge? that weighs so much??

 

[Photoman]

Eduardo,
I am the secret supplier of CDan's brews. If he's having a bad week it runs about 2000 lbs.; if he's having a good week it runs about 2000 lbs.

My cruiser is about to get much heavier. I'm slowly welding up a rear bumper, sliders, front bumper skid plates etc. etc.
Bill

 

[Safado]

Photoman--

You mean to say you've got >8k lbs without sliders, bumpers, and other HEAVY additions? WHAT'S IN THE FRIDGE?

 

[Photoman]

Safado,
Sorry hfpieratt, your thread is being hi-jacked. I do have an ARB front bumper with M10000 winch, a rear X9000i winch, rear 45 gallon aux tank, blah, blah. I won't bore you with all the stuff but I will say the year earlier I was running 8500 lbs. when I was carrying two spares, an inflatable boat with a 3 1/2 HP gas motor, and 40 gallons of spare gas up on the rack I built, and my spare tire crane. Refrigerator is mostly for film.
Bill

 

[IdahoDoug]

I'll also confess to a jacking "issue" recently. BTW, 3.5 ton equipment will provide you with a safe margin of error as it will easily handle the 80.

I have a 3.5t jack and also use it on the Subaru, which doesn't have many hard points to use. So, a while back I took a round 2" chunk of rubber from an old AirLift rear air spring kit I had laying around and popped it into the jack's lifting cup. Perfect for the Sube - spread the load around a bit and the ears of the jack cup won't leave marks.

A couple weeks ago, I jacked the front axle on the Cruiser with this setup for probably the 10th time. As the wheels left the ground, the truck gave a funny lurch and slammed back down. I looked under and realized that rubber makes a poor purchase on a rounded axle housing when there's a bit of grease here and there. Never thought of that. Narrowly avoided ripping the brake lines off the axle and immediately took the rubber thing out of the jack cup.

Lesson learned: A small rubber pad no higher than the jack's cup ears is fine. What I had was not fine.

IdahoDoug

 

[Beowulf]

hfpieratt,

I'll apologize for these guys since they are oblivious to your original questions and have drifted off into their own egos.

1. The 3.5 ton Sears jack will work fine. You will enjoy the "quick-lift" version if you can get that one.
2. The 3.5 ton jack stands will support your vehicle OK, but I don't recommend them for many jobs. They will be OK for the brake job but they are not tall enough for jobs like installing new springs. Any job that requires the axle to droop will need a tall jack stand like the 6-ton models at Harbor Freight (inexpensive.)
3. There are many factors you need to consider for wheels. Your stockers are probably the alloys. They are 16x8jj with 6 on 5.5" bolt pattern, zero offset, and have a 4.5 back spacing. The center bore is 106mm.
4. Consider the OEM steel wheels if you are planning to off-road. If you're an idiot like me, you can use the OEM alloys and live with them getting all scarred up. If that doesn't bother you then they work OK for off road and they're much lighter than steel wheels. If a steel wheel gets bent then you can use a BFH and bend it back. Not so with alloys.
5. Don't skimp on the wheels as your new cruiser is likely to become more "portly" if you listen to the crazy guys in this forum.

Oh yeah, welcome to the 80s section here on ih8mud and welcome to 80s ownership. We drive Land Cruisers because.... "Everything else sucks."



-B-

 

[Gumby]

[quote author=Beowulf link=board=2;threadid=6443;start=msg52286#msg52286 date=1066492994]
hfpieratt,
Don't skimp on the wheels as your new cruiser is likely to become more "portly" if you listen to the crazy guys in this forum.

Oh yeah, welcome to the 80s section here on ih8mud and welcome to 80s ownership. We drive Land Cruisers because.... "Everything else sucks."



-B-



[/quote]

Wearing my shirt as we speak. That, my leopard print thong and a smile.

The really crazy guys would have your rig go less portly. Chop the top off and tube that sucka.

 

[Photoman]

-B-,
id>ego<superego :-[
id<ego<superego :
id<ego>superego Ahhhhhhhh................
Bill

 

[IdahoDoug]

Whups, guess we did hijack the thread a bit

For axle sag items, the Sears 3.5t will work fine. Just jack from the rear center with proper wood chunks until the wheels barely leave the ground. Then remove the wheels, and use the truck's bottle jack to push the axle down more if needed. Obviously, jack stands under the frame at both sides. This is how I removed my rear springs.

IdahoDoug

 

[Beowulf]

Bill,
There's a subtle (or not so subtle) message in there somewhere. I'll have to think about that one for a while before coming up with an appropriate response.
-b- errr, I mean -B-

 

[hfpieratt]

Thanks for all the useful info. I did buy the FJ80 because I didn't think anything else new or used was as good a SUV. My other car is a 1977 Cadillac Coupe DeVille! But generally I prefer 2 wheels to 4, however I now need a trailer to haul the 2 wheelers around and hence the truck to pull the trailer.

Thanks!!!