Wheel well supports? Who's got 'em? (1 Viewer)

[Degnol]

I don't get much of a chance to take a close look at other FJ40s, but I was up at Poser's shop about three weeks ago and had plenty to stare at. I looked at several of various years and commented that they did not have wheel well braces or supports. My old '66 does have them and they look factory to me. I had to replace the front part of the wells and carefully replaced the supports after cutting out the rusty metal and replacing with new.
Here are a couple of pics of first the pass side and then the driver's side.


Ed

 

[oldIron]

I just checked front and rear on my 71, nothing like that. I am also parting a 75 and the front does not have them either. If they were on the back, they are long gone by New England Cancer.

Pete

 

[Degnol]

Pete, they are pretty stout. My wheel well was all rusted out , but the support was well-preserved. The bolt you see was a seatbelt anchor, well, it still is, for that matter. I'm Cornfused.


Ed

 

[brian]

i'm gonna say they are not oem also including the standard disclaimer about being wrong.

ccot has the other style of inner well supports though....or atleast did a few years ago.

 

[Degnol]

Brian, they may have been installed when the seat belts were installed? Did a '65-'66 have seatbelts from the factory?

Ed

 

[brian]

pretty sure all early cruisers had nothing less than lap belts.

my '69 has nothing like those braces, although slightly rusty, it's all there.

 

[lone gunman]

looks after market to me, my 76 doesnt have them. nice bracing though!

 

[brian]

the more i look at it, the more i doubt it's oem.

it's a fabed(i hate that term) piece, with fillet welds holding it on.

if it were oem it would have been a stamped piece, like all the other brace type things and it would have been spot welded on.

 

[Degnol]

the more i look at it, the more i doubt it's oem.

it's a fabed(i hate that term) piece, with fillet welds holding it on.

if it were oem it would have been a stamped piece, like all the other brace type things and it would have been spot welded on.

That is weird since the only aftermarket piece on the truck were the wheels. And the captured nut(over which I put another nut) was metric. And it had no rollbar and no evidence of one ever being installed.
The brace itself looks to be manufactured, not garage-built.

Ed

 

[brian]

The brace itself looks to be manufactured, not garage-built.

Ed

somebody that works in a steel shop could quickly&easily whip something like that up, then make an opposite just like the first .

 

[Degnol]

somebody that works in a steel shop could quickly&easily whip something like that up, then make an opposite just like the first .

I'm not doubting that.It just seems to be a strange place to start "modifying" a truck when everything else is stock. I mean, would that be the first thing you would do to a cruiser?
It might make sense if there was a roll bar installed. Strange.

 

[FJ40fiji]

the more i look at it, the more i doubt it's oem.

it's a fabed(i hate that term) piece, with fillet welds holding it on.

if it were oem it would have been a stamped piece, like all the other brace type things and it would have been spot welded on.

What's wrong with fabed? Should we take the time to type out fabricated in all our posts?

I agree, that it looks like something somebody fabbed up. But all my experiance is with 70's models.

 

[brian]

I'm not doubting that.It just seems to be a strange place to start "modifying" a truck when everything else is stock. I mean, would that be the first thing you would do to a cruiser?
It might make sense if there was a roll bar installed. Strange.

i'm just saying it does'nt match the meathods of manufacture found elsewhere on a 40.
look at the pedal brackets under the dash. they are a simuliar item, and see how they where made...stamped.
if it was oem it would be the same way....what you have was bent in a break.

don't know when, why or by whom, just saying what i see.

i could be quite wrong about the entire thing as well, as ccot only lists a "wheel well support channel" from 1967 and up. that and i have not had a good chance to check out a decent pre-68 40 yet.

 

[Degnol]

Brian, I agree about the fabrication, although the piece does have the look of being mass produced. It just does not make sense, unless amidst all the rust I cut out there was an aftermarket roll bar, hoop, loop, whatever. Those braces might have come with something like that. Dunno. They were welded in(to the rust) and I welded them back in to the new metal then seam-sealed them.

Guess they are not hurting anything, so I'll leave them.


Ed

 

[oldIron]

Brian, I agree about the fabrication, although the piece does have the look of being mass produced. It just does not make sense, unless amidst all the rust I cut out there was an aftermarket roll bar, hoop, loop, whatever. Those braces might have come with something like that. Dunno. They were welded in(to the rust) and I welded them back in to the new metal then seam-sealed them.

Guess they are not hurting anything, so I'll leave them.


Ed

Ed, If you decide to remove them, let me know and I will send you a box they will fit in that is self addressed...I will put them to good use!

 

[honk]

My '65 has that right at the front low point of the wheel well, but I'm not sure that they're quite that extensive. I mean it looks like maybe yours were added to - or reinforced. Mine's down in the barn and I haven't looked at it in a long time but I'm pretty sure it has at least one of those cross-the-vehicle aimed buttress pieces per side.

The later models have a different support. It's an 'L' shaped piece about 4" wide and 6" or so on one leg, 8" or more on the other. There are, or should be two of those per side spot welded under the rear 'wheel well'/seat mounting surface with the short leg upward and further back than those pictured. CCOT was selling the later model steel pieces in pairs pretty cheap.

I don't know what year the change took place.

 

[Degnol]

Honk, mine is, AFAIK, a '65 titled as a'66. Next time you look, get a pic, please

Ed

 

[Poser]

Ed,


Did you look at the white '65 that was behind the Vulva?

 

[Degnol]

Ed,


Did you look at the white '65 that was behind the Vulva?

I did not.....have you?


Ed

 

[schmitty]

My Dad has those exact same supports on his 67. So I would say that might be stock.