Etype R

Picked this up in August, it had a lot of work done to it already. I will be doing a few things to it, but not much. Bigger tires are on the list of things to do though.

Some mods that it has....
4 wheel disc brakes
Saginaw power steering
SM465 4 speed tranny
4.11 gears
Roll cage
Tuffy lock box
Fuel cell
12" slip front drive shaft
Spring over axle
Front axle moved forward


And now for some pictures, when I first got my 40








Then I put on some full front fenders, though I will have to take them off again once I get larger tires... Thinking I will go with the metal tech tube fenders.



I never got around to taking pictures after first adding the front turn signals, or the bikini top. So this weekend I took the 40 out for some pictures, before the snow falls.

















And a couple pictures on the trails.

JGM

Looks better with the fenders, IMHO. I assume you have a 2F in there and not an F (hence the sm465 and not sm420)?

The front axle looks way forward from the SOA. Does that work for you? Looks like you have great flex.

Gnarly!

profuse007

nice rig but you'll need every pretty pennies to get some body work done.

dlbrunner

you can adapt the f or 2f to run the SM 465 and sm420, they both have the same bolt pattern in the front. I would go with a toyota H41 though, or an H55 if you can afford it. both have a granny first

being a 71 it should have the early one piece t-case, a three speed and an F motor (unless it has been changed).

The front axle looks like it is sitting a little forward.

Cool ride!

Knuckles

i think its beautiful, id love to have one.

CLEANSR5

Looking good! Loving those fenders up front.

Etype R

I wouldn't have checked back on this thread as it seemed like there was zero interest in the truck after I first posted it. But I was looking at my website stats and noticed traffic from over here

JGM, thanks I like the fenders on it as well, I hope to get metal tech fenders once I get larger tires. The engine is the old 1F, though the valve cover is from a 2F. And the front axle was moved forward by the previous owner, a little to far for my own personal taste. He wanted more stability for descents.

profuse007, Body work? whats wrong with the body???

dlbrunner, A lot of things were changed on this rig. A lot of it isn't very finished looking, but it gets the job done. I will be cleaning up little bits here and there as I go with it. Wiring is one of the things on the to do list, as it has been mangled over time.

Being the dead of winter, I haven't done anything else with it. But I did pick up a winch for it last month. A good ol' 8274, found through craigslist. Cleaned it up a bit, still need to order a new clutch lever and remote for it.

Yoda

Rig looks good. I have a 71 as well.

Any reason why the rear hitch is mounted upside down? We have tons of trucks at work that have that style, but that is the first one I've seen like that.

Etype R

Thanks Yoda, the hitch is another previous owner thing, didn't know that was upside down my self. Don't see to many pintle hitches. But after looking them up again quick, you are correct I guess I will have to flip it around this spring.

Yoda

Well, if you are upside down, it would be correct

Etype R

Time to update this thread.....

Well first the upside down Pintle hook.... I flipped it cause of you, and you know what? The tire carrier hits it now, so I need to flip it back over

Last summer I took the stock doors that came with the rig, and fitted them to the truck. I had to do some tweaking to get them to open and close properly, big surprise huh? Then I laid out some masking tape and pulled out the cutting tools and the welder. Next thing you know, I have half doors!


Fix what you break, so you can break it again?

I got it out on the trails in the fall finally.... And I blew a bearing out in the drive train on the first day of the event. It was making some awful rattling sounds I figured the truck could take it, and I would worry about it later cause I wanted to wheel it. So the truck sat for the rest of the year, all winter, and into the spring. I finally pulled it out, and dropped the transfer case thinking that was where I blew a bearing. I also drained the transmission oil while I was at it. This is when I found the real problem, found pieces of a bearing race in the drain plug of the SM465 So about $600 (1 stimulus check) later I had rebuild both the transmission, and transfer case. I ended up buying a extra transmission for spare parts to replace any gears that looked bad and a half rebuilt transfer case. Also had to buy some new tools for the job, rent a tranny jack, and get new fluids. Finished it all up, and it works great! But I decided after doing all this and putting it back in that I should replace the throwout bearing That should be here tomorrow, sounds like a weekend project?


Body work

After wheeling this rig some more, I decided to stick with the 33's for awhile, rather then dropping money on a Orion box and 36's or 38's. But the rear quarters were cut to clear 38's, making the 33's look out of place. So new quarter panels were needed, but I was not going to drop $300 on panels that I would need to cut up, and bend out of shape just to fit them on a trail rig. So I ordered up a 4x5' sheet of 16 gauge sheet metal from the local steel yard for $60. First thing I did when I brought it home was clamp it down and cut the sheet in half. Then I hung a couple C clamps on the drivers side tub, and clamped one of the sheets in place. I sharpied out some rough lines, and scribed them with straight edges once I was happy with it. Then I clamped both sheets together, and cut them with a sawzall and jigsaw.

There was still a couple hours of day light left after I finished cutting the new panels out. But I did not have it in me just yet to remove the old panels, I needed to think about how I wanted to go about it one more night. The next day after work I pulled out the cutoff wheels and made my cuts along the top edge and door pillar. Now the spot welds were all that held it in place. I was able to see most of the spot weld dimples, and marked them with a sharpie. A few I had to guess on their location, and some I didn't get quite centered and had to chisel them out. Next thing you know I have the panel in my hands, and toss it aside I managed to weld the drivers side panel in place, finishing most of the welds that night. I did the same thing on the passenger side the following night.

Friday, time to clean up all the welds and roll the edge back. I took the day off work to do this, and I had to run to a speedometer shop to get my cable fitted for the aftermarket gauge. I picked up some tools for rolling the fender lip back, and decided to add some LED tail lights as well. So back to work on the new panels, the angle grinder with flap wheels made quick work of the welds. I had to pull the welder back out to fill a few pin holes. Then I went to cutout the holes for the tail lights.... I ended up breaking 4 or 5 blades for the jigsaw doing this But in the end, I won! And the tail lights were installed, and wired up. I took it for a test drive to get some lunch once the tail lights were wired up and working.

After lunch I rolled the fender lips, and laid down some primer. I had some problems rolling the outter corners, but I called it good enough for now. I plan to go back later and clean them up. The paint is also a bit rough as I did not smooth out the primer. But it will look good enough on the trail


Anyways, enough talk... Here are some random pictures.

FlyingLow

Nice job. I really like the way you matched the r/h panel to the door post! Don't want to lose too much character. How is the bed? It looks a little bowed from the rear...

You should look into some FJ55 springs and push the rear axle back a bit to match the front. There is a huge difference when you start climbing hills. I am at about 98" and it is very noticable.

I liked the fenderless look. I just trimmed mine off this spring and I love not worrying about trees. I made them removable to put back for street driving.

Etype R

Thanks

I tried to straighten the door posts, but I could only do so much with them. I also pulled both sides in a touch as I welded the new panels on, but the tub has been tweaked so much that I still couldn't get the doors to line up. I should be able to fix them if I loosen the hinges though. The rear bed area has a few rust spots over the old body mounts. the PO welded in some box steel to replace them which worked out well.

I'll measure my wheel base, I know with the front pushed forward like it is, I have a pretty good wheel base as it sits. The front of the frame has been extended to push it even further then normal.

I still have the old cut fenders, if I ever decide to go back to that look. I also have a spare set of aprons for it now, so I could just swap the entire fenders and aprons. But I think I would go with some tube fenders before going back to fenderless, that could change in the future though

generator123

I love the pictures. Where were they taken? I have 3 tundras and 2 highlanders that i use for work right now and have always wanted a vintage older fj offroad machine like yours. its sweet. thanks for posting this. I can never find the landcruiser i want when i'm looking. . . any ideas where to get them as I am newer to this site?

thanks also for letting me leave this link to my site: http://www.uspowerco.com.

jt0896

Any chance the pictures could be resurected or put up at photobucket or such?

Jere

Markat155

Love the Fj40's! I need to own one of these!