Top removal and storage

After completing the tie rod replacement with a few hours of daylight to spare, I decided to go ahead and take the top off. I am going to order a summer top from SOR (basically a flat piece of canvas stretched from the windshield to the roll bar) next month. I'm sure the weather won't cooperate- it will probably rain starting tomorrow, but oh well.

I took it off in pieces, so I was able to do it without help. Here's a pic of the truck with the top and doors off, but the sides still on:



You can see that this is not a quick process. There are probably 50 bolts involved:



I put most of the top parts in the basement. The fiberglass top itself is too big. Using some tie-downs:



...I was able to take the roof from here:



...to here.



With a little help from Anna-Lisa, of course. I have to use space efficiently because of the size of my garage.

The truck looks pretty cool with the top off, but it lacks the perfect glass and decent paint of the hard top to draw your attention away from the rusted body parts. This thing needs a lot of work. Anna-Lisa and I went for a quick trip around the block, and I was impressed with the handling. Less weight to steer around. I think I can make this work for a few weeks until I can order the summer top. Might have to carry a tarp around though.

Steering rod ends pt. 2

I'm pretty happy with the way this project turned out.

I left off yesterday with all the pieces off the truck and ready to go back on, so after Eric and I picked up some new hardware, everything was ready to go back on. Along with the tubes, the clamps got a little cleanup with the wire wheel:



Everything got a quick coat of chassis black. I like the way this replicates the from-the-factory black. Looks like it will be easy to touch up while on the truck, also.



I upgraded the hardware with some real tough zinc-plated stuff. Home Depot is open until 6pm on Easter Sunday, by the way.



NOTE: When replacing tie rod ends, remember that the drag link end and the driver side relay rod end are the same, but the passenger side relay rod end has a longer shank. They look very similar.



We got everything cinched up, put the wheels back on and measured toe-in again. I was able to use the marks on the board from the first time around- that's how dead-on the toe-in was.



Looks pretty good:



Thanks to Eric for all the help today. We took it down to get some gas after putting it back on the ground, and I couldn't believe how neutral the steering had remained. You can let go of the wheel for 10 seconds and hardly wander in the lane. Our attempts to adjust the drag link in order to get the steering wheel straight failed, so I'll have to take it off and straighten it up.

Steering rod ends pt. 1

I started the steering rod end replacement project today. Here's a pic of the two tie rod ends, two relay rod ends, and a drag link end.



Here's a reminder of what's on the truck now:



Meanwhile, I noticed that my bump stop experiment had verified my suspicions.



Here's another picture of my weak spring rate.



The rod ends didn't come with grease fittings. These appear to be pretty high quality though. "555" brand from Japan. Toyota pieces would have been ideal, but the cost was nearly $400. I could replace these 4 more times for that much. Got these from Kurt at Cruiser Outfitters.



I was reading about toe-in measurements online and in the FSM, and decided to measure mine before disassembling the steering linkage. I drew a line around the circumference of both front tires, measured the distance between the lines at the front of the tire, and then at the back, and subtracted for the difference. NOTE: The photos are deceiving. I took them before measuring. I attempted to take measurements from halfway up the tire both front and rear.



Here's a video of how I drew the straight lines.



I placed a board across two cheapo jackstand and used the level just to ensure consistency between the front and back measurements.



Making the same measurement on the back side of the tire:



I wasn't really surprised that the truck was still within spec. Now to replace these parts while keeping it that way.



I needed replacement cotter pins for the engine mounts. Don't you hate it when you go in for two and come out with 555?



I also thought it was interesting that the FSM had measurements for the standard relay rod and tie rod lengths. I measured these on the truck, just out of curiosity. It was an awkward place to use a measuring tape, but the values seemed right on.



I counted the exposed threads on each end, recorded the numbers, and marked the threads with a sharpie just in case.



The tie rod tube looked pretty decent after some work with the wire wheel.



Right before dark it started snowing- crazy, because it was sunny and beautiful this morning. I had to put the wheels back on the truck and take it off the jack stands in order to pull it in enough to shut the garage door, then jack it back up, so I lost some time.

I had to get organized since I was losing some of my workspace.



All the rod ends got a coat of chassis black and new grease fittings.



This is where I pick up tomorrow. I stopped because I don't want to put the newly-refurbished rods back on with the old hardware. But it looks like I might end up doing that anyway, because tomorrow is Easter and nowhere is going to be open for purchasing nuts and bolts. I guess I can replace the bolts later. Still have to give the relay rod tube a coat of chassis black too.

White Bezel

Here are some pics of the newly-powder coated headlight bezel. I think it looks damn fine.









You can see some of the imperfection in the last photo. This isn't the fault of the powder coater- the bezel is just kinked in a few places.

My tie rod end kit arrived from Cruiser Outfitters. They are in Utah, and shipping only takes 2 days. So far they have been really great to deal with. I talk to Kurt, the owner.

I can't decide whether to start the tie rod end replacement tomorrow morning or not. BMW is having a garage sale that I want to go to. I can already foresee a trip to the store for a pickle fork.

I'll do a little reading tonight and try to decide based on that.

Bezel powder coated

I picked up the bezel from the powder coater during my lunch break. It looks pretty good. I like knowing that it's a little tougher than paint. This was an experiment more than anything, so I know what I'm in for with powder coating in the future. I've got to pick up some bolts; I refuse to put this piece back on with the crappy old screws. Photos to come later.

Engine mounts

Engine mounts done. At first it appeared that they were going to be a little tricky to access:



They were actually surprisingly easy to unbolt- I used a gearwrench on 5 of the 6 nuts and bolts.

It's pretty cool that I can just jack up the engine using the oil pan. I stuck a thick piece of plywood in between just to help distribute the weight a little.

I got the engine to a point that I couldn't jack any farther without cramming the fan into its shroud. I decided not to cut any corners and removed the fan shroud.




I installed the front two first.



The 4 rear donuts went on fairly easily as well.



Although this job was pretty simple and it never hurts to have new mounts, I think I could have gotten away without replacing them. Only two of the donuts looked like they were crushed.

As I've been isolating all the bumps and squeaks, I've noticed that the axle housings aren't very far from the bumpstops on the frame at all.



That's only 2 or 3 inches of travel before the suspension bottoms out! I think this is happening often, although it's hard to tell. So I dabbed a little bit of grease on each of the axle housings and took the '40 for a quick beer run. I stopped several times during the short trip to see if the bumpstops had smeared the grease. They had not. This was only through the neighborhood, remember.

I pulled up on the curb at the beer store, and that was enough to make 'em touch.



Notice the springs in this older photo- they have almost no bend to them at all. Suspension is going to make a huge difference.

FSMs, startling discovery

After 3 weeks, 2 of the 3 Factory Service Manuals I ordered arrived. The other is on backorder, 2-6 more weeks before it shows up. No big deal, though, I’ve got enough to read for now.



I got the new hood hardware installed: new hooks for hood and windshield, new windshield bumpers, new hood pads. It cinches up pretty tight now, and that powder coated black will look even better when the truck has fresh paint.



I drained and refilled the differentials. I bought a 23mm socket specifically for the drain plugs on the way home from work, got the truck up on stands and the socket was too small. I looked in my toolbox and sure enough, there was already a 23mm socket. I’d been here before. So I rode my bike to the auto parts store (one of the nice things about living near Colfax) and picked up a 24mm socket. Then I was in business and it took about 15 minutes to do both. The old gear oil looked pretty beat. I re-torqued the driveshaft bolts while I was under there, just in case. They felt pretty good.

I made a startling discovery yesterday! I was looking around on the Rising Sun 4x4 Forums, a local Toyota truck club, and came across this post:



This post

Recognize that truck, with the retarded front bumper? So, I reached out to the guy that made the post.

Hey man,

I was lurking on the forum and saw this picture of your FJ40:

http://www.risingsun4x4club.org/foru...2&postcount=14

You mentioned that someone in your apt complex named Reuben used to own the blue one next to it. Well, now I own it. I didn't buy it from Reuben- apparently he sold it to a guy in Conifer in between.

Anything you can tell me about the truck? I've only had it for a couple weeks, but I've looked it over pretty well and haven't found any surprises.

Kind of startling when I saw the truck in your post!

HIS RESPONSE:

Yeah, I think Motoloco (our local flipper) grabbed it up in between. Kinda sucks for Reuben, because he didn't originally sell his truck to someone who was interested in taking care of it, but oh well, sounds like it's in good hands now.

I drove it for just a few minutes one night when we were checking each other's trucks out, it was quiet compared to mine, had good power, clutch felt fine etc., which I'm sure you've experienced. Looks to me like it's pretty much unmolested as far as wiring etc. goes, considering it has the interior light that works, gauge lights, light switch light, etc. Reuben didn't drive it much, he was kinda saving it for bodywork that apparently he wasn't interested in doing, he also has an LX450 and a 60 series.

The only thing mechanical that I know about is that it has a new water pump and radiator and fan - we went down to Metberry Gulch last fall and his water pump let go on the way there, I think he took it to the Toy Shop or somewhere to have that fixed. I have his phone number too if you want to call him and talk with him about it, he's a pretty nice guy.

Very original, he would drive it to work occasionally, so there were no problems with it, just needs some regular maintenance that I don't think he was mechanically inclined enough to do. Good to hear you're reaching out to local Cruiserheads! Come join us at a meeting sometime!

How cool is that? I’ll probably head to one of these meetings sometime, but I want to make a few fundamental improvements to my FJ first.

Bezel

I dropped the headlight bezel off at the powder coater this morning. He said it might be done this Friday, and if not, early next week. They batch items by color, so the bezel will be done along with a bunch of other white stuff.

I got all the new hood hardware installed, also- have to put photos up later.

Radiator grill

The front end is coming back together, piece by piece. I'm happy with the Toyota badge paint job- it looks good from a foot away, and looks perfect from 3 feet.



If anyone wants to know, it IS possible to remove/install the radiator grill piece without disassembling anything else but the headlight bezel. It took careful mental and physical preparation, however. You'll need an 8mm Gearwrench, deft thread-starting fingers and a ton of patience, or a regular 8mm wrench and even more patience. But, it's back on.



Tomorrow I think I'll take the bezel to the powder coater and ask how much it will cost for them to sand- or media-blast it before they coat it. I don't really feel like spending another hour and a half with the wire wheel when they can probably remove the remaining paint in 5 minutes.

Remember when the front end looked like this!?

Trujillo?

I finally called Toyota today, after waiting 19 days for my factory service manuals to arrive. Turns out they were delivered more than a week ago to someone named "Trujillo" or something similar. They should have sent new ones out today, and they're supposed to be here tomorrow. Hood hardware should be here from CCOT tomorrow as well.

$65 paint job

I changed the fluid in the transmission and transfer case today. Something that should have taken 30 minutes ended up taking 3 hours, simply because I DIDN'T HAVE THE RIGHT TOOLS!!!! ARGH






Anyway, it will be that much easier next time.

Anna-Lisa replaced the headlights the other night. I just bought cheap halogen replacements at AutoZone, but they are surprisingly bright compared to the old ones.



I got after the TOYOTA badge revival tonight also. It's not quite finished- I'll make touch ups tomorrow, and it's not going to look perfect, but it's much better than paying $65 for a new one.