Ratty fj40 Land Cruiser clustertruck....

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Spent yesterday in the garage and managed to get some jobs off the list that keeps growing.

After getting the 6 to 8 lug adapters for the 60 back from machining I found them to be a little tight on the hub so I made the hole a little bigger and they fit mint now. That done I dropped the tranny xmember on the 60 to check the frame end bushings since I had noticed a bit of play when we were taking the t case out. Yup, po didnt use sleeves between the bushings and bolts so there was a good amount of play. Looked through the tickle trunk of junk and found 2 steel sleeves that fit into the bushings nice n tight but the id was too small for the bolt to pass through. Dammit. Took em over to the drill press and just happened to have the right bit already in the chuck (the best bit in the whole history of drill bits btw), coated the bit in my new fancy drilling wax stuff and she bored right through the sleeve. Bolt fit perfect so I threw some paint at the cross member and called it good. The cross member is made out of 1"x2.5ish" solid stock so while it was out I ground it down where the exhaust passes over it and pinched one of the pipes to get more room between the two. It was just to say close enough before to get an annoying intermittent rattle at idle. While the paint was drying I made a new gasket for the front of the atlas and threw on the new shift linkage.

So then I texted 2 buddies to see if they could come over and help me bench the t case back up under the van figuring at least one of em would be willing. Turned out they both showed up and both happen to be mechanics so in a blur of activity the case was back in (had 3 guys so we were able to leave the shifters on and guide them through the floor), the drive shafts were bolted up along with the speedo cable, ground wire, and breather vent. Paint was semi dry on the xmember so that got put back on. Mint. All thats really left to do is tighten the shifter mount and install the skid plate with its shiny new bolts.

Awesomely productive day!





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I love it when a plan comes together....

Nice to have a couple show up....doesn't hurt to have some wrenchin experience either....lol....[cl [P
 
Got the front adapters machined and threw on the big meats on all 4 corners.. Gonna have to adjust the steering stops a lil but otherwise they seem to fit ok, wasnt flexed out the best so it may rub here and there. Also got a set of brand new g2 chro mo front axles and birfs from the mud classifieds, interweb deals are cool.











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Some teaser shots of the new tires n rims. 39x17 bfg krawlers on tmr beadlocked steelies. Theyre just a tad smaller than the km2s when standing side by side but theyll do.







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Well she starts with the key and we got her timed last night. Idles awesome and the whole truck torques when you rev er lol so that must be good. Just the lights signals and alternator to hook up now...

Vid of it runnin.



Threw on the little coat hanger dude i made up while at work and jonesin to dick w the 40....





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Couple random shots for the hell of it.*Shes 99% wired and we got to take er in the bush the other day which was cool.














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Awesome build. I've wondered in the past about putting 60 axles under a 40 and thought I'd move the perches on the axles to do it. Never occurred to me to relocate the spring and shackle mounts on the frame...Fantastic!!
Have you shared this build over at IH8MUD and Rising Sun?
 

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