Project FJ-Rankenstein.. rebuilding a drivetrain, toybox and more...

[baxter650]

Really like your build, 45 cab/short box is great.
Recently picked up a FJ40 and would like to take it in the same direction.
Have a spare 3B / 4spd and split case from my 60 build that would be right at home in there.
Keep posting those mods, again great truck.

[London Gentleman]

How do those wheels hold up to low tire pressure?

[fj-rankenstein]

How do those wheels hold up to low tire pressure?

so far so good..  i only have aired down to 10-15 psi but i am quite happy with them..

[freds40]

The super sweet adapter arrived at the shop today. 

[baxter650]

TOYBOX?

[fj-rankenstein]

the secret is out now!!     actually, there is nothing too secret about anything.. 

i will be doing another big round of mods coming up here within the next few months..  i am trying to get to the TLCA river shiver in Alberta in February but am having an issue getting the time from work..  if i dont end up going then i will tear the truck apart very soon and if i do end up going then the middle of February will be when i start tearing things back apart..

the good people at Marlin Crawler had enough parts to build me a toybox for my truck!!!  i figured with the sale and all, i should jump on this sinse toybox stuff never goes on sale and i have a little extra go money set aside..  this toybox will be for a h55f five speed to toybox to splitcase...  i am quite excited for this.. with this comes some big mods... let me explain.

i have a spare h55f/splitcase combo on the floor of my garage that i plan on completely rebuilding along with installing the new toybox.. this will keep my downtime to a minimum so i can keep driving the truck till its time to rip out the drivetrain and do the swap..  with this swap though i will be moving my whole engine back a few inches and mabey a bit down..i have to make a new tranny cross member anyways so cutting the front motor mounts and repositioning them wont be a big deal.. with this comes driveshafts, exhaust and all that good stuff.. i need a bit more room in the engine bay in front of the engine for a turbo and intercoller setup that will be happening this summer hopefully plus things seem to be a  bit crowded in the engine bay..  i will also be planning on moving my batteries out of the engine bay... I bought a new power steering setup from PSC a few months back and want to mount the resrvoir where one of the batteries sits as well as move my rad overflow bottle in a different place..

my crawl ratio will be as follows with all the mods:

tranny 1st gear... 4.843:1
toybox gearing.....4.7:1
tase gearing.........2.276:1
diff gearing..........4.88:1

4.843x4.7x2.276x4.88= stupid low (252.8:1)

if i ever went with 5.29s in the diffs the ratio would be 274:1

just for camparison my crawl ratio is 38.9:1 right now...

the gearing in my t-case right now is 1.959:1 but i have a few spare gear sets from a 4 speed diesel t-case that are 2.276:1.. i will be swapping my t-case gears for the 4 speed ones when i build the toybox.. i will also be rebuilding tranny and t-case at the same time..

my ratio with the stock 1.959 tcase gears with the future mods would be 217.6:1 which is also not too bad but i figure if i am going to have everything apart i may as well swap in the lower gears from the 4 speed t-case.

oh yeah... i have a brand new set of 4.88s i bought a while back from marlin that will go with an ARB up front and i will install an aussie locker in the rear..eventually i will install an ARB in the rear as well..i will be buying the full floater kit that ruff stuff specialties is working on in the new year to change my rear axle to a full floater.. i had no luck in finding a 60 series full floater so i will build one.. with it will come rear disc brakes because thats how the bracket is designed and then i will finish my t-case mounted e-brake that i started before i went to the rubicon..

ok ok.. that all for now.. i am hoping that my truck should be as close to finished as finished can be this year...

oh yeah, i want to say that i really enjoy dealing with "freds 40" at the Marlin shop.. he is great to talk to and is really easy to deal with.. i find it easy to be a marlin customer with guys like him working there.. 

[London Gentleman]

so far so good..  i only have aired down to 10-15 psi but i am quite happy with them..

Thanks man, I've considered those rims but fear blowing a bead or something at low pressure(I.E. 5 or so psi for snow) Im just not sure about them...

[fj-rankenstein]

well, not too much progress in the last week.. i was using this good stretch of hollidays to get the whole house cleaned up..  trying to combine 3 houses worth of stuff into one house has annoyed me enough to where it was time to get rid, recycle or throw away as much as possible..   the house is starting to look the most organized that its been in a long time so i figured i would spend the last couple of days in the garage cleaning up as well..
its still a hell hole but its getting to be a really organized hell hole at least..  i havent had bench space sinse the rubicon trip back in september and even then it was bad from the black hills cruiser classic trip back in july..
anyhow, i got all my diff stuff laid out on my work bench now..  i am taking my diffs to work tomorrow and will press off the old bearings and clean up the third members there.  probably wednesday i will start to reassemble..

the rear diff is just getting an aussie locker for now..  once i figure out the rear full floater situation i will buy an arb for the rear..

a lot of good components going into these axles..i bought these from Marlin crawler i think last year.. i wonder if i still get a one year warranty from this point on??


nom nom arb going into the front diff..


for the ultimate in strength i am setting these diffs up using a solid pinion spacer bought from "just differentials"...  no crush sleeves for this guy!!!


Marlin Crawler 5 pattern diff flange..  super heavy duty!!.. plus there should be no driveshaft pattern that i cant adapt to..

[*** YELLER ***]

love this build

[baxter650]

I have ARB envy, i could use a few around here.

[fj-rankenstein]

ok, so slight change of plans..  i wont be running an arb up front for now.. the arb in my posession right now is one that i have borrowed and will buy back one to the person that i borrowed it from down the road but the timing isnt right for this and i should be buying a pair of these probably in the spring.. i hate tearing things apart twice but at least i wont have to set up the diff completely again..it will just involve swapping over the ring gear to the new locker, setting up back lash and running the copper tube crap out of the diff..

although i have read about it in the past, i came across an issue with setting up my diffs tonight..  when i pulled apart the two 60 series diffs i noticed that the way that toyota sets up the diffs in the cruiser semi floater stuff is much different than the toyota 8" mini truck stuff or any of the elocker stuff for that matter..
what toyota does to set up a later cruiser 40/60 series pinion depth is that they use shims under the inner bearing pinion race wrather than doing it the traditional way and set depth by using shims between the pinion and inner bearing..  
this way does save you time when you are having to pull your pinion back out to re-adjust depth.. there is no pulling off the bearing multiple times to get it right.. instead you just tap out the race, throw another shim in there and tap the race back in..

here are a couple of articles to confirm my point...

http://forum.ih8mud.com/60-series-wagons/234778-ring-pinion-set-up-2.html

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/29960-Crush-sleeve-VS-shims/page2

http://forum.ih8mud.com/40-55-series-tech/251394-solid-spacer-shims-pinion-preload.html

[fj-rankenstein]

i started to set up my diffs the other day.. i went with a 0.021 thou pinion shim stack and the pattern didnt look quite where it needed to be and then i went with a 0.027 thou shim  pack and it was a little too much the other way and now i will post what my gear pattern looks like at 0.024 thou for the first diff that i am setting up...   very nice and centered.. the coast looks excellent and the drive side looks really nice.. i will stay with this..

the drive side..  just a little deep which is good...



the coast side



and the pinion pattern looks great too..  nice and centered proving the crown gear pattern is where it needs to be..





oh yeah... if anyone needs a great place to buy bushed dom, tabs, brackets of all sorts and the maker of a kick ass axle go to "roughstuff specialties"     http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/catalog/
hands down the cheapest of all the 4x4 vendors and over built stuff which is what i like..  part of my order came in today..  i will use these for motor mounts, tranny cross member mounts or anything that needs to be mounted on a bushing...  i plan on buying my link kits from here and picking it all up in the states when i go to cruiser classic...

here is part of my order.. i love his shock mounting tabs..

[fj-rankenstein]

i am looking for something cool to do.. i am thinking about pulling the trigger on this... i would be doing it for the wifey more than me but as they say, "happy wife, happy life".. 

http://forum.ih8mud.com/40-55-series-tech/281276-vintage-air-install.html

[fj-rankenstein]

so, i have been busy with the truck..  i got my new 4.88 thirds finally installed.. i just have to fill the axles up with oil..    

and the newest thing......  drum roll please...





























                                TOYBOX!!!!!!!!



this is what i picked up this morning from the shipper this morning...

its the Marlin Crawler Toybox with 4.7 gears..  i have been talking about this for well over two years now and i finally have one..   it is beautiful..  the machining work is always top quality along with the parts that go into it.. i am quite excited about this purchase!! thanks to Brendan my sales person for helping me get this thing here.. he is a great guy to deal with on the phone..

now i gotta find time to install it..  :?

[mk1motorsport]

Real nice job . I really appreciate seeing work like what you have done!   

[muddytaco]

 

[Dooner]

That toy Box is too sexy to put under the truck, it needs to be in a lighted show case instead!

[fj-rankenstein]

That toy Box is too sexy to put under the truck, it needs to be in a lighted show case instead!

agreed!!    Toyboxes and longfields..  these parts are way to nice to be hidden..

[baxter650]

Wow blue anodizing, i didn't get blue anodizing with mine.

[fj-rankenstein]

Wow blue anodizing, i didn't get blue anodizing with mine.

pretty fancy hey??      lol..   this wasnt supposed to come this way but it was the last adapter they had..    i think the story is that they sent it out to another vendor for a promo or something and when it came back to marlins it had been anodized??  something like that anyways.. i dont remember how the story went..  they asked if i cared that it was partially blue and i cared very little.. in fact i wish the other side had got anodized so it would be proportional.    all i know is that it is colour coordinated to my truck so i know it is mine..
Marlin also had enough parts in stock to help me complete my other toybox that i have had laying around for years..  i had bought a sm465/toybox/splitcase kit that came in pieces that i was going to assemble and ended up not making a mistake and going with a chevy engine..  the sm465 plate is for sale but i still had the minitruck case that was machined for the toybox stuff and the rear splitcase adapter..  so i bought everything for the h55f adapter end of things and combined with my spare 4.7 gear set and splitcase adapter i have enough to build a second toybox...  this will go into my bj42 that will end up being a partial tube buggy eventually..  i am hoping to start on it after Christmas this year..  we are planning a trip to Cruise moab for 2014 and want to have it done by then..  (money dictates speed of completion.  )

[Dooner]

 "and ended up not making a mistake and going with a chevy engine.."

Yeah boy i tell ya what them Danged ol Chevy Motors... Wha.... Hey! That hurt   I feel woozy

[fj-rankenstein]

just catching up with a few pics...

this is before the TLCA river shiver in February..   just starting to tear down the front to do the water pump.   that poor poor fan..


here is the nice new water pump in place..


here are the hoses on the water pump.. no point going to toyota for these..  the 90 degree one was 10 bucks at sutherland auto and the 1 inch heater hose was only a buck for the piece i needed..


not one, but both of my horns quit within a week of each other on the cruiser..  i guess 35 years is the life span for toyota horns.. :lol:
its important to use both a high and low range horn to cover more of the sound spectrum..  it offers a much bigger sound than just using two low horns or two high pitch horns..


and finally what i am starting with today. i am going to mount the tranny to the engine stand with a jig that i am making so help make rebuilding this more easier..  rebuilding drivetrain components on a bench or on a floor sucks..

[fj-rankenstein]

ok, so trying to decide about a front bumper..  my buddy has this great arb for the right price but needs work to make fit and i am lazy lately and dont feel like making the standard "metaltech hoop up front with stinger" look.. but not so lazy that i cant flop around with a bumper to make it work..   plus i really like the look..

here is the link that another person posted  about a 60 series arb bumper on a 40 that peaked my interest..
http://forum.ih8mud.com/40-55-series-tech/416176-fj60-62-arb-bumper-fitment.html

here are some pics we took today..  i am thinking of taking two inches out of the middle and that will make the headlights unrestricted..  the bumper looks more in the way of the headlights than what it really is because it is a good 7-8 inches ahead of where it will actually be on the frame..

[freds40]

I've never really been a fan of the ARB bumpers. They tend to remind me of the Austrailian Road Trains.  Good to see your rig back under construction.

[Nomad]

Your truck is looking great! I've got a toybox going into my 4Runner/Cruiser drivetrain project in the next little while so i'll be following your progress.

[THK Matt]

ooOOoo new stuff.

[fj-rankenstein]

i have been working oh so slowly on this..  cant see to find the time in evenings filled with nothing for some reason..   :roll:

anyways, i got both the t-case apart and the 4 speed stuff out to compare what i needed to build a nice t-case..  as i was saying in an earlier post there are a few different t-case gear ratios depending on the year and application..  the early t-case behind the early 5 speed uses a 1.96 gear set and the early 4 speed uses a 2.276 gear set..  i am going to swap the early 4 speed 2.276 gear set into my 5 speed t-case for a better crawl ratio..

i actually enjoy this stuff and dont care if you do or not so i drew some pics..
here is a few pics i drew when figuring out gear ratios after counting gear teeth..  the formula for figuring out this stuff is:
(driven/drive)x(driven/drive)=final output
so the 4 speed case is:
(45/34)x(43/25)=2.276
the 5 speed case is:
(45/34)x(40/27)=1.96

here are a fw pics to illustrate my point..

4 speed


and the power flow through the 5 speed (which is the same for the 4 speed)


here is the input and pto gear


more gears


4 speed case and gears


5 speed case and gears

[Dooner]

Good to see you pluggin away at your rig, making progress. I know what you mean about the metal tech stinger hoop, which is kind of the standard look these days, it's refreshing to see something different. Not sure what Im going to do with mine yet..

[fj-rankenstein]

i am getting a whole lot done in the last short while now..  i decided to make my own turbo manifold using a plasma cut 1/2 inch flange made by a guy here in town and schedule 40 fittings from a pipe/plumbing shop.. the factory turbo manifold is discontinued from toyota and i dont want to wait for the replica that is coming out in a few months..
its pretty neat how close all of the fittings are on this flange..  no cutting on the tubes will be required..  just prep and weld..





ALSO,

i felt like cutting stuff up today so i took my anger out on my arb bumper..  i could have just left it alone after getting it to fit on the frame rails but that wasnt good enough. (keep in mind that this is a 60 series arb bumper..  my frame and rolling chasis is a 60 series but the body is obviously a 40 series that was transplanted onto this frame.... i needed to modify the bumper so it wasnt onstructing the headlights... ) i then decided to take 4 inches out of the middle of this thing and now i am happy..  the bumper isnt in the way of the headlights anymore and it looks a bit better now. i still have to cut out the hole for the winch line fairlead and make a mount to the frame so i can bolt this bumper in place but the hard work is done..  not that it was really that hard..

cut it in half


took 4 inches out of it and welding back together



crappy night time photo of revised bumper not in the way of headlights


the original bumper pic not yet modified


crappy night time side shot!!

[fj-rankenstein]

well.. its a start..  i got the output shaft cut on the tranny and the toybox fitted to the tranny.. dont worry!!  i will be painting the tranny all nice once i rebuild it.. i am just dry fitting everything to make it nice for final assembly..
there are a ton of problems out there where for some reason toyota started the end of the output shaft at 35mm in size which is what marlin crawler has made the toybox input to fit,  but it gets to be almost .40mm bigger by the time it gets to the place where you have to cut the shaft to length for where the input fits on..
here is a reference page to what a lot of people have to deal with.. if i ever had to deal with htis i would take my output shaft to a machinest to get him to turn it down to proper size.. a lot of people seem to just take a grinder to the shaft for some reason..
  http://board.marlincrawler.com/index.php?topic=42731.30

 i was lucky and all i had to do was take a 3m pad on my die grinder lightly to polish up the splines and everything fit slightly snug but very nice..