Offroad-Express

A few weeks ago I bought myself a very tidy 1982 fj40. Everything is original, has very minor rust and all in all is pretty dam tidy.

It still has the original cross ply SAT style tyres and i think that some 33s would be a good choice. I went and spoke to someone at 4wd accessoires in Montreal st about it and he reckoned 35s would be a better idea. He also said that its very hard to do body lifts on 40s?

My questions are do i need to modify anything to fit 33s? How hard is a body lift as people on here seem to have done them?

And also been looking at putting disc brakes on the front. I have seen a couple of ways people have done them using parts from surfs or 60 series, which works best?

Sorry a lot of questions, any advice appreciated!

Cheers
Jimmy

oh and by the way i don't plan to be doing intense hard core rock crawling or something with my 40, at this stage anyway, but i want it to be capable when i head out to waimak etc

33" tyres should fit ok, you'll still expect to get a bit of rub on hard articulation and the amount will depend on how saggy your springs are, I used to run 825 SAT's on my old 40's and they rubbed a bit but it wasnt a big problem

Hey welcome an nice to see another 40 (well hope youll put pics up soon )
1st off be careful with the minor rust, I thought mine had minor rust, turned into pretty much a full strip down an repaint .

I run 33s which are fine for most places but once you start getting into rutted muddy tracks the big cruiser diffs drag on the ground so 35s would be better. Youll need a body lift an rear guard chop to fit 35s tho. Not sure if you really need a lift to fit 33s but I moved my rear diff back 40mm to improve guard clearance at the front of the rear guards.

Body lifting a 40 is relatively easy the problem youll find is that once the body is lifted the steering column wont line up with the steering box, I got around this by doing powersteering conversion at the same time.

Front discs are pretty much a matter of getting a hilux, 60 or 70 series disc brake set up, unbolt the drum swivel hubs an bolt on the disc set up. For better stopping power a LN130 surf brake booster an master cylinder will bolt straight on an youll need some kind of proportioning valve aswell

Have a read thru my build thread it covers everything youre planning an then some, mine was almost completely original to start with http://www.offroadexpress.co.nz/Forums/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=18591

Hi there, good to see another 40 owner, as the others have said 33s will rub on a standard truck under full flex in the back, the reason people say its hard to do body lifts is one because of the steering coloum issue and also the front gaurds and front panel arent attached to the tub band need something other than blocks and bolts to lift them.
Most places youll go with 33" tyres if your not doing hard core stuff, but 35" are better for diff cleance but depending on what motor you have in your 40 35s can suck the power out on the open road.
If you want to come have alook at one of my 40s with body lift, disc brakes etc send me a pm and ill be more than happy to point you in the right direction.

Thanks for the replys

I realise rust can hide everywhere so i will have a more thourogh look sometime, but as my 40 has spent the last 20 years in a garage i am hoping its sweet.

Yeah i have had a look through your build, it looks awesome, i love the roll cage. The powersteering setup looks sweet, might be a bit beyond me tho looks a bit tricky.

Not really so keen on chopping guards as i'd like to keep it resonably original, not sure if thats the done thing on this site but oh well.

Have been pricing up doing suspension lifts, prob 2 inch. Been quoted around $200 per spring, anyone know if this is a good deal?

Oh and ill get photos up soon, just have to find camera

Doing a spring lift is another way around stopping your tyres rubbing, and you wont need to chop your gaurds, what make are the springs or who was that through? If you do 2" springs you will need new shocks also because the origanals will be maxed out sitting on flat ground.

you'll still get rubbing on full lock with ya steering.

http://s849.photobucket.com/albums/ab53 ... G_0287.jpg

http://s849.photobucket.com/albums/ab53 ... G_0297.jpg



A couple of pics of the 40 for anyone interested

Couldn't work out how to post them direcly, everytime i tried it said "It was not possible to determine the dimensions of the image."

That is tidy as. Can't even see any chips on the bonnet!

Get 33" equivlent SAT's and leave is as is if you ain't doin much offroading, otherwise butcher one that is already shit, that thing is too tidy!

Keep is away from the Waimak unless you want too replace
everything on it within a year. The silt there is not worth the drive unless you 4x4 park in reasonable dry just to learn your truck, imo. Being an older truck everything that is damaged is compounded too so remember that.

Otherwise, jealous as man.