Ok, I am a jeep guy not a Toy guy but the wife wants a Fj40..

We looked at a 72 today..

Can you guys give me some things to look for when I go back and inspect it?

What types of things should I look for?

Rust? What are some of the common areas?

What motors?
transfercases?
Frontends
rear ends?

What are some of the common problems ETC

I could tell ya about jeeps just not FJ40s.

Steve

Originally posted by WheelingPiazza
Ok, I am a jeep guy not a Toy guy but the wife wants a Fj40..

We looked at a 72 today..

Can you guys give me some things to look for when I go back and inspect it?

What types of things should I look for?

Rust? What are some of the common areas?

What motors?
transfercases?
Frontends
rear ends?

What are some of the common problems ETC

I could tell ya about jeeps just not FJ40s.

Steve

No way, I am giving steve advice??? Killer.....finally get the return all the favors for advice with the dogs.

First Rust.....EVERYWHERE!! OK not everywhere........ but the body. Check the floor boards, the rear quarter panels, where the steps bolt to the side.

72 had an f motor in it (In line six) Great motor for crawling
Not sure on the tranny but mine is a 69 and had a 3 speed.
T-case, will be roughly 2 and half to one
Rear end, most likely 4:11 gears open. Coarse spline pinions...(DON'T SPRING OVER WITH OUT A GREAT and I stress GREAT traction bar)

I love my cruiser. Even stock it went everywhere. Just not enough ground clearance for me.

Here soon I will have an SM420 that is ready to drop behind an F motor for sale. If your interested I will let you know when I yank it.

You could spend a day on the links on my site, and still not know enuf! lol

72:

Good transfer case, 2.313 low range, good alloy aluminum.
3-speed floor shift tranny, easy swap to SM420. Non synchro first and reverse, IIRC.
F-motor, inline 6. Good torque, adequate otherwise, not much top end.
front drum axle, "easy" swap to discs from a 85-older Toy minitruck
rear drum axle.
Both axles toyota proprietaty, front runs coarse birfields. Inner splines fine. Center sections interchange, a nice feature on Toyota Cruisers.

Rust: Common in the frame, by the solid-end rear spring hanger. Common where rear frame c-channel meets side rails.

Body rust, mostly look in the fenders where the support meets the sheetmetal and in the crossmember-tube where the seats are mounted into, look from below.

Whats the price??? I bought my 72 in terrible shape for $75. I bought the one I drive now, after major major reworking of mostly everything, for $200.

Well from what I can tell the floor pans had no rust but I didnt give it a very through looking through..

Hes asking 8500 which is not a bad price but not a great price.

I am willing to look at it but I am pretty set firm on 5k..

Doe's it have a hard top / soft top?

Doe's it have disc brakes/drums in front?

Doe's it have power steering conversion?

Doe's all the components on dash work?

Does the origenal interor look intact,seats,brackets.etc?

Doe's it have a six point rollcage?

Check frame for cracks at the front of frame and at the rear spring hanger.
When I bought my cruiser it had. A sm420, pwr str, six point cage, 35's, hard top, rubicon rack, jerry cans and ran good.
I paid $4500.00 in 96. I hope this helps I'd look around to get a better idea of whats out there. I've seen some awsome deals just recently on land cruisers. $8500.00 sounds a bit much. Unless its been succesfully modified.

Hope this helps!

FJ40 Mini Buyers Guide:

If stock six:

Check for burned valves with a compression/leakdown check or use the dollar bill on the exhaust method (don't know if it actually works) where you hold a dollar bill on the exhaust and watch it flip to see how consistent the puffs of exhaust come out. Some say you can see a bad cylinder by a irregular rhythm. Anyway, often as a result of vacuum leaks, F series motors like to burn valves. Rebuilding the head is a easy two weekend job. You can see a burned valve with a vacuum gauge too. Total motor rebuild is very costly.

If the truck has a V8, make sure the motor is close enough to the radiator. Lots of V8 swaps from the old days have the motor sitting back on the firewall. Also, with a V8 look for a bigger than stock radiator and be on the lookout for cheese in the way of bad welds, poor engineering and smog legality.

Check to see if the transfercase and pinions have excessive play. In the transfercase, this quickly leads to cracking. Rebuilds are not that hard or expensive if you get to them fast enough. Good cores are getting hard to find.

Look for a situation where the transfercase runs dry due to a bad seal between the trans and transfer and check fluids in general. This stuff costs a lot more on a Cruiser than a Jeep and the transfercase although very good is not as tough as a jeep case.

Aside from all of the stuff that I am sure you already know to look for such as hack welding and body work, badly engineered mods and other crap the main issue will be rust. I know you’re out west, but look for rust in frame near the rear spring hangers and in between the tow halves of the frame. Frames are stronger than Jeeps, but rust is an issue in many areas. Also look for bent frame horns in the front and tweaked spring hangers in the rear. Here in the east MANY cruisers have hosed frames.

On the body, look for rust under the WS frame, on the underside around the body mounts and the channel that runs perpendicular to the frame under the drivers seat. Lots of annoying to fix rust here.

Early trucks have afflicted wiring problems that are often the result of the fuse block that is replaceable. Easy enough to fix. Look for hack wiring.

Early trucks do not seem to sell for as much as say `76 and newer trucks. I have a `71 and love it as there is no smog to deal with either a V8 or 2F swap. Smog on a cruiser is a PITA.

I'd say the price is a bit high unless it's really clean and nice. Also, make sure that nothing is missing IE, jump seats, rear heater, stock air cleaner, stock carb, hardtop and doors, etc.

-Stumbaugh

that is a pretty good (and pretty common) year for 40's. When you get into the really old ones (pre 68) they have a lot of odd parts like wierd brake fittings, unique axles and the like that make getting parts for them a little bit of a pain. Most people end up swapping to later stuff- which means $$$ in the end. Too late of a truck (79 and up) and you run into the same kind of stuff- different gear ratios than most 40's, etc. Woody's site is a good one for this stuff.

Basically, buy one about that year (pre-smog:D :D )
convert it to disks, and you are pretty good.

$8500 is a ton of money unless it is either cherry or built. Check the 4sale board here every other day or so- seems to be quite a few 40's sold there for reasonable amounts of money.
If you are not afraid of a total buildup, there is a sprung over 66 with no drivetrain that has been for sale FOREVER. Looks pretty nice, too. I think it is Crusrdave's???

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=26207

He may have started to part it out, tho.

Looks like your wife has her priorities straight! ;) :skull:

Well armed with your advice I went and looked at a 66 yesterday..

Very nice, very stock, No top not glass but running drivable Etc

Started right up after the jump start.. Theres rust in the tank but other then that its in decent shape, Only one minor ding..

Hes asking 2 for it which is a steel.. I htink were going to pick this one up next week..

Sweet. I love my 67. If it is totally stock, you should have some unique stuff- look by the fuel pump. There is no inline fuel filter, but a sediment bowl like on a tractor. Pretty cool, and much less restricive than an inline, even when REALLY dirty.

Are you keeping it totally stock?
Hope your wife doesn't like coffee, because with the column shift, non sychroed first, and no power steering....that is pretty much out:D :D
A floor shift from a later 3speed cruiser is a bolt in swap, just grab the whole top plate-really easy.

Have fun with it!!

Thanks..

I need to call the guy today..

AS far as keeping it stock? Well I want a 4 speed in it, Which one I dont know.. I may pick up a sm420 and go to the stock t-case.. Or find one of you guys that has done the swap and go to a stock 4 speed and t-case//

I am gonig a SUA 4 inch lift on I think 33s.. I would SUA but I am in the middle of doing that on my CJ and I think it would be to tall for the wife..

The motor will stay with the straight six for now, eventually it will get a 350 or 302..

But yes for now its going to stay relativly stock.. I need to finish working on the CJ first.

O and the wife wants it Fire engine red..