How is the handling on the highway of the FJ 60/62s after the SOA? Also what is your roof height? What are the benfits and cons that you personally have experienced from the swap and would you do it again?

Mine handles like a DREAM, Sloan. Stable at speed, stable when cornering, I drive it exactly like I used to drive it when it was stock. Mine and Pismo Jim's are tall because we used OME springs; I've considered going back to stock springs, but the truck rides so nice and the articulation is so insane that I haven't. I still may, especially if I go to 37's in the future, but for now, I'm really pleased.

Last Saturday we drove 3.5 hours to Paragon, wheeled it hard, then aired-up again and drove 3.5 hours back home, no damage. Priceless...

Are those the 2.5" springs? I am leaning towards doing this, it's just that out of all the vehicles that I own,it's my favorite and I don't want to ruin that.:D Also on th FJ60 do you run into axle wrap?

With the OME springs, I haven't experienced much axle wrap, even on Moab slickrock, but I think if you use stock springs it's wise to control it.

I've also thought of de-arching the OME springs, but I'm afraid of ruining the ride/stability.

he he he :vader2: I could go spring over with the 4" Dobinson sporings I have on there now. Then I could pick up extra cash on the monster truck circuit. Might be time to start thinking about that 350 or that Toyota diesel swap. BTW if you did a diesel swap on the FJ60 would the automatic be better or the 5 speed (H55F?)? I don't know anything about the autos that came with the diesels.

The only auto available on the 60 series with a diesel engine was the A440F, same as in the US FJ62's. It's a strong, nearly-bulletproof transmission, but they're expensive to rebuild. FWIW, I would use an H55F, but I'm biased, ALL of my Land Cruisers have had it and I'm used to it.

By the way, if you're going to swap to a Toyota diesel, don't even bother with a 2H, go 12H-T or newer (1HZ, 1HD-T, 1HD-FT or 1HD-FTE).

As for the S/O I wouldn't trade it for anything. I love mine. I love the truck and the S/O was truly a great choice. Man just thinking about that truck sittin in the garage makes me sad:( I drove it stock for like two years then sprung over for like two years and now it has sat in my garage for like eight months. Someday soon I hope to have it back on the road. When it comes back it will be 350 TBI 203 to split case with an auto tranny. Oh I can't wait. :) :) :beer: :beer:

Sloan,

Spring over rides great on the highway. W/ stock springs, body roll can be a problem, but the ride on mine is almost like a caddy compared to my OME SUA fj60. To control body roll I use the stock front sway bar, a full length front add-a-leaf & rs9000's set between 3 & 5 depending on load. w/ 35's & stock springs my 60 sits at right about 6'-7" & clears my garage door by 1/2" :eek:
As for diesel, just about any swap is going to be a fortune. I've seen vortecs lately in the $1200 range & I think that w/ a 4l60e it would be the way to go. My tbi350 & 700r4 are GREAT on & off road.
The other day I had my passenger rear 35" blow on the highway @ 80mph & other than scaring the hell out of me the truck handled it fine. I think SOA is a good way to go if you don't mind the height.

Ditto to what Henry said. I think SOA works great on a 60. I like using my OME springs because I think they are stronger and tougher than the stock. No axle wrap problems so far. With crawler gears or a V8 I would think about adding a bar.

I recall the frame height being 28-inches from the ground. I'm not sure about the overall height, but it's tall.

It drives great on and off-road. I drove with no sway bars for a couple of months while waiting for Drew's quick disconnects. It was fine. I'd run without any sway bars, just using the Rancho 9000s if I was doing it again. But, I drive like an old man - on road.

The only draw back is the look I get from my 5'-0" girlfriend when I say we are taking Knuckles. It's a climb getting in.

Now, with all that said, I just finished watching a 60 with an 80 Series axle and coils at CM2002. It was working real good too.

Go Big :smokin:

So the best route to go would be the 3" OME springs?

Whoa! As usual, "it depends". If you want to run big tires, have plenty of clearance for them, and want a killer ride and on-road handling, and plan to keep to medium-to-serious wheeling, I would use the OME 2.5" springs. But if you plan to do a lot of hard-core extreme wheeling with this truck, off-camber, you might want to stay with the stock springs or maybe go custom. At that point, you might also want to start hacking sections of the body off, too.

I've had my OME + SOA for 2.5 years now and I am really pleased. It takes a while to get used to the added height on the trail, especially when off-camber, but the added clearance, insane articulation and ability to run big tires certainly makes up for it. In my case, it would be even better if I didn't have to go so fast on the trails, but my problem are the gears, not the height.

My Land Cruiser has less body-roll that *ANY* of the SOA FJ60's I've seen using stock springs; ultimately, it comes down to cost (as always, OME are expens$ive) and what you want to do with the truck. In my case, I like to wheel as hard as possible without getting into extreme stuff like the Hammers, Helldorado, or some of the wicked AZ trails. I don't think you can wheel a 60 series on trails like that *without obliterating the body*, and I plan to have this truck 20 years from now.

As for springs I have a combination of stock 60 springs, and some mini truck springs mixed in. I am very happy with the packs, I have like 9 leaves in the rear and 7 in the front. It took a long time to get the packs figured out but I was happy and they were free:-) I have really good flex, yeah sometimes it might be to much but I have gotten used to it and know what the truck will do. I also know it is not a race car. I am really goning to have to tell myself that when the 350 fires up.

As for what Henry says about slower that was also my problem. I had a h55f and 4.88's with 35" tires and yeah the truck sure didn't go slow enough. Later

Calfj60 are you the guy that has Jim Brink helping with your truck? My 60 will be my DD, camping, light to med wheeling vehicle. I have an FJ 40 for everything else.

Henry,

If you plan on owning your rig in 20 years, the why is it for sale? I don't mean to be an ass, but i'm just trying to figure out why you want to get rid of such a piece of work. I'm having a similar problem, I think. Since i'm the first owner of my 1990 fj62 and i've been slowly building, i'd like to keep it. But at the same time I would love a new rig, SWB to really wheel hard.

Where did you see/hear that? As far as I know it isn't.:confused:

Sloan, Yes I am the one. Jim has helped me with many projects in the last few years, including the S/O and tranny swao and now the biggest job so far the motor swap. Later

hey sloan, i have a 55 rather than a 60/62, but i think its along the same lines in on road right??
i have about a 2" lift on top of the SOA, body roll bigtime, but i have it set-up soft and i like it that way, i love leaning around corners. handles great though, my roof sits at almost 7ft, and total height is 7'8" :eek: but it does nicely, i set the bumpstops on the high side to neg arch the spring under compression and try to fatigue them some, its only settled about 1/2". oh well, it gets a bit tippy sometimes off road, but i'm fine with it. oh i got 36's under it, i was afraid it would be way too tall, but i think it turned out good.

To give you an idea, when coming off this ledge, I didn't hit the rear bumper, something that would have been *impossible* before the SOA!

I don't have a problem with tall, I'd put it on 44s if it were feasible ($:eek: ). I am concerned with gaining altitude and not sacrificing the handling.

If the SOA is done well, there will be NO problems with handling. I've had the Princess, with the roof rack loaded and towing my 1/4 ton up to 90 MPH with no problem. I'd go faster, too, if only she would! :)

Sloan,

My opinion is to SOA it with stock/flat springs.

Yes, the OME springs work awesome in a SOA configuration, but there is still more friction flexing an arched spring pack over a nice flat spring pack from a set of worn out, flat springs.

I do not like the stability of an SOA rig, be it a FJ-60, 55 or 40 with stock width axles.

Add 2" of lift and you are really pushing the limits of safety.

IMHO, if you use 2" OME springs on an already top-heavy Cruiser and do a spring over, you need to AT LEAST use 14.50" tires or use 2" backspaced wheels to gain back some stability.

Not trying to argue with Henry and Jim, just giving you my .02

;)

dude...dogwalkers 60 soa drives dreamy! enough said!:rasta:

So who is doing SOA conversions? MudRak, Butch Built, is there anyone closer to SoCal?

:)

Simon Morris at Fault Line Fabrication has a good shop in San Dimas. Out near Pasadena. He just did a nice spring over on a fj45 wagon. He's building a custom front bumper for my 60 as well. Great custom cruiser work for you So Cal guys.

Check him out.

Fault Line Fab
909-599-9559

Randy

my soa rides much better than stock. i have the stock height springs.

In my case, I like to wheel as hard as possible without getting into extreme stuff like the Hammers, Helldorado, or some of the wicked AZ trails. I don't think you can wheel a 60 series on trails like that *without obliterating the body*, and I plan to have this truck 20 years from now.


Speaking of obliterating the body of a 60 on trails like Helldorado.....

This truck is sprung over on Alcans (1" over stock) and riding on 33" BFG's on this trip. The driver also has some 35" SSRs, but he's still running totally stock gearing!!! 3.73's Ack!!

All of this body damage was either on Helldorado or Cat Canyon in Utah. Actually some of the damage to the driverside front fender was from Little Moab near SLC.

At least he's learned to take the doors off.



http://user.netomia.com/Box%20Rocket/34.jpg

http://user.netomia.com/Box%20Rocket/29.jpg

:) :)

Here's the same truck only a couple short years ago. It was super clean until the first time he did Cat Canyon during last winter. The rockers and rear corners took a beating on that trip.

Check this out.

http://www.wasatchcruisers.org/trails/catcanyon_fall_00/catcanyon.html

http://user.netomia.com/Box%20Rocket/will_a.jpg

http://user.netomia.com/Box%20Rocket/will_b.jpg

Wow...

Talked to Mudrak on wed. but he had to catch a flight to GSMTR so I'm supposed to call him next week.:D Looks like I'll be up in San Francisco for 2 weeks in August or September working on a movie so...:D BTW he was really against the idea of doing a stock FJ60 spring SOA. When I explained what I was running now he seemed to think there wouldn't be a problem doing it with the 4" Dobinson springs I'm running now.

Gary is a standup guy, mine was only the second 60 series SOA conversion he did and after 2 years, all I've had to do is tighten the u-bolts.

I dunno about a SOA with 4" lift springs and the stock axles unless you plan on de-arching those springs. I think even the 2.5" from the OME is a little high and I have considered de-arching them, but like I said, I'm afraid to mess up the ride quality/springs.

I think even the 2.5" from the OME is a little high and I have considered de-arching them,

I've decided all springs are not created equal. I had the heavy OMEs which orginally had about 3-inches of lift. But, they sagged, more than most I've seen. I recall Mudrak even suggested I may have had a some from a "bad" batch. Or could have been the way I loaded them up and and wheeled them. Whatever, who knows.

The bottom line was they had lost much of their original arch before doing the SOA. Much more than yours Henry. And I know you load your wagon heavy too. We also decided to remove the overload spring during the springover. I don't think you did that, right Henry?

Prior to the SOA my OME springs had been worked and now they are even flatter. Right after the conversion I picked up a slight "cruiser lean" where I never had one before. The lean seems worse now.

So, if you run heavy starting with a little extra lift isn't bad in my opinion.

Picctures:
Pre-SOA loaded heavy, as usual, these are the OMEs and 31-inch ATs (http://home.off-road.com/~cruiserhead/crawdad/airup.jpg) :barf:

Post-SOA the springs reverse arch and flex like mad (http://home.off-road.com/~cruiserhead/bigfalls/twistie.jpg) on 35s. :D

I'm starting to think about putting the overloads back in.

Oh yeah, I'm available to provide a "de-arching" service, just send me your new springs. :D :D :D

:beer:

I don't think the Dobinson lift is a true 4"s, if it were the 35" tires should have fit the same as the 31s before, right?