I am preparing to do the infamous disc brake conversion on my 74 fj40 and was wondering what the advantages/ disadvantages of the mini truck or fj60 parts is? I am aware that with the fj60 you get vented rotors but will I encounter any other problems using 60 stuff? Are there any disadvantages to using the 60 sutff other than the price? Will the tie rods be a problem?
I'm reading all of the write ups on this stuff and just want everythig to go smoothly.

Thanks Guys

Donald Butcher

:beer: :usa

I'm pretty sure everything is the same except for the disks. IMHO nothing ever goes smoothly, but that depends on your definition of smooth.

I have a 9/74 which I am doing the mini conversion on now. Mate of mine is going to make me up some shims so that my cruiser TREs fit the mini steer arms. I am also doing the conversion on my spare front axle so I can keep driving. I'll swap the spare in when I'm happy with it.

Ben

You can put the vented rotors(FJ60) on the minitruck hubs. The use IFS pick up truck (V-6) calipers...

Originally posted by tooker
I'm pretty sure everything is the same except for the disks.



Vented rotors are wider...must use IFS calipers or the 60series calipers...they will fit the wider vented rotors

The knuckle arms of the sixty take a bigger ball-joint, so there is some mixing and matching to do. The arms from the forty will not cross over to the sixty knuckels, but the arms from a mini will and they all have differant ball-joint sizes!

Good luck

anybody know where there is a write up on the 60 series conversion? I found multiple on the mini truck stuff, but none on the 60.

thanks

keep it coming guys

The 60 stuff is virtually the same in terms of steps to follow. the only differences I can recall are the brake line routing, taper on the steering arms(some M/T is the same as FJ60, depends on year), vented rotor and associated caliper and the color of the end piece of the locking hub. Brake line routing with the FJ60 backing plate can be easier, but best bet if using M/T stuff is to use a brake hose to go from the caliper to the axle tube and forget the little junction on the L/C backing plates...

If I use the 60 stuff do I use my 40's tie rods? Is there more fabrication involved by using the 60 stuff? I'm limited as to what I can do in my driveway you know?

Donald


:beer: :usa:

It looks as if there are many of us in the same boat. From this thread it is apparent that I can use my mini knuckles and steering arms. 60 rotors and calipers, or IFS 4 runner or pu calipers and pads. Do my locking hubs for the mini work alright? I am trying to get everything I need so when I go for it my 40 isn't down for more than a weekend (it is my daily).

I did mine in about six hours, after cleaning everything the day before. there are ways to overcome the tiefod issue(I had FJ40 knuckles hanging around to use with the Mini truck other shiat.)

You will have to seperate birifields, so you can do that early, also get a "Marlin tack" done to the axles while its all apart, so you can replace broken birfields easily.

If you get REALLY lucky, you can find a set of '79 FJ40/55 knuckle steering arms that have the large bolt pattern(for the m/truck or FJ60 parts) and the right taper for the landcruiser tierod-I have NOT done this personnaly, but am told that it can work...

Buy new rotors early if you want the vented style, CCOT has cheap ones, and swap them to the hubs. No need to do this while the truck is all apart-so do it before you rip your truck apart.

repalce/repack the wheel bearings ahead of time, install the hub seal, and bolt on the new(or used) vented rotors.

When you get the minitruck/fj60 parts MAKE SURE to keep the shims in their respective location...That means shims from the top left go back on the top left. I would REALLY recommend replacing the knuckles bearings. I have seen even low milage cruisers and minitrucks with bearings that had wear in the straight ahead direction(this makes them nore prone to wander), and nows the time to do it. Get a seal/bearing kit from one of the many vendors out there. DONT order one for a disc brake 76-78 cruiser, get a later minitruck one-same as FJ60's... the early disc landcruiser stuff has shims that are too small.

Hope that helps

can someone explain the tie rod problem? and the possible solutions? I'm really hoping to make this go smoothly!

The tie rod problem is due to the size ot the taper in the FJ60/Mini truck steering arms. The landcruiser stuff is too small and will not seat without crushing the grease boot. Because of this, you will need to make small cone like shims for the tierod, or make new tierods for the FJ80 tie rod ends-There are people who make these on the board(medusa)

This can be an issue but LOTs of people have done this swap, and they may offer solutions.

BTW, cut the "J" off the minitruck LH steering arm if you go that route.

-Brett

so the tie rod problem is going to happen with the mini truck or the 60 stuff? I plan on using the 60 stuff if it is not any harder to do than the minitruck conversion.


Donald
:beer: :usa:

Donald

I fabricated some thin steel cone shaped shims when I did my mini-truck conversion, worked great. Then I used my FJ40's original tie rod ends and tie rod.

It will be the same with my FJ60 parts.

John

hey does anyone have any pictures of the "adapters" they are using for the tie rods? I really want to know exactly what I'm getting into before I start this conversion.


thanks again guys


Donald

:beer: :rolleyes:

Donald

I found some sheet steel of about the right thickness and cut out some rectangular pieces, one for each tie rod end. I carefully formed them around a steel rod by lightly hammering them into a cone shape. Then I trial fit them into the tapered hole in the steering arm. I used my Dremel tool with reinforced cut-off wheel to trim the edges where the steel joins to form the cone, so the edges just came together with no gap. Then I hammered the cone-shaped shims into the knuckle arm and trimmed them flush on both faces of the steering arm, again using the Dremel tool and cut-off wheel.

With just a little patience and trial and error you can make a nice pair of shims.

John

I will agree with everything that was said. I got an entire FJ60 front end and put all the disc brake stuff on my 71 FJ40 it worked perfect. I did do all the bearings which was worth it because it steers perfect going down the freeway. If you do use the FJ60 tie-rod it will have to be shortened I believe as it it 2" longer than the FJ40 one. I went with hy-steer arms myself and eliminated this issue.

Good luck, it is actually quite easy.

ooh tell me more?