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Baja FJ45 (Buildup thread)

240K views 593 replies 126 participants last post by  troy scott 
#1 ·
Finally starting the Baja 45 project! Little background. After years of looking for the right one I bought a 63 FJ45 SWB from a guy in Sacramento. I had big ideas from the get go but I was not sure what way to take this little truck. I knew what I was going to be using the rig for and that it had to be very dependable, store a fair amount of gear and be fun to drive. My original thought was 5.3 Chevy, 4L60E, Atlas. To be honest I have done a fair amount of fuel injected conversions and wanted a new challenge. Why not keep it Toyota? Not a week after this revelation a buddy of mine wrecked his 98 Taco with a 3.4 and a stick. I took this as a sign and bought the truck from the insurance a couple days later.
This truck will be taking my Girlfriend (Kelly) and I on many camping trips, and the trip it is really being built for, spending at least a month at a time on the Baja. Plus She loves Toyotas and would love to have something fun to drive in the summer.:D
Here are some pictures of the 45 and the Taco.
 

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#134 ·
Thanks guys. Welded up the winch mount today I would guess it weighs 3 pounds. If you include the plating maybe 7. Trying to keep her as light as I can. She will be loaded to the gills with gear and gas.
 

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#135 ·
I had just got close when I spun the knuckles 180* with the intent to "tune" them once they were in the car. Well I am glad I rechecked them. After setting up the steering and beating the Marlin arms off a few times it turned the Knuckles. One side was 13* the other 14.5*:laughing: thought they looked wrong. I tweaked them back to 6.5* and tacked them. Just need to build some steering stops, shock tabs and weld it up.
 

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#136 ·
Buying the wrecked Tacoma is paying off. I took the Taco rear 2 piece driveshaft and split it. I knew it would be close when I mounted the motor but today I test fit it. The CV shaft from the 2 piece fits perfect just need to clock the holes on the Tcase flange. As for the front, I am using the carrier bearing from the 2 piece to get by the cross member. From there it will be a regular Tacoma front shaft.
If this stupid Tacoma gas tank would fit I would really be making out:laughing:
 

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#137 ·
Parts needed... Used or new just looking for a bit cheeper.
I really wanted to go 4.88 but got 5.29's for the rear for cheep.

-5.29 Ring & Pinion for a FJ60 3rd.
-Stock birfield for FJ60 or mini truck.
-One Aisin hub
 
#141 ·
Good day of progress.
Using the Tacoma Transfer case has a down fall. Because it went to an IFS front in the Tacoma and the front shaft did not have to move at all the drive shaftshaft was super close to the crossmember. Because I did not to make some goofy crossmember, I need to make a 2 piece shaft to get it by the crossmember.
Here we go again flipping stuff around.
I took the carrier bearing half of the Tacoma rear shaft and cut it up and flipped it around to put it on the front of the Tcase.
From here It will be Toyota truck shaft to the Land Cruiser flange on the 3rd.
 

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#147 ·
Looks awesome!

So is 6.5* the standard steering arm angle for an SOA on these?
IIRC, I went with 5* on my 62 and it handled very well. I had heard some where that 2* would actually be the MAX for a 40?

Just curious!
 
#150 ·
6.5* is on the high end. I would say 5* is much more "common". Some people run as much as 10*. Basically with that much caster your rig is going to go straight down the road. IMO 2* is not enough, I dont' like the way it feels, too loose feeling. Lots of trail rigs have more caster (6+) because when ledge climbing it makes the edge of the tire bite better.

I hope it handles well, it will have 37" Krawlers so something in the 6* range sounded good to me.

Hope that makes sense?
 
#153 ·
The painful start to body work. Good news is there is very little rust or damage to this 45. The second to last pic shows how good of shape the steel is under the dirt mat, and the bed is nearly flawless. Lots of scraping the 43 years of dirt and grease caked to the bottom of the tub.
Another nice thing is almost all the little things, vents, screws, knobs, switches, ect were all here when I became the owner 3 years ago.
 

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#156 ·
That under belly looks GREAT!
Amazing what you find with a bit of elbow grease.
I was wondering how I was gonna get at that tub belly...That is a great idea that I might use to execute that. Beats laying UNDER it and working over head and all the crap falling in your face.
 
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