I wanted this thing to be a more capable trail rig so I started researching what my next move would be. I took it to the trails in it's "stock" form a couple of times just to get a feel for it.

I quickly realized that power steering would be one of the first things I added. I also scored a mini-truck axle from a friend so I could gain disc-brakes.

Also decided to go with a spring over to clear bigger tires. My dad has performed a few SOA's in his time so I was exited to learn.

From Jan '07 - Oct '07 it made this transformation:
- mini-truck disc brakes
- 4.88 ring & pinion gears (R&P)
- aussie locker in the front and welded in the rear
- Saginaw PS (power steering) with 4x4lab hysteer kit (4x4Labs.com)
- shackle reversal (SR)

Pics from the shakedown run:

 

I drove the Cruiser in this condition for sometime. The only major problem I had was the fault of my own stupid mistake. In my excitement to wheel my rig I failed to fab up an anti-wrap bar and I paid dearly. I snapped my rear pinion on the side of a mountain during a night run. If you're going to go Spring Over Axle, do yourself a favor and fabricate an anti-wrap bar! I got away with it for a few months but it eventually bit me.

Once I recovered from that I wheeled it for about a year without many problems but like anybody with a Cruiser I started developing a list of things I wanted/needed.

- lower gears for crawling
- an alternative to the hardtop (so top heavy)
- get a little lower center of gravity
- get a little longer wheel base

I was also battling an overheating issue that was getting annoying.

Pics from a wheeling trip in Sept 2008 with SMC:

 

So I discovered that I had a crack in my block and I acquired a major oil leak(separte issues). So earlier this summer I decided it was time to start the next wave of mods. The first thing I did was buy a digital camera of my own so I could start to actually document the build process.

I also located a 1989 FJ62 with no title, a bad tranny, 146k miles, and a good price. So I borrowed my cousin's truck and my dad and I went and pick up the new heart for my 40

Here's a cellphone pic:

I also ordered one of these from Toyota (apologize for another cell phone pic):

 

So Dad and I got to work on pulling the drivetrain from my 40. Growing up I didn't do much wrench turning at all. Sure, I might hand Dad a wrench now and again if he was working on one of the family cars or fixing one of our 4wheelers but I really didn't show much interest in it.

This is the part of the story where I stop and say that the greatest part about all of this is the quality time I get to spend with my family and friends (especially my Dad, who is both). I still don't know much about working on Cruisers and it still takes me forever to do simple tasks like taking out a drive shaft but I've learned so much since getting into this stuff.

So here's pics from the first motor pull I've every been a part of:

Fixing to drain the rad

Everything disconnected and out of the way

The new home of the 3FE

Yikes! Time to do some cleanup

 

About this time I made a purchase on MUD from LukeZero. He had a toybox in a Cruiser he had purchased but since he was going to be changing out the LC rear axle to one with a centered rear diff he didn't need the LC t-case or adapter plate that mates to the toybox.

So I took it off his hands (he even cleaned his up for me!)

So I contacted Marlin Crawler and got what I needed to adapt the H42 to the toybox

 

Dad works at a machine shop so he mentioned sandblasting my t-case to try and clean it up some. The H42 needed to be separated from the t-case anways to make room for the Toybox so with a FSM (Factory Service Manual) in hand we went to war.

I've got pictures of most of the steps for removing the t-case but I wanted to focus on what we used as our puller ( $8 harbor freight puller and three home made tabs). Worked like a charm!

 

I also decided to clean up the engine bay on the 40:

Now it was time roll the 40 out and pull the 62 in. Pulling the 3FE was done last weekend and pretty much gets this thread up to date on where I'm at now.


My 2nd motor pull ever

Had a good crew helping out
Mt DEW in the blue shorts (my Dad)
dwh84 on the creeper
rockrebel wearing the hat

Not sure what the load rating on that bar stool is

What's left

 

Great build!

The 3FE is a super great motor; I would love to put one in my 40. You will need to put an oxygen sensor in your exhaust for it. Probably be best off to use the wiring harness from the 62 also.

I'm envious of your Toy Box. Where are you going to put the gas tank now?
I don't want to move my gas tank, so I'll be going with an Orion transfer case instead of a Toy Box.

Keep posting reports and photos please.

 

I hear the 3FE really shines behind a manual transmission. Guess I'll find out first hand! The 62 had 2 oxygen sensors so, you're right, I'll have to add those in. I've got some friends with some electrical experience offering to help me so, along with them and the FSM, it shouldn't be too difficult of a swap. I'm going to use as much of the 62 harness as I can.

The only other big obstacles is brake booster clearance and adding an external fuel pump. Others who have done the swap suggest using the MSD 2225 so that's what I'll go with. Oh, and I'll also have to bore out the flywheel a bit to account for the larger sized bolts used with the 3FE setup.

I've been wanting a Toybox since I got the Cruiser so I'm real excited about it. My gas tank is under the passenger seat so I don't think I'll have to move it. We'll see.

Probably won't get much done this weekend because of a rock race our local club is hosting.

 

You have been busy, nice work.

 

Nice looking 40. The transplant should make you much more intimate with your rig. I look forward to watching your progress
thanks
Don

 

Updates?

 

Yes, please... This is the second time I have read this thread. It's a good read and one of my dreams some day! You have the same year 40 I want. :cheers:

 

I do have some updates but I want to get a little bit more done before I add the pics. I'm halfway done with the toybox install and wanted to finish it before I posted an update.

We did come up with a pretty slick modification to my reverse light switch. I posted a detailed write-up of it on ih8mud and marlin's website. The guys at Marlin liked it enough to add it to their "Tech" section so that was pretty cool.

If you're interested it can be found here:
Modified Reverse Light Switch for Toybox users


Thanks for encouragement! It helps motivate me.

 

Man thats a wicked looking build so far.

Keep it up

 

Stoked to hear/see updates

 

Wow, kind of embarrassing that I haven't updated this thread in so long.

So after getting the 3FE out of the 62 and ordering some parts it was time to get down to buisness.

I was able to find a torrent file for the pdf version of the H42 repair manual. I needed this because I needed to replace the stock output shaft with one supplied with the marlin crawler H42-to-toybox adapter kit.

The new Marlin output shaft:

 

Replacing the output shaft took some time because we didn't have the best pullers to work with. The manual calls for SST's that we didn't have.

For a good write-up on this process look here:
Marlin Crawler ToyBox Install Instructions


Here's a few pics of us doing it:

Hack job on a bolt head that we used for the puller:

Had to wedge the end of a file in so the bolt couldn't "ride out":

 

Pretty much used the same janky process to get all the bearings out. It was slow but it worked in the end.

With the tranny completely gutted it was time to reverse order with the new shaft.

Here's a pic of the new shaft as we started putting the gears and such on it:

New shaft in the tranny:

Here's some puller tabs we had used earlier. This kept the bearing from riding out as we drove the opposite bearing into place:

The opposite side (using an Al block):

 

Now for some new gaskets:

 

It was now time to start working on the Toybox itself. Marlin sales a complete kit that includes the output shaft, 2 piece front adapter plate, low range mini-truck t-case section, and rear adapter kit all together and ready to go. The same setup that is described in the toybox build that I linked earlier in this thread.

I decided to build my on kit because I could do it cheaper. It added a lot of extra work and added a lot of trouble for me because there isn't a lot of info on this out on the web.

The first thing I did was modify my reverse light switch. I detailed that part of the project in another thread because it's pretty detailed and I figured others might find it useful.

Here it is:
Modified Reverse Light Switch for Toybox users - IH8MUD.com

And here's a pic of the 2-piece front adapter that goes between the h42 and the toybox:

 

If you plan to build your on toybox you'll need to find you a top-shift mini-truck transfer case (you can use a forward shift with modifications).

Here's the one I used:

Here's the empty case all cleaned up and ready to be modified:

 

One of the problems I ran into on this build had to do with the toybox housing (the mini-truck reduction box) and the bearing that is supplied by Marlin.

The new input gear that came with my front adapter setup had a #6209 bearing that measures 3.345" OD. The bearing that came from the donor mini-truck case had a #5307N bearing that measures 3.148" OD. So the new bearing is too large for the reduction box and the old bearing doesn't have a large enough ID to fit the new shaft.


But here is what I didn't know at first but found out after I got off the phone with MC:

When you just purchase the adapter kit you also have the option to pay a $100 core charge for a modified reduction box housing. When you send your housing back to Marlin they reimburse the $100. The modified box is simply bored out to accept the larger bearing.

That option was looked over when I ordered my kit. No big deal because my dad runs a machine shop so I would have deferred anyways.

Here's a picture of the difference:

 

Here's a pic of the new gear/bearing that goes in the toybox that has the right spline count for the new output shaft:

Here you can faintly see the bearing # (sorry a bad pic):

Here's the guts to the toybox:

And here it is all put together and ready to go:

 

Now it's time to freshen up my Cruiser t-case. I did a few mods to it to hopefully make it a better, strong case.

The first thing I did was clean it up!

Dirty:

Clean:

I also had the speedo housing machined out to accept two seals:

 

The next thing I did was got in touch with Georg @ Valley Hybrids (orangeFJ45 - on IH8MUD). He makes a couple of simple parts that really add to the strength of the stock t-case. Shoot him a PM for pricing. One of the best upgrades you can make to your t-case!

T-case saver (comes with new hardware):

Nose cone saver:

And I upgraded to 10mm studs on the nose cone: