76 FJ40 Wheeler Build

[Danger Noodle]

I'm sure you are all guessing what time it is, now.

That's right, filling the radiator. 2 gallons of antifreeze and 2 gallons of distilled water later, and it's almost full.

I rigged up a fuel can and sniper pump, and attached a battery.

I cranked the engine, and it never started.

Now, the genius in me forgot to wire up the ignition to key-on power, but a splice later, this happened.



The next logical step was to throw it into low-low and see what it was capable of.

 

[brettf]

I've been enjoying this thread immensely. Great job and keep it up! 🤘

 

[rover67]

Ditto, push hard to the finish!!!

 

[Danger Noodle]

I've been enjoying this thread immensely. Great job and keep it up! 🤘

Ditto, push hard to the finish!!!

Thanks guys! I'm waiting on my friend to finish welding up my fuel tank, I need to get my batteries mounted, and start driving it as much as possible before Cruise Moab.

 

[MDH33]

Its coming together, can't wait to see it on the trails!

 

[Hulk]

In other news, I had my interview with Proffits Resurrection today, and currently have a job offer from them for a summer position, and I'm really excited about that.

So are you working at Proffitt's for the summer?

 

[Notyourmomslx450]

WAY TO GO!
Looks awesome! Sounds awesome!
Can't wait to see it in the desert!
Congratulations!

 

[Danger Noodle]

So are you working at Proffitt's for the summer?

That's the plan so far.

 

[Danger Noodle]

I've been in a massive rush to get ready for Cruise Moab, so I haven't been updating this thread. Anyways, here is what has been done.

Dual batteries. One starting and a large deep cycle, both AGM.

I made some battery trays, and hung them up underneath.

I got the windshield glass cut and installed.

Slapped some rattle can on the front bumper.

And finished up the sides for my rear bumper.

 

[Danger Noodle]

CB antenna installed.

Front radiator ROPS and light bar mount.

Light bar and paint.

Starting fuel tank install.

 

[Danger Noodle]

Pump wired, lines completed, sender wired.

Seats back in.

28 gallons later, and a few pinholes pop up. Not enough time to drain, clean and reweld, so I just slapped some sealer on them for now, to be fixed asap.

New power pulled to the winch, and all solenoids seem to be working, so I got my in-cab winch controls wired and working.

 

[Danger Noodle]

Finally, I got to drive it around. Everything is functioning very smoothly, but there are a few teething issues. Heater lines are not in the correct locations, and I believe that the water pump is only supplying water, no suction, so the heater is not blowing warm. Me, in all my smooth brain glory, wired up my speedo wrong, so no speedo on the first test drive. That is now fixed.

Here is the cruiser walking itself.


The 383 and sniper combo is absolutley amazing. It is super diesel-like, and practically impossible to kill.

There is no bump steer out of the front links, and limited body roll, so I am pretty happy.

I got to flexing out the suspension for some s***s and giggles last night before installing shocks.

It flexes really nicely.

I am currently staying in grand junction, since both my dad and I are running on about 3 hours of sleep.

We will get to Moab Tomorrow morning, so if anyone is out and wants to run something, let me know!

 

[Danger Noodle]

Pics. Here they are! I'm still waiting on a whole bunch of videos from some of the guys that we ran trails with, but I have a lot of pictures.

So, as a little backstory, I was throwing rear shocks on this thing at 2 AM Monday night, and we left on Tuesday. The problem is, I have very limited space for rear shocks, and needed about 10" of travel for them. 4 Wheel Parts had some that looked like they would work, so I was able to get them late Monday. The good news is that everything cycles really well, despite not having rear bumps. I got some el-cheapo rear pro comp shocks that are really really stiff, so ride quality suffered. Still, the rear SOA rode really nicely, but the shocks need less rebound and compression. I'm looking at some custom-tuned Bilstein 7100 Short Bodies in the near future.

We left home around 4 PM Tuesday. This is the cleanest the cruiser ever was. It is no longer.

We got to Moab early Wednesday morning after staying the night in Grand Junction. We were both too tired to drive the rest of the way and felt it would be safer to just stay the night instead.

Wednesday morning, I checked in to Cruise Moab, got unloaded, and headed out with some friends to prerun Flat Iron Mesa since they were Leading / Gunning it the next day.

"The Chute"

The Cruiser walked it with no lockers very easily. I was still running about 20 PSI in the tires as well.

@DomOfTheDead in his Taco up The Chute.

20210414_123711.mp4

drive.google.com

20210415_112205.mp4

drive.google.com

We ran the first part of the trail and decided to bail out to have some time to chill in camp before the Hell's Revenge Night Run.

 

[Danger Noodle]

I got my rock lights wired up then, and I'm really glad I did. The Night Run was a blast. We had a pretty experienced group running it, as there was very little traffic since it was getting dark.

Somewhere near the beginning.

Green River Overlook from Hells.

Jackson Philby getting tippy on Hell's Gate.

Me, screwing around on Hell's Gate.

20210414_194640.mp4

drive.google.com

 

[DomOfTheDead]

It was awesome watching this rig in action this past week and i was honored to be on the first trail run! Such a killer build!

 

[Danger Noodle]

Thursday Sucked.

Now, I never got my heater running before CM. I had the lines run incorrectly. Whoda thunk that both ports on my water pump were suction? Anyways, I ended up gunning Flat Iron for Dom because he didn't have a gunner. A major front caught up to us about 2 miles in. It started hailing, and the temperature dropped to about 40 degrees. It then started raining. My dad and I both got soaked due to having a bikini and half doors and bailed early again to try to escape the storm. It then began snowing. Adding insult to injury, my wiper motor died as we were starting to leave. Luckily, I got Kurt @cruiseroutfit to poke around at it to fully diagnose the issue. It was great to meet you, Kurt! The 15 miles on the highway back to camp was not the most pleasant. If anyone has a working motor for a 76 40, I'm in need of one.

I got the cruiser inside the arena and got a 5/8 barb to NPT adapter and got my heater working. Funny how that moved up on the priority list after getting cold. I need to relocate my Dakoda Digital Water Temp Sensor elsewhere now, but that is easy. Good thing the sniper has a temp sensor that I could use.

Anyways, It slightly warmed up Friday, but the heater was very nice to have. I gunned Fins and Things with Justin Henry (@justin4045). It was a fun, easy trail with a lot of great views.

@justin4045 in his 47.

20210416_103659.mp4

drive.google.com

20210416_103659.mp4

drive.google.com

 

[Danger Noodle]

Saturday, I gunned Kane Creek. It was a ton of fun, and Hamburger Hill was a good challenge for most of the rigs.

The entry obstacle.

The Squeeze

20210417_120209.mp4

drive.google.com

Playing in Kane Creek.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-7FoM_HYfT_pl9cMo1_NPSHt15YS1zWN/view?usp=sharing

A few pictures from Hamburger Hill. I probably could have made the ledge, but I only tried once to save some time getting the rest of the group up as well. I almost made it, though.

I should get a bunch more video from the SnailTrail4x4 guys, but that will be a little while.

 

[Danger Noodle]

Sunday was supposed to be a quiet day, but Proffit's had one of their builds, "Kitty" tear a light bar off the windshield, and wanted to take it back to their shop. They didn't have enough drivers or trailer space, so I was requested to drive it back. Of course, it was something I could not refuse.

Kitty, back in Orchard City.

(Don't worry, I was driving like 3 MPH here due to an accident ahead)

Anyways, it was loud, cold and a ton of fun to drive back. The 4 BT of the Mega Cruiser Chassis had plenty of power to haul Kitty around on the highways at about 75 MPH. I did burn through about 15 gallons of diesel between Moab and Delta though, so it was about dry when I got to the shop.

Anyhow, it was an awesome week, and I got to meet a ton of cool people.

The cruiser performed amazingly well with very few minor issues that still need to get fixed. It does need a fan shroud to help keep temps from creeping up when going slow. Blinkers are still not working, I need to fix the wiper motor and a bunch of other small things to get finished.

Unfortunately, I added a roll to my driver rocker panel playing on a hard line in Kane Creek and slipped off onto a good ledge. Sliders and fenders are up next to get fabbed, and then tire carrier. I would like to get my doors and top finished before Heading up to Proffits for the summer, but I am unsure if that will be possible.

 

[Danger Noodle]

@justin4045 decided to take me Potato Salad on Thursday to have some fun. I couldn't convince him to take his 47 up it, though. His wife Jen, took some great pictures.

And a few videos my dad took. I really should have bumped it a bit harder on the second line. It really looks like the cruiser wants to do it. I was running 8 PSI and probably need to drop it more, but I really want beadlocks to go much lower.

20210416_154102.mp4

drive.google.com

20210416_153650.mp4

drive.google.com

 

[Danger Noodle]

A quick showcase of my front links.