fj47/hj47 new year progress

The new year is here and I'm back into the stretched FJ40. I reinforced the rear leaf spring mounts yesterday and cut the box plates and cut holes in them. Today I started the day with welding in more boxing plates in the rear section of the frame. I still need to grind down the welds but it's going to look good when it's all smoothed. I machined one of the rear rotors for the disc brake conversion that I'm doing. I had to take the axles out of the axle housing to get the old drum backing plates off (I could have cut these but I might end up selling them to someone who wants a stock drum setup). I wanted to do a complete refresh on the rear differential and axle housing so that's alright. I'll end up making the caliper mounting brackets. I found a template online so I can make that plate pretty easily. I'm using chevy truck rotors that need the center opened up on the lathe to fit the Toyota axle ends. I'll use Monte Carlo calipers with this setup. I did this on the front of my old FJ40 and it was transformational. I always wished that I would have done the rears on it, so this should be stellar. It feels like all this stuff takes forever to do, but I have to remind myself that one thing leads to another. I ordered new leaf spring bushings, so I'll start tearing the spring packs down and fully remove the rear axle housing so I can get the housing ready for paint. I'd like to try my hand at re-arching the leaf springs to get a little lift. I'm concerned that the rear driveshaft may hit one of the crossmembers that was designed for a shorter wheelbase FJ40. Getting some lift on things would let me clear larger tires and make it so I don't need to modify that crossmember.

Things to do before I paint the frame:

Make front power steering brackets for Saginaw steering box.

Weld saginaw mounts in place.

Check body mounts to make certain I have everything welded in the correct place.

Check steering shaft angle and position in accordance with the 5VZ engine.

Weld in threaded brake line mounts inside frame.

Figure out if I need any mounts for fuel line.

Figure out if I need any tombstone mount tabs for the rear brake lines welded to the axle.

Weld in front carrier bearing mount; figure out front driveshaft setup.

Remove any unwanted brackets on frame (from old trans/transfer case).

Patch any inside frame holes that need to be reinforced.

Fully weld and grind everything and then sand the frame.

Attempt to re-arch the rear springs.

Pull the engine and paint frame.

Order:

Shocks for all four corners.

Front axle rebuild kit.