I took off work today and accomplished a lot on the Cruiser. Picked up my wheels and tires from the shop and dropped off my radiator for a good clean and overhaul early in the morning. I spent the rest of the day underneath the FJ getting really dirty. I FINALLY got the spring pins out of the hangers. I ended up having to cut them off with a cutting wheel. I spent the next several hours wire wheeling the frame trying to get as much rust off as I could so it could be painted tomorrow. Then I went over the wheel wells in preparation for some undercoat.
My brother Drew came in to town tonight and we tackled the wheels. I decided to paint the outer chrome strip black to match the rest of the wheel. They turned out pretty good. We also painted the drive shafts. Tomorrow we are going to paint the axles, frame, and undercoat the wheel wells.
Took a break from working on the Cruiser today to try a little tire jump on the new kicks. I made 50″ but failed on 62″.
Take a look at the wheels. I’m trying to decide what to do with them and could use some feedback. There were only 2 black wheels I could find that were black and had the proper back-spacing to fit on my axles. I chose these. I planned on painting the chrome outer rim, but wanted to hear what everyone had to say about them before I did.
Finally got both axles off of the cruiser. What a pain that was…the spring pins are still in the frame! The front axle is clean and ready for paint. I wire wheeled it and then degreased with oven cleaner several times to get all of the gunk off. I plan on cleaning the rear axle tomorrow. I also ran new 3ga battery wire tonight to the starter and ground. Starting to research which battery to buy. Anyone have any suggestions?
It doesn’t look like it, but i’ve also been cleaning and organizing the garage. I got that little cart at Sams today for $50 to keep all my tools and small parts organized and off the ground.
More exciting news from the day includes my order of an Old Man Emu 3″ lift kit from fjparts.com. I also ordered a front axle knuckle rebuild kit with new wheel bearings. That should be an interesting project. I’ve never torn an axle apart before, but I found a lot of good instructions and tips in the ih8mud forums. Still looking for wheels and tires. I want mud terrains, but since I’m going to be driving this thing a lot I am leaning towards all-terrains. Going to go 33×10.50 15 on the size.
