1968 FJ40 Shorty - Upgrade recommendation for a little offroading

Yer forgiven for living in Melbourne :-)

I would keep it as stock standard as possible. Once you start spending on improvements to an older vehicle the ceiling gets higher and higher and the costs can get out of control unless you want them to. Your FJ40 will go anywhere the modern 4bies can go, so stick with the KISS principle.

I'd blame your parents for the Melbourne bit but you recovered with the FJ40!

Seriously they are a great starter 4wd, nigh on indestructable and loads of fun.

I had one as my first 4wd.

Rather than spend buckets on it view it as a training experience.

The more time you spend in the stock FJ40 the more you learn, if you can shovel it up and down any track in stock form you can do most anything in most any mega buck buggy.

Geoff

Have a look at your spring shackles, they should be almost vertical. If they are pushed out at each end, it means that a leaf spring reset would be a good idea. These old shortys tended to go soft in the springs. A reset will get you a reasonable amount of lift too. Try jacking up one end under the chassis (not the axle), until the spring shackles are vertical - see how much higher the body is. I put Opposite Lock aftermarket leafs in my 1979 troopy, the leafs were longer than standard and better steel, this gave about 1 or 2 inches of lift plus a better ride. You could look at making your own snorkel out of 3 inch exhaust pipe using rubber bends from a truck shop. A mate helped me make one this way. On my 1976 shorty I had a long range tank which sat on the floor under the passenger seat - mine was petrol too - like sitting on a bomb -:)