Dubbeltjie, FJ40 Land Cruiser Restoration

The day has finally arrived that I moved from tear-down to rebuilding - I am going to love this part.  But it is slow progress.  Last weekend I rebuilt all the springs which were original Old Man Emu springs that I had grinded down and repainted.  I highly recommended anyone doing this take lots and lots of photos during the dis-assembly part - it makes the assembly part so much easier.  They are now ready to be installed.

I had to buy new shackles and shackle bushes.  I spoke with ARB for guidance and eventually landed up buying all the replacement parts from Man-A-Fre.  One of the complexities was the frame - my Land cruiser is a 1981 but I bought a 1979 frame - and per my earlier blog there are some differences.  The shackle bushes on the frame side are are smaller - I think 20mm whereas the ones on the spring side are larger - around 30mm.

After painting the each leaf I installed the appropriate yellow synthetic parts, cleaned out any rust in the eye of the main leaf.  Inserted the bushes after applying some synthetic grease and I was done.  One unforeseen challenge was the center bolt that holds the spring together.  It was larger in diameter than the ones I removed.  I therefore had to drill out the holes to fit the new bolt - got it done but destroyed a number of drill bits in the process.  Man this is tough steel.  Between running to the store and assembly it was an all day project.  Here they are:

Using the photos made the assembly a cinch!

Ready to be installed!

Stripped all the oils of the "U Bolts" using brake cleaner and painted them with Rustoleum satin black paint.

Grinded the spring hanger plates, sprayed them with rust protector and they are now ready for painting.