Episode 23: Body Off

I have named Episode 23 of the 1970 Toyota FJ40 LandCruiser Restoration Series, Body Off. 3 friends and myself removed the Tub from the Frame. I removed the Body Mounts in Episode 22, but I must have missed one, because the first attempt to lift the body off of the frame did not go well. One of my friends had to go under the LandCruiser and use a Sawsall to cut through the stubborn final Body Mount. He made short work of it and the second attempt to lift the body off worked great. I have been looking for videos documenting lifting the Body, or Tub, off of the Frame and I haven’t found very many. The Tub is an original 1970 steel Tub and only weighed about 300 pounds. It was easy for the 4 of us to lift it. Shout out to @danpearson1960 for letting me know 4 people can easily lift the Tub!

Now that the Tub is off I feel inspired again. I can see both the Tub and the Frame separately, and examine them and work on them independently, so I can come up with a good plan to finish my project. There is still a lot of work left to do, but I can visualize the end! I am disappointed at how bad the Tub is rusted, but I think that it’s normal on a 56 year old LandCruiser. And, I am excited that the Frame is in much better shape than I anticipated.

As I always mention, I publish these videos because I am new to the LandCruiser restoration process. I will need the videos as a reference when I am ready to begin reassembling the LandCruiser. So, they are made for my benefit, not necessarily for entertainment purposes. But, if you are rebuilding a LandCruiser and there is something you can use from them, please feel welcome to do so. Thanks to my wife Marilyn for filming this episode.

We have our 1970 LandCruiser Restoration series as a Playlist. Please be sure to check it out here:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlKsbCDgWYtzFJQ-rrkKeuq7aOkbVSBhR