vehicle height

[tedzap]

I am thinking about repowering my FJ40 with a 4BTA cummins diesel. In order to do this I'll have to do a SOA lift for the appropriate clearance.

Right now I have about 4" of lift, and the SOA will give me more like 6". I'll also probably switch from 33s to 35s, so I am roughly talking a 3" lift of the frame.

I have never been questioned about the height of this rig by the cops, but know that Virginia has some laws regarding how high the vehicle is. Does anyone know the actual numbers?

Thanks,
-Ted

http://i585.photobucket.com/albums/ss295/tedzap/landcruiser/cruiser-small.jpg

[cootees]

There is a law but don't worry about it.. they only pick on full size guys and jeep guys. :)

[xjtrailrider]

Just stay away from Williamson Road and you will be fine. I have roughly 6" lift and 35's, no fender flares and they do not look at my heep twice. I drive like a old man which helps keep them from finding something to pull me over for. If you do get pulled over just be nice and most of the time they will let you go. I've been driving for 27 years and have had lifted trucks/Jeeps and fast cars (too many to count) and have never had a ticket. I have been pulled over many times and talked my way out of it. I did beat a ticket in Roanoke City last year for hopping my trail rig over a curb and bypassing a traffic jam, I didn't see the po-po that was 2 cars behind me:D

He caught me 4 blocks later, was a a$$ but I just smiled and told him to have a nice day, thanked him for the ticket and shook his hand. He was much nicer in court.

Nice FJ-40 you have there. I use to run around in one that had a 350 SBC in it. I call them "finger nippers" since I lost the end of my finger working on one of those things.

[hadfield4wd]

I have the law on my other computer I'll post a link. a soa will get youu about 5" from shere you are now. You'll gain the width of te axle tube and the thickness of the spring pack.

I had a FJ40 with a SOA and it handled poorly. Although that had alot to do with now I built it.

What is your end game with this rig? Do you want rock rig, trail rider etc?

Although a diesel would be cool a 4 bt is really heavy and it will cost a bunch of money to make work. You'll have to compensate for hte extra weight in the fornt with stiffer springs, it'll ride rough, you'll lose flex.

That's really nice FJ.

[tedzap]

My intentions with the rig originally was as an "expedition" vehicle, I have taken it on some trips out west and into mexico. The gearing is a pretty good attempt at a "do everything" setup, crawl ratio is near 100 and doing 65mph is very doable (if tiresome). Better than a stock rig, where 55 over long distances was tiresome.

I bought this rig when I lived in Phoenix, and I guess I prefer "rock trail running" to anything. In stock form this truck carried me over most of the Rubicon and a lot of the Moab area.

With the diesel I could come off of the axle ratio some, which would provide more legs on the interstate...

Yes the 4bt would be an increase in weight over the fuel injected Chevy, but the original 2f engine was just about the same weight (right around the 700# mark). The Chevy motor is nice and all, but the power it makes is never utilized with my gearing. The early NV4500 is really just a three speed with a couple of extra gears.

I would either de-arch my springs some or go to new springs to minimize the ride height... Ultra tall rigs make the drive to southern Utah very long.

I built a SOA '40 that used de-arched OME springs, it rode very well. Did you rotate the steering knuckles?

Given that I already have the NV4500, I don't think repowering will be too expensive... certainly cheaper than starting with a stock truck. I bought a bread truck last week, it has a very nice engine with straight tranny behind it.

http://i585.photobucket.com/albums/ss295/tedzap/landcruiser/4bt.jpg

[xjtrailrider]

Nice! I like your plans and your thinking process on this build. Go for it and keep us posted! I have heard of people putting that engine in the XJ but with the 4.0 putting out plenty of ponies for trail and highway I never saw the point but since your rig is most likely carbed I can see the advantage. As far as longer legs on the highway, not sure, what is the max rpm recommended on the Cummins? You will also lose some crawl by regearing.

[tedzap]

I think that the 4bta would be a better engine for the "expedition" nature of this vehicle, but if I have to raise it enough to get slapped with tickets I will be in a bind.

An acquaintance of mine (on my pool team) was slapped with a "too tall" ticket, and part of the penalty was to correct it and have it inspected. He opted to sell the problem to someone else- but I don't want to get into this situation.

I haven't had a chance to run into him for several weeks, but he will probably remember.

If I stick the diesel in this rig, then I have enough bits and pieces to build a trail rig using the chevy motor and another '40 truck I have.

If I decide to leave this rig alone, I'll probably build a trail rig with the diesel and the other '40.

Just really trying to get a handle on the height issue.

Thanks,
-Ted

[tedzap]

The current state of the pictured '40 is a fuel injected chevy 350 engine, '92 NV4500 tranny, 3:1 transfer case, and 4.88 gears with air lockers (33" tires). Calculating it out this is something like a 92 CR.

To get the right highway behavior with the diesel I would probably end up going with 4.11 gears and 35s. This seems to be what most of the diesel guys end up with. This will be a reduction in the crawl ratio but the stoneage torque of these motors probably make it irrelevant. I drove a friends cummins '40 awhile back, and I felt there was nothing this thing wouldn't idle over.

I am not the person who goes out and keeps beating my truck against the biggest boulder in the land (I *must* overcome or break something trying), my objective has always been to drive *to and from* the trailhead.

In stock form the engines are typically governed to 2500 rpm, but most people at least change out the spring for 3200 rpm max.

[tedzap]

I think that I found the law, it says "measured to any point on the lower edge of the main horizontal bumper bar" cannot be greater than 22".

The bottom of my ARB bull bar is 19" but the main bumper bar is like 23". The main frame is less than 22", so I am sure I am ok at this time... but how much higher can I go?

It goes on to say that "trucks" and "panel trucks" can be higher, anyone know what constitutes a panel truck? my GVWR is more than 4500#.

Can anyone confirm the law?

[hadfield4wd]

However if yiuo register it as a truck you have more leway.

Nice plan. I look forward seeing this.

Mine had the knuckles rotated but I was young when I built it and it had a ton wrong with it. I like to call it the "worst FJ 40 ever".

[tedzap]

so it is up to me if I register it as a truck? what is the catch, does it cost more?

[hadfield4wd]

so it is up to me if I register it as a truck? what is the catch, does it cost more?

It's not up to you. You will have to ask them to register it as a truck. What is it called now on your registration? A wagon? You'll have to get some kind of proof to the DMV that it is a truck, official toyota literature, maybe what it says on the door plate something like that.

Then you'll have to register it to a higher GVWR classification. These allow for higher bumper heights. Yes it will cost more to register, although not much, also you will not be able to get personal property relief registered as a truck.

It's almost impossible to get them to register a cherokee as a truck, I've tried many different ways at many different DMV's and was unable to.

I still am not on my work computer that I have the link on.

[WilliamAWebb]

For virginia the bumper laws for trucks are 28 inches while other vehicles are 22. My jeep is about 26 inches or so, but I think in general if you are under 28 you should be good. Granted neither my jeep nor your fj is a "truck" I do not think an officer is going to be picky enough to use the 22 inch measurement. I am getting ready to go to a 4.5 inch spring here shortly and that should put me at about 28-29 inches but the future added weight of a roof rack, full cage, tube fenders front and rear, and adding a lot more tube to my front and rear bumper should bring the height down a little bit.

Like said above, go for it. You should be fine.

[pbiggs]

I saw a fj in grayson county for sale it was a rhd diesel with only like 27000km on it, there were only a handful imported to the us. this guy imported it to use it as a mail truck but never did use it. i think he only wanted like 5k...prob less now if he still has it i can check on it if you want i saw it run

[tedzap]

Yes I would be interested, PM sent

[evolution]

well, hes what ive went threw with the laws on this..

my 88 toyota, 4" lift and 3" body with 35's..ive had 8 lift law tickets and countless others with the truck.. ive not had any problems with this for a while..it goes by the vehiciles weight.. you used to be able to reg. your truck as a diff. weight to be able to get your height more.. va, stopped this.. my truck had a diff. rear bumper than factory and with the yota the frame offsets way up in the rear and with ut a bumper in stock form, its over height..

you cant not use a diff. bumper than stock or a home-made one either.. and they havet to be in stock position..

the height is 29-30 for a small mid-size truck.. full size 30-31..

va is so bad with lift laws or any laws for that matter..what makes this more bad for me everytime i received a ticket i caught hell, bc my mom is a deputy.. alleghany county, never recieved a ticket.. noke and Botetourt counties is where i got all my tickets.. and paved some roads...

let us know what you are able to do on this, i'll be interested in what happens..

[WilliamAWebb]

I was told for the rear atleast that if you have a trailer hitch and a dropped ball that you are fine. I guess the thought is that technically the trailer hitch is connected to the frame and so is the dropped ball so that would be the lowest part of the frame. This is secondhand knowledge from someone who is good friends with many officers so it may be wrong or it may just be that most officers will measure it this way. The whole deal with the height is so that if a car runs into the back of you, the bumper is low enough so that it doesn't decapitate the other driver. A dropped ball should serve a similar purpose in at least greatly slowing down the car that has rear ended you, to the point that the compartment area won't get close enough for decapitation to be a risk. I have no clue what you could do for the front though.

[TrailReadyMJ]

Heck, I can't even register my MJ as a truck, maybe if it were a metric ton model, but alas, it's not. Darn unibody... I mean hey, it has half of a full frame :rolleyes-1:

Either way, my bumpers are a little over 30", and I've had no problems from the law whatsoever around here. I don't get into Roanoke all that often in it, but when I do, Like Jon suggested, I stay away from Williamson.

[hadfield4wd]

Here is the link.

http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+46.2-1063

Drew you can register your MJ as a truck. You go to the DMV and show them it's a truck. Not a problem.

[pbiggs]

I saw a fj in grayson county for sale it was a rhd diesel with only like 27000km on it, there were only a handful imported to the us. this guy imported it to use it as a mail truck but never did use it. i think he only wanted like 5k...prob less now if he still has it i can check on it if you want i saw it run

checked on it yesterday and it sold...

[TrailReadyMJ]

Drew you can register your MJ as a truck. You go to the DMV and show them it's a truck. Not a problem.

Well, I'll have to check that out!
I've only looked it up online with the VIN, and it showed truck tags were not an option. I'll have to check on that when I have to renew my tags, in the meantime it's no biggie unless I run into the wrong cop!

[tedzap]

ok, so if the vehicle has an open "truck style" bed it can be registered as a truck? where do you look up VIN numbers (and the ways of registering) online?

[TrailReadyMJ]

ok, so if the vehicle has an open "truck style" bed it can be registered as a truck? where do you look up VIN numbers (and the ways of registering) online?
https://www.dmv.virginia.gov/dmvnet/plate_purchase/select_plate.asp?PLT=&PLTNO=
Just pick "Truck Private", click purchase plate, and type in your VIN and title number.
From what I've read, it has to be a pick-up, flat bed/work truck, box truck, or panel van to qualify.