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The Twin FJ45s

I found these two trucks in the summer of 2000 after looking around the northwest for several years. I was originally only going to buy one and build it for a daily driver, but the temptation to have two overcame me -- and the price was right. Both are long-wheel-base (116") trucks, and by anybody's standards they are in good condition given their age. One is a 1965 and the other a 1967. The cab and bed have various small dents and scratches, but nothing serious. Both came from the high desert of Oregon and hence rust is limited to minor surface coatings. After a complete inventory of parts, I decided that I could take the best parts from the two to make a really straight and clean, near-stock-looking truck and use the worst body parts (e.g., one significantly bent tailgate) for a trail truck. The more I thought about having a "trail rig" the wilder the plans for the dedicated trail rig became. I decided to go all out and build a competition-capable rig AND a daily driver that would also serve as the tow truck for the trail rig. The concept is to keep them both with the same paint scheme (whatever that may be) so they will remain twins -- but more in the spirit of the Arnold Schwartzenegger and Danny DeVito in their classic movie of the same name.

To wet the appetite of the interested reader, the daily driver/tow rig will retain the 116" wheelbase and stock appearance. It will, however, receive a new drivetrain consisting of a 6.0L Vortec engine, 4L80E transmission together with its attached NPXXX transfer case and Dana 60 axles front and rear. The suspension will be a standard minimum-lift spring-over. The emphasis on this twin will be for daily use, towing and farm work (I need at least some justification to give to my wife).

The other twin will be a highly modified, dedicated rock crawler. This page is dedicated to the buildup of this rig. The Navigation bar at the top of the page provides links that on completion will describe the features and work done to create this truggy.

Recent pictures of the Truggy are shown below (taken just prior to leaving for Cruise Moab '04). See Wheeling Pictures (above) for action pics.