[tddfj]

look great. how much are they?

[Corey]

Thanks.
Got them direct from Chaos Fab for $650 which included shipping.

There are a few others out there, but I felt these were the best, and quite a few others like them too.

[tddfj]

thanks for the info. have not lifted yet. but good to know this

[FirstToy]

awesome thread and great documentation, don't let those pic links die corey!!

on the fridge slide- if I understand you correctly, you don't want to mount front-to-back b/c of unsupported weight from your short drawer box?
The AO/Engel fridge slide is really heavy duty. (I have one) and even if the ends are hanging over your stow box, it will not flex or be a problem. Bolt to your box and it will be solid. Just an idea for ya'

[Corey]

Thanks guy's.

I can let the Engel metal slide hang over, but I need to know the length of the whole slide when in the folded position.
Can you measure yours?

Also I need to set my fridge in the skinny way front to back and see if it will even fit that way when the door is shut.
Someone mentioned to me that the handles may contact the rear door and also the back of the passenger seat back.

[FirstToy]

approx 18x28.5"
the very front has 'ears' that mounting bolts go thru which makes it about 19" wide for the first 6" or so.

There is about 2-3" gap from the very back of the AO slide to where the fridge would sit.

[Corey]

28.5" may be to much.
Here are the dimensions of mine when it was still in the old rig.
http://www.pnw4runners.com/cargobox/box_size1.jpg
I have 21" front to back.

[FirstToy]

looks like it might be- the rear mounting bolts are at about 27"

[Corey]

Just a quick update on the Total Chaos upper control arms.
Drove home from work two days in a row, and the rig is a different well behaved animal at highway speeds.

Not a super huge difference, but I no longer wander around, so I do not have to keep making course directions.
Before it was like sailing the Queen Mary at freeway speeds sometimes.
Now it tracks a lot straighter.

Ride is still not perfectly smooth, but that can chalked up to the aggressive tread pattern of the Dick Cepek Mountaincat tires.

If you are lifted and experiencing the wandering syndrome, I would recommend looking into these.

[Corey]

Dual battery kits are cool, and high on many an off roaders list of modifications to do.
With it you can safely start your vehicle should you accidentally run down your main battery.
This mod also goes towards the "Expedition" type of rig I am building.
A few more mods such as the Safari snorkel and perhaps a roof top tent, and a new rear bumper will round out my rig for the look/setup I am trying to achieve here.

I had my local Cartoys do the install on this, as the Clifford battery backup alarm was in the way, and I needed them to move it to keep it under my warranty with them.
I had asked them a few weeks back if they have installed dual battery kits before, and indeed they had.

They had one of their best installers on this today.
He ran into one snag which was not his fault.
The Painless provided switch is to big to fit into the dash switch blanks.
I had forgotten that Wayne had procured a smaller three way switch to go into the switch blank in the lower console.

I suggested to the installer that he could drill a hole in my drivers side air vent panel.
He was able to do that, but had to turn the switch sideways.
There was not enough room with the shape of the switch in the back to have the handle operate in the up/down position, so it now operate back and forth, left/right.

For kicks I called up my local Toyota dealer to see how much one of these vent panels go for, and it is a shocking $149 or so.
I may in the future buy a new one, and then get a switch like Wayne's and mount the switch and LEDs down below in the lower console like he did.
But it really does not look to shabby where it is now.
I just may decide that it is not worth the $150 to move the switch.

Pictures one, two, and three show the stock battery with the new positive wire coming off it it, and the other two pictures show the new Optima battery, the Painless solenoid, and the Bluetorch Fabworks battery tray.



Picture four shows the six bolts with the heads in the fenderwell with the threads pointing up.
The two at the rear of the tire and the two in front of them about one foot are the 5/16th bolts holding the battery box down.
The two up front above the Old Man Emu coil assembly are 1/4" bolts used to hold the solenoid to the fenderwell.



Picture five shows my alarm LED moved to the new location to the left of the rear diff lock switch.
Previously the LED was up on the dash between the mirror adjusters and the for lamp switch.



Picture six shows the red and green LEDs now mounted where the alarm LED use to be.
Picture six also shows the switch in its centered position.
This manes the main battery is only used for vehicle operation.
The solenoid is not activated, and the auxiliary battery is not being charged.

Picture seven shows the switch in the green light position.
The main and auxiliary batteries are connected for charging and starting, and the green light is illuminated when the key is in the on position.
The green light will not activate when the key is in the off position.

You would use this position to start your vehicle if you drained the main battery.
For example, winching with your engine off, running your stereo to serenade your friends with the engine off, or using a fridge/freezer such as like the ARB one I have, and you drained your main battery.
If that happens, you would flip the switch from the center position (main battery only connected) to the green light or the red light position, and you would then be able to crank over your engine to start the vehicle and charge the main battery.

Picture eight shows the switch in the red light position.
The main and auxiliary batteries are connected together and the red light is illuminated at all times regardless of the ignition switch position.



This will come in so handy when I am out camping running the ARB fridge for a few days.
If I accidentally drain the main battery, I will be able to have a way to start the vehicle and then charge back up the main battery.

Here are some additional pictures I grabbed off the websites below.

The box before being modified by Wayne, and a Yellow Top battery by Optima



The Painless dual battery kit showing all of the parts laid out



Parts used:
Bluetorch Fabworks battery tray
http://bluetorchfab.com/store/produc...?products_id=1
The box has been modified by member KD7NAC_07FJ (Wayne) by welding on a plate in the rear that follows the contour of the FJ Cruisers fenderwell, and thus giving it a more secure mounting by running those bolts above the rear of the tire as seen in picture four.

Painless 250 Amp Dual Battery Current Control System
http://www.painlessperformance.com/w...rchField=40102

Bought from Jegs
http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/store...10002_20324_-1

Optima Yellow Top model D34_78
http://www.optimabatteries.com/optim.../yellowtop.php
Do an Internet search to find the best price.
I got an excellent deal on mine at my local Cartoys stereo shop.

[GaryA]

Nice job Corey,I will be doing the same install some day. It's Hunting Season down here in Florida.I just finished fridge slider for my Engel Frig. Now I can see what I want to get out of the frig. I can still use the back seats. Can't wait for Kaymar rear bumper though.

[Corey]

Thanks Gary.
I am liking the Kaymar too, and warming up a tad to the tire swingout.

Just a small update.
I had not put in the ARB fridge since adding the new fire extinguisher next to the Powertank.
Put the fridge in today for the upcoming Fall Colors Run this Saturday.

I was not sure if it was going to squeeze in or not, but it fits in OK.
Tight fit back there for sure, and will still look into rotating that fridge one day 90 degrees to the right.

[Lovey]

Sweet setup ya got there.

[Corey]

Originally Posted by Lovey

Sweet setup ya got there.

Thanks, next mod is complete.

The M-Packs and rack is in from the group buy I got in on awhile back.
Anyone interested in installing these into other rigs besides FJ Cruisers and Jeeps should contact Springtail Solutions.
All URLs will be at the bottom here.

The kit allows you to mount a rack on the rear of the FJs door, and that rack will then let you mount bags of different sizes and configurations to it.
They use the military Molle strap system, something I was not really familiar with until I saw the thread put up by the vendor on fjcruiserforums.com's site.

I suspect it is some type of setup my favorite Sci-Fi show StarGate SG1 uses on their uniforms they wear too.

Here are the parts laid out, the rack, then the bags.
The bag at the very top of the pictures goes into the compartment in the right rear.
Those with the factory subwoofer would not be able to put that bag there, as the subwoofer occupies that space.

The two big bags and the smaller ones with the two straps mount to the M-Pack rack.

The smaller one strap packs go into the front door pockets for a perfect fit.



The next set of pictures shows:
Rack mounted to the rear door
Pack in the rear right hand side compartment
Packs in the front door
Packs mounted to the rack



I have a lot of filling to do on these packs still.
The front two packs in the doors each house a Boeing first aid kit I received at work as an award for something I did
Before the first aid kits sat in the front pockets and shifted around a lot.
With them stuffed into the Molle packs there is no movement now, it is a nice tight fit.

The mounting of the packs and what you carry possibilities are endless, and using your imagination I am sure you might find a way to bring along the kitchen sink on your next overland travel, camping trip, or 4wheeling trip.

Springtail Solutions/M-Pack
Installation instructions for the rack
Installing the Molle packs onto the rack

At the main URL for Springtail are more photos and an FAQ that explains what the Molle system is.

Next mods coming up:
Safari snorkel
Focal 6.5 components for the front doors and the tweeters will go up in the dash, new rear Focal speakers, and an Alpine 4x100 watt amp to power it all.

Not going with a subwoofer yet, I want to hear how this sounds first.

[BRICKTOP]

Corey, your rig is awesome. I was trying to keep up with ya there for a while (without a great deal of success) and the final nail just got driven into the coffin. I just bought a Rubicon so my modding time is going to have to be divided between the 2 rigs, which probably means two cool rigs, but neither of them will ever be WHOA rigs.
You have the best built thread on the site man, keep it up.

(Isn't Tahuya in your neck of the woods somewhere? I hear some FJs and Jeeps are heading up for a run next weekend. You going?)

[Corey]

Thanks for the comps Brick.
Sounds like you have some nice rigs in your stable.

Yes, here is a thread by an old Yota member who now has a nice yellow Rubicon.
http://www.yotatech.com/f15/wash-sta...v-17th-128941/

They are going next weekend.
Next weekend I am getting new speakers and an amp installed, so I will be tied up.

[Corey]

I was lucky enough to be one of three who got their snorkels air freighted in on October the 17th ahead of the big shipment of 80 coming in via ocean container.
The 80 snorkels arrived today down at ARB when I was there, so there are going to be some happy FJ Cruiser owners tonight!

I got my snorkel for one main reason, dust control.
I am not into water crossings, but I may encounter some in some of my future overland expeditions.
Up where I go now, it can be very dusty in the summer time when you are following a group of several rigs.
So dusty you can not see more than 15 feet in front of you sometimes, so the addition of the snorkel is an extra piece of mind keeping that air filtered better than where it enters the stock intake down in the wheel well.

We also test fitted a 7" pre-cleaner, and it will clear the pillar, but it will need an adaptor to fit the snorkel opening at the top when you take the regular intake off.
The tubes are the same size, so they will not mate since the pre-cleaner will not slip over the snorkel tube like the head does.

I am sure someone soon will figure out what size adaptor to get from a plumbing supply house.
The pre-cleaners too will cut down on your power, they do not breathe as well as the regular head.
I would only run one if I was going to be in dust/dirt for a very long time.

Here are a few pictures, not the best as it is already getting dark here.
The material is top notch, very high quality.

Bring on the dust!





Parts used
Safari snorkel part # SS410HF
http://www.safarisnorkel.com/snorkel...hf/ss410hf.htm

Installation instructions
http://www.safarisnorkel.com/guides/...hf/ss410hf.htm

[Corey]

The first phase was to remove the factory headunit detailed earlier in this thread back at the end of March 2007.

The second phase consists of getting rid of the junk factory speakers and going with better ones that let the real music come through, and also an amplifier to power the speakers in all their glory.

The following components were installed stealth, you can not tell they are there.
1. Focal 165V2 6.5" component speakers with tweeters.
The Focals replaced the factory 6x9s in the doors, and the tweeters replaced the factory speakers up in the dash.
The shop made custom plates that matched the factory ones to hold them in the cavity of the door.

2. Infinity Kappa 3.27KF 3.5" speakers for the very rear in the cargo bay.
We were going to do Focal 4" speakers, but they were to deep to fit in there.
Plus the Kappas were close to $100 cheaper.

3. Alpine PDX-4.100 amp which is a four channel amp pushing out 100 watts each channel.
This is powering both sets of speakers.

4. Dynamat Xtreme two door kit to make the Focals sound even better.

Below are some pictures I pulled off the web of the components since all my gear you can not really see.





The sound is great, but I still have some tweaking to do with the equalizer on the headunit to fine tune it to the way I like it.

Phase III will consist of a JL Audio W6 10" woofer housed in a custom shop built fiberglass enclosure covered in black carpet, and another Alpine PDX amp, the 1.600 which pumps out 600 watts mono.

I need to see if I can move the ARB fridge first to the rear seat on the drivers side when it is in the down position to make room for the sub.

Links:
Focal 165V2 speakers
Infinity Kappa 3.27CF speakers
Alpine PDX-4.100 amplifier
Dynamat Xtreme two door kit

[E-train]

Cool, cool. Where did you mount the amp?

[Corey]

Under the drivers seat.
The bass amp may fit on top, if not, it will go under the other one.

[Corey]

The contents of my M-Packs does not really constitute a mod to the rig, but I feel it is a requirement to have in the rig if there was a disaster that would keep me at work or somewhere else where I could not get home such as an Earthquake or another terrorist attack.

I thought I was going to be able to get all of the contents as see in the first picture into one of the bigger packs on the door, but nope, so I had to use two.
The pack with the two-way radios has the cooking pot and stove, and a few other things, and the other pack has all of the Mountain House freeze dried food and some dehydrated fruit in it.

Also seen on one of the packs is the Gerber LMF II Infantry Black survival knife I just picked up.
It has a built in sharpener in the scabbard, and the end of the handle can be used as a hammer, and the point on the end of the handle is one of those window smashers just like the Life Hammer in case you need to break out one of your rigs windows.
http://www.gerberstore.com/index.php...empage&xid=757

In the first picture below is a Camping Gaz stove with cartridge, an MSR cooking pot, the granola bars in the baggies fit into the pot for storage.
Emergen-C packets of vitamin C that boost your immune system, one twin pack of 5 Hour Energy Drinks, dehydrated fruit, a small blow torch for lighting the stove, or setting on fire a terrorists beard, and plenty of freeze dried food with breakfast and dinner entrees.

Not shown between the rear seats and the cargobox are two six packs of bottle water.
That will be used for reconstituting the food after it is brought to a boil on the stove, and for drinking water.

Work even tells us we should have a survival pack in our vehicles, as if we were stuck at work for some reason, the cafeterias would run out of fresh food awfully fast.
I have about three days of food there.

[peram57]

I got some MT MTZ 33/12.5/17 on my FJ cruiser, and it has been lifted 3" but the tires rub the UCA. I have heard that if I buy these Total Caous UCAs then I should be fine, what do you think??

[Corey]

Not sure, but try calling up Total, they might know.

[CaliCruiser]

Nice rig you have there dude!

[Corey]

Originally Posted by CaliCruiser

Nice rig you have there dude!

Thanks Cali!

Spring has sprung, thus a new year of mods having been dormant over this past winter.

There is a constant joke on a few FJ Cruiser forums that goes around in threads asking "Can you sleep in it."
Of course you can, member LandCruiserSteve (a moderator over on fjcruiserforums.com) has proven that by building a nice bed system in the back of his rig that accommodates him very well.

With the way I have my rig setup in the back, that will not work out for me.

I have been looking at roof top tents as of late, and finally settled on a fiberglass one made in Italy like Wayne has.
Many thanks to Wayne (member KD7NAC_07FJ) for helping me make a selection on this model, it is the same one he has on his FJ Cruiser, the medium model.

Wayne used Yakima Lowrider clamps on the stock FJ rack, and then 58" crossbars held in place via the Lowriders.
The AirLand mounts to the crossbars.

I went to the shop Friday the 21st of March to get it installed, and they recommend I use four crossbars instead of two to distribute the weight, as that is the way they have been doing them.

I just got done opening it up for the first time since I left the shop after the install, and I am really impressed with the quality of the AirLand unit.

It cranks up just like a tent trailer (I have owned two of them in the past) after undoing two latches up front, and one latch back aft.

After cranking it up you can grab the aluminum ladder from inside and extend it.
It is fully adjustable to accommodate any vehicle.

Once I had the ladder up I climbed inside and took out the three pillow it came with and put the flannel pillow cases on that I bought.
For the medium AirLand tent, full size sheets are a perfect fit.
The bottom sheet is a fitted one, with the top sheet being the normal tuck in type.
I still need to pick up a warm down comforter, and the size that will fit will be a twin as to not have to much over the sides.

Getting up and down the ladder for me was not that difficult at all.
Now when exiting the tent and coming down backwards, you want to use caution since you can not see the rungs, you feel for them with your feet.
If I can do it, anyone can.

After getting the sheets on and the pillows in place, I climbed up inside for a few pictures of the interior, then I laid out like I was going to sleep in it.
There is plenty of room, and my feet do not even touch the ends of the tent wall.
I am about 5'10", and I did not feel cramped at all.
There is plenty of room for a second person too, and possibly a child if you have one.
It would be better with just two people though.

And not once did it feel rickety to me.
It was very stable, and a very cool feeling being up in the air like that.
I have a feeling I am going to sleep very well in this tent.
The best thing of all is being able to pull into a site whether in a regular campground, or when you are out 4wheeling, Overlanding/exploring, and just whip out the hand crank and crank up the tent and have your bed all setup in less than one minute.
This is the real advantage to a unit like this.

Here are a few pictures of the AirLand.









Links:
Maggiolina AirLand tent
Autohome's main site in Italy
Lowrider clamps
58" crossbars
Rack n Road Bellevue, WA. store
Full size flannel sheets
The comforter I may get if they get it back in stock

The Rack n Road store I visited (official reseller of these for WA. state as seen on AutoHome's website) has a team of top notch installers/manager working there.
Evan (store manager) and Colin were the two installers who installed it.

Shortly before I left too YotaTech member nickr9287 showed up, he also works for the Bellevue store and is an installer.

If looking for a system like this or any Yakima or Thule type of gear for your rig around our area, give these guy's a call.
Great team to work with.

Probably around sometime in May I will have some camping pictures from up at Greenwater with the tent all setup in the outdoors, and some other new camping gear I have been hoarding up on for a good time out in the woods.

With this I think my rig is nearing completion.
Still have to settle on a rear bumper, there are still a few in works.
The selection is getting bigger all the time.

[Corey]

I had two different type of awnings on my last tent trailer I had, and they are nice for shade to sit under, or to get out of the rain.

Saw this brand mentioned in a few threads on a few Toyota forums, so I decided to give it a try.

It also came with two nice camping chairs, but I am not enclosing pictures of those since those are not a mod to the rig.
You can view the chairs at the website.
They are very nice

Owner Fernando was a great guy to work with, and also made me some custom mounts to attach to the awning so it would attach to my Yakima crossbars.
You can see how the mount attaches to the two channels on the rear of the awning, and also how it attaches to the crossbars in the first two pictures below.

Setup is a little easier than take down, same as with my tent.
But one person can do this easily.
It is also free standing since it has two supporting horizontal tubes, but you will want to use the enclosed stakes to stake down the white rope loops you see at the bottoms of the vertical tubes, and also

attach the two rope guy lines to the white rope loops at the top of the vertical tubes and stake them out.
This will be better for any wind that will kick up.
But I had it setup with a light hot breeze outside for around 20 minutes a bit ago, and it was very stable.





I am also enclosing a video that shows just how fast you can deploy the Maggiolina AirLand roof top tent.
It is easy, in fact too easy.

YouTube - Setting up the Maggiolina roof top tent

Links:
Camping Lab

[Mountainclimber]

Did I mention how cool this tent is?

These things have been used for years on various expeditions and hold up extremely well. Not to mention the fact that they are the fastest and easiest to deploy.

[Corey]

Thanks Eric, I really dig it.

OK, some of you may have read that I have mentioned my neighbor here before who is a weatherman for the FAA.
Most of the time he is right about the weather.

He told me it was going to rain today, the day I wanted to spend about five to six hours detailing my rig.
The local news stations said no rain today, it is coming tonight.
Well, it started raining here about 9 am just after I finished up my ARB fridge relocation project.

I was just finishing up with the mandatory snapshots and was going to vacuum out the rig and wipe the interior down of dust when it started in raining.

Anyways, below are some pictures of the fridge move.
I like it a lot better where it is now.
I can access the lid to load/unload grub, and actually see what is in there.
I still can not raise the lid all the way up to the ceiling, but I can raise it far enough to see very well inside.
There is a guy on IH8MUDs forum who has put together all the hardware for the hinge relocation kit to make the lid lift up from either side instead of from the end, and after I order that from him, I will be able to raise the lid all the way up and let it stay open.

Here is a comparison when it was mounted in the rear.



The first two pics show the seat back cover in place and then removed.
Picture three shows the Engel Slide Loc screwed down to the plastic cover.
I had to move the plate around some so it would avoid the D ring and raised hump it resides in so the plate would sit flush.
Pictures four five and six show the fridge mounted to the Slide Loc.

I drilled small pilot holes into the plastic, and after tightening the screws down, they do not contact the metal underneath.
If I was worried about needing more strength, I can get longer screws and drill the holes deeper and into the sheet metal underneath.
I also used two extra screws this time instead of four like I did when it was mounted on top of the cargo box.

This will give me more room to load my camping gear now.
For the long stuff like the Cabela's picnic table and Camp Kitchen, I will load them in from the rear door and shove it towards the passenger seat.
This should speed up the loading process quite a bit.

The best part though is being able to access my fridge much easier and see what is inside of it.

If you do not mind giving up your rear drivers side seat, this is a good way to mount your fridge.
I can still put up the passenger side rear seat with the fridge in place.
I may even put the bottom seat cushion back in too for the rear passenger side, as it is currently out right now.
But the drivers side will stay this way indefinitely.

[fortysixandtwo]

Sick FJ man. I really like what you have done with it.

[Corey]

Thanks fortysix, almost done with it.

A few things left:
1. A ham setup to go along with the CB I have already.
2. Rear lower control arms when I end up choosing a good vendor to go with.
3. A rear bumper, same reason as above.
4. Down the road a "Chaser" type of off road trailer to put the tent on and take it off of my roof for better handling.