Builds Owyhee J.A. BJ75 Troopy Journal (5 Viewers)

[Owyhee Jackass]

Finally got my 24V-12V converter installed.

Got a bracket out of the scrap bin at work and modified it to fit the inside DS fender.

Made another little bracket to hold a solenoid.

Solenoid is energized off the ACC circuit from the fuse box by the air box.

 

[Owyhee Jackass]

Converter & solenoid installed and wired:

Put the fuse box down by the throttle pedal:

Here's my 'sketchy' schematic (missing a -12V Ground off the conveter):

 

[Owyhee Jackass]

Next project will be to add a trailer light circuit w/ step-down relays along with relocating my stop/turn/tail lights from the bumper to the body...then build a bumper.

 

[Owyhee Jackass]

Got the new tail lights installed in the body in preparation for removing the stock bumper.

Before, the passenger's side was just a reverse with the rest blanked out; on the driver's side there was a fog light and reverse:

Got some new body mounted stop/turn/tail lights on ebay:

Plugs were different, and needed to cut into the harness to add these as well as tie in trailer lights. I went to the junkyard and found an early 90's Toyota pick-up and cut the entire back wiring harness out from tail-light to tail-light. Rectangle plugs are from the pickup. Had to open up the pass-thru hole in the body slightly to fit the rectangular plug through.

Driver's Side done:

 

[Owyhee Jackass]

Started on the passenger's side and was untaping some of the harness hoping to find a plug to tie into and found a 'hide-a-key'. Judging from the age of the tape and amount of red dirt, it's most likely from a few P.O.'s back. It opens the doors and starts it up...and it's a Toyota key!

Passenger's side was a little more involved as I added a trailer light converter (thanks to Stone, used this thread/schematic)

My wiring didn't end up nearly as neat as I'd hoped, but it's functional:

Used VHB tape to secure the box to the inside rear fender:

 

[Owyhee Jackass]

And it works! Time (and vibration) will tell how well my crimps hold up, I'm no electronics tech/electrician...I'm wiring challenged, but am learning.

 

[Owyhee Jackass]

Got some seat belts added to the rear. I ordered them from Amazon, supplied by Seat Belts Plus, got the 60-inch version in grey.

I'm 190# and it fits me with about 8-10 inches to spare, not sure 60-inch will be good for larger people. As these are listed as 13-passenger, I think that must be the 'child soldier spec' model, no 13 corn-fed Americans are going to fit in one of these.

Anyway, there's no provisions for seat belts, so I drilled through the floor, used 7/16-20 grade-8 hardware and some unistrut L-brackets, backed up the underside with large fender washers.

 

[Owyhee Jackass]

Decided to see if my old Quick-N-Easy towers and crossbars would fit and allow the Rocketbox to be used on the BJ. I like to keep as much loose gear in the box as I can, just to keep the clutter down in the interior. I love gutter mounts. These towers and crossbars have worked on every gutter-vehicle I've owned, a 740 Volvo Wagon, 1st Gen Four-Skinner, 2wd Toyota pickup, FJ40, FJ55, FJ45 LPB, FZJ80, and now the BJ75.

 

[Owyhee Jackass]

Replaced my rear wheel bearings and seals. Now that it's hot out my rear wheels have been slinging grease and oil all over my wheels, looked like spin art.

Pretty nasty,

All clean, the rear is so much quicker than the fronts, still sucks though.

 

[Owyhee Jackass]

Also replaced the rear spring bushings (90385-18009), I'd done the front a while back, finally got to the back.

Old ones were hashed:

 

[Owyhee Jackass]

Next order of business is the front stabilizer bushings as there's a popping noise that's driving me crazy. I'm pretty sure is the d-bushing, but will replace all the rubber as so far most of the rubber parts I've touched have been trash.

 

[Owyhee Jackass]

Finally got all the right bushings and parts to do the front stabilizer bar. Ordered the wrong D-bushings initially and then was told the right bushings were NLA, Cruiser Outfitters didn't have them in stock, then Beno came through with them.

Had to cut one of the long bolts as it and the metal sleeve were united with corrosion. Also twisted the head off of one of the D-bushing bracket bolts...and it looked to be a simple job at first.

 

[OGBeno]

Glad I could be of assistance.

 

[Owyhee Jackass]

One of my batteries finally gave it up. Not driving the 75 very often this summer, and if I don't run it every few days, it needs a jump start. One of the old batteries was German, the other Italian, neither fit the tray very well, the German one, on the drivers side was at 7.5 volts.

Research shows a BCI Group 27 to be correct.

NAPA ($140 each) or Autozone ($130 each), the Costco equivalent, Fitment Code 23, were $84 apiece.

Not sure what happened here, but this doesn't look good:

 

[JuanJ]

Hello,

Is it possible that you have either a current leak or a faulty ground connection somewhere?






Juan

 

[Owyhee Jackass]

There's is something wonky electrically, I haven't looked into it too hard though. I can't leave the dome light switch in the 'door' position, if I do, the light stays on, but just barely, you have to be looking to notice it's on.

 

[AirheadNut]

Is it possible that the little contact switch in the door jamb is not quite disconnecting when the door is shut? Those tend to do funny things on older vehicles. It might be worth pulling them out, cleaning and ohm testing them to start with.

 

[Owyhee Jackass]

Finally got a new stereo and a couple of new speakers. Only had one working speaker and the stereo was a little finicky.

Got this stereo, USB and aux input on the front.

And these speakers.

The one working speaker mount was questionable...one screw through the front of the dash.

I didn't do much better, but I tried. I made a thin wood mounting plate, screwed the speaker to it, then mounted it with one of the studs on the backside of the louvered dash opening. Passenger side was pretty easy with the glove box removed.

Driver's side was a bit more involved, had to pull the dash above the instrument cluster as well as the defrost duct below the steering wheel.

No more screws through the front of the dash and the sound is much better. I'd like to get some bigger speakers and mount somewhere else.

 

[Owyhee Jackass]

Stereo installed, wired it to my switched 12V fuse panel, it's remembering my presets, but the clock isn't staying set. Not sure if I should wire it back to one of my batteries or not.

 

[Mookies]

You should try to find a factory clock assembly in lieu of wiring anything 12v straight back to the high side battery. It will kill that battery. If the head unit is keeping it's presets you've won the battle!

BTW, we should totally have an impromptu "Boise LHD Troopy Summit" next spring when I'm there for Treefort!