Builds Building the dream (PZJ77) (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter divemedic
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- #242
I posted to ComeUp’s Facebook page about ordering new mounting hardware for my DV-9 control box because I’m finally getting a proper bumper. They responded to call a number. I was expecting to navigate an automated system. NOPE! One ring, real person! The gentleman took my info, no payment, parts on the way!
I’ve got to say, I’ve used the winch twice, once for actual recovery of a car that slid off the road this winter, and once to pull a neighbors tree strump out. The winch has performed perfectly both times. After my experience today with customer support, I will put a comeup on every truck I own from now on.
All that said, a new ARB winch bar is on the way. The tree stump destroyed my winch bar. The welds held fast, but the primary support bent and the bolts nearly sheared in half.
I’ve got to say, I’ve used the winch twice, once for actual recovery of a car that slid off the road this winter, and once to pull a neighbors tree strump out. The winch has performed perfectly both times. After my experience today with customer support, I will put a comeup on every truck I own from now on.
All that said, a new ARB winch bar is on the way. The tree stump destroyed my winch bar. The welds held fast, but the primary support bent and the bolts nearly sheared in half.
Billyfj7312ht
Should only take ten minutes
I would use a 3/16" rivet for the bracket to the A pillar, Machine screw snorkel to bracket.
M5 or 6 flanged nutserts to fenders ( can install with 1" long screw same size) Use rubber bushes snorkel to fender etc. All hardware items but I'm sure there's part numbers somewhere.
2c
M5 or 6 flanged nutserts to fenders ( can install with 1" long screw same size) Use rubber bushes snorkel to fender etc. All hardware items but I'm sure there's part numbers somewhere.
2c
Forget all of that fancy hardware. Duct tape and wood shins will repair anything. 
- Thread starter
- #245
Forget all of that fancy hardware. Duct tape and wood shins will repair anything.
You makes jokes, but I’m half tempted to make snorkel to airbox plumbing with gorilla tape
Once it gets going 120kph is not out of reach, record via gps I did 144 kph on 33 with heavy duty ome lift.
I have had it up to 123ish on flat ground and it seemed just fine. That was on the 31s that came on it. That is plenty fast enough for me.
- Thread starter
- #248
All the top speed/cruising speed info is good and well. Yes, a PZ can push its weight around fine. But just because you can doesn’t mean you should. At the end of the day a lot of this depends on overall health of the truck. Also don’t expect the PZ to win any races.
no reason to not take it 120 kph in my opinion.
- Thread starter
- #250
- Thread starter
- #251
A lot has happened to the truck since my last posting, I will try to recall any difficulties or discoveries I’ve made. In all reality, the various projects are starting to blend together in addition to the honey-do’s my wife has for the house. My garage is currently a tile shop, wood shop, and car shop all together….
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I’ll start with a nice discovery I made. The rear wiper arm for the 07+ J76 is perfectly compatible for the 77, and presumably with other hard top trucks with a rear wiper. On the plus side, the new design has the blade clip integrated. No more baby screws and clip out back.
I also replaced the front wiper arms. The left side is listed as unavailable, I decided to order two right sides. They work well and its nice to not have rust wiper arms anymore. Additionally I'm starting to collect stuff to do an interior refresh this winter. more to com on that later, but weather stripping was part of the order.
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I’ll start with a nice discovery I made. The rear wiper arm for the 07+ J76 is perfectly compatible for the 77, and presumably with other hard top trucks with a rear wiper. On the plus side, the new design has the blade clip integrated. No more baby screws and clip out back.
I also replaced the front wiper arms. The left side is listed as unavailable, I decided to order two right sides. They work well and its nice to not have rust wiper arms anymore. Additionally I'm starting to collect stuff to do an interior refresh this winter. more to com on that later, but weather stripping was part of the order.
- Thread starter
- #252
As a result of the failed bolts I figured it was time to start a face lift on Sophie. Earlier I cut into the lower valiance knowing I had another on the shelf. I stripped down the front of the truck, addressed the surface rust and started ordering parts and prepping to tiddy everything up.
While I had the front striped my wife stole my grill and brought it to a local body shop who “has done some concourse work” to get refinished as a Father’s Day gift. Long story short, they held it for 6 months. It sat in a corner collecting dust. About 1 week before the 4th Annual Meet N Greet I told them to give me my s***. I cleaned, primed and painted it myself. 4 coats of automotive primer and 4 coats of rustoleum gloss grey enamel spray paint. I wet sanded between coats by submerging it in my kids’ bathtub and used 1800 paper. I painted the TOYOTA in Testers gloss white enamel and the DIESEL in their satin aluminum. Finally I painted the boarder in my favorite textured black. It came out pretty decent, not flawless, but it’s a Land Cruiser.
While I had the front striped my wife stole my grill and brought it to a local body shop who “has done some concourse work” to get refinished as a Father’s Day gift. Long story short, they held it for 6 months. It sat in a corner collecting dust. About 1 week before the 4th Annual Meet N Greet I told them to give me my s***. I cleaned, primed and painted it myself. 4 coats of automotive primer and 4 coats of rustoleum gloss grey enamel spray paint. I wet sanded between coats by submerging it in my kids’ bathtub and used 1800 paper. I painted the TOYOTA in Testers gloss white enamel and the DIESEL in their satin aluminum. Finally I painted the boarder in my favorite textured black. It came out pretty decent, not flawless, but it’s a Land Cruiser.
- Thread starter
- #253
I’ve been collecting parts for a bumper, and it was finally time to buy an actual bumper.
I like a lot of the small builder’s bumpers, but I opted for the ARB for two reasons: 1) I had a 30% off coupon. 2) There are a lot of deer in the area, especially on my wife’s campus and I am terrified of smashing into one.
Once the ARB arrived, I started to build it up in the garage. One step at a time the kiddos helped me install my winch and fairlead. Huge thank you to @RJRandel for sending me pictures of the instructions. I put them in a place I wouldn’t forget (I later found them while doing pack-out for the trip). My wife helped me actually mount the bumper and held it in place while I bolted everything down.
For some dumb reason, the bumper comes with 12v incandescent bulbs. I guess I assumed most HD 70’s were 24v, but I’m not the brightest. I called up Rob Smith and added his exterior LED lighting kit (including the indicator lights) to my already existing order for his recovery points. Shameless plug, this recovery points are absolute beef cake. I wouldn’t have ordered an ARB bar if I didn’t know that these were available. If you have a 70 with an ARB, you absolutely need to get a pair.
The bumper build was rounded out by a pair of LightForce Blitz lights curtesy of @Gun Runner 5 . They had clear stone guards which is great most of the time, but this truck was getting prepped for the smoky mountains. I ordered a pair of amber filters knowing fog was probable.
I decided to install some wire stone guards. My headlights work well and I don’t really look forward to them burning out. Plus I think they look cool. Apparently they’re OE parts for the FJ40. At $20 I doubt it, but they fit right on no dramas.
In case anyone was wondering the orange sticker is the logo for Guardians of the Galaxy, which is my Son’s favorite thing right now. He picked the color and where to put it. I like the personal touches like this despite my OCD being triggered.
I like a lot of the small builder’s bumpers, but I opted for the ARB for two reasons: 1) I had a 30% off coupon. 2) There are a lot of deer in the area, especially on my wife’s campus and I am terrified of smashing into one.
Once the ARB arrived, I started to build it up in the garage. One step at a time the kiddos helped me install my winch and fairlead. Huge thank you to @RJRandel for sending me pictures of the instructions. I put them in a place I wouldn’t forget (I later found them while doing pack-out for the trip). My wife helped me actually mount the bumper and held it in place while I bolted everything down.
For some dumb reason, the bumper comes with 12v incandescent bulbs. I guess I assumed most HD 70’s were 24v, but I’m not the brightest. I called up Rob Smith and added his exterior LED lighting kit (including the indicator lights) to my already existing order for his recovery points. Shameless plug, this recovery points are absolute beef cake. I wouldn’t have ordered an ARB bar if I didn’t know that these were available. If you have a 70 with an ARB, you absolutely need to get a pair.
The bumper build was rounded out by a pair of LightForce Blitz lights curtesy of @Gun Runner 5 . They had clear stone guards which is great most of the time, but this truck was getting prepped for the smoky mountains. I ordered a pair of amber filters knowing fog was probable.
I decided to install some wire stone guards. My headlights work well and I don’t really look forward to them burning out. Plus I think they look cool. Apparently they’re OE parts for the FJ40. At $20 I doubt it, but they fit right on no dramas.
In case anyone was wondering the orange sticker is the logo for Guardians of the Galaxy, which is my Son’s favorite thing right now. He picked the color and where to put it. I like the personal touches like this despite my OCD being triggered.
Thanks for your endorsement of the Odd Iron recovery points.
- Thread starter
- #255
I wired the aux lights on their own relay with separate harness. Waterproof connecters were used as was waterproof wiring technique (Youtube University). I wired up the ARB indicators to run as DRL’s. Same wiring techniques used with them. That said, the housing of the ARB units are sub-par in my opinion. I will be changing them out for an actual sealed pod at some point. I did add black silicon caulk to help seal the units in the meantime.
As far as I can tell I did a good enough job keeping everything sealed.
I added a voltage meter with two USB chargers. Enough power to charge two ipads at the same time. I like the little unit a lot, bought from Amazon.
I also added a BlueSea Fuse box to the cab (I’ll post pictures later). Right now its powering a CB and ham radio. It’s got room to grow with 6 terminals, but for now I think I’m done with electrical work. I do plan on re-wiring everything to be more efficient. Due to time constraints its not ideal. More to come on that this winter.
As far as I can tell I did a good enough job keeping everything sealed.
I added a voltage meter with two USB chargers. Enough power to charge two ipads at the same time. I like the little unit a lot, bought from Amazon.
I also added a BlueSea Fuse box to the cab (I’ll post pictures later). Right now its powering a CB and ham radio. It’s got room to grow with 6 terminals, but for now I think I’m done with electrical work. I do plan on re-wiring everything to be more efficient. Due to time constraints its not ideal. More to come on that this winter.
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- Thread starter
- #256
Wednesday night was an all-night affair finishing off last minute projects. Cleaning the truck and installing car seats. It’s a good thing I picked up this LED shop light, hangs just perfectly from the hood or hand holds on the interior.
Thursday I spent doing pack-out and waiting for my wife to leave school. We finally got on the road around 1700. The kids were super excited for the trip.
Normally the trip should be around 5 hours. We had just potty trained my daughter, so we didn’t arrive to our cabin at Windrock until 0200. We unloaded out luggage, dropped the hitch basket and knocked out for the 0800 go in the morning.
Friday trail ride was good. Awesome trucks and better people. There was no crowd, and we were all looking forward to a relaxing day.
The first stop was a quick break to see the windmills. My kids enjoyed stomping in the mud more than the sights.
Thursday I spent doing pack-out and waiting for my wife to leave school. We finally got on the road around 1700. The kids were super excited for the trip.
Normally the trip should be around 5 hours. We had just potty trained my daughter, so we didn’t arrive to our cabin at Windrock until 0200. We unloaded out luggage, dropped the hitch basket and knocked out for the 0800 go in the morning.
Friday trail ride was good. Awesome trucks and better people. There was no crowd, and we were all looking forward to a relaxing day.
The first stop was a quick break to see the windmills. My kids enjoyed stomping in the mud more than the sights.
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- #257
We stopped for lunch at an old abandoned train. Miles insisted that is was from Thomas and enjoyed exploring it a bit. I knew Andrew wouldnt be around to feed my kids this year, so I ensured I brought enough food.
The remained of the day was spent on a leisurely drive. The group did split up for a brief moment due to a stream crossing which was higher than expected following significant rain the day prior. We met back up and enjoyed some down time in the late afternoon taking a break for coffee.
The remained of the day was spent on a leisurely drive. The group did split up for a brief moment due to a stream crossing which was higher than expected following significant rain the day prior. We met back up and enjoyed some down time in the late afternoon taking a break for coffee.
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Great pictures Nick!
One minor correction is that we never made it to The Eternal Flame. It was upstream of the deep creek crossing and would have required two more crossings (that are deeper) as well as driving about 200 yards up the creek (the creek has taken over the road bed. Perhaps next year we can make it to the Flame ....
One minor correction is that we never made it to The Eternal Flame. It was upstream of the deep creek crossing and would have required two more crossings (that are deeper) as well as driving about 200 yards up the creek (the creek has taken over the road bed. Perhaps next year we can make it to the Flame ....
I have those exact rims on my 1993 PZJ75 and was wondering what the rims were called.
Presently have BFG KM2 285x75x16s, but may go back down 265s once the KM2 wear out.
235/85/16
