Builds 1995 HZJ77 wagon build - Japan sourced

[Pip Bernadotte]

After all of us got our fill ogling at each others trucks, we finally got to hit the trails ^_^

The MEGA CRUISER makes my HZJ look like a Tonka Toy

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

Well... with Wind Rock park being so dry that late in the summer (as opposed to when I went with NOAS in the spring and it was muddy/mucky) I decided to challenge the old girl and kept her in 2WD for as long as I could. She didn't disappoint, and even earned a new nickname when some of the other guys heard that I was only using 2WD for what turned out to the the whole day of wheeling

- She's now named Mountain Goat.
Which is fitting because she sticks to the trails with the sure-footedness of a goat

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

Got some sleep in my usual hammock set up, and then had our final day of wheeling.

Big foot?

Nope... just me... wheeling and running around the mountains without shoes as usual

Our group all lined up after another fun day of trail riding ^_^

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

After a weekend of worrying about potentially running my battery down and not being able to start the Cruiser because I had to keep my Engle MT45 fridge plugged in... I decided to rectify that. Thankfully my friend Darren asked me for help building a battery backup for his own setup, and we found that there are some 24V single LiPoFe batteries (with a 15,000 cycle life) available for not too much money from LiTime batteries.
Had to update my "total vehicle wiring diagram" of modifications I've made.... It's a fair bit

All the bits and bobs

Laying it out in the battery box -
Because it's a single battery (instead of two like my starter bateries), it meant I could fit it into a single NOCO battery box that's meant for being mounted on trailers and "out in the weather" for some extra protection. There was also enough room to fit the 24v charge controller for the LiFePo battery (they take a special controller to charge... DO NOT just plug them into your alternator... You'll fry the battery, and potentially your alternator) in the box with the battery with enough space around it for some airflow for cooling too.

All wired up with an Anderson connector so that I can unplug and remove the box from the back of the cruiser when I don't need it.



I added the plug that came with the Engel fridge, and a 24v cigarette socket too (not pictured)

To finish it all up I had to run a 8AWG 20A fused cable from the starting batteries along side the fused cable I already have installed for my GMRS radio 24-12 step down under the body to the hole I drilled underneath my front passenger seat. I then ran it under the carpet (with the wires encased in some corrugated split tubing AND some woven sheathing for extra wear protection) to the back left quarter panel, where I have it sticking out from the OE tool & jack access hatch there. I can tuck it away any time I need to, but it's easily accessible when I need to have the battery plugged in to charge too.


After a few tests, I've found that this single 50Ah battery will run my Engel for 6-7 days without needing charge, and can be charged with just and hour or two of driving (I haven't tried charging it from a severly depleted state... that would probably take a bit longer - but that's understandable)

 

[Gun Runner 5]

Great photography ….
I followed Kerry all day in his Mega-Cruiser. I never had to worry about branches on the trails.

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

And then disaster struck the south east...

Hurricane Helene

Thankfully we didn't have much trouble down here in Columbia, SC, but it did hit pretty hard up in the Upstate of South Carolina - And obviously even harder in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee. Sadly, I didn't have any contacts with knowledge of how to help people in NC/TN, and just jumping in your truck and driving up there (as some clubs sadly & infuriatingly did...) is more of a danger and taxes resources that are already spread thin in an emergency situation.


Seriously, I know you man mean well, but please don't enter an emergency or disaster area without guidance from the proper state for federal authorities or you will likely be more of a HINDRANCE than a help... (especially if they then have to divert resources to come save your stupid a$$)


After running jerry cans of fuel from Fort Mill & Columbia to the Upstate I decided to look into what else I could do. My friends being who they are, and me being the club president of a generally altruistic offroad club, I reached out to the contacts I did have immediately after news started breaking about how badly different areas were hit. They said that most of the worst hit areas were still organizing efforts (mostly because water still hadn't receded enough to access places...) but that there were several city managers asking for help to clear trees and other debris from their roads and people's yards.

So, even though he had spent 2 days clearing trees with his neighbors to even exit his own neighborhood, Darren said he'd come with me to go help the town of Woodruff just across I385 from him. (We put out a call for more members, but most were UNDERSTANDABLY still busy clearing their own properties and securing their families)


So I went to the (apparently well stocked for nearly any type of natural disaster) local hardware store and bought my first chainsaw.

Then hit the road up to Fountain Inn to meet up with Darren, and we headed to Woodruff to meet the city manager. He told us that they had been able to clear most of the thoroughfares through the city, but that he'd appreciate it if we drove around and see who we could help.

We drove for about 10 minutes and didn't see much, so we decided to stop at the first place we saw. Which happened to be an 85yo grandmother who had a tree fall on her house, and her grandson's BRAND NEW Chevy (he'd had it 2 weeks)

We spent ALL DAY clearing those trees. The grandmother and her grand daughter were very friendly and brought us plenty of water throughout the day.


Taking a pause to figure out how to remove the branches resting on the house without damaging her roof further.

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

The poor 2 week old Chevy

They had to siphon it's gas for the generator to keep electricity on in the house...

After a full day of clearing trees, I think we left them in pretty good shape. The city manager said they'd be sending around wood and debris collection trucks, so we stacked what we could by the road to keep the driveway somewhat clear

Then on to day two of clearing trees. Thankfully we had a few extra hands after they had finished doing what they could at their house. And we needed them because the tree we saw leaving after day one was a monster oak across two driveways.

this "branch point" in the tree was absolutely massive. Even with a 24" bar it took nearly 10min to cut through. We did the math, and at 50 lbs per cubic foot of dry oak (and this was wet) we're pretty sure this one chunk weighed 500+lbs

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

Thomas... you're in the... you know what... you do you...

Had to have a Cruiser picture in here somewhere

We had to winch the massive block of oak out of the way to be able to clear the driveway. Thankfully the neighbor's son showed up with a superduty that we could use as an anchor point for my snatch block.

Yeah... this was a BIG freaking tree. (me for scale)

And another day of volunteer work done. two driveways cleared.

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

After doing some calling and checking to make sure the area was in good condition and we were'nt going to be a hindrance to the people in the area by hosting our event up there the next weekend. We packed up our trucks and headed up to Uwharrie for our annual NOAS "home field" event.

Aaaand the second left rear tail light I've broken on my HZJ77... the first died in Kyoto trying to backup a narrow path through a graveyard on a hill.... And this one was taken out by a tree root on Dickey Bell. So there went another $100 But that's just the way it goes sometimes when you're wheeling

Camping with my co-pilot for the first time.

Gabbi doing pretty well on the backside of Daniel.

Uwharrie dust is like nothing else...

And a little wheel lift getting up the hill after my unfortunate tail light accident

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

Back to the MODs

After Uwharrie I decided it was time that my ViAir compressor stop being able to slide out from under the seat. So I removed the seat!

Neat trick, right?

For info on the self regulating manifold block see this post - (Builds - 1995 HZJ77 wagon build - Japan sourced - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/1995-hzj77-wagon-build-japan-sourced.1119726/post-15594251)




I decided to CAD a new mount (Cardboard Aided Design of course) and used an old road sign I had to

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

Finished mounting the compressor, so the onboard air system is finally finished ^_^

But, decided that while I have the seat out, I have other projects to do: Like removing the OE rear seat heater and replacing it with a Tuffy Security Box.

It's not exactly easy to access it the whole way around without removing the driver's seat... but I still managed.


Dropping the Tuffy box in to see how it's going to do.

I had measured between the seat back joints for clearance, and knew it was going to be tight... but hadn't quite accounted for how much I was going to have to cut out of the front to keep access to the parking brake lever... I could probably have gotten around having to do major mods by going with the narrower box. (I chose the 8") but that's less fun, and I wanted the space! So... cutting into the brand new $300 lock box it is

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

So... shameless plug for Benchmark Abrasives. They're one of our NOAS club sponsors. I haven't ever used any of their products (they're more expensive, and I can't just go buy them at HF or HD... so I've never given them a try. But I got one of their "all in one packs" when they sponsored us and... wow. They're pretty great!

End of plug.


So... after some figuring, marking, cutting, adjusting, cutting, rewelding what you cut because oopsie... and then some more cutting, welding, and gringing. I got it pretty well the way I wanted it to be. And I only lost a little bit of interior space. (and I kept 95% of the access to the parking brake lever that I had before. It's only a little bit awkward to reach in certain scenarios. It should be fine ^_^)

A bit more sanding and then paint!

I had to add some flanges to the front to allow screws to go through and into the cross brace on the transmission tunnel between the seats to tie the front of the box in. I picked a "as close as I can figure without taking paint swatches home to match it" grey for the box to match the interior of the grey metal HZJ dash and trim.

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

Incidentally, if anyone wants a functioning rear seat heater core & center console, let me know

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

I got it all painted up with several coats of paint. I then decided to do what some hot-rodders do to their engine bays for extra visibility and painted the inside of it a flat white so it will be easier to see inside of it in the dark.

And the weird OCD in me that's sometime a perfectionist but usually with a pragmatic "good enough" slant to it decided that I couldn't live with the original black clad Tuffy elbow pad...

So I had to get out my upholstery gear.

(thankfully I already had some grey vinyl that I was going to use for another cruiser project anyways)



The rear mount took a little bit more finagling to get right. I wanted to be able to use the OE captured nuts that held the previous console down, but also needed to keep the Tuffy box fairly level... so It had to be a bit taller than I expected. But it works ^_^

And now it's finished.

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

Oh, and while I was at it, I installed the compressor with it's new mounting plate. I like the hazard stripes of the original sign being visible from the side.

also got the replacement left rear tail light in from japan and got it mounted with a new LED bulb from Rob at Odd Iron. Hopefully this will be the last time I have to replace it

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

Ah! I forgot one other piece of (mild) carnage that happened at Uwharrie this year!
I finally caught one of my roof bars on a tree going up the backside of Daniel... It bent my rain gutter a fair bit, but was thankfully still fixable.

As such: it's time for a narrower roof rack!

This style looks good, is probably very strong due to all the bends and boxing, and is probably pretty light being made out of aluminum. (all of which makes it rather expensive...)

This style is more "standard" but is probably still fairly heavy being made out of steel and having so many cross bars.

I really like the "full gutter" style roof racks that I've seen for a variety of vehicles. I also like the extruded aluminum cross bars for weight savings.

Looking closer at this one, it's odd that they chose a full length style whose main benefit is that it will distribute the weight of whatever is on the rack more evenly, and then negated that benefit by creating an attachment system that screws into the roof in four separate places so it can't distribute the weight along the whole rack...



I've seen some with feet like these for more traditional gutters, but they're not as easy to find, and many just aren't the right size for the 76/77...

After researching what's currently available, it seems that the roof racks for 70 series are generally:
A. Expensive
B. Large and heavy
C. A bit of both


So... time to DIY! and despite my running joke of CAD being Cardboard Aided Design, there is a place and time for Computer Aided Design, and I'm glad I took that class in High School. (Thanks Mr. Wilson!)

It's time to design a roof rack!

I took the general design ideas of several I'd seen:
- The full gutter design to distribute weight.
- The foot design of the one above that "Bob" from I Like To Make Stuff also used on his 80 series DIY roof rack.
- Using extruded aluminum for cross bars to keep weight down. (Which I then decided against, and will just have 4 bars out of steel like I currently have because it's worked out super well so far)

I made the front angle of the side pieces the same as the windshield of the 70 so it'll be a continuous slope for a wind deflector to keep things quiet. And the rear is the same angle as the rear barn doors for symmetry. I also made it tall enough keep the fold down mount for the Aussie Style GMRS radio antenna that I've been running. I'll try to remember to have the cross bars spaced so that I can have a set of maxx traxx held up there. If not, I can always add another cross bar out of extruded aluminum.

And in traditional "There's no kill like overkill" and "Go big or go home, moderation is for cowards" fashion I had the main rails cut out of 3/16 sheet steel at Metals & Alloys over in Lexington where they have a water jet cutter.

I also had the feet cut out of 3/16 steel at send-cut-send, but have since decided to downsize that part of it to 1/8 so I'm waiting for the new feet to arrive (it'll save me 10-11 lbs just for the feet, and 1/8 should be plenty strong)

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

For anyone who hasn't used Send-Cut-Send, it is fairly straight foward, and actually beat the price (even with shipping) of getting the feet cut out locally)

I'll have to bend the feet on the SWAG finger brake kit I got and welded together a few months ago. Should be fairly easy~


I got the side bars cut out by Metals & Alloys in West Columbia. Evan over there was great to work with and helped a lot. (they would also have been too big for Send Cut Send to send in the mail )

I really like how it looks even just mocked up. I still need to go buy some more steel to do the cross bars, but I also need a vehicle that can carry it... (more on that later)

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

You ever hear "Never look a gift horse in the mouth"?

That's why I now own a Komatsu forklift

The closest thing to a Nissan I own. (the engine is a little Nissan 4 banger) Ironic because I'm currently the president of the Nissan Offroad Association of the Southeast

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

Pretty pic at the gas station. Light was just right

Putting the old roof bars to use while I'm still getting the kinks worked out of the new roof rack

Co-pilot needs some attention

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

Finally, a project finished!

I started this project quite literally the day before my motorcycle accident in 2022. I got all the holes marked and pilot holes drilled.

It's taken me a while to feel better enough to know that I'd be able to use it once it's completed, so I finally have the motivation to get it done

Also, I've gotta say, I'm impressed by every single tool I've purchased from VEVOR. They're a low(er) cost manufacturer out of Taiwan, but they make some quality stuff.

Power rack with adjustable safety bars is finished! MSRP 1500, DIY cost 400

I know it's not cruiser related... but I'm still excited