Builds '94 FZJ80 "Cotton"

[S.CarolinaFZJ80]

Cotton and his siblings:

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Show off!

 

[roadstr6]

Took a truck load of kids and RC crawlers out on the trails for a little 10th scale and 1:1 wheeling last weekend.

 

[LCHardriver_02]

That's very cool! Love the RCs and the intense looks of the boys guiding them through that rough terrain!

 

[Comet]

This is already a well sorted rig. Loved following it down the trail this past weekend. Great job @roadstr6

 

[roadstr6]

I drove Cotton to ONSC's event, Logan's Run, this past weekend. Took both kids with me. We slept in the RTT. The truck did great on the trails. I didn't get many pics. Nathan took a few. I'll post them up.

We hit a huge traffic jam coming up the backside of the Daniel Trail. All progress ground to a halt as two Jeeps towed this taco'd XJ off the trail.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

I drove Cotton to ONSC's event, Logan's Run, this past weekend. Took both kids with me. We slept in the RTT. The truck did great on the trails. I didn't get many pics. Nathan took a few. I'll post them up.

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We hit a huge traffic jam coming up the backside of the Daniel Trail. All progress ground to a halt as two Jeeps towed this taco'd XJ off the trail.

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He cut the roof out of a unibody rig and thought it'd be ok?

 

[roadstr6]

He cut the roof out of a unibody rig and thought it'd be ok?

Precisely!

 

[roadstr6]

For the last few months, Cotton's drive belts have been making a lot of squeaking noises once they got warm. At first, I thought the squeaking was the AC idler bearing, so I replaced the bearing. The noise didn't go away. Watching the belts as the engine is running, it was obvious that the rearmost alternator belt was not as tight as the front one, and it had a little fore and aft movement on the pulleys as it traveled around. A quick shot of WD40 quieted the errant belt right down, confirming that new belts were in order. Last night I changed out all three drive belts. The old belts were not in terrible shape, but they were brittle and had some minor cracking so it was time for them to go. I replace the old Toyota belts with another set of OE Toyota belts and kept the old ones for trail spares. The whole process went smoothly. I got the belts changed in under an hour. I accessed the ac belt and loosened the idler by dropping the splash pan. The alternator set screw was no problem for my 12mm 1/4 drive socket. I accessed the alt tension bolt with a 1/4" drive socket and 12" extension through the driver's side front fender by partially removing the rubber flapper in the fender well. I used a Gates 91107 Krikit tool ($12) to get the belts tightened to spec. Cotton runs quiet as a mouse now!

 

[izzyandsue]

You need a stencil like this on the sides! The Gates belts are very noisy, always whistling

 

[roadstr6]

You need a stencil like this on the sides! The Gates belts are very noisy, always whistling

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The old belts were Toyota and I replaced with Toyota. I just used the Gates clicky tool to check the tension. Good enough for Mr. T is good enough for me!

 

[roadstr6]

My family owns some property in Anson County NC along Deadfall Creek. During the Civil War, there was a skirmish between the men of Gen. Joseph Wheeler and Gen. W.T Sherman at or near our family land. For the past two weekends kids and I have taken Cotton out to do some metal detecting, looking for Civil War relics and riding dirt bikes / quads. We stopped by to check on the family hunt cabin. It's an 18th century farm house that my grandfather restored back in the 50's. I love the ornate lattice on the porch and the old swinging shutters. Total wooden peg construction. Cool old house.

 

[roadstr6]

About six months ago Cotton threw a code for a bad O2 sensor. Not wanting to deal with the sensors in their factory location, I had made up my mind that I would order new sensors, delete the PAIR system and put the new sensors in the manifold in the old pair port locations. At the time, I just left the old sensors in place and clipped the wires on the sensor side of the harness clips. Truck ran fine that way but CEL stayed lit. Tonight I finished the job. PAIR deleted. EGR disabled but left in place. New O2 sensors installed. The truck runs great and CEL is gone! Thanks to @fourtrax for showing me how to do the PAIR removal. Your insight was exactly what I needed to get it done.

 

[roadstr6]

Replaced the leaky O-ring on the power steering return line. It was a job. Leak is gone and no more groaning power steering pump. Feeling all leak free and accomplished, I decided to take the kids carp fishing. When it got hot, we deployed the el cheapo $94 awning for some shade. Guess what? It worked like a charm. Oh what a feeling!

 

[roadstr6]

Kids were in a fishing tournament today. They found perfect spots for catching fish and I didn’t have to look too far to find my perfect spot too. It was a really beautiful day to be outside.

 

[roadstr6]

July 2019 Hurricane Creek trip with Nathan and the ONSC crew.

 

[roadstr6]

More:

 

[roadstr6]

More:

 

[roadstr6]

I’m pretty sure the Mombasa 9011 RTT is one of the biggest on the market. I don’t like to keep it on the truck any more than I have to. Thanks to the Bowfin rack and a cheapo electric hoist, installing and removing the tent is a snap. I pull the fasteners for the two crossbars that the tent is mounted to and leave the crossbars with the tent. Here’s the story in pics:

Remove cross bar fasteners. Four per cross bar. Eight total Allen bolts.

Here’s the hoist. I believe I paid about $120 for it on Amazon.

Back truck in garage. Attach ratchet straps and push the button to lift the tent. Drive tentless truck out of the garage.

Four stabilizing ropes keep the tent level and spread out the load so that it is not relying totally on the hoist to keep it up.

 

[roadstr6]

Cotton on Dutch John Trail, Uwharrie National Forest:

 

[Pippylongsausage]

Man y'all are doing it right. Makes me excited for my toddler to get older. Also, lol at that Jeep that french fried when he should have pizza'd