Builds Cayman Islands FZJ80 DIY build-up

[mmajsw]

The final item today is that my Optima starting battery died the death around 3.5 years old - after 3 weeks sitting down and not being used, it refused to even click. My VOM said that the old battery was 6.9V - definitely dead. So, I replaced it with a new Odyssey 2150 along with a new battery hold down clamp and bolts. Hope that I have a better length of life with the new one. Now running dual 2150s in the truck. Glad to have that 150A alternator to keep them charged.

The passenger side battery...

and the driver's side battery.

 

[mmajsw]

I had installed some 3' pieces of aluminum load tie-downs in order to help hold down items on the rear box. It worked reasonably well for my first aid kit and a 8 gallon Action Packer.

But I felt that the space wasn't being utilized as best as it could be. So I took some measurements and went to what could be found locally. I looked at other action packer sizes and various plastic storage but nothing really struck me as being very versatile.
My sister had asked me to go to one of the supermarkets and get her a Coleman Party Sacker for an upcoming beach party she was having. I did as requested and put it in the rear seat to go home. When I was dropping it off, I looked at it and decided to see if it would fit between the rails. It did and was what I was looking for. So back to the store and buy 3 more for myself.
They allow me to have a single layer or a double layer so lots of options and greatly increased storage space. I can have up to 18 of them in the back if I ever need to go to that option at 3 high.

The other thing was to have a tire cover sewn up by my upholstery guy. I also got some red vinyl and he said if I could get the TEQ logo cut out, he would have it sewn on. So a nice rainy day project to keep in reserve.

The only other big news if that after 7 years of living in our new home, I finally made space in the single car garage so that the truck can be kept in there. Considering I am now driving it about 500 miles a year, keeping it inside protected from the elements should allow it to last a lot longer!
The double car garage is still an uninventoried mess!

 

[mmajsw]

Over the weekend, I managed to get two things done.
The first was the master cylinder. My brakes were not beginning to engage until the pedal was about half way down and the brake pedal would continue to go to the floor if you just kept on pressing it. Not good.
The first thing was to get a new master cylinder and bleed the brakes. Pedal height is now restored with no pedal fade.

The second thing was a slow battery drain because I would not start the truck for a month or two. I had a Noco Gen 2 20A battery charger so decided to install it. The biggest problem was finding a place to put it and ended up where the ABS would have been if the truck had it. A couple brackets and some screws and it was just a matter of running the cables to the individual batteries and plug it in. All should be fine now. I will have to clean up all the wires running around the place soon.

Finally, I had the front windshield replaced mid week after failing my annual inspection. The sad thing is that there are two companies that do the installations on the island and neither one would follow the factory recommended procedures in the manual. It is not needed! We do this all the time without the sealant and it never leaks.
Well mine leaked after installation. Thankfully, there are instructions on ih8mud on how to seal the gasket/glass/body and it in my upcoming weekend project - depending on Hurricane Irma!

 

[utahisrad]

WOW @mmajsw you my friend have done an excellent job. Ive been scrolling through all your pictures and projects for a while and am very impressed. Lots of great ideas. Keep it up!

 

[ZackR]

I had installed some 3' pieces of aluminum load tie-downs in order to help hold down items on the rear box. It worked reasonably well for my first aid kit and a 8 gallon Action Packer.

View attachment 1521113

But I felt that the space wasn't being utilized as best as it could be. So I took some measurements and went to what could be found locally. I looked at other action packer sizes and various plastic storage but nothing really struck me as being very versatile.
My sister had asked me to go to one of the supermarkets and get her a Coleman Party Sacker for an upcoming beach party she was having. I did as requested and put it in the rear seat to go home. When I was dropping it off, I looked at it and decided to see if it would fit between the rails. It did and was what I was looking for. So back to the store and buy 3 more for myself.
They allow me to have a single layer or a double layer so lots of options and greatly increased storage space. I can have up to 18 of them in the back if I ever need to go to that option at 3 high.

View attachment 1521123

The other thing was to have a tire cover sewn up by my upholstery guy. I also got some red vinyl and he said if I could get the TEQ logo cut out, he would have it sewn on. So a nice rainy day project to keep in reserve.

View attachment 1521125

The only big news if that after 7 years of living in our new home, I finally made space in the single car garage so that the truck can be kept in there. Considering I am now driving it about 500 miles a year, keeping it inside protected from the elements should allow it to last a lot longer!
The double car garage is still an uninventoried mess!

500 miles a year?

 

[utahisrad]

500 miles a year?

dude lives on an island smaller than my backyard.... makes sense

 

[ZackR]

Mind blown on how small the Cayman Islands are. If there was ever a case for an electric powered 80 this would be the place for it.

Size of United States compared to Cayman Islands

 

[mmajsw]

Gentlemen;
Thanks for the link on comparing the size of countries. It is an interesting site.
Sad to say, my situation is even worse that the stats report. Grand Cayman is only 76 sq.miles because Little Cayman and Cayman Brac - two islands 90 miles north-west of Grand Cayman take up about 25 sq. miles of the area.
I want to go and cry!

But we do not have any direct taxation!

 

[mmajsw]

Managed to get some online shopping done this past week.
The first was a Max Burton freezer from eBay refurbished for $249. It was about 1/3 of the price of the ABB/Engel/etc. models. A deal I could not pass up. There were only 2 available and I got one.
If anyone is interested, they have the 37 quart models on sale now for $219 with free shipping. There were 5 left at this posting.

The second item was a tan Yeti 20 quart roadie cooler for day trips

And finally a white Tundra 50 cooler for bigger trips.

The 20 will definitely be in the truck and possibly the freezer too. I am contemplating removing one of both of the the 2nd row seats and placing the freezer in that location. Just have to see what others have done with their 2nd row seats and consider the options.
I am working on some plans for an expedition trailer and the 50 quart will definitely be in there. More on the trailer later.

With that shopping done, I began to look at replacement fender flares. jamisole has a nice set available on this forum that is the same size as the factory flares but with better mounting. I'll be getting a set from him to install.

 

[jfz80]

IM sorry if my sympathy for your situation doesnt seem sincere

And i hear you still got the barefoot man at the holiday inn at night too


Great build to follow along with. Keep sharing!

 

[mmajsw]

I had always wanted to add a 3rd dome light by the rear door and two additional units in the upper tailgate. I managed to get a tan Toyota light about a year ago but could not find any more reasonably priced. Shipping to Cayman kills eBay prices.
I did try and attach two led units in post 156. Despite numerous attempts to get the lights to stick to the hatch plastic, nothing would work. The heat in a closed vehicle in Cayman eventually overpowers any adhesive short of epoxy. I started to rethink the whole installation and decided a screw held unit that has on/off switches was a necessity so back to the drawing board.
I was in Canada a couple months ago and took a trip down to my favorite wrecking yard to see what was available - specifically Toyota dome lights. On course, there was nothing for the Cruiser.
So I decided to see what other vehicles had to offer and noticed that there were a lot of nice lights in Nissan vehicles. They were compact with the back intruding about 5/8" behind the mounting plastic and had on/off switches. Needless to say, I started collecting. I managed to get one tan, one light grey and one dark grey but could not find another tan. Eventually I got another light grey and called it a day. They are two wire units with the ground coming from a screw into the truck frame - same wiring as the Toyota dome light.

The three units to be installed

After making a cut-out template, it was time to do some measuring and cutting.
I did practice measure trice, cut once and did multiple measurements to ensure that the lights were in the right place.
The view from the back of the first cutout was like this. Two fender washers will be custom cut to fit around the panel clip mounts and supporting reinforcement. The top left screw is for the ground wire.

From the front, the view looks like this

I might paint the light housing but right now, I am liking the grey on brown.

The overall view is here...

The lights are within 1/2" of the same distance from the edge of the panel - not noticeable with an offset handle.
The next step is wiring in power and inserting the led bulbs.

 

[mmajsw]

Tonight's job was securing the lights to the panel.
The first thing was to get some new hardware - 4 of 3/4" long #10-24 machine screws with 4 fender washers, 4 Nylock nuts, 2 split locking washers and two normal nuts.
The Nissan self-tapping screws were removed and the machine screws were inserted. Next was to hook up the connectors and do a bit more trimming to the plastic panel to allow a good fit. Then it was a bit more cutting of the reinforcing ribs to allow the washers to flit flush against the panel. A bit of filing to the upper washer to allow it to fit around the light protrusion and the Nylock was tightened up.
The bottom screw with the normal nut will be used for the ground wire.

On the passenger side, a bit more surgery was needed to get the lower washer to fit as both the corner and the retaining clip mount interfered with the fender washer.

But now, the lights are securely in place and there is no interference with anything in the upper hatch. Sorry for the fuzzy pics. Will try to get better ones this weekend.
Contemplating whether I should wire them into the dome lights to be on when the rear hatch door is open or just have them manually controlled. Will think about it before the weekend.

 

[mmajsw]

Lights are in and all is well. As others have discussed, the hardest part is running the wire from the hatch through to the light in the mid row seats. But I persevered and managed to get a power wire through to the to upper hatch. Unfortunately I did not take pics but the end result was worth it.

With the lights on....

... and then looking at the lower tailgate with the garage lights off.

It is much brighter than I initially imagined it would be. But I can use one at a time if needed. One thing that did surprise me is the amount of heat those little LEDs produce. Time will tell if it has a negative effect on the life of the LED.

A couple items came on island today - the 50 quart Yeti and the Max Burton freezer. The freezer had been dropped on the weakest corner and the plastic cover had broken. I know enough that the shipper to Cayman will blame the shipper from the buyer to their company for the damage. The usual pass the buck routine. It was just cosmetic damage and all the pieces were there so I am now epoxying it back together.

The damage

And pieced back together

And the cooler

The Shiner beer stickers seem to be a plastic stick-on so I will be investigation ways of removing them.

 

[mmajsw]

With the freezer here, I needed to finish the rear power panel installation. The SB50A power pole was cut out and the support bracket in post 160 was riveted to the new hole with additional filing to lake sure that the other SB50A plug would fit it smoothly.
Then it was time for disassembly and painting. After the paint has dried, reassemble everything back together again. The 30A power pole plug is missing but will be added.

It looks like this

All that is needed to be done is to make and run the wires to the SB50A connector (using 6 AWG marine wire), make a ground to the frame and I can plug the fridge in. But that is for another time.

The final big news is that I am finally getting lockers for the Cruiser. I was initially swinging back and forth between ARB Air Locker and Harrop elocker, and read all I could find on them. In the end, I decided that the Harrop had benefits that would be of use to me - mainly not having to activate them once a month to keep everything operational and zero possibility of air leaks/O-ring problems. They are a couple hundred more expensive but that is a minimal cost in the overall scheme of things.
With part 1 out of the way, the second thing was how to get my differentials from Cayman to the US where they could be worked on? Shipping costs are about $200 each way, including paperwork. Then I have to figure out a way to get the diff from the shipper to the installer.
I had installed a Detroit Locker in a Ford 9" before in Canada and while it is not rocket science, it is very, very time consuming! Plus the new parts were readily available in Toronto. With the Toyota 9.5", I do not have the tools or parts in Cayman to press bearings on and off and no easy access to a range of shims for the pinion gear.
I was perusing eBay a couple nights ago and saw that TLC Junktion was offering used rear differentials including shipping for US$232. An idea clicked into my head and I got in touch with Ken at Gear Installs in Arizona. If I bought the used diff on eBay, and had it shipped to him, could he do the elocker installation. He responded yes and sent me the link to the same differential I was looking at. I am keeping the 4.10 gearing as I anticipate staying with 285/75R16 tires but Ken would do a complete overhaul to the unknown diff- new bearings, check the gears out (replace if needed), install the locker and then ship it to me when he is done. The bonus is that I will have the original diff as a spare if anything goes wrong! I will do the rear this year and the front early next year. I love it when things come together!

 

[mmajsw]

Got an update from Ken at gearinstalls today. The Harrop locker is at his shop but the eBay rear diff is in transit.
Things are looking up!

Kens pics of the diff
1. My locker box with another customer's.

Still under wraps

And just waiting for the other parts to be installed.

I have to admit that communication with Ken is great. I can see no problems with working with him when I do the front diff.

 

[wardharris]

Ken Francisco is the consummate professional.

 

[mmajsw]

Today's update from Ken - the rear diff has arrived. He will be mating the locker to it shortly.

 

[gearinstalls.com]

Final tweaks on the carrier bearing preload and backlash for mmajsw's Harrop equipped rear 9.5" 410 3rd

 

[mmajsw]

As the Harrop rear diff is now in transit to Cayman, I managed to locate a front diff here on ih8mud and that is now off to Ken so that he can work his magic with another Harrop on the front. While I may not actually need both (and to tell the truth might not have needed the rear either), they are just in case installs. Should be easier to get out of the sand with lockers rather than digging one's way out. I found a couple areas where I will be doing testing early in 2018 after both are installed.
I did run across the Eaton E-locker thread here on mud and now have enough information to install the wiring and get the factory front/rear locker indicators to work, all while using Toyota's magic switch! It looks easier than I initially thought - assuming that the wiring connector is there. More to come....

 

[mmajsw]

A package came in today - from the UAE. Took 2 months and 2 weeks to get to Cayman. Must have come by dhow!
It contained an 80 series hood prop. I know people will say that you don't need it, etc. but hear my story.
About 10 years ago, I was working on a Ford Explorer doing some maintenance when I extracted myself from the engine compartment while my wife had her hand partly on the grill with her fingers inside the engine compartment. All of a sudden, the hood decided to drop. The struts had never did that before nor was any wind blowing to say that it started pushing the hood down.
Her left hand was in the way and while she got a good hit across her fingers, I was very happy that after getting her checked out, that nothing was broken. She had no use of the hand for over a week.
Since that episode, I have always used a secondary means of supporting the hood. With the prop in place, I have that secondary support constantly at hand.

The part numbers

And the installation. Took all of 2 minutes including deciding where to put the grommet, getting a screwdriver to push the grommet in, inserting the holder and inserting the rod.

The end result is this...

And in use...

Feeling much safer now! And the wife is happy.