Builds Joel's multipurpose 40 on 41s (3 Viewers)

[cruisermatt]

I've helped a few restoration and fabrication shop moves across town and ctiy to city and those were nightmares.

I can't even imagine how much of a pain that is. I guess it will be worth it after you're settled!

 

[frijolee]

Got back from the cruise well rested so we hit it hard again. I’m gonna let the pics do most of the talking in this post.

The aisle in the above is so I could lie down in the gap and bench press a king sized mattress toward the rear 6 inches at a time.

The mattress ended up on the roof of the cruiser (followed by bikes and surf boards), then a second level of crates went in, followed by plastic tarps.

Fun fact, humidity differences inside a container can make it rain inside nightly. There was only about 4 inches clear to the roof by the time we were done.

Buddy doing the pull-up is another of my best and oldest friends who also drove way too damn far to help me (and yes that’s the engine block coffee table behind him, it came too). Ralph was the one who joined me on the road trip to pick up the Cruiser up in Washington originally.

Kids got in on the monkey bar action.

Getting there:

Managed to carve some pumpkins on the appropriate day (island for the win), otherwise did nothing but hard physical labor for a solid week.

We closed the doors at 5:30 in the morning the night before the heavy equipment movers showed up. The last slog was something like 23 hours straight. I couldn’t believe my father in law was still standing to take this pic. What a rockstar…

Getting closer to wrapping up this tale. For now, may you have a blessed Easter celebrating the things that are important with the ones you love…

Regards all,
-Joel

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Damn man. Is there much wheeling on the islands?

 

[afraptor22]

Wow, Tetris master!

 

[frijolee]

I've helped a few restoration and fabrication shop moves across town and ctiy to city and those were nightmares.
I can't even imagine how much of a pain that is. I guess it will be worth it after you're settled!

With real heavy equipment I'd imagine you just have to bite the bullet and call in the forklifts. I was right at the cusp where we could still get it done with brute force manpower.

Damn man. Is there much wheeling on the islands?

Big Island is crazy diverse. They say there are something like 11 of the worlds 14 climates here. I may be butchering that quote but it's something like that. My only real wheeling to date is all XJ but if you want to see some I can post in bit. It's a neat place.

Wow, Tetris master!

The song was stuck in my head at several points in the process...

 

[frijolee]

Friend on another forum pointed out that we probably should have bought bulk desiccant. https://www.uline.com/Product/Detail/S-14045/Desiccants/Container-Dri-II-Desiccants-Cargo-Bag?pricode=WB0787&gadtype=pla&id=S-14045&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIjePd3qrj4QIVdiCtBh38yQHJEAQYAyABEgIl7fD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

We ended up OK (maybe partly because we didn't have much free air at the roof) but it just goes to show as much research as you can put into something like this there were always ways to improve.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

So the 50,000 lb forklift shows up to pick up the container. It goes for lift…

And promptly pops a nose wheelie. They have to bring a separate forklift with a massive counterweight to increase the capacity.

At this point I’m kinda freaking out at how heavy the container is... Although the container is rated at 67,000 lbs gross, DOT regulations in CA you’re only allowed to haul 44,000 lbs on the highway. If this gets flagged we’re screwed. I’m beat up... Running on no sleep and my head is exploding with all the ways this could go wrong.

Well, with the added counterweight, Dunkel Bros (the heavy equipment guys) get it picked up and hauled back to their yard. We had 3 semi trucks/trailers in our little culdesac…

However, when they put it on their uncertified scales and it comes in at 52,000 lbs. CRAP!!! But then the driver from Matson sea freight lines shows up to drive it to the port, doesn’t ask questions and just grabs and goes. Turns out, since the container hadn’t been “officially” weighed yet, he wasn’t “officially” restricted in driving it.

The port accepts shipment and we’re off to the races.

 

[frijolee]

With the container away and nothing left but suitcases, it was time to say goodbye to our home. Pretty tough on the kids.

Hell, I choked up big time while taking this next shot and comparing how much their little hands had grown since we poured this concrete.

Hopefully I can pull off a bigger better garage someday, but this one was pretty sweet.

I had even managed to finish closing out all the gaps around the edges with stained boards sometime the month or so prior.

Man there was a lot of work into that attic…

Lil throwback to slinging 21' long 2x10's back when... Same daughter in the blue shirt above. Man, it goes fast...

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

However, when they put it on their uncertified scales and it comes in at 52,000 lbs. CRAP!!! But then the driver from Matson sea freight lines shows up to drive it to the port, doesn’t ask questions and just grabs and goes. Turns out, since the container hadn’t been “officially” weighed yet, he wasn’t “officially” restricted in driving it.

*snicker* that line pretty much sums up what I do and say for my day job.... 'tain't illegal if you don't know it's illegal.

 

[frijolee]

*snicker* that line pretty much sums up what I do and say for my day job.... 'tain't illegal if you don't know it's illegal.

Nice... Suffice it to say I was very thankful for that little bit of flexibility in this case. That driver--who may or may not have known how much grace he was giving me--could have pretty much destroyed my world for a while if he'd chosen otherwise.

 

[frijolee]

SoCal gave us a killer sunset on the way to the airport.

We actually spent the night at the LAX Hilton to be sure we were rested and to be able to land in daylight so the girls could get their first view of an island.

When you plan to live out of suitcases for 3 weeks in an otherwise unfinished rental home, you end up traveling a little heavy.

But then this view greets you:

And a buddy is waiting at the airport for you to help shuttle the bags and presents you with leis.

And you get to start work on a maintain top

And life is good.

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

I just hired someone who moved here from Hawaii (first question in the interview process was "what did you do wrong?"), and helped another friend move his brother back (to Montana) who has a Jeep that is pretty much set up like your '40. I even have a friend/acquaintance over there - Sam - whose claim to fame is he did a Dirt Everyday Hawaii run with the DED crew.

 

[frijolee]

I just hired someone who moved here from Hawaii (first question in the interview process was "what did you do wrong?"), and helped another friend move his brother back (to Montana) who has a Jeep that is pretty much set up like your '40. I even have a friend/acquaintance over there - Sam - whose claim to fame is he did a Dirt Everyday Hawaii run with the DED crew.

Nice, was that group called the Damn Kids? I feel like they filmed on Oahu on military land...

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Moving in from the container 2 weeks later was the reverse of out with the exception that you have to pay for all profession labor since you only know one guy on the island. Conen’s Freight Transport does have a bad ass device that’s actually made for setting containers on ground (Hamer Lift).

Big ass compressor goes in the closet under the stairs.

Metal to the backyard to be tarped for later.

After all that our only casualty was a busted TV. It may have even been cracked during packing rather than transit. Oh yeah, we caught it just in time for Black Friday.

It probably helped that every last dresser got wrapped in cardboard and saran wrap to keep things from chaffing against each other. My buddy Ander built me something like 7 wood crates for saws and heavy tools. I also used a metric ton of plastic banding wrap. This stuff is SOOO good!
Amazon product ASIN B004OR1CR0
It turns out Hawaiian sunsets are pretty good too.

So that’s how you move to Hawaii… By the way, apparently I set some sort of all-time record for Keck regarding heaviest container. Conen Freight Transport (who did the unload) said it was the densest packed container they’d ever seen!

Aloha from the Paynes!

Our three running vehicles (XJ, RX7, and a family hauler Mazda5) all shipped loose via barge. It costs about $1100 per vehicle to ship one out of Long Beach. Not too bad and since cars are more expense here, we brought them all.

And… here we are in the new digs. Time to get back to work.

 

[Bripars40]

Nice, was that group called the Damn Kids? I feel like they filmed on Oahu on military land...

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Moving in from the container 2 weeks later was the reverse of out with the exception that you have to pay for all profession labor since you only know one guy on the island. Conen’s Freight Transport does have a bad ass device that’s actually made for setting containers on ground (Hamer Lift).

Big ass compressor goes in the closest under the stairs.

Metal to the backyard to be tarped for later.

After all that our only casualty was a busted TV. It may have even been cracked during packing rather than transit. Oh yeah, we caught it just in time for Black Friday.

It probably helped that every last dresser got wrapped in cardboard and saran wrap to keep things from chaffing against each other. My buddy Ander built me something like 7 wood crates for saws and heavy tools. I also used a metric ton of plastic banding wrap. This stuff is SOOO good!
Amazon product ASIN B004OR1CR0
It turns out Hawaiian sunsets are pretty good too.

So that’s how you move to Hawaii… By the way, apparently I set some sort of all-time record for Keck regarding heaviest container. Conen Freight Transport (who did the unload) said it was the densest packed container they’d ever seen!

Aloha from the Paynes!

Our three running vehicles (XJ, RX7, and a family hauler Mazda5) all shipped loose via barge. It costs about $1100 per vehicle to ship one out of Long Beach. Not too bad and since cars are more expense here, we brought them all.

And… here we are in the new digs. Time to get back to work.

This is great! Keep the stories coming. Now I have someone to stay with in Hawaii when I come visit. Just kidding, but it would be cool to say hey when my wife and I make it over.

 

[AZFJ]

Wait!!! UPDATE!!!!!

 

[frijolee]

Wait!!! UPDATE!!!!!

That's pretty much it for the move. Are you looking for a vehicle update, just enjoying the stories, or was this a general "he's alive!!!" kinda comment that I finally updated anything after having gone missing?

I am now been back into the FJ40 build a bit but also been doing a bunch of island exploring. Would you like to see some cool terrain? It'd be me rocking an XJ which isn't super hardcore for the hardcore corner but I'm sure having a good time!

 

[gonzopancho]

Nice 40. I took a fresh (frame-off, powder coated everything that wasn't cadmium plated or stainless) FJ40 to Oahu in 2006, and by 2011, it was rusting in places that weren't aluminum (aqua). Some of the stainless was oxidizing.

You living in Kamuela?

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

That's pretty much it for the move. Are you looking for a vehicle update, just enjoying the stories, or was this a general "he's alive!!!" kinda comment that I finally updated anything after having gone missing?

and here I thought Islanders were laid back

 

[frijolee]

Little flavor of Hawaiian wheeling. I've hooked up with the Big Island Jeep Club and started running with them. Solid folks and seems like a good place for me relative to the crazy/controlled spectrum of 4x4'ers.

This run was up on Mana Rd which wraps around Mauna Kea (mountain with telescopes) on the green side. I headed up putting kids to bed Friday night for a weekend of camping at Ranger station bunk house.

Drove up in the dark and first time I'd been on this road (but man what a road!).

Only minor issue was a loose radiator cap on arrival (that's what I get for topping of fluids in the dark right before I left). Thankfully I got spotted a gallon on arrival and I was good to go.

Night wheeling was rad.

Next morning and yep, I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact I'm going to have mud in places I'll never get out. At least not without hours and hours of detailing. I'm calling it a Hawaiian rig and moving on...

Good group albeit I was the only XJ representing. Apparently there's one more in the club but I haven't meet them yet.

I did manage to rip off my cool muffler bearing though. Working theory is that I lost the bolt then the exhaust bounced hard enough to snap the mount. Bailing wire for the win.

I can't even get over how rad the terrain is around here. The hill climb we were queue up for was rad (if quite the slip 'n slide)

By the end of day two, you couldn't tell what color my rig is.

The stoke is real.
-Joel

 

[frijolee]

Few more pics...

Another shot of that slip 'n slide...

If your underside got too dirty, you could always go rinse off.

A few folks decided to drive the remainder of Mana Rd (~40 miles) to try to catch the sunset from the Mauna Kea summit. I warned folks the rangers might not let us up with muddy vehicles but apparently we'd rattled enough off on the way over (it transitions back to dry side in route) that they let us up.

View from the top was good but kinda cloudy.

Then suddenly the sun breaks through and the world turned insanely red. Like "Eye of Mordor" the world is on fire red...

Camera couldn't keep up with the color above, but this pic might give you a better idea.

So neat! Back at camp, much fireball was drunk, much meat was BBQ'ed. Let me tell you that a big Hawaiian man playing Adele's "Someone Like You" on a ukulele while folks sing along at the top of their lungs in the middle of nowhere? Yeah, good times indeed.

Maybe you had to be there but it was fun, I promise.

I'll close this round with a few shots of the main Mana Rd from the way back into town.

This island is rad.
-Joel

 

[frijolee]

Arriving home from Mana Rd, I found I apparently wheeled hard enough to jam some wood in between a couple of my tire beads. I only dropped down to 18 psi or so, but there's a lot of throttle involved when you go wheeling deep in the woods.

Thought I got it all but actually managed to give myself a leak so I got to pull the tire and clean more thoroughly.

I also had a heck of filthy rig that I didn't want to just take a wash cloth to and scratch the hell out of everything so I also started researching pressure washers (duh!). Once upon a time a harbor freight "1400 psi" unit that died, but having been spoiled by a friend's big gas powered Dewalt while in SoCal I wanted something better--while staying electric for size and simplicity. Turns out there are metric ton of options, half of them look identical but perform differently, how you set them up matters (IE nozzle flow sizes), and ratings are only marginally meaningful since how manufacturers rate these things varies widely.

Don't know about you guys but with tools, I'd rather over-research and be sure I'm getting the right thing.

Findings:

If you really want to understand pressure washers the best resource I found was Obsessed Garage. They tested 50 some units to validate flow and pressure. You need both criteria to be effective. Here's the massive playlist.


Obsessed Garage then sells upgrades for every common type of pressure washer to get max effectiveness out of any given unit.
Pressure Washing

Brass tacks... I ordered the Greenworks 2000 psi variation sold via Lowes.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Greenworks-2000-PSI-1-2-GPM-Cold-Water-Electric-Pressure-Washer/1000731276

Here's a shortcut to the review of this specific machine.


I like that the unit has a stainless steel wand, a quality hose, uses generic interfaces (as opposed to proprietary versions), and generally punches above it's weight. I did not want the built in hose real as apparently those all suck. I did buy bigger 3.0 nozzles per G.O.'s recommendation but skipped the foam cannon and all the other adapter options.

A few other purchase recommendations:

I really dig the option to washer undercarriages so this was a big help and adapts fine to the end of the Greenworks wand.
Amazon.com: Mingle Pressure Washer Undercarriage Cleaner, Under Car Wash, 4000 PSI (13 Inch): Garden & Outdoor

Pressure washer specific soap. (Two "loads" per water tank gets a happy level of foamy IMHO)
Amazon.com: Karcher Car Wash & Wax Soap for Pressure Washers, 1 Quart: Garden & Outdoor

Pump protector (apparently a typical reason why washers fail)
Amazon.com : PowerFit PF31095 Pressure Washer Pump Protector, 12 oz : Garden & Outdoor


So all that said, a week later and I was in business. It all works. My girls think it's a big game and are asking to use the thing.

...and here we are back to "boulevard" status for a run to the beach.

Anyways, hope the research helps some other folks.

Cheers y'all,
Joel