Build Rob's 2015 Build

[bronc076]

Hey Everyone.

I'm not really new to Mud or off-roading but I am a pretty new LC200 owner. I've wanted one for years and finally the time and situation are right so I pulled the trigger on a nice used one in February.

Here she is the day I brought her home.

Your standard 2015 LC 200.

Only real cosmetic issue is the PO had a dog and there are what look like teeth marks on rear door panel. Oh well, if it was new I would be afraid to mess it up, sometimes prescratched is good. I am actively searching for new rear door panels. Dealer wanted $600 which I believe was his cost. I keep an eye on ebay.

After I got her home I started spending more time in the 200 forum and learned a lot about the truck. Thanks to all of you who contribute!

I unplugged the malfunctioning rain sensor on the windshield, I don't care for auto sensing wipers so it is better now. Probably will not revisit that issue.

I verified the blend door is broken, service history shows the cabin air filter has been changed 3 times, wow. I thought about fixing it but not a high priority, may be revisited.

I got an airbag light, read the codes and determined the front left crash sensor circuit was the issue It was intermittent issue so I suspected wiring instead of the sensor which is really just an inertia switch with some built in resistors to provide a voltage to the computer, it should not go bad really. I was going to swap left to right and see if the problem moved but the right one is difficult to get out so I bit the bullet and bought a new $120ish sensor, swapped, problem still there. Crap! I think it's in the plug so that's on the to do list. The SRS light has been off for a while so it's not annoying me. When it becomes more of a persistent issue it will be easier to troubleshoot. Probably need a new plug on harness.

I remove the running boards, bought a HE cargo mat, loaded up my girl and went camping.

It was a short notice trip to go camping with my Brother and his wife and I needed power to the rear for my ARB fridge. So I bought an "Amp install Kit" at Auto Zone as it was the only large gauge wire i could find in town. Ran it back to the cargo area and hooked up a 12V port with a built in USB I had previously installed in my girlfriend's RAV4 to run the fridge on our Smokey Mountain camping trip last year. All worked fine on the weekend trip.

I decided I need USB and 12V sockets in the back, and some lighting so I pulled the truck apart and got started.
First I removed the cheesy fuse that came with the Amp install kit and installed a circuit breaker. I had to fab up a metal plate that bolted to existing holes on the left inner fender. I'm happy with how it turned out.

I didn't photograph a few steps.

So I'm off to a good start, I have safe reliable power to the back and lots of interior pieces removed. Next I move on to lighting.

 

[bronc076]

Lighting in the cargo area controlled by a switch near the hatch is a must. Before I get started I want to say that I am not a fan of bright lights. Folks seem to really love very bright LEDs these days and I am not a fan. I have pretty good night vision and flipping on a bright light to try to find my beer in the back of the cruiser is not what I'm shooting for.

I have a setup I really like in the back of my Bronco. It's a couple LED license plate lights above the hatch and they illuminate things just enough that I can find what I'm looking for. Needless to say the interior of the Bronco is a bit more rustic than the land cruiser, so I decided to take a bit more care making a choice.

Here is the Bronco if you are curious. I've had here on a handful of adventures in NV and CO when I lived in AZ. Given the recent changes in the market she is becoming a garage queen. I think that was on a trip in 2018 or 2019.

After I removed the third row I decided the location of the latches that stow the third row seats would be perfect. I removed the seats and will most likely not put them back in, if I do it will be temporary and I will have no desire to put them in the stow position.

In order for this to succeed I needed to be able to fabricate a lens that would go in the location. It's a simple task, a rectangle with a slight bend. I picked up a lense for a drop ceiling light to work with. Cut out some lenses, practiced bending the plastic with a heat gun, and this is what I came up with.

I bonded them in place with a bit of hot glue as I didn't want to use an epoxy or other bonding agent that would permanently alter the interior panels. I'm not into cutting up interior panels, don't even like to drill holes unless I have a spare piece.

So lenses are done. I went through a few different methods to mount the lights. First I wanted the light to be part of the panel, and I came up with a fixture I was not happy with at all. Here is my failure.

 

[bronc076]

Here is the other pic of the light I was not happy with.

I can see too much glue.

So I decided I'd build a bracket that mounted where the latch mounted. I picked up some aluminum and started hacking and bending. I didn't really know where I would end up but I cam up with a bracket that i'm happy with. It's sturdy, hidden (so it does not matter what it looks like) and functional.

For lights I picked up a sack of boat deck lights on Amazon. They seem just the correct brightness.

Here are some shots of bracket fabrication.

So all finished they look like this.

I neglected to take any pics of the brackets installed, sorry. But the two holes go over the bolts that held the stow latch (not sure what it's really called) and the third hole goes in some bracket that is behind the panel but appears to be unused.

Here they are fully installed and turned on with no other lights on in the car or garage. As you can see this is more than enough light to find my beer!

So this weekend I'm going to work on power outlets, USB outlets, mounting a fuse block, and switches for the lights and USBs. Fun stuff.

 

[bronc076]

Next step, installing the fuse panel.

I purchased the BlueSea 6 position fuse panel off Amazon like I'd imagine most of us have. I have one of those in my Bronco too and it seems like a great unit. Here is a shot of what it looks like when you take the back off, pretty simple huh. Those pieces fall out when you take the back off but they only go back in one way so no worries.

I'm installing the fuse block in the cubby where the jack is located. I have a few criteria. It needs to be far enough back so it is out of the way if I need the jack (yeah right), it needs to be accessible, and it needs to be a nice looking install.

My first shot at building a bracket out of 16ga sheet metal failed miserable. It a simple 6" x 4" piece of sheet with a 1" 90* flange. I don't have a metal brake so my bend was not real crisp and I abandonded my first piece. Thought about finding a sheetmetal shop to bend it for me but then I didn't really make it.

I bought some Kydex for this project just in case I needed a blank panel for something. I still might, have not figured out all my 12v jack install yet. I thought about it and decided a piece of Kydex should be fine to hold up a fuse panel. Hell, everything else is made of plastic, why not.

So I Cut out a piece 4" x6" with my miter saw. I've made stuff out of thin (1/16") aluminum sheet in the past and I cut it on a table saw. Kydex cuts nice. I don't have much of a workshop right now as I just moved but I working on a nice rectangle of oak plywood. So I setup my keydex, heated it with a heat gun and bent my flange. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

Before I install it I want to to install the wires that will be hard to get to so I setup a short harness to feed the items that will be on the passenger side.

I install it and everything seems great except for one issue. It wiggles a bit. I can get maybe 1/2" of deflection and I know driving down bumpy roads that it will be flipping back and forth in there and cause a rattle or possibly break. So I need to figure out how to fix that.


Thanks for reading!

 

[bronc076]

I decided I needed a perpendicular brace to the rear of the vehicle. It does not need to be substantial, it just needs to stop the movement of the piece holding the fuse block. I did some measuring and made a template. Here you can see the process I followed.

First I bent a right angle on another piece of Kydex. It will be held to the fuse panel by two of the bolts that attache the panel to the first bracket I made. It will then be attached to the body. The tricky part is there is an unknown distance and angle I need to figure out. I use CAD as some call it to make a template.

Man I can't complain about that. I'm loving this Kydex stuff. I can make precision cuts with wood working tools, bend it nicely, it's good stuff for little things. I don't think I'd make a bumper out of it, but it's great for this.

 

[bronc076]

Now it's time to install. Aligned and drilled a couple holes, trimmed off some plastic that interfered with a wiring harness, and it was ready. I attached the piece to the car with a single sheet metal screw. Again this does not have a tramendous amount of stress on it. I may add a second screw. I thought about a rivet but if I did that I'd need to remove it tomorrow to get to something.

Here is the final product.

I'm pretty happy with this and the work was rewarding. To those of you like me I'll answer the question now, yes, I vacuumed up all those plastic drill shavings before I came in the house and poured a drink. Can't leave a mess.

Next, mounting USB and 12V jacks all over the place!.

 

[Tex68w]

Love the at home fab work. Looking forward to what comes next with this build.

 

[CharlieS]

Nice work on the bracket. I like the location, great use of unused space, and keeping it accessible.

 

[bronc076]

I've had a bit of time to work on the LC and I have made some progress. I ran the remaining wires from my fuse panel to the driver's side, which does not sound like much but it's time consuming for me as I like to use wire loom with heat shrink on the ends, route everything nicely, secure wires so they do not vibrate, rattle, or risk rubbing through on a sharp edge. I used to use the plastic wire loom with the slit in it and I really disliked it. I just picked up some of the braided mesh stuff and I think it is a better product as far as organizing the wires, protecting them from chafing and overall providing a more professional looking install.

Secured to the factory harness with zip ties, hopefully this will stay out of trouble.

 

[bronc076]

@CharlieS provided the PNs for factory blanks that go where the levers were to actuate the latches that stowed the third row. Since I removed the latches to install lights, The lever location is the perfect spot for power jacks and switches as many others here have done.

After a considerable amount of time planning, drawing, marking on blue tape I drilled holes in the new panels. I find drilling holes in interior parts very stressful. I bought a set of factory saddlebags for my BMW R1200s several years ago. The install required I drill two holes in the body panels. That luggage sat in my shop for a year before I got the balls to drill those holes, LOL. A $18 piece of easily replaceable interior plastic is different though, it only took a couple days.

I have found a step bit is the best tool for drilling holes in soft plastic. The one I already had was not large enough so I picked up a cheap pair at Harbor Freight. I don't generally recommend buying tools at HF but these get pricey, and I'm drilling plastic. I did verify the steps are correctly sized as marked with a caliper before I drilled.

I've mounted two switches, a usb power port, and a 12V cigarette style jack in the blank on the passenger side. One switch is for the interior lights I installed, one is to turn the USB charger port on. I will do something similar on the driver side, minus the light switch.

Since the panel is removable and I may need to remove it in the future I have a weatherpack connector on the low current feed for the switches for the lights and USBs, as wall as the return to the lights. My 15A feed is a spade connector that plugs directly to the back of the 12V plug. My grounds are held in place with a M6x100 bolt that uses the threaded hole which orginally secured the release lever.

The final product looks like this.

Everything appears to work which makes sense, this is pretty simple as far as wiring goes. Hopefully today I can get the driver side panel done, vacuum and clean my interior pieces, and get my truck back together.

Thanks for reading.

 

[dcs111]

This is really clean work and great idea to use kydex! I have not been motivated to delve into electrical mods, but this thread might just get me looking for that old volt meter

 

[bronc076]

The last bit of minor fabrication/modification is the factory 110V outlet. I don't think I will be using the 100W inverter that is built into the land cruiser so I decided to use that location for a Powerlet or DIN connector. My ARB fridge cable will plug into that connector as well as a cigarette lighter by removing the red bit on the end of the cable. In the past I've had issues with the ARB connector vibrating out of the 12V jacks on bumpy roads. If you are familiar with the Powerlet connector you may know they are used on motorcycles for heated gear and stuff like that and it's much more of a secure connection than a standard 12V jack.

The outlet pops right out of the interior panel, I fabricated a plate from some Kydex, I also had to make a bracket to go behind the bezel to secure the jack. It was pretty straightforward. Here are a couple pics.

I think I'm ready to put it all back together. All the wiring is done, the car is vacuumed, all i have to do is give the panels a quick wipe down and pop it all back into place.

 

[bronc076]

All together and done, tested and everything works. Need to go for a ride and check for rattles, and start a pool on how long it will take for my glued on lenses to fall off!

Here is a final of the driver side panel with the Powerlet jack.

Next up, Odyssey Battery and diode mod.

 

[bronc076]

I have run AGM batteries in my trucks and motorcycles for the last 10 or so years. I've had good luck. Saying that I'm sure I'll have 4 batteries fail within the next few weeks but we will see.

Odyssey has been my choice for motorcycle batteries and I'm running a couple Die Hard Platinum batteries in my Bronco and Tacoma which were purchased in 2013 and 2016 respectively, both are still very healthy. At the time they were considered the go to battery and as I understand it were made by the same folks who made Odyssey batteries.

I've never been concerned with charging voltage but I learned here on Mud that it is an issue. After reading a bit on here and in TacomaWorld I contacted Odyssey Batteries and inquired about charging voltage. I received the following.

"Hi Robert,

Our thin plate pure lead batteries need to see a voltage between 14.0 and 14.7 volts from the alternator. This is as measured at the battery terminals. Lower voltages will chronically under-charge the battery which reduces battery life. Most vehicle alternators will meet the required voltages, but there are exceptions and ways to work with those. For instance if you find that your alternator only provides 13.8 volts, you could modify the vehicle’s charging system (new alternator, diode to “trick” the alternator into putting out more voltage, etc.). You could also consider using a 12 volt bench charger to charge the battery when the vehicle isn’t being driven."

So based on that I tried to figure out the easy way to do the diode mod. And by "figure out" I mean see what everyone else had done. I guess there are some options from overseas that are quite expensive and are also somewhat customizable, pass. Also I see concern that removing the fuse and inserting a diode removes the protection provided by the fuse. I agree with that but also did a quick risk calculation and decided it was acceptable. I would like to do some current tests on one of these diodes and see how many amps it will pass before it fails open. Not sure I have the proper load equipment though. I did some on-line research and found a data sheet but it's physical info, not electrical that I can find. If anyone knows how many amps this diode will pass before it blows I'd love to know.

The diode I chose was GM part number (12135037). I think it was $5 at my local GMC/Buick dealer. I'm sure you can get one at any auto parts store.

Here is the data sheet.

https://www.mouser.com/datasheet/2/105/dcs_drawing_12135037-1162086.pdf


The diode needs a slight modification. It's keyed to only go into the socket it is intended for one way, makes sense, it is a diode after all. I clipped that bit off and cleaned it up with a small file.

That all together was less than a minute of work.

Next we open the hood and find the ALT-S Fuse. It's a 5 Amp.

 

[bronc076]

Prior to the swap I did a voltage reading with the car idling.

I removed the fuse and installed the diode.

Then I took another voltage reading.

Voltage went up, just like everyone said it would!

Let's see if this battery lasts as well as my other AGMs have. Hope so!

Thanks!

 

[dcs111]

Admittedly, I am not an expert on electrical charging systems and so forgive the ignorance in question, but... doesn’t the charge system voltage vary with engine RPM?

 

[CharlieS]

Not that I noticed. I ran in cab gauges for both of my batteries for a while. There is a voltage regulator that controls how much output voltage you get, regardless of what the alternator is putting out. It is temperature sensing in the 200, adjusting the output voltage based on ambient temps. It is designed to charge lead acid batteries. In a pre ‘16 200, the diode in the alt-s fuse fools the regulator into putting out more voltage, which AGM batteries prefer.

Admittedly, I am not an expert on electrical charging systems and so forgive the ignorance in question, but... doesn’t the charge system voltage vary with engine RPM?

 

[bronc076]

I'm looking forward to cleaning her up, fixing any rust, and putting on my new set of skid plates! These just arrived!

 

[bronc076]

Wow I finally opened the boxes and these Budbuilt skid plates are nice! Probably the nicest aftermarket piece I've ever bought. They are pricy but I think they are worth it now that I have seen them in person, and probably cheaper than most of the other stuff they protect. Sure a transfer case ain't cheap. I'm usually pretty cheap but I'm happy with this purchase!

My garage is a mess and it's been over 100* here for the past two weeks so I have not done much but put a coat of paint on the steel pieces. I opted for aluminum on the front and fuel tank skid for weight reduction in those areas and 3/16 steel under the engine, transmission, and transfer case. I've never had good luck painting aluminum. I'll leave it natural for now and see how bad corrosion it. Might put some fluid film on the top side of the front skid, not sure.

I'm Looking forward to getting these babies installed.

really nice workmanship on these!

 

[bronc076]

double post