Terra Cruisers FJ-43 Review and Lessons Learned (3 Viewers)

[Stutes]

Issue 22: The rear door weather stripping was miss-aligned with the door frame and eventually ripped at the top of the door as a result

Solution: 22: Replaced it and made sure to properly align it with the door frame.

 

[Stutes]

Issue 23: Eventually I noticed that the driver seat was leaning towards the center. When I put a level on the seat rails it was around 3/4 inch difference between the left and right rail. This was because there was a difference in either the seat frame height or flooring at the inside rear of the seat. The front inside bolt on the seat frame was also the wrong size ( M8 instead of M10) so it had worked loose.

Solution 23: I shimmed the inside rear seat frame up using washers and replaced the front bolts with the correct size.

 

[Stutes]

Issue 24: The rear sway bar geometry was incorrectly fabricated. The torque arms were in the line travel instead of perpendicular to it. This did not allow the rear axel to flex at all.

Solution 24: I did not post this one earlier because I had not come up with a solution yet other than just taking the sway bar completely off. After riding around for a few months without it, I have decided just to not reinstall one as the rear springs are stiff enough to keep the truck level enough in a turn.

 

[Stutes]

Issue 25: I stuck a Febreze air freshener into my air conditioner vent and in the process broke the comb that links all the louvers together.

Solution 25: Using my Dremel tool with a small drill bit and cutting wheel, I was able to make another comb using a scrap piece of black nylon. The hardest part was getting it back on because you pretty much has to snap all the louvers on at once.

 

[flx]

Issue 24: The rear sway bar geometry was incorrectly fabricated. The torque arms were in the line travel instead of perpendicular to it. This did not allow the rear axel to flex at all.

View attachment 2358754

What the ... Why !??
Why bother adding a sway bar to do it wrong

 

[Stutes]

What the ... Why !??
Why bother adding a sway bar to do it wrong

I had asked for one to be added when I placed the order. They had originally bought an aftermarket bolt-on setup but it did not work with the rear mounted tank so they "improvised" this one. They told me it was going to be like the setup on a FJ60 which is shown below.

While I was upset, they had never charged me an adder for it. I am planning to removed all the remaining mounting brackets soon.

 

[Stutes]

Issue 26: The headlights were out of alignment.

Solution 26: I removed the bezel and adjusted the three alignment screws on the headlight housing using the following recommended steps:

1. Find a place that is at least 40-feet of flat ground from a garage door or wall.
2. Pull the vehicle straight up to within 6-inches from the wall.
3. Turn on Low-beams and mark the center of each light with masking tape, making a “+” target on the wall.
4. Back the vehicle straight back until you are about 25-feet from the wall.
5. The top of the beam pattern should be about 1-2 inches below the horizontal line created by the targets.
6. Horizontal adjustment is not usually required but the beam pattern created by each headlight should be down and to the right of each respective target.

While I was at it, I also aligned the off-road lights to my preference.

 

[Stutes]

Issue 27: Missing bolt on locking hubs.

Solution 27: Replaced the bolt and retightened all the others that were loose. This brings up an important part of breaking in a new build. It is important to keep checking the tightness of all your bolts until you stop finding ones that worked loose. If you have any that keep working loose, take appropriate corrective actions like switching to lock nuts, adding lock washers, and/or using treadlock.

 

[Jdc1]

That’s a lot of issues to be dealing with after buying a restored truck. Keep up the good work.

 

[Stutes]

That’s a lot of issues to be dealing with after buying a restored truck. Keep up the good work.

Thanks and Agreed.

At this point, I have just accepted that it is what it is and I just have to make the best of it and hopefully help others in the process. Despite the issues I had, it is still a great looking FJ.

 

[Stutes]

I

Issue 21: Truck would crank but ignition would not turn anything on.

Solution 21: Problem seemed to be caused by a defective fuse. I replaced the fuse and never had any problems with it since.

View attachment 2357210

Issue 21: Part 2: This happen again. This time I was driving and all of a sudden the truck just when black (everything turned off). I pulled over and went to check the fuse and as soon as I touched it everything came back on.

Solution (hopefully final) 21: It appears that the contacts in the fuse box were bent open and only making partial contact with one leg of the fuse. I am assuming, this created the hot spot which melted the fuse. Using a small screwdriver, I bent the contacts to insure the contact with fuse was nice and tight and changed the fuse. So far, it has not happened again.

 

[Curtice]

Beautiful rig. Sorry if you covered it, but are the headlights supposed to stick out like that? What brand are they?

 

[AWhelan]

I'm envious of that colour, and that whole package actually. I have been curious about how many little issues you would find and how much they will add to the overall cost.
I noticed when I was checking out the build pics ( I love the professional quailty pics they take) that you should probably pick up a few shorter U bolts too

 

[Stutes]

I'm envious of that colour, and that whole package actually. I have been curious about how many little issues you would find and how much they will add to the overall cost.
I noticed when I was checking out the build pics ( I love the professional quailty pics they take) that you should probably pick up a few shorter U bolts too

View attachment 2361910

It’s already on my to do list. I am going to run the truck as is until I get it to 3000 miles (currently at 1900) and then bring it in to be serviced and checked over by a qualified Toyota mechanic I found in the Houston area. My current to-do list includes replacing the u-bolts, retuning the fuel injection system, removing the sway bar brackets, and routing the exhaust outlet from the current location underneath the truck out to the rear corner.

So far my total out of pocket cost since I got the truck has been under $2,000 and Terra Cruisers reimbursed me for $1,500 of it. Of course, I did a lot of the work myself so that labor has not been factored in. It's also worth mentioning that almost $800 of that amount was to replace the Kenwood radio which had a defective screen.

 

[Stutes]

Beautiful rig. Sorry if you covered it, but are the headlights supposed to stick out like that? What brand are they?

They are from Truck Lite (Model 27270c). I am not sure how they relate to the stock headlight position but all the LED headlights I have seen are in the same position as mine. Honestly, I had never noticed it until you mentioned it.

 

[flx]

OEM headlights have a rounded surface that comes flush with the bezel but most aftermarket, particularly led ones, have a flat surface that sticks out.

 

[Stutes]

Issue 28: AC was not cooling as well as I thought it should. Temp at the vent was not getting below 65 deg F with the fan on low. Per the manual from Nostalgic AC, the temp should be less than 50 deg F. It would also blow real hot air when I would turn the temperature up and leave the fan on with the heater knob pushed all the way in (closed).

Solution 28: First, as recommended by the AC manual, I checked the heater valve under the hood. Feeling that the temp of the hoses on both sides of the valve were hot indicated that the valve was not fully closed and was letting hot coolant flow through the heater coil in the truck. I adjusted the control cable at the valve making sure the valve bottomed out before the knob on the dash did. This corrected the hot air issue when running just the fan but the AC was still not cooling as it should per the manual.

Next, I brought it in for a professional checkup. My mechanic evacuated the system and determined that there was only 1/2 pound of R134A in it. They left the system on vacuum overnight and it held so hopefully that means there are no leaks. They put back in 1-1/2 pounds of R134a and then topped off the pressure per the instructions from Nostalgic.

The unit now cools the air at the vent always below 45 deg F and sometime even below 40 deg F. So far after 500 miles, it is still cooling as is should.

After doing some more research on various AC units, for anyone looking to install an AC into their FJ, I would recommend going with the Vintage AC unit over the Nostalgic AC. It does cost more and takes a little more room, but the better controls setup and higher available air flow rates would be definitely worth it, especially if you live in a hot and humid climate like SE Texas.

 

[Stutes]

Issue 29: When I received the truck, the Kenwood Navigation Radio had a damaged screen and surrounding bezel, the wireless mic did not work, and the speakers L/R were crossed in the front.

Solution 29: I replaced the damaged (refurbished) radio that came with the truck with a newer model that included Wireless Apple Carplay that I am finding is really nice to have. The new radio did not have the built in Garmin NAV software but I rather use my phone app maps (Google, Waze, Etc) anyway.

Luckily, I was able to just slide out the older radio using a few installation tools that came with the radio, unplug the wiring, and then plug them into the new radio and slide it right back into the same holding bracket.

I corrected the problem of the mic and speakers which were due to incorrect connection on the back of the radio. While I was at it, I also grounded the radio wiring harness parking brake wire to disable the safety interlock features.

The sound is good from the 6 1/2 amplified speakers, but I am planning on adding a small powered subwoofer later like a 6-1/2" bazooka to beef up the base.

 

[FJCowboy]

Issue 29: When I received the truck, the Kenwood Navigation Radio had a damaged screen and surrounding bezel, the wireless mic did not work, and the speakers L/R were crossed in the front.

View attachment 2368252

Solution 29: I replaced the damaged (refurbished) radio that came with the truck with a newer model that included Wireless Apple Carplay that I am finding is really nice to have. The new radio did not have the built in Garim NAV software but I rather use my phone app maps (Google, Waze, Etc) anyway.

What radio did you end up going with?

 

[Stutes]

Kenwood

What radio did you end up going with?

I put in a Kenwood DDX9906XR which I got at a good price from Crutchfield. That model has already been replaced by the DDX9907XR.