Builds Treebeard (2 Viewers)

[ntdb]

Thursday night was really productive. I got my Blue Sea panel installed (sweeet!), tightened up my steering box a bit, installed new front speakers using @TheNeek's awesome adapters, installed @Ophir's hand throttle mod, and put the finishing touch on my kill switch install. For the panel I ran 10ga speaker wire (red/black) from the battery through the PS firewall grommet, along the PS door sill, under the rear seat near the front hinges, then paired it with the harness over the DS rear wheel well and into the quarter panel. It's entirely hidden and I didn't have to cut any new holes anywhere. The panel has an on/off switch, a 15amp circuit breaker, and a voltmeter so I can safely monitor the starter battery. I bought a Noco jump starter for this trip... just in case.

Yesterday I drove down to Portland to pick up the seat and a fridge (tax free!). This morning I went and picked up the bracket from Planted and headed to the shop to get everything installed. I was really excited. When I finally got the seat and bracket bolted into the truck I faced the moment of truth... and was disappointed. The seat is amazing and the bracket is rock solid, there's nothing wrong with either of these products. I'm just damn tall and my head was pressed firmly into the headliner when I sat in the seat. This has been such a disappointment today... the seat is huge but it's the right size for me. I've never had a seat that fit me like this. I'm going to try ditching the sliders to gain some headroom and long term I may fab a more low-profile bracket. Honestly I'm considering returning both of them (if I can) and giving up on the idea of the 60 being a comfortable road trip vehicle. It's a depression, hopefully I snap out of it.

In better news I was able to fix my rattling shifter today. It's been rattling ever since I re-did my carpet. It was very noticeable and particularly annoying on the highway in 4th gear. I've gotten used to resting my hand on the shifter to keep the noise down. Today I pulled the seats, carpet, and trim back out in hopes that I could diagnose and fix the rattle. It turns out that the pins on the trans that hold the shifter in place were replaced by bolts at some point… for some reason? The clamp shown has to be tight around the bolts to keep the shifter from rattling. I didn’t know why it was there when I re-did the carpet so I didn’t reattach it. The rattle is now gone but... why would a PO have needed to make this repair?

Tonight I tried to make progress on bolting the drawers into the truck. This also ended in disappointment as I lacked the necessary hardware and felt that I was cutting it too close to the gas tank to make the holes I needed. I'm going to do the trip without bolting them down. They'll be loaded down, I'll keep the rear seat back in place, and I'm going to be doing mostly highway miles. It's not ideal but I think it'll be fine. Tomorrow I need to get some tie-downs installed on the roller drawer so I can strap my fridge in place.

 

[cheeese]

Does your truck have the tall or short seat pylons on the body? I don’t recall which years had what.

One caution with having a drawer system unbolted is they may settle and rack, and the drawers may not open well. I have that issue with the KISS drawers in my 80, I must have not evenly bolted them in after the vinyl floor and they don’t slide well.

 

[ntdb]

Status update… time to start packing. The radio is getting some love tomorrow (new bracket, Bluetooth, illumination) and I should find time to do the coolant hoses but we’re getting close.

Does your truck have the tall or short seat pylons on the body? I don’t recall which years had what.

One caution with having a drawer system unbolted is they may settle and rack, and the drawers may not open well. I have that issue with the KISS drawers in my 80, I must have not evenly bolted them in after the vinyl floor and they don’t slide well.

I have the tall pylons. Figures. I think they changed over in 86.

The ARB drawers seem pretty solid so I’m not worried about the tracks warping, at least not for a long time. Still… I’ll need to get this done someday. I had hoped I was done dropping the tank for a while lol.

 

[MoaByte]

Don't forget tools you might need to fix or change things along the way. Things become much more apparent on the road.

 

[ntdb]

No time for a proper update because I have 666 miles to drive today (not a joke… ) so here are some random thoughts. The truck is perfectly happy so far. The trip would be physically impossible without a hand throttle. I wanted bluetooth for podcasts but earbuds are fine on long stretches of straight, flat highway. This workbench top from Home Depot is an excellent drawer hack. Having a fridge is really lovely.

 

[MrMikeyG]

After all of the threads regarding stereo upgrades and the seeming hell we go through for them, I keep wondering about just keeping one of the JBL (or whatever brand you prefer) bluetooth speakers in the truck and streaming through that. Even the small flip3 I used to have sounded pretty darned good. (I realize it doesn't solve the hands free phone call issue though)
Have a great time on your trip!

 

[cheeese]

Some bluetooth speakers have phone controls — I can make and answer phone calls from an iPhone and my Oontz speaker.

Fridge and drawers look like they're working well!

 

[ntdb]

After all of the threads regarding stereo upgrades and the seeming hell we go through for them, I keep wondering about just keeping one of the JBL (or whatever brand you prefer) bluetooth speakers in the truck and streaming through that. Even the small flip3 I used to have sounded pretty darned good. (I realize it doesn't solve the hands free phone call issue though)
Have a great time on your trip!

Some bluetooth speakers have phone controls — I can make and answer phone calls from an iPhone and my Oontz speaker.

Fridge and drawers look like they're working well!

I do actually have a bluetooth speaker in the truck that I've used over the last few months. It's a good backup. My desired solution was to use the "CD" input on the back of my head unit (from a late 90s 4runner, among others) as a bluetooth input. I found a unit from Crutchfield that matches and ordered it. The idea is that it plugs in, hides behind the dash, and you can connect via bluetooth by selecting "CD" as the input on the head unit. Unfortunately the unit I received only worked if I unplugged the unit and plugged it back in after starting the truck. Obviously that's not gonna work so I am returning the unit from them. The dream is still alive though... maybe I'll try another one of those units someday or wire up something different myself.

The fridge and drawers are brilliant, I love them. I'll put together a longer post showing how that setup worked for me on the first leg of my trip.

 

[cheeese]

Yeah, I had one of those bluetooth aux adapters on my old B7 Audi— it worked, but it was a pain to use especially switching from radio to BT and back, or changing who was playing thru the BT. Fortunately even basic head units have BT now and the hardest part is running the wire for the microphone.

 

[ntdb]

Trip Report​

I made it to each of my campsites and to my destination in Chicago all according to plan. See my route below. Days three and four were spent exploring Devil's Tower and Badlands National Park in addition to the drives. Both stops were totally worth it. I particularly want to go and camp at Badlands for several more days as it was beautiful and has lots of terrain to explore by truck, foot, and bike.

The truck never skipped a beat. In Montana and Wyoming it felt a bit sluggish at altitude but didn't let me down. I think the "Not in a hurry" sticker on the back window really helped to keep tailgaters off my butt over the mountain passes. On the last day my front driver's side window stopped rolling up all the way so I'll need to get back into the door at some point but it's not a big deal. When pulling into Myre-Big Island State Park in Minnesota the truck almost rolled away from me while I was checking into the campground but that was entirely user error.

The weather was absolutely perfect for this trip. Clear skies and moderate temps the entire way. I cooked on the tailgate for almost every meal and slept in my tent next to the truck. On night three in Badlands NP I slept without the rain fly and watched the stars, moon, and sunrise from my sleeping bag. I'll have to be ready for some rain on my way back in a few weeks but I can hope for more of the same.

I ended up taking the Scheel-Mann seat on this trip. On Monday night I deleted the sliders by drilling the bracket and bolting the seat directly to it. This gave me enough headroom to sit comfortably at the cost of not being able to move the seat position. Overall this was the right choice as my back and neck were really appreciative of the proper support from the seat. My legs need more room and more support so my next step will be to restore the sliders and modify the bracket so that the rear is lower and the front is higher. I'm hoping to find someone around Carol Stream who can do that today or tomorrow.

 

[MrMikeyG]

Nice! it looks like the trip is going well, I had to google that Minnesota State park. I spent 27 years of my life in that part of the country, but never made it very far south off of the I94 between Fargo and Minneapolis/St. Paul. I've been watching a lot of youtube photography lately to get inspired, and it just reminds me how little of my current "home" state I am familiar with and how much there still is to the states I formally called home.
Are your seat "towers" a bolt-in item? It looks like the seat mounts changed low to high in your truck at some point, could you source the low ones for a more permanent oe solution post trip?

 

[ntdb]

I got home last Sunday 10/17. The total mileage was 4,750 over 10 days of driving. The truck was amazing! The only thing that went wrong was that my front DS window stopped rolling up all the way. Thankfully I never got rained on. I want to post a much more thorough trip report but I may be recovering from the journey for another couple of weeks. Thanks for following along and for sending good vibes. Time for an oil change!

 

[MoaByte]

I got home last Sunday 10/17. The total mileage was 4,750 over 10 days of driving. The truck was amazing! The only thing that went wrong was that my front DS window stopped rolling up all the way. Thankfully I never got rained on. I want to post a much more thorough trip report but I may be recovering from the journey for another couple of weeks. Thanks for following along and for sending good vibes. Time for an oil change!

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Wow! I only did 250 miles and felt impressed. Good job.

 

[Bullzi]

That is impressive Nate, Nice work!

 

[MarkBC]

Nice work on bringing this truck back. It will look very similar to mine. You may have been asked before but what roof rack do you have?

 

[ntdb]

Wow! I only did 250 miles and felt impressed. Good job.

Thanks! My body is definitely weaker than the truck. I couldn't have done this trip without a hand throttle and a good seat.

That is impressive Nate, Nice work!

Thank you. It was a lot of fun.

Nice work on bringing this truck back. It will look very similar to mine. You may have been asked before but what roof rack do you have?

Thank you! The roof rack was borrowed from @Jonathan Faunce for this trip. It's a Baja Rack for an 80 series (the towers say "LC 80" on them).

 

[jayfly42]

Great job! Thanks for sharing!!!

 

[87CRUSR]

Serious miles within the timeframe especially on a FJ60 with creature comforts from yesteryear. You are to be commended..

And, another example of these rigs capabilities.

 

[Seth S]

Thursday night was really productive. I got my Blue Sea panel installed (sweeet!), tightened up my steering box a bit, installed new front speakers using @TheNeek's awesome adapters, installed @Ophir's hand throttle mod, and put the finishing touch on my kill switch install. For the panel I ran 10ga speaker wire (red/black) from the battery through the PS firewall grommet, along the PS door sill, under the rear seat near the front hinges, then paired it with the harness over the DS rear wheel well and into the quarter panel. It's entirely hidden and I didn't have to cut any new holes anywhere. The panel has an on/off switch, a 15amp circuit breaker, and a voltmeter so I can safely monitor the starter battery. I bought a Noco jump starter for this trip... just in case.

View attachment 2790268

Yesterday I drove down to Portland to pick up the seat and a fridge (tax free!). This morning I went and picked up the bracket from Planted and headed to the shop to get everything installed. I was really excited. When I finally got the seat and bracket bolted into the truck I faced the moment of truth... and was disappointed. The seat is amazing and the bracket is rock solid, there's nothing wrong with either of these products. I'm just damn tall and my head was pressed firmly into the headliner when I sat in the seat. This has been such a disappointment today... the seat is huge but it's the right size for me. I've never had a seat that fit me like this. I'm going to try ditching the sliders to gain some headroom and long term I may fab a more low-profile bracket. Honestly I'm considering returning both of them (if I can) and giving up on the idea of the 60 being a comfortable road trip vehicle. It's a depression, hopefully I snap out of it.

View attachment 2790267View attachment 2790266View attachment 2790264

those are great comparison pictures. I have the same seat albeit older and used off Ebay but I havent put it in yet. When I sit in the stock seat the top back of the seat is between my shoulder blades so I'm looking forward to the proper fitting seat. I'll be watching your fitment trials.

 

[ntdb]

those are great comparison pictures. I have the same seat albeit older and used off Ebay but I havent put it in yet. When I sit in the stock seat the top back of the seat is between my shoulder blades so I'm looking forward to the proper fitting seat. I'll be watching your fitment trials.

I took the seat on my road trip by deleting the sliders. I drilled the Planted bracket and bolted the seat directly to it. This got me the extra headroom I needed at the expense of legroom and thigh support. My next step may be to modify the Planted bracket so that the rear of the bracket sits closer to the floor. This should give me 1.5" of extra headroom with the sliders re-installed AND improve thigh support by raising the front of the seat. I'll try to mock it up before I start cutting/drilling the bracket to make sure it'll work. Will report back.