What did you do to your Cruiser today? (2 Viewers)

[RyanR]

I didn't see a thread for this in the BCC forum so I thought I would start one up. It is always fun to see what you guys are doing to your Cruisers and I thought it would be fun to post up here in the forum. If you have knowledge to share or just want to post up some fun photos of your projects this is the spot, I don't care if it's an engine swap or just some new stickers on your ride, lets see um!

 

[RyanR]

After adding a Dometic CF-50 Fridge it became apparent that my failing stock battery wasn't going to cut it if I wanted to run the fridge through a weekend of camping and still start my truck when it came time to head back to civilization. I intended to go with the old reliable Sears Platinum Marine (Odyssey) route but a friend who does a lot of Solar and Generator work was able to hook it up with a Deka Group 31 AGM at cost. The specs are similar to that of the Odyssey and they seem to get great reviews so I decided to go that route.

Upon receiving the battery I noticed two things. One: This thing is huge and heavy. Two: The terminals are on the wrong side!!

Oh well, nothing that can't be resolved with a trip to NAPA. Some battery cable extenders and stouter battery tie-downs in hand and I was ready to rock.

Tired old stock battery out, and new Deka topped up and ready to install.

It fits! I like the secondary posts, I will be using them to run a dedicated, fused circuit for my fridge in the near future.

I haven't had a chance to test my run time with the Fridge, that will come after I have the dedicated 12v run, but there is a very noticeable difference during starting. I didn't realize just how weak my stock battery had become!

I am also working on a 200watt solar setup with charge controller that will mount to my roof rack in front of the Hannibal tent. The goal being to park the truck for a few days while I take off backpacking or exploring on the dirtbikes and come back to frosty beverages and a topped up battery.

 

[RustbombFJ40]

I did new leads on the mini a few days ago and should be getting a body lift on this weekend. I won't bore everyone with my Nissan tomfoolery.

 

[john657]

I fabbed up a spare tire rack for the bed of the Rockcrawler so I could store my cargo boxes under it for the trip to the Rubicon. Also fabbed up a rear anchor point on the frame and capped my rear frame tube.
Built a Hi-Lift jack mount and added additional tie down points for securing gear.
Been assembling a water pump, a flat plate heat exchanger along with associated heater hose and clamps for an on-board hot water shower. Should be installing it in 2 weeks and testing it out. Will be nice to have a hot shower every night.

 

[Alan "Ace" Brown]

Don't know why but either my battery is weak or my fridge is running more than normal but several times I've had my voltage drop to just over 10 and still start. But this am got to 9.2 and no cranking, jumped it. Just a few days ago I ordered an 80 watt panel that fold like a suitcase which should solve my issues.

I spent the weekend up on Grand Mesa helping build a new MTB trail, so nothing done to my truck recently. I did add a bumper to my trailer to protect the Columbus case should I back into something.

 

[riderjgs]

Successfully navigated Schofield Pass from the Marble side to Crested Butte. First time in too long a time. Sorry, no pics. Too busy at the wheel.

 

[riderjgs]

Schofield Pass pic

Turns out Bonnie took one. The bikers were from New Zealand...had a great Cruiser discussion with them before heading on from Crystal City over the pass.

 

[RyanR]

Successfully navigated Schofield Pass from the Marble side to Crested Butte. First time in too long a time. Sorry, no pics. Too busy at the wheel.

Nice! My girlfriend and I just made the same trip last weekend. Sounds like we just missed Ace by Electric Mountain Lodge and then missed running into you on Schofield.

 

[riderjgs]

Did you see the Ford Edge (or something similar) up top just on the CB side of the creek crossing? Louisiana fleet plates, so maybe a rental, and some body cladding laying beside it. Possible to get it downhill to there but I don't know about getting it back up to the top of the pass.
"Hello, Avis. We've decided to make our rental a one-way. You can pick the car up just outside of Crested Butte."
Tourons!

 

[RyanR]

Did you see the Ford Edge (or something similar) up top just on the CB side of the creek crossing? Louisiana fleet plates, so maybe a rental, and some body cladding laying beside it. Possible to get it downhill to there but I don't know about getting it back up to the top of the pass.
"Hello, Avis. We've decided to make our rental a one-way. You can pick the car up just outside of Crested Butte."
Tourons!

Haha yep we saw it, did you notice all the oil puked on the ground beneath it? :whoops:

 

[RyanR]

After bending my passenger side control arm on Golden Spike the FJ hasn't seen much use other than a couple local trips in the area. Last week I had to make a trip to Denver and the rear end trying to steer itself was driving me insane so I bit the bullet and order some replacements. I'm thinking about doing MetalTechs long travel rear suspension and I didn't want to worry about the control arms contacting the axle housing, binding and limiting travel so despite the numerous positive reviews of the ToyOutfitters LCA's I went with MetalTechs offset LCA's.

After receiving them all I can say is HOLY s***! These things are stout! They weight nearly 20lbs each, and I don't think I'll be breaking them. The Johnny Joint was too large to use with my AllPro LCA skids but I plan on having Clint cut off the stock frame-side mounts and weld on some beefier ones at some point so no big deal. The only other observation is the grease zerks are not accessible without unbolting each end, hopefully they won't need greased all that frequently. Any feedback on this from you guys running aftermarket LCAs?

Install was straight forward but a real PITA for 4 bolts. The countsunk bolts on the AllPro skids being the biggest pain, the axle side was pretty easy.

Here I a little comparison of the wimpy stock LCA next to the MetalTech beef!

 

[RyanR]

FYI - If your FJ has a nasty rattle in the rear end that you cannot diagnose and it's driving you completely insane. Make sure your stock bottle jack has not come loose inside the rear stowage compartment. It can make a hell of a racket... hypothetically speaking of course.

 

[Alan "Ace" Brown]

After bending my passenger side control arm on Golden Spike the FJ hasn't seen much use other than a couple local trips in the area. Last week I had to make a trip to Denver and the rear end trying to steer itself was driving me insane so I bit the bullet and order some replacements. I'm thinking about doing MetalTechs long travel rear suspension and I didn't want to worry about the control arms contacting the axle housing, binding and limiting travel so despite the numerous positive reviews of the ToyOutfitters LCA's I went with MetalTechs offset LCA's.

After receiving them all I can say is HOLY s***! These things are stout! They weight nearly 20lbs each, and I don't think I'll be breaking them. The Johnny Joint was too large to use with my AllPro LCA skids but I plan on having Clint cut off the stock frame-side mounts and weld on some beefier ones at some point so no big deal. The only other observation is the grease zerks are not accessible without unbolting each end, hopefully they won't need greased all that frequently. Any feedback on this from you guys running aftermarket LCAs?

Install was straight forward but a real PITA for 4 bolts. The countsunk bolts on the AllPro skids being the biggest pain, the axle side was pretty easy.

Here I a little comparison of the wimpy stock LCA next to the MetalTech beef!

Those look good but isn't the grease fitting on the wrong side? If its on the bottom as it appears it won't last long.

 

[RyanR]

The LCA is just upside down in the photo, installed they face up. Which necessitates unbolting them to get my grease gun on the zerks. Hoping I don't need to grease the joints too frequently.

Did a little camping in my backyard last night, just wanted a night outside to watch the lightning, it was awesome.

 

[Alan "Ace" Brown]

The LCA is just upside down in the photo, installed they face up. Which necessitates unbolting them to get my grease gun on the zerks. Hoping I don't need to grease the joints too frequently.

Did a little camping in my backyard last night, just wanted a night outside to watch the lightning, it was awesome.

But then the offset puts em closer to the ground. Why?

 

[RyanR]

But then the offset puts em closer to the ground. Why?

Not sure I follow? The offset is on the axle side to provide more clearance between LCA and axle housing at full droop. The Johnny Joint is on the frame mount side. Both zerks face upwards when installed.

 

[Alan "Ace" Brown]

But then the offset puts em closer to the ground. Why?

Not sure I follow? The offset is on the axle side to provide more clearance between LCA and axle housing at full droop. The Johnny Joint is on the frame mount side. Both zerks face upwards when installed.

What I'm saying is the arm is actually closer to the ground by about 1/2" because of the offset. Maybe the extra droop offsets the slight reduction in clearance. Metaltech is here so ill check them out.

 

[RyanR]

What I'm saying is the arm is actually closer to the ground by about 1/2" because of the offset. Maybe the extra droop offsets the slight reduction in clearance. Metaltech is here so ill check them out.

Ah I understand now, though I don't see this as a disadvantage. With the stock or straight after market LCA your lowest point is the mounting bracket on the bottom of the axle. If you find yourself sliding your LCA's over some rock you slide smoothly until you slam into that bracket. With the offset it gives just enough drop on the tube that you would slide right over the mounting bracket without making contact. I don't have any worries about damaging these LCA's but I have slammed into that axle side mounting bracket hard enough that I was worried about ripping it off the axle housing.

No matter what route you go they are going to be a lot harder to destroy than the wimpy stock control arms!

 

[Azonic84]

Mounted my winch solenoid under the hood.

 

[Alan "Ace" Brown]

Ah I understand now, though I don't see this as a disadvantage. With the stock or straight after market LCA your lowest point is the mounting bracket on the bottom of the axle. If you find yourself sliding your LCA's over some rock you slide smoothly until you slam into that bracket. With the offset it gives just enough drop on the tube that you would slide right over the mounting bracket without making contact. I don't have any worries about damaging these LCA's but I have slammed into that axle side mounting bracket hard enough that I was worried about ripping it off the axle housing.

No matter what route you go they are going to be a lot harder to destroy than the wimpy stock control arms!

Talked to mark yesterday and he gave the same explanation. I was not thinking about the fact that the mount is actually behind the axle. Duh......