Corey's 2007 FJ Cruiser Build-Up Thread

[ISurfer88]

hmmm thats weird. My antenna is right on top of my roof witch should give it optimum reception. Maybe ill take it in and have it looket at. And yea that safety screen is annoying but all nav systems have it i belive

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[Wangankin]

Originally Posted by Corey

Dang, I be on a roll tonight

Lund Vent Visors
Good gosh, I just got the email today that these were being shipped.
FedEx pulled up right at 5 PM, and here it is 5:45 PM and they are completely installed as I type this.

It was so easy.
Roll down your windows all the way.
Take a small scrub pad and clean the window channels, then swipe it down with some alcohol pads.

Peel back the sticky tape a bit, then insert into the channels.
Once in the channels, push the visors up into position, then peel the three pieces of tape per vent visor.
Roll up your window to hold them in place while the sticky tape cures.

You can order these vent visors from
http://deflectors4less.com/toyota-fj...entvisors.html

I ordered them a week ago, not to bad on the shipping.

They were really to easy to install, and I like the in channel ones much better than the tape on ones I ran on my 4Runner.

Here are a few pics.
http://www.pnw4runners.com/index.php...j/vent_visors/

Did the vent visors alleviate any of the freeway window down air blower into your ear drum? Does anyone else get that, air blowing directly into your ear with the window down??

[Corey]

Yes it did.
Before it felt like wind tunnel in the cockpit.

I enjoy having the windows down on a hot day when I do not feel like running the air-con, and it eliminated a lot of that cross buffering wind.

[Corey]

I really dig the stock 17" factory alloys, so much I wanted to buy a 2nd set and move up to a 285x70x17" tires, about the same as a 33" tire.

My current Dick Cepek Mountaincat muds are 265x70x17", and they look great, but a little out of place with the OME 3" lift.

With all of my past vehicles I have owned I have always ran two sets of tires.
One set for fall through spring (winter setup) and the best setup for spring through fall.

I have been wanting to get the same tires in the 285 size, but did not want to pay Toyota $340 a piece for the factory alloys.
Great wheel, only factory wheel I have every truly liked that much on any rig.
A little to steep at that price, although I have a few sources to get some used ones.

At the Greenwater run earlier in July I saw an FJ Cruiser (owned by member noworries) with some nice black wheels that made me again want to think about getting an aftermarket wheel.
With some research and getting a hold of the owner gain, I found out they are the Pro Comp 7089s.

He is running a RevTek 3" lift and 295 size tires with no rubbing, so this tells me that Pro Comp did their math and is overing these with zero offset and able to clear the large calipers of the FJ Cruiser.

I was able to score these wheels for $129 a piece from 4WD Parts who owns Pro Comp wheels/tires.
Les Schwab would have had to buy them for $209 a piece since they are a direct competitor of 4WD Parts Warehouse.

Here is the part # of the wheels I got.
http://www.4wheelparts.com/PDT64838.aspx

Les Schwab Tires recently added the Dick Cepek Mountaincats to their website.
http://lesschwab.com/tires/light_tru...ntaincatet.asp

You will not find these on the Dick Cepek website, as they are exclusively made for Les Schwab Tires.
Made in the same molds as other Dick Cepek tires with the familiar staggered DC impression on the sidewall.

These tires are also made by Cooper, and are pretty similair in design to the Cooper Discoverer STT tire.

They showed me out in the bay when we turned the wheels/tires lock to lock that they cleared the body mounts and also the calipers.
In getting new wheels for your FJ Cruiser, the important thing to pay attention to is the off set.
Mine are zero.

He asked me if I wanted to step up to a 295 since that is what noworries is running, but I stayed with the 285s.
They look great and 33" is big enough for me.

I did not notice any loss of power at all coming into work on the backway, and also going home on the freeway where I was able to put the throttle down some.

Went with black Gorilla small diameter Tuner lugnuts that take a special adapter/key to take them off with.

The new tires fill the wheel wells much better than the smaller ones.
Here are some pictures for comparison.

265x70x17 Dick Cepek Mountaincats with factory alloys:



285x70x17 Dick Cepek Mountaincats with Pro Comp 17x8 7089 series wheels:

[BT17R]

Great looking fit, a good size before crossing the border into Mad Max land, and nice having an identical spare. Now you're taller than one of those little Sequoias!

[Corey]

Yeah, that is one of our carpenters parked next to me.
He also has a T100.

Bob, these wheels I just got are cheaper than the Toyota black steelies which I was also looking for until I saw these a few weeks back.

[BT17R]

Nice. It looks like the stock CV's and UJ's can take a bit of angle, too.

[Corey]

Yes, the angles are good.

Also, I came into work on a long stretch of road at 35, 40, and 45 miles per hour in a few places, and the stock speedo is dead on with my navigations GPS speedo.

Stepping up to a 285 does not seem to change the speedo reading at all for miles per hour.

I am sure it will for miles accumulated, but not for actual miles per hour.

[Toddski]

Yea yea yea....
It looks OK

Your killing me with all the mods bud. I don't think Santa wants to hear from me again asking for a new FJ in my driveway

Looks great though. I'll swing by after work sometime to check it out.

[Corey]

Was uuuuuuuup Todd
If you are out and about this weekend, stop by or call.
I will be here off and on.

Sandra best let you get an FJ soon!

We'll getcha hooked up with some mods if you get one, some are pretty easy to do now that I have done a few and learned from others.

[Corey]

Attention if you have black aftermarket wheels:

When I had the new wheels and tires installed yesterweek, they did not have any black Gorilla locks.
They had to special order these for me in a set of 5 so I could do the spare tire too.

These are acorn lugnuts like the others on there now.
If you have aftermarket wheels that use the acorn style of lugnut, here is the part number for a set of 5 black locks.
71631NBC
http://www.gorilla-auto.com/products...image=5713.jpg

Same size as the lugs, 12mm x 1.50.
They do not list the part number on their website since these were a special order.

I am also going to start keeping my torque wrench in the rig to keep these torqued all the lugs torqued properly.
They torqued them to 100 lb which I believe is correct for Toyota wheels.
I would have to look it up in my manual, but that is what they do Toyotas to.

[mbisson]

I think they should be 82-85 lbs. Those may be a little tight.

[Corey]

That is what I am thinking too.

I think last week the guy torqued the lugs to 85, will recheck them later.

[Corey]

Several months back I bought Luke's mounts to secure the Hi-Lift to the factory rack.
Info can be found on that in this thread.

I wanted to see how the rig will handle on mountain roads by taking the Hi-Lift off of the roof and putting it up front on the ARB bumper.

I thought I needed 2" rings, but when I got those they were to big.
Luke sent me out a smaller 1 7/8" set of rings before I even got the 2" one in the mail to ship back to him.
Luke is a stand up guy.

Member CactusJK from the fjcruiserforums had the same problem, and he confirmed last week with me the 1 7/8" would work.

This morning I pulled the mounts off the 1 3/4" rings on my rack, and put the new rings on the ARB bumper.
Good fit!
A little gap, but it tightens down great.

I had to angle the mounts up a tad to clear part of the ARB bumper, and I also have to run it with the foot in the upper position.
If down like I ran it before, there are bolts on it that hits the bumper.
I got a nice scratch on the bumper when test fitting it

Below are a few pics of the install.



A shot from inside the cab.
The Hi-Lift will not interfere with my line of sight.



A shot showing just the mounts.
I may end up taking those shiny knobs off before they end up in some kid's collection.
Kind of like when kid's steal chrome valve stems.
Been there before...
Now I just run black rubber caps all the time.



I am anxious to see how it rides now on the mountain road I drive when I go up to Greenwater where I wheel.

PS...
I moved the rings all the way out to within 1/8" of the vertical bars on the bumper.
A little more stability, plus I am able to run the jack with the foot and WabFab mount facing down now on either side of the bumper.
It looks even better than it did this morning.
No pics yet of the reinstall.

[Corey]

I moved the Fourtrek rings out to within about 1/8" of the vertical bars on the bumper.
If you do this, you will not even have to measure first, the Hi-Lift should fit right onto it.

This also lets the foot hang in the down position now, and if your Hi-Lift is sportin' a WabFab Sliderz Adaptor like mine, it will not stick up in the air like in my previous post.

It looks a lot better this way.

[BT17R]

Much better with it flipped down. I was worried that it could've snagged something and rotated into the hood. Awesome, lookin' very expedition ready!

[Corey]

Thanks Bob.

My neighbor below me works as a mechanic at Auburn RV.
I just found out they have outfitted a FJ Cruiser there before with a roof top tent.
They carry a very well known brand, the Autohome brand.
http://auburnrv.com/autohomepictures.htm

Same brand that Wayne put up on his roof.
I like the one piece shell type that just cranks straight up.
Easier than the type that flips over into a tent.

I may stop there and see what the Maggiolina Airland one goes for in a medium size.
I think that is what Wayne put on his.

[BT17R]

Nice looking, though I'd exceed the factory rack 175 lb. limit by a bit.

[Corey]

The unit itself weighs in at 128 lb, but from what I have read, it is the factory crossbars that have a 150 lb limit.

The unit itself is mounted to Yakima crossbars that span the width of the rack, and the rack can support much more weight according to Wayne.

I am going to stop by the shop tomorrow, as his wife just told me they do indeed stock them there, and may be closing out the 07 models.

[BT17R]

After reading through the links, I want one! Maybe next Spring. I'm wondering where the ladder is stowed when driving? Is there some way to lock it to the rack?

[Corey]

The alloy ladder stores inside the capsule, pretty cool.

Now the only problem I would have with it is...
How in the heck will this old man heft it up there and off?

I have room in my home to store it when not using it.
By looking at Wayne's pics, I may even be able to leave the Forutrek shovel/ax mount where it is.
I am glad I moved the Hi-Lift off though.

I will have to think about this mod Bob.
It would be cool though to just head up to the mountains for the day, then setup camp and crank 'er up.

[Corey]

Drove into work this morning with the Hi-Lift on the bumper for a road test.
Could not even tell it was on there except for the rattle.

I hear it rattling more now along with the sliderz adaptor than I did when it was on the roof rack.
Will have to work on eliminating that with some material.
I have seen others do it.

[RockAndRoll]

Dude, your crusier is really sick, if you check it out Ill post a sick tacoma we did that wheel on, killer rim from Procomp, I dig your FJ, now lets see some pics of you getting it in that bad boy!!. Larter Jared@rockandrolloffroad....

[Corey]

Thanks Jarad, I have never been so excited before about building up a rig.
It is a lot of fun.
Wait until you see the next major mod coming before to long.

I think the next time I will have an opportunity to get off road may not be until the Fall Colors Run in October.

Yeah, put up a thread on that Tacoma over in the Tacoma section so we can check it out.

[Corey]

Saw this mentioned on fjcruiserforums.com website in a search for fire extinguishers.

The nice thing about the HalGuard system is it is a "premium clean agent" which means it will not corrode like a dry chemical fire extinguisher can.

You can spray this stuff under your hood, under your dash, even your home computer and it is not suppose to short circuit or corrode anything.

Here is some info from their website:

HalGuard? is no ordinary fire extinguisher.
It contains an electrically non-conductive"clean" extinguishing agent that rapidly turns into a gas.

The clean agent used in HalGuard? has passed extensive testing by Underwriters Laboratories, and meets FAA requirements.
It can be found on commercial aircraft, and is used by airport fire fighters and on the flight line.

Hand held HalGuard? extinguishers are available in either compact 1.4 lb. and 2.5 lb. sizes, or larger 5 lb., 11 lb., and 15.5 lb. units.

The larger sizes are USCG approved, and meet DOT requirements for the heavy duty truck market.
65 lb., and 150 lb. wheeled HalGuard? extinguishers offer maximum clean agent protection for the pit lane or large facilities.

Their website

The HR250R (chrome available if ya wanna shine )

* No thermal shock to electronics
* No mess or damage to vehicle or surfaces
* Liquefied gas extinguishes hard-to-reach fires
* Does not impair operator's vision
* EPA approved
* Listed and rated 2B:C by Underwriters Laboratories
* Rechargeable
* Made in U.S.A.
* 2-strap mounting bracket
* 6' - 10' discharge range
* High quality steel cylinders
* All metal valve construction
* Compact, lightweight, easy to use
* One year limited warranty

I drilled 4 holes into my Powertank bracket and bolted the HalGuard mount to it.
I may raise it up to the next higher position, have not decided yet.

I also have to test fit the ARB fridge tomorrow to make sure it clears the bottle.
I am pretty sure it will.

I have a few other areas where I could remount it, one would be the face of the middle drawer of my cargobox.
Already had it positioned there, and the drawers will all open fine.

I bought this from a reseller, they have many listed on their site.
More than likely you will also get charged a $20 hazardous shipping fee, and it has to come ground.
They do not ship these on aircraft.