Corey

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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

iTrader: (1)

That is what I am thinking too.

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

Corey

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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

iTrader: (1)

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

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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

iTrader: (1)

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

iTrader: (1)

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

iTrader: (1)

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

iTrader: (1)

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

iTrader: (1)

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:
Their website

The HR250R (chrome available if ya wanna shine )


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.

Corey

iTrader: (1)

I added the Kidde dry chemical one to the plastic lift off tray in the back.

Used a few stainless bolts and nuts, the same ones that held it onto my Husky floormats when they were in the 4Runner.

The Kidde will be used for outside fires not rig related since it is a dry chemical unit.

Corey

iTrader: (1)

Upon having the FJ Cruiser lifted late last year, I noticed a bit of wandering at highway speeds.

This happens to 2005 + Tacoma users too, not just FJ Cruisers.
Upon researching the Internet (wonderful thing that thing be) I learned problem can often be traced to the caster being to high for the alignment.

The stock upper control arms often do not give enough adjustment when dialing in the caster.
I checked on Total Chaos Fab's website, and saw that is what they say.
These new arms also eliminate the ball joints as they utilize what is known as uniball technology.

You can see in my alignment chart from the other day that the caster was to high, not within specs.
With the addition of the new control arms, the alignment is now within specs.

I had my local Toyota dealer install these while I was at work.
They were happy to do it, as they realize they may be getting more requests from lifted FJ Cruiser owners.

I really wanted to see how they improved the ride on the freeway coming home from work today, but alas I was bucking high winds, and the FJ was getting tossed around a bit.
I will have to wait for a much calmer day to get a feel how much the ride has improved with the addition of these.

They sure do look nice though

Toddski

Very nice. Did it feel any different on the way home?
Gonna have to take it off a sweet jump now

So, whats your next project? ;-)

Corey

iTrader: (1)

To windy to tell Todd, I was fighting some strong winds at 1:30 this afternoon on the commute home.

Next project coming up very soon...

BlueTorch Fab dual battery box



Painless 250 Amp Dual Battery Current Control System

Bought from Jegs



And this is going in the box.



Might have it all done late Saturday.
If so, pics by Sunday, that is if it gets done.

Corey

iTrader: (1)

Just a quick update on the Total Chaos upper control arms.
Drove home from work two days in a row, and the rig is a different well behaved animal at highway speeds.

Not a super huge difference, but I no longer wander around, so I do not have to keep making course directions.
Before it was like sailing the Queen Mary at freeway speeds sometimes.
Now it tracks a lot straighter.

Ride is still not perfectly smooth, but that can chalked up to the aggressive tread pattern of the Dick Cepek Mountaincat tires.

If you are lifted and experiencing the wandering syndrome, I would recommend looking into these.