Welcome To Corey's FJ Cruiser Page Of Mods
Page Three

Total Chaos Fab upper control arms
Installed 10-2-2007

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 Fabs website, and saw that is what they say:

"When aftermarket lifts are installed on these model vehicles the OEM suspension design looses caster.
By altering the factory caster, the vehicle will lose on road handling & performance and has a tendency to wander when driving down the road.

TC developed the UCAs to add caster to the suspension when aftermarket coil over shocks and other lifts are installed.
This will increases overall handling and aids in the alignment of the vehicle."

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.

Parts used
Total Chaos Fabs website
Total Chaos upper control arms for the FJ Cruiser

Dual battery kit
Installed 10-6-2007

Dual battery kits are cool, and high on many an off roaders list of modifications to do.
With it you can safely start your vehicle should you accidentally run down your main battery.
This mod also goes towards the "Expedition" type of rig I am building.
A few more mods such as the Safari snorkel and perhaps a roof top tent, and a new rear bumper will round out my rig for the look/setup I am trying to achieve here.

I had my local Cartoys do the install on this, as the Clifford battery backup alarm was in the way, and I needed them to move it to keep it under my warranty with them.
I had asked them a few weeks back if they have installed dual battery kits before, and indeed they had.

They had one of their best installers on this today.
He ran into one snag which was not his fault.
The Painless provided switch is to big to fit into the dash switch blanks.
I had forgotten that Wayne had procured a smaller three way switch to go into the switch blank in the lower console.

I suggested to the installer that he could drill a hole in my drivers side air vent panel.
He was able to do that, but had to turn the switch sideways.
There was not enough room with the shape of the switch in the back to have the handle operate in the up/down position, so it now operate back and forth, left/right.

For kicks I called up my local Toyota dealer to see how much one of these vent panels go for, and it is a shocking $149 or so.
I may in the future buy a new one, and then get a switch like Wayne's and mount the switch and LEDs down below in the lower console like he did.
But it really does not look to shabby where it is now.
I just may decide that it is not worth the $150 to move the switch.

Pictures one, two, and three show the stock battery with the new positive wire coming off it it, and the other two pictures show the new Optima battery, the Painless solenoid, and the Bluetorch Fabworks battery tray.

Picture four shows the six bolts with the heads in the fenderwell with the threads pointing up.
The two at the rear of the tire and the two in front of them about one foot are the 5/16th bolts holding the battery box down.
The two up front above the Old Man Emu coil assembly are 1/4" bolts used to hold the solenoid to the fenderwell.

Picture five shows my alarm LED moved to the new location to the left of the rear diff lock switch.
Previously the LED was up on the dash between the mirror adjusters and the fog lamp switch.

Picture six shows the red and green LEDs now mounted where the alarm LED use to be.
Picture six also shows the switch in its centered position.
This manes the main battery is only used for vehicle operation.
The solenoid is not activated, and the auxiliary battery is not being charged.

Picture seven shows the switch in the green light position.
The main and auxiliary batteries are connected for charging and starting, and the green light is illuminated when the key is in the on position.
The green light will not activate when the key is in the off position.

You would use this position to start your vehicle if you drained the main battery.
For example, winching with your engine off, running your stereo to serenade your friends with the engine off, or using a fridge/freezer such as like the ARB one I have, and you drained your main battery.
If that happens, you would flip the switch from the center position (main battery only connected) to the green light or the red light position, and you would then be able to crank over your engine to start the vehicle and charge the main battery.

Picture eight shows the switch in the red light position.
The main and auxiliary batteries are connected together and the red light is illuminated at all times regardless of the ignition switch position.

This will come in so handy when I am out camping running the ARB fridge for a few days.
If I accidentally drain the main battery, I will be able to have a way to start the vehicle and then charge back up the main battery.

Here are some additional pictures I grabbed off the websites below.

The box before being modified by Wayne, and a Yellow Top battery by Optima.

The Painless dual battery kit showing all of the parts laid out.

Parts used
Bluetorch Fabworks battery tray

The box has been modified by member KD7NAC_07FJ (Wayne) by welding on a plate in the rear that follows the contour of the FJ Cruisers fenderwell, and thus giving it a more secure mounting by running those bolts above the rear of the tire as seen in picture four.

Painless 250 Amp Dual Battery Current Control System
Bought from Jegs
Optima Yellow Top model D34_78

Do an Internet search to find the best price on the battery.
I got an excellent deal on mine at my local Cartoys stereo shop.

Springtail M-Packs
Installed 11-10-2007

The M-Packs and rack are from the group buy I got in on awhile back.
Anyone interested in installing these into other rigs besides FJ Cruisers and Jeeps should contact Springtail Solutions.

The kit allows you to mount a rack on the rear of the FJs door, and that rack will then let you mount bags of different sizes and configurations to it.
They use the military Molle strap system, something I was not really familiar with until I saw the thread put up by the vendor on fjcruiserforums.com's site.

Here are the parts laid out, the rack with the packs.
The bag at the very top of the pictures goes into the compartment in the right rear.
Those with the factory subwoofer would not be able to put that bag there, as the subwoofer occupies that space.
The two big bags and the smaller ones with the two straps mount to the M-Pack rack.
The smaller one strap packs go into the front door pockets for a perfect fit.

The next four pictures shows:
Rack mounted to the rear door
Pack in the rear right hand side compartment
Packs in the front door
Packs mounted to the rack

I have a lot of filling to do on these packs still.
The front two packs in the doors each house a Boeing first aid kit I received at work as an award for something I did :D
Before the first aid kits sat in the front pockets and shifted around a lot.
With them stuffed into the Molle packs there is no movement now, it is a nice tight fit.

The mounting of the packs and what you carry possibilities are endless, and using your imagination I am sure you might find a way to bring along the kitchen sink on your next overland travel, camping trip, or 4wheeling trip.

Parts used
Springtail Solutions/M-Pack
Installation instructions for the rack
Installing the Molle packs onto the rack

Safari snorkel
Installed 11-14-2007

I had been wanting a Safari snorkel ever since I heard they were going to make one for the FJ Cruiser.
I contacted ARB to inquire more about them, and they would get in a few before the huge shipment that would be distributed to other dealers.
Safari air freighted in three of them to ARB headquarters not to far from where I work, and one of them had my name on it.
The others went to ARB for their FJ Cruiser just in time for the SEMA show in November of 2007, and Micrad, a member on a few FJ Cruiser forums.
So that makes me the third FJ Cruiser in the USA to have the snorkel installed.

On the same day mine was installed, the ocean container arrived at ARB with 80 on it to be distributed to various vendors.
As I write this, there are now about three other snorkel installations completed.

So why did I get a snorkel?
Not really for water crossings, although we did opt for the extra sealing with RTV sealant of the holes in the stock air filter box and the assembly between the fenderwells, but mainly I wanted the snorkel for dust control up where I do most of my 4wheeling.
When following other rigs up there during the summer months, you can not see more than about 15 feet in front of you.
The snorkel will really help on keeping the air filter cleaner, and giving it cooler air to breath.

We also test fitted one of those 7" pre-cleaners, but it is the same size as the snorkel tubing on top.
All one would have to do is get a slightly bigger tube and slip it over the top of the snorkel tube after the head is taken off, then slip the pre-cleaner into the top of the adapter tube.
Finish it off with a few black hose clamps, and it will look good.
However using one of these pre-cleaners will cut down on the flow of air getting to your engine.
I think they are best used if you are going to be constantly out in dusty situations for an extended period of time.

Below are a few pictures taken out in my driveway.
I will replace these pictures with much better ones at a later date.
No underhood pictures, as it looks the same as it did before.
Also when sitting in the drivers sear, you can not even see the snorkel, and you can only see a portion of it from the passenger seat.

The stares though I am getting now shows that not many are familiar with seeing these.
There are not really to many vehicles running around here with a snorkel on.

Parts used
Safari snorkel part number SS410HF
Installation instructions from Safari's website

Focal 165V2 component speaker front door, Infinity Kappa 3.27CF rear speakers for the rear cargo area, and an Alpine PDX-4.100 amp to power the speakers (Phase II)
Installed 11-17-2007

The first phase was to remove the factory headunit detailed earlier in this thread back at the end of March 2007.
The second phase consists of getting rid of the junk factory speakers and going with better ones that let the real music come through, and also an amplifier to power the speakers in all their glory.

The following components were installed stealth, you can not tell they are there.
1. Focal 165V2 6.5" component speakers with tweeters.
The Focals replaced the factory 6x9s in the doors, and the tweeters replaced the factory speakers up in the dash.
The shop made custom plates that matched the factory ones to hold them in the cavity of the door.

2. Infinity Kappa 3.27KF 3.5" speakers for the very rear in the cargo bay.
We were going to do Focal 4" speakers, but they were to deep to fit in there.
Plus the Kappas were close to $100 cheaper.

3. Alpine PDX-4.100 amp which is a four channel amp pushing out 100 watts each channel.
This is powering both sets of speakers.

4. Dynamat Xtreme two door kit to make the Focals sound even better.

Below are some pictures I pulled off the web of the components since all my gear you can not really see.

The sound is great after I took a few days to dial in the EQ settings and more on the headunit.

Phase III will consist of a JL Audio W6 10" subwoofer housed in a custom shop built fiberglass enclosure covered in black carpet, and another Alpine PDX amp, the 1.600 which pumps out 600 watts mono.

Parts used
Focal 6.5" component speakers for the doors, 165V2
Infinity Kappa 3.27CF rear speakers in the cargo area at the rear
Alpine PDX-4.100 amplifier
Dynamat Xtreme two door kit
Miscellaneous stuff including four gauge wire for the amp, cable ends, underhood fuse.
RCA wires and four gauge wire kits are made by StreetWires.

Maggiolina AirLand Roof Top Tent
Installed 3-21-2008

Spring has sprung, thus a new year of mods having been dormant over this past winter.

There is a constant joke on a few FJ Cruiser forums that goes around in threads asking "Can you sleep in it."
Of course you can, member LandCruiserSteve (a moderator over on fjcruiserforums.com) has proven that by building a nice bed system in the back of his rig that accommodates him very well.
With the way I have my rig setup in the back, that will not work out for me.

I have been looking at roof top tents as of late, and finally settled on a fiberglass one made in Italy like Wayne has.
Many thanks to Wayne (member KD7NAC_07FJ) for helping me make a selection on this model, it is the same one he has on his FJ Cruiser, the medium model.

Wayne used Yakima Lowrider clamps on the stock FJ rack, and then 58" crossbars held in place via the Lowriders.
The AirLand mounts to the crossbars.

I went to the shop Friday the 21st of March to get it installed, and they recommended I use four crossbars instead of two to distribute the weight, as that is the way they have been doing them.

I just got done opening it up for the first time since I left the shop after the install (Saturday 3-22), and I am really impressed with the quality of the AirLand unit.
It cranks up just like a tent trailer (I have owned two of them in the past) after undoing two latches up front, and one latch back aft.

After cranking it up you grab the aluminum ladder from inside and extend it.
It is fully adjustable to accommodate any vehicle.

Once I had the ladder up I climbed inside and took out the three pillows it came with and put the flannel pillow cases on two of them.
For the medium AirLand tent, full size sheets are a perfect fit.
The bottom sheet is a fitted one, with the top sheet being the normal tuck in type.
I bought a very warn goose down comforter in Ultra Warmth weight with 35 oz. of down.
That should keep me very warm should the summer nights cool off very fast.

Getting up and down the ladder for me was not that difficult at all.
Now when exiting the tent and coming down backwards, you want to use caution since you can not see the rungs as well, you feel for them with your feet.
If I can do it, anyone can.

After getting the sheets on and the pillows in place, I climbed up inside for a few pictures of the interior, then I laid out like I was going to sleep in it.
There is plenty of room, and my feet do not even touch the ends of the tent wall.
I am about 5'10", and I did not feel cramped at all.
There is plenty of room for a second person too, and possibly a child if you have one.
It would be better with just two people though.

And not once did it feel rickety to me.
It was very stable, and a very cool feeling being up in the air like that.
I have a feeling I am going to sleep very well in this tent.
The best thing of all is being able to pull into a site whether in a regular campground, or when you are out 4wheeling, overlanding/exploring, and just whip out the hand crank and crank up the tent and have your bed all setup in less than one minute.
This is the real advantage to a unit like this.

The Rack n Road store I visited (official reseller of these for WA. state as seen on AutoHome's website) has a team of top notch installers and manager working there.
Evan (store manager) and Colin were the two installers who installed it.

Shortly before I left too YotaTech member nickr9287 showed up.
He also works for the Bellevue store and is an installer.

If looking for a system like this or any Yakima or Thule type of gear for your rig around our area, give these guy's a call.
Great team to work with.

Probably around sometime in May/June I will have some camping pictures from up at Greenwater with the tent all setup in the outdoors, and some other new camping gear I have been hoarding up on for a good time out in the woods.
Be sure to stay tuned to YotaTech in the Trail/Trip Report section for some photos of the tent and all the other gear I will be evaluating.
Also be sure to stay tuned to the Product-Gear Review section for write-ups on the AirLand and other camping gear.

With this I think my rig is nearing completion.
Still have to settle on a rear bumper, there are still a few in works.
The selection is getting bigger all the time.

Here are a few pictures of the Maggiolina AirLand roof top tent.

Parts used and links
Maggiolina AirLand tent (check it out, my rig is on that page, the gallery page, and the Toyota page in the gallery)
Autohome's main site in Italy
Lowrider clamps
58" crossbars
Rack n Road Bellevue, WA. store
Full size flannel sheets
Twin size down comforter from The Company Store - Ultra Warmth weight with 35 oz. of goose down

Camping Lab Awning
Installed 5-16-2008

I had two different type of awnings on my last tent trailer I had, and they are nice for shade to sit under, or to get out of the rain.
I saw this brand mentioned in a few threads on a few Toyota forums, so I decided to give it a try.

Owner Fernando was a great guy to work with, and also made me some custom mounts to attach to the awning so it would attach to my Yakima crossbars.
You can see how the mount attaches to the two channels on the rear of the awning, and also how it attaches to the crossbars in the first two pictures below.

Setup is a little easier than take down, same as with my tent.
But one person can do this easily.
It is also free standing since it has two supporting horizontal tubes, but you will want to use the enclosed stakes to stake down the white rope loops you see at the bottoms of the vertical tubes, and also
attach the two rope guy lines to the white rope loops at the top of the vertical tubes and stake them out.
This will be better for any wind that will kick up.
But I had it setup with a light hot breeze outside and it was very stable without staking it.

The first two pictures you can see the mount he made up for me how it mounts to the awning case, and then on the Yakima crossbars.

I am also enclosing a video that shows just how fast you can deploy the Maggiolina AirLand roof top tent.
It is easy, in fact too easy.

Parts used
Camping Labs website
The awning

ARB Fridge
Relocated 5-31-2008

I was not really happy with the ARB fridge mounted in the rear of the FJ.
I could not lift up the lid very far due to the fridge sitting up high on my cargobox.
The lid would hit the ceiling.

I can now access the lid to load/unload vittles, and actually see what is in there.
I still can not raise the lid all the way up to the ceiling, but I can raise it far enough to see very well inside.
There is a guy on IH8MUDs forum who has put together all the hardware for the hinge relocation kit to make the lid lift up from either side instead of from the end, and after I order that from him, I will be
able to raise the lid all the way up and let it stay open.

Here is a comparison when it was mounted in the rear.



The first two pics show the seat back cover in place and then removed.
Picture three shows the Engel Slide Loc screwed down to the plastic cover for the back of the seat.
I had to move the plate around some so it would avoid the D ring and raised hump it resides in so the plate would sit flush.
Pictures four, five and six show the fridge mounted to the Slide Loc.
Picture seven shows a rear view shot showing how much room I gained in the rear by moving the fridge.

I drilled small pilot holes into the plastic, and after tightening the screws down, they do not contact the metal underneath.
If I was worried about needing more strength, I can get longer screws and drill the holes deeper and into the sheet metal underneath.
I also used two extra screws this time instead of four like I did when it was mounted on top of the cargo box.

This will give me more room to load my camping gear now.
For the long stuff like the Cabela's picnic table and Camp Kitchen, I will load them in from the rear door and shove it towards the passenger seat.
This should speed up the loading process quite a bit.

The best part though is being able to access my fridge much easier and see what is inside of it.

If you do not mind giving up your rear drivers side seat, this is a good way to mount your fridge.
I can still put up the passenger side rear seat with the fridge in place.
I may even put the bottom seat cushion back in too for the rear passenger side, as it is currently out right now.
But the drivers side will stay this way indefinitely.

Just an update to the Maggiolina roof top tent and the Camping Labs awning

I took my summer 2008 vacation up at Mt. Rainiers White River campground, and got some much better pictures of the above mentioned items in their natural habitat ;)

Here is a link to my vacation pictures, and a link to the new camping products I have been stocking up on.
Mt. Rainier vacation
Camping gear review
 

ARB Fridge
Rehinged 9-25-2008

On my trip to Mt. Rainier in August, it was a PITA to have to hold the lid open with one hand, and move the contents with the other hand.
Reason is that the lid lifts up the long way on this model ARB fridge and the equivalent made by Engel.
Even with the fridge moved from the top of the cargobox to its new location behind the drivers seat, the lid would not lift up all the way.

Awhile back I came upon a thread on IH8MUDs forum about relocating the hinges so the lid will open from the side.
The creator of the thread ended up putting together a kit so one does not have to hunt around for the parts.

The kit arrived September the 25th, and I could not wait to dig in on another project.
I took the fridge out of the rig almost right after coming in with the days mail ;)
Total time was around a half hour or so to install the kit.

While the instructions do not call for drilling a pilot hole for the self tapping screws supplied, I did drill a small 7/64th pilot hole.
I was careful to not drill to far into the fridge.

I first put the hinge in place, and I went back in 1.5" from each end of the fridge to center the hinges.
I marked one hole with a felt pen, then drilled it.
I then put the hinge in place and used the 18v drill to put in the new screw.
Once it was in and tight, I then drilled one hole at a time and repeated with the self tapping screws.
So in other words, I did not drill all four pilot holes at once.
I find it more accurate this way in drilling most things.

Once the hinges were in place, I then took out the top screws I had just put in and took the lid all the way off.

You then have to remove the stock hardware from the lid and the fridge for the stock hinges.
Once you have done that, you reuse the stock bolts (these are not screws) to fill in the holes.

I put the lid back on again and put back in the upper screws for the new hinges.
I then snapped close the stock latch, and all is very tight.
I did not opt to install the new clasp/lock supplied in Kevin's kit, as the stock hinge worked out fine in its original position.
Plus I will not have to modify the thermal bag by cutting a hole in it for a new clasp/lock.

Picture one below shows me holding the lid open with the fridge in the rig.
The lid hits the ceiling and will not raise up all the way, again a royal PITA.

Picture two shows the hinge on with three screws in place and a pilot hole ready for the fourth screw.

Picture three shows the new hinges in place and the lid open.
Note that the lid stays open too, and will do so in any position.
It has an adjustment screw you tighten to cause friction in the hinge, thus allowing the lid to stay open in any position.
Way cool man ;)

Picture four shows the new hinges in place and the lid off ready for me to take off its hardware and the fridges hardware for the stock hinges.

Picture five shows the fridge back in its native environment, and the lid open as if I was going to access it for grub.
The lid clears the ceiling just fine too.

This retrofit will make an ARB or Engel fridge that more enjoyable to access the interior of it.
It gets the two thumbs up award

Parts used
Wagon Gear - Fridge Hinge Flip Kit
Link on IH8MUD to the thread that started the kit

ARB Fridge
Baskets Installed 10-21-2008

First off I really dig my ARB fridge/freezer.
No ice to mess with, low battery draw, and you can pack enough food for a week or more into it.

When I took my vacation to Mt. Rainier in August of 2008 I ate really good.
Problem is you still have to move around a lot of the grub as it is just one big deep carnivorous well that swallows whatever you can throw at it.

One problem I solved keeping the lid open on the fridge by itself, and not having the lid hit the roof of the FJ was solved in the last entry above.
So once again the fridge is undergoing another mod, it is being transformed into a basket case...

I saw a thread on Expedition Portal that led me to the TwoZone Basket Set sold by Sierra Expeditions.
They are two different sized baskets that hook onto the stock basket in an ARB or Engel 42 qt fridge.
Here is a little info from Sierra's website:

"The TwoZone Suspended Basket Set is compatible with most ARB, Engel, Norcold, and Waeco fridge/freezers.
The larger basket measures 11.5" from suspension tab to tab, and the basket is 10.4 wide, 9.5" long and 4" deep.
The smaller basket measures 11.5" from suspension tab to tab, and the basket is 10.4 wide, 5" long and 4" deep."

This will allow you to pack your vegetables and fruits on top without the worry of them getting bruised and turned into mush by heavier items that may bump up against them.

You can also load up a basket with your snacks, eggs, dip, whatever you do not want buried.
Below the two baskets you still have room to store stuff you might want to keep a little colder such as meats, frozen burritos, milk, orange juice, whatever beverages you are into

So if you are looking for a great solution to keeping your trail/overlanding grub well organized, look no further, these baskets are a great addition to your fridge.

Here are a few pictures showing the size on my laptop for comparison, and some out in the fridge loaded up.
You can easily access the food below by taking out one basket.

A tip:
The lid does not fit flush when you put it all the way down unlatched.
However it will make a tight seal when you close the latch.
Some have bent the wire tabs down, but I may end up cutting mine off all the way.
It looks like they will still stay in position even if the tabs are eliminated.
I guess I will find out ;)

Parts used
TwoZone Basket Set

Yaesu 857D Ham Radio Setup
Installed ?-?-2008

Coming soon, not all parts are here yet!

Parts used
Yaesu 857D HF/VHF/UHF mobile transceiver
Diamond NR770HA antenna
Diamond GLP58 mount for the bumper and base for the antenna
Valor VS4 Big Mouth external speakers: bought one for the Yaesu radio, and replacing the bigger one that I was using for the Cobra 29 CB

Next mod
Installed ?-?-2008

Insert text here ;)

Parts used

As you can see above, I am prepping the page here by putting in a few of the future mod templates ahead of time.
The rig is finally nearing completion (famous last words), and it will continue to evolve into one badass expedition type beast.

Please click here to go to back to page 2

Please click here to go to back to page 1

The modification pages were last on 10-25-2008