2007 FJ Cruiser - Lifted and locked - 410Fortune wifes rig build thread

[410Fortune]

okay part 4, hooking it all up!

the parts:

ARB mini compressor, front, rear, and compressor switches, ARB wiring harness, pressure switch, and solenoids

Where to mount our compressor? I think this will work!!

I used a stock bolt that was already on the firewall, and I made 3 new bolt holes with a threaded insert rivet gun for the other compressor support bolts:

Only one new hole and threaded insert pictured. Sorry, Thanks again Harbor Freight, this is a WICKED tool!! So many times this would have come in handy!!

I wont bore you with the details, this is a very straight forward install, wiring, plumbing.... I spent ALOT of time making sure this is done the way we want it, only 3 wires are required for hookup, a ground near the compressor, a battery 15 amp feed, and a interior light wire for the switch illumination.

I soldered all contacts, I carefully routed all wiring, I modified the FJ dash to fit the ARB switches, and I took very special care to make sure the air lines are secure and safe... I have never had an air leak or wiring issue with the ARB's in my BII, I dont plan to start now!

Wifey is in love and I scored HUGE amounts of bonus points!
Colorado was nice enough to give us 18" of snow the next day to try these out!!

Pics:

You can also see the Cobra CB installation, her fog light switch, DVD player switch, and bass control knob... its getting crowded down there!!

I spent Sunday finishing this up and detailing the truck, Ill get some better pics with a CLEAN engine and interior LOL
everything works 100%, FJ + 4.56 on 33's = SCOOTS

Lockers work great, cant wait to hit the trails!!

 

[Sams01XplrSprt]

looks good so far keep up good work.

410 i have been looking at some fj cruisers i am going to look at this fj cruiser tommorrow i called the owner up and talked to him and i am going to check it out.

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sgv/cto/1091888160.html

 

[section525]

That came out great. I'm still stuck on where to mount the compressor. You have tons of room under that hood! I think I'm going to have to pull things out before I can get more things in.

Come wire mine up!

 

[RockRanger]

Looks good Jamie. Only one thing in your write up. The rear axle is a semifloat not a full floater. If it were a full float then you wouln't have even needed to take the rear tires off.

Why can't Ford make stuff easy to work on and easy to modify.

 

[410Fortune]

I didnt have to remove the rear tires, I just chose too!

I was told this Toyota 8" 95+ 4 runner rear is a full floater, but now that you say this I believe you are right??
This rear has a spindle/bearing at the wheel/brake

A full floater would also has a bearing on the diff side of things? for the axleshaft, correct?
these shafts just stab into the center section, no additional bearing in the axle tube.....
I guess once you own a full floater then you know what one looks like! LOL

I remember in Moab at TOW you and I talked about putting yota axles under your old ranger, they are strong and you get so much ground clearance! LOL To this day I always consider this an option for my BII, some old Land cruiser axles = drool drool as long as you can get familiar with the birfield joints!

Buy man Toyota ARB's are about twice as much as Ford ARB's LOL

 

[Turdle]

wire brush the wirt, then remove the CAD:

New ef term
Wirt: definition=wife dirt

 

[RockRanger]

I could be wrong. How are the rear axles held in? Can you bolt the wheel back on with out putting the axle in? A full float has no weight sitting on the axle shaft. The shaft only turns to power the truck. Like on an 8.8 the mounting flange is part of the axle. The weight of the vechicle is transfered through the axle shaft to the housing then the suspension. On a full float the weight from the wheel goes to the rotor and bearings then the housing. The axleshaft carries no weight. Hope that makes sense.

 

[410Fortune]

yes, I could have left the tire mounted to the spindle/hub/rotor, the axleshaft would pull out from the housing with the wheel/brake and spindle

4 bolts, the spindle comes loose from the main housing
I am curious to know!! where can we look this up? pretty standard yota 8" ring gear rear axle

 

[410Fortune]

LOL I LOVE craigslist!! Found a pair of Bilstein 5150 series 1-2.5" lift front shocks locally for $60 less then new...

Now to get the spring compressor back out, I am shooting for another 1" of lift up front on the FJ with these new bad boys, currently we are running a 2.5" lift coil and 1/2 spacer with the stock shocks, they now have 54K miles on them and with the Bilsteins in the back the front shocks are showing their age

these shocks are adjustable and I have heard withteh OME coils we can push it to 3.5" lift

 

[410Fortune]

okay bit of updates on the FJ lately... I love this truck

First we found a Demello winch bumper on Craigslist a few months back, in the middle of a blizzard, for a STEAL of a deal...this bumper (as it turns out I found the build later on the intrawebz) was in a wreck, then rebuilt by a local fab / wheeler guy and sold to us for profit...he made the bumper stronger then it was from Demello and you would not even know it was damaged at all by looking at it,

top notch fab guy with a wicked ass supercharged 3.4L SAS Exo caged 4 runner + craigslist = HAPPY US with a bumper we could afford! Cost over $1100 to get one of these to our door here in CO, we paid $600 I think

http://www.frontrange4x4.com/forums/showthread.php?7146-DeMello-FJ-Cruiser-Bumper-R-R/page3

then for X mas I got my wife a Summit (Tmaxx) 9000# winch

the weather was warm enough last weekend to allow the installation to take place, finished up late last night, I only got a few pictures for now:


fairlead:

Winch & controller stuffed & wired:

controller mounting:

patient:

will get pics of it installed today

We will be getting an in cab controller soon as well...


next I need to install 6"ea 6" off road lights, a new hi lift jack setup, and the front Bilstein shocks are going in to help with all this new weight... I plan to pump up the front lift 1.5"

 

[Stic-o]

Jamie, that a good winch, just stock up on solenoids...it took me a year to find a replacment one Lets just hope that was only because T-maxx got sold.

 

[410Fortune]

the solenoids inside the control box?

thanks!

 

[Stic-o]

the solenoids inside the control box?

thanks!

yes....and I would advise marking them "Out & In", because it took me awhile to figure out which is which...So when I replaced mine "IN", I marked the inside of my cover for future.

 

[TarHeel085]

wow, just actually looked at this thread 410 and realized you dealt with chase with ecgs. def an awesome guy to deal with! and recommend him to anyone on the site. one of my good buddies actually bought his FJ40 buggie from him. he is about 20 mins away from me, and he has also started building 8.8's to cust specs.

 

[410Fortune]

Chase is an AWESOME GUY

East Coast Gear Supply RULES

we have his 4.56 nitro gears and ARB lockers in these FJ diff's, it took me about 3 weeks to get them installed and then send him back the cores, he was more then patient, never asked for a deposit, and then on top of all this he is always there to call you back.... he helped us dispute a local 4x4 shop who claimed these diffs needed to be rebuilt again because the pre load on the pinion nut was too tight... I assured them Chase built these and knows toyota's, they wanted to charge us $4000 to rebuild both diffs that had 8 miles on them... I took the rear diff to them to have the pinion seal replaced, I even brought them the seal... those *******s. Chase was ready to send me a whole new rear diff just for a leaky pinion seal... now that is a great shop to deal with!!

FYI YOU MORONS AT 4x4 experts, we are now 12K miles in on these ARB diffs and they work 100% perfect!! no leaks, no noises, no shavings in the fluid, etc... LOL dont mess with the master! they told me I would be back in two weeks when my diffs blew up! DREAM ON!! I know its hard to believe some people actually know how to setup ARB's and lockers properly, some people machine a solid spacer for the pinion instead of the factory crush collar... and sometimes 200 ft lbs on the pinion is acceptable..... jerks!!

Anyways when you see Chase please tell him about Jamie in Colorado, he will know who I am... tell him the FJ diffs are going strong. His ECGS sticker is displayed proudly in my shop.

Okay now back to the truck

Weather has been REAL NICE so I got some parts installed

First I have been sitting on a pair of Bilstein 5100 adjustable shocks for this truck for about 9 months... scored them brand new on craigslist for cheap!!!!

So I removed her OME springs and factory shocks...at 72K miles the front shocks are toast

I compressed both OME coils and installed the new Bilsteins
Now they recommend the lowest setting for this application, well I chose to bo up to 1.75" lift adjustment to get her front end raised up a bit
I also retained the Toytec 1/2" billet spacer... so these shocks lifted her front end back up about 1.5", due to increasing the spring rate
the FJ now has about 2" of downtravel and about 6" of bump... thats okay we like lift around here and with the new bumper and winch, the extra spring tension rides REAL NICE

It took me 3 days to get these suckers installed.... I ran into a few problems and made one major mistake which had me losing sleep thinking I was going to have to re-do both struts again... well it worked out and I even found time to build a light bar for the roof and install her 6 lights... we have also been sittin on for about 6 months

Onto the pics:

Now the lightbar, I used the factory crossbar and modified it a bit it needed to be wider to move forward on the roof rails, and it needed 4 lights mounted and concealed wiring

Ill let the pics speak for themselves

 

[410Fortune]

Junkyard is your friend, cheap source for male/female waterproof wire plugs and pins. I always have this junk laying around just in case!!

Wired up the truck side also for future use:

DONE!!! Lights exposed, yellow pencils up front, clear and rainbow spots on the roof

Lights covered

next i need to wire 3 relays and 3 switches for the 6 new lights

man i love my wife giving me all this garage / fab time!!!!

 

[Sams01XplrSprt]

looks good does the fj cruiser got hids

 

[410Fortune]

THANK YOU


no HID yet LOL I will convert her bi focal zenon projectors to HID eventually

I think she has enough light for now! LOL

 

[chezoom]

subscribed.

 

[Deuling]

Ok dont mind me asking but what is the thing mounted on top of the bumper?