[Inv4drZm]

Originally Posted by awhitney1

Do you have a link to the fender liner? Thank you!

Part# 5380735111. OEM is like $160 but aftermarket is $25.

Splash Shield For 2007-2009 Toyota FJ Cruiser Front, Passenger Side 723650310540 | eBay

[awhitney1]

Appreciate it! Just trying to think of something to cover the air intake. Having the Mcneil racing fenders really exposes the air intake from the outside without the fenders in place.

Originally Posted by Inv4drZm

Part# 5380735111. OEM is like $160 but aftermarket is $25.

Splash Shield For 2007-2009 Toyota FJ Cruiser Front, Passenger Side 723650310540 | eBay

[Darklight]

Hey man just checking out your build and wanted to say you've done a great job so far and I look forward to seeing the upcoming upgrades,

Keep it up!


Bobby

[Inv4drZm]

Originally Posted by Darklight

Hey man just checking out your build and wanted to say you've done a great job so far and I look forward to seeing the upcoming upgrades,

Keep it up!


Bobby

Thanks man, it certainly has been a lot of work the past month.

The little neighbor kid rode his scooter around the culdesac while I was painting the crossmember, he asked me; "You still workin on that thing?" "Yep"


Just got word the axle would ship while I'm in Moab so I'm having them hold onto it for a few days. This past 4th of July 4 day weekend would have been the last window to install it before the trip anyway.

So now I'll either try to cram it in to a full weekend install or hold onto it for a bit until I find an IS300 daily. I've also been eyeing first gen Celicas; so cool but hard to find.

[Darklight]

How far is the daily commute? Mine has been my DD for 12 years now but only have a 30 mile trip daily truck sees 250- 300 miles a week though. At 15 mpg lol


Bobby

[Inv4drZm]

Originally Posted by Darklight

How far is the daily commute? Mine has been my DD for 12 years now but only have a 30 mile trip daily truck sees 250- 300 miles a week though. At 15 mpg lol


Bobby

24 miles there and back, but I usually drive home for lunch so 50 miles/day. Not much on the weekends unless wheeling or to see the parents in KC.

An IS300 would pay for itself pretty quickly in fuel mileage.

[94toy22re]

I had a 2001 is300 put around 80k miles on it before i was rear ended and was totaled out. I miss the car but the mpg is terrible for what it is, it was 23mpg at 70mph on 91 octane! My v8 4Runner gets 18 on the same trip, so not much savings when 87 is 0.30 cheaper per gallon!

[MMitchell84]

Fantastic build on that spare tire set-up! I am new here and have been looking for something like this, though I don't weld... Sell me one?

[Inv4drZm]

Originally Posted by 94toy22re

I had a 2001 is300 put around 80k miles on it before i was rear ended and was totaled out. I miss the car but the mpg is terrible for what it is, it was 23mpg at 70mph on 91 octane! My v8 4Runner gets 18 on the same trip, so not much savings when 87 is 0.30 cheaper per gallon!

Well right now I'm getting like 13mpg in town w/ 91. Plus the IS would be nice to turbo. So not completely practical but they are so cheap, like 6k for a nice one.

Originally Posted by MMitchell84

Fantastic build on that spare tire set-up! I am new here and have been looking for something like this, though I don't weld... Sell me one?

Welcome to the forum!

I don't enjoy fab work, and have never been happy with my latch designs. You would have better luck taking it to a local fabrication shop.

Honestly I still don't really know how to weld, so if you wanted to learn, buy a welder and practice a little. It's really not too hard.

[Inv4drZm]

2019 4th Annual Moab/Colorado Trip Report

This year's trip actually starts a couple weeks before we leave. Our buddy's FJ was T-boned in town and totaled. It was a 2010 they owned since new and I've seen it do so gnarly stuff on the trails so it was sad to see it go. Luckily they found another FJ for sale a week before our trip that was already modded so they could still go with a vehicle of their own. Their new one is the yellow FJ you'll see in the following pics but this was their old one if you guys remember:



I was sick and took off from work 3 days before our trip but started to feel better the day before we left so I was barely able to go... Also our mom wanted to go so she floated between my truck and my brother's truck and took some pics.

Anyway, onto the pics.

Day 1
Travel to Moab to our condo.



Day 2
Meet up at the Moab parking lot to plan our trails. We chose Steel Bender.





















Things were going great until I hid a short ledge, the steering wheel ripped sideways, and I noticed a long puddle leading up to my steering rack. At this point I was pretty sure I exploded it and we limped it back to the condo parking lot with no power steering fluid. It was impossible to steer on most of the trail back down but I managed.







Turns out just the cap at the passenger side of the rack unthreaded and popped off letting it leak. We needed to gently hammer it back in so the threads would engage because there was an internal seal or something that pushed over on the inside. The left 2" long part in this pic:



We let the truck sit, still wasn't sure of our fix because of a steering whine and wanted the air in the PS fluid to work out so we met up with the rest of our trail group to eat ice cream, and went to do a short section of Fins & Things to finish off the day while I rode along.

[Inv4drZm]

Unfortunately our buddy with his new-to-him FJ inherited some problems. The rear elocker wouldn't work, and neither would ATRAC so he was having some difficulty and used a little too much throttle on this obstacle and we heard a crack. I had flashbacks to breaking my rear diff but everything seemed functional afterwards.



Day 3
Metal Masher Trail

The 4Runner was all fixed up.

Near the beginning of the trail we noticed the yellow FJ actually suffered an injury from the previously mentioned crack noise the day before. The t-case was leaking from the front driveshaft output. We did the rest of the trail but the 3 of us took the shortcut back down.









I tried but I needed winched.





So when we got back to the condo parking lot we removed the front driveshaft and was going to replace the seal when we noticed the t-case was actually cracked right above the front output extending a couple inches up. Apparently purely from torque as there wasn't a ding on the skid plate. There was only half a gatorade bottle of gear oil left after they did Metal Masher. So we covered the crack with JB weld and refilled the t-case before we left Moab, hoping for the best.

My new crossmember:



No rubbing!!! Did my new crossmember actually work?



Day 4
Top of the World Trail.















He had an aftermarket upper link nearly loose a bolt on the trail. We helped find a nut and tightened it all back up during our lunch break.







Met up with a buddy we met a couple years ago on Top of the World trail for supper. His FJ has a few new parts this time, namely 37's, finned King reservoirs, and a neat power steering system I've wanted to do for a while.

[Inv4drZm]

Day 5
Hike to Delicate Arch and head to Colorado to find a campsite.









I was driving way too fast on a narrow straight section trying to catch up (never leave it in 4hi) and I was about to glance down at my speed until I realized I was going waaay too fast (55mph?) and there was a slight bend in the road with a rock jutting out. I probably hit it going close to 45mph and heard a loud bang. Thinking I ripped out my rear axle I stopped and looked. I was happy I only had a shredded tire and a scrape on my bumper.





Our first of 3 campsites. Since the yellow FJ is temporarily retired to onroad duty we had to improvise with new campsites, that coupled with some crazy slow traffic.



Day 6
Find another campsite closer to a couple trails we wanted to do. Slow traffic made for a long day.







Finally found one:



Day 7
Headed to our next campsite near a couple trails.







Day 8
Hackett Gulch and Metberry Gulch trails

We followed a pretty cool Suburban who helped pull out a Jeep.

[Inv4drZm]

Looks almost like the Rubicon. Not like the Colorado I've seen.











Scraped my bumper a little bit, saving my already cracked taillight.



Day 9
Drive back home.

More broken parts this trip than any other, and we had to change our plans partway through, but good friends and good food always make for a good time. Moab has some good places to eat and its fun to meet new Toyota people every year while also seeing some of our old friends too.

Next year I don't want to be the only 4th gen at the Moab Before Summit event again LOL. Come on guys.

[MMitchell84]

Originally Posted by Inv4drZm

Looks almost like the Rubicon. Not like the Colorado I've seen.











Scraped my bumper a little bit, saving my already cracked taillight.



Day 9
Drive back home.

More broken parts this trip than any other, and we had to change our plans partway through, but good friends and good food always make for a good time. Moab has some good places to eat and its fun to meet new Toyota people every year while also seeing some of our old friends too.

Next year I don't want to be the only 4th gen at the Moab Before Summit event again LOL. Come on guys.

Going to be a long time before I could handle moab...

[MMitchell84]

Originally Posted by Inv4drZm

Well right now I'm getting like 13mpg in town w/ 91. Plus the IS would be nice to turbo. So not completely practical but they are so cheap, like 6k for a nice one.



Welcome to the forum!

I don't enjoy fab work, and have never been happy with my latch designs. You would have better luck taking it to a local fabrication shop.

Honestly I still don't really know how to weld, so if you wanted to learn, buy a welder and practice a little. It's really not too hard.

Thanks, I've been wanting to get a welder and start practicing. I don't that'll happen anytime soon though...
I have yet to look into shops around town here too seriously, need the money first lol. I have seen some spare tire frames for sale that hook up to the hitch, I read they have some clearance issues though.