Inv4drZm
Senior Member
Part# 5380735111. OEM is like $160 but aftermarket is $25.
Splash Shield For 2007-2009 Toyota FJ Cruiser Front, Passenger Side 723650310540 | eBay
Inv4drZm's Build Thread
- Thread starter Inv4drZm
- Start date
Part# 5380735111. OEM is like $160 but aftermarket is $25.
Splash Shield For 2007-2009 Toyota FJ Cruiser Front, Passenger Side 723650310540 | eBay
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.
Inv4drZm
Senior Member
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"
:rofl:
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.
Inv4drZm
Senior Member
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.
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
New member
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
Senior Member
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. :biggrin1:
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
Senior Member
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.
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
Senior Member
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.
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
Senior Member
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
Senior Member
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. :Cry:
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. :Cry:
MMitchell84
New member
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. :Cry:
Going to be a long time before I could handle moab...
MMitchell84
New member
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.
AuSeeker
Elite Member
Is it Christmas?
Time to give my truck a little more bite to match its bark.
What method of shipping was used for that and did it ship to your home or..??
BendRunner
New member
What was the total cost? Did you go with an ARB locker in the rear as well? I want to do this eventually!
Inv4drZm
Senior Member
Fedex semi truck w/ liftgate delivered to my house. Worked fine and I live in a culdesac.
ARB front and rear, new bearings front/rear. Their website will give you a good price estimate. Add in the cost of a new driveshaft, mine was $600. I don't see how the stock one can be shortened like ECGS says to do. Add gear oil and gaskets for the break in procedure. Brake fluid to refill with. It doesn't come with the parking brake drums/springs so it might be wise to install those before-hand if you use them lots, or transfer your existing parts over after you get the axle installed. If you want the fancy Icon adjustable panhard bar it's like $220 so it can start to add up. And I'm not sure how the factory links will withstand the extra weight of the axle, it might bend them more easily.
I think I'm the first 4th gen with this axle right now. Pretty cool.
PotatoDelta
Junior Member
Did the new axle come with a re-gear as well? I know you said you were planning on putting on 37's at one point. I don't see how you can have any power with stock gearing xD
