Hi Lift Jack

After installing the clamps for the Hi-Lift I finally got around to buying one. With the opinions and promptings of some of the guys at fjcruiserforums I decided to go with the 60" black. I also ordered a handle keeper.

First I had to loosen up one of the clamps since they weren't spaced correctly for the jack holes. Once I got it up there I was able to space it and the jack was on after tightening the clamp.

Here are some pics:

This thing is a beast. It weighs 35 lbs and was a little difficult to handle.

Once I got the spacing right it fit perfectly. The base hit the rack though and I think I will probably put some kind of guard so that they don't rub together.

Base side.

Top side. None of the bolts were tightened since I was just going to take it down. It's hardly noticable in black which I like if you haven't noticed that about the FJ. :)

Tacoma switch for Hella lights

So I'm browsing fjcruiserforums and I find a posting about using a Tacoma switch that costs only $13 for the aftermarket Hella 500's that I put on the brushguard.

This is what I did:

Tacoma switch and part number.

Rear of switch. Top is ground, middle is relay wire, bottom is power. These correspond to the blue, yellow, and green wires respectively for the Hella 500's. It works perfectly since there are only 3 wires.

Hella switch that I tucked in until I found this solution for a factory look.

The switch did not fit in the FJ switch hole since it was very narrow. I decided to shave off the plastic on the sides of the switch. I got a little too close on one side and made a hole but it doesn't matter since all of this is behind the dash.

This is what it looks like after shaving it as close as possible with the rotary tool. It was STILL too thick.

Instead of shaving more off the switch and possibly ruining it, I decided to shave some plastic off the opening. I took off the left side and the switch fit perfectly. I put back the original cover to see if it would stay on and it did. It was slightly loose side to side and now I know that I can uninstall this switch if I ever needed to put back to stock.

The final product. This is in the off position when the light is not on.

This is in the on position with the high-beams on. The indicator light glows orange. The light is on only when the lights are on which means that the switch has to be in the on position and the high-beams need to be on.

Not bad for $13. An FJ switch is about $50-$90 and you have to modify the connections for aftermarket lighting kits.

Roof Rack Mounts

I was reading about Hi-Lift jacks on fjcruiserforums and I came across a link on how to make your own cheap mounts for mounting the jack on the roof. So I decided to tackle this task since the custom mounts were $89 for two not including shipping. The price of these came out to about $29 for two. So I saved >$60 with little work involved!

I found some hexagonal racing weights that I bought for $12.50 a piece shipped and ordered four. Then I bought two 1/2 inch zinc coated steel bolts, four 1/2 washers, two 1/2 nuts, and two 1/2 lock nuts from Lowes. The bolts were threaded all the way up which made it much easier and cheaper than buying a die and threading the other side.

The nice thing about these is that you can use any wheel lock instead of the lock nut, which is easy to take off if you have an adjustable wrench, and it will keep your Hi-Lift from being stolen. No need for an additional lock.

Here is the procedure I used:


All parts for two clamps.

Bolt after top was dremmeled off. It took a little bit of work to get it to the point where the bolt would fit into it. This was the hardest part of the whole procedure. Took about 10 minutes per bolt to get it just right.

One of the guys at fjcruiserforums said to use a bolt to hold the post into the racing weight which I followed. Just screw in the thread to the racing weight, making sure that the bolt does not portrude through the other side or it will scratch your rack. Then put the bolt in and tighten.

This is the final product with washers and all.

Top view. I made sure to use the opposite side where the racing weight bolts were located. This way if you decide to mount the post on the top it won't collect water in the holes and possibly rust the bolts.

Side view of both clamps.



Front clamp.





Rear clamp.

Now off to buy a Hi-Lift!

FJammer modification

Well, after doing some research I found out that the FJammer can actually change colors as stated in the owner's manual. But there is another bonus - you can change the text that scrolls across when you turn on your FJ. Here are the steps to do this:

1. Place the key in ignition and turn the key once
2. Turn off radio
3. Push TEXT key for 5 seconds until TEXT MODE scrolls across the screen.
4. Turn on radio
5. Push the black audio button and the TEXT button together until you see the cursor blinking
6. Use the black button and turn it for the letters. Then push it to set the letter. A space is just the blinking underline.
7. Once done enetering then push the 1 button until it takes the text.
8. Turn off the radio.
9. Switch your car off then on to watch the scrolling

Here are some pictures of the color changes for each mode and the text:

Side Visor Installation

Larry decided to surprise me with his side visor install and thought it was a great idea after he said that it blocked all the tree shadows during the winter while driving up the parkway. Now I won't have to hold up my hand to the side of my head. :)

This is what the visor looks like.


Visor closeup of hooks. These were taken off with a rotary tool since cutting into the headliner might be a costly mistake if I puncture an airbag (again Larry's suggestion).


The two hooks taken off the back side of the visor with the rotary tool. Fairly flat now.

This is the driver's side handle. You pry the covers on the right and left side with a flat screwdriver. They come off fairly easily.

This is the handle with the screws showing. Just use any phillips screwdriver and take both off.

Headliner with the handle off.

Screwed back in and installed. Flat side goes forward and each of the visors have a L or a R on them to designate driver's - L, and passenger's - R sides. The lip of the visor should go on TOP of the handle. I accidentally reversed it when installing the passenger's side.

Placed back the covers and this is what it looks like down. It is out of the way when pushed up and barely noticable.

Hella 500 Auxiliary Brush Guard Lights Wiring

Well, after the brushguard install I waited for a nice day to wire up the cables and this weekend was it. I first laid out all the wiring in place and decided where to place the relay seen in the pictures below. Then I bought some wire loom at Home Depot to use to hide the wires and give it more of a factory look.

Step #1 - DISCONNECT THE BATTERY :)

This is a picture of the passenger light. You can see the wire loom and the ground cable coming out which I attached to the one of the bolts of the brushguard bracket. The ground cable is blue and the other cable coming out of the light is black. I soldered the black line to the black wire in the kit.

This is the driver's side light grounding wire which I attached to one of the hood cable bolts. I checked the continuity using a multimeter from both mounting points to make sure that it went to some point on the frame which it did. The black wire was again soldered to the black wire in the kit which goes to the relay.

This is what it looks like from the top. I used the loom to go under the hood release and then passed it through a hole underneath the driver side brushguard bracket. I also zip tied it to the two grille mounting points.

This is the back of the driver's side light which shows a couple of things that I did. First I passed the loom through the hole and passed it through underneath the battery tray where some other factory wiring was going through. I had to take the battery clamp off and slide it over a little to do so but in the end it looked great. I used zip ties again. There is also a blue splicer/connector that goes into the high-beam wire (red w/blue stripe) and connects it to the green wire of the Hella install kit. The green wire then goes all the way inside your car to the switch. You just place both wires in and use pliers to push down on the metal plate that goes through the insulation and touches both wires. It looks like a W.

This is the red wire that is used to connect

to the red terminal on the battery. Again I used wire loom between the battery and the fuse box to make it look good.

Here is a nifty place where I found I could mount the relay. I had to use the rotary tool to take the lip off so it would sit flat. You can see the lip on the other side. It was also a great spot to connect the blue ground wire from the relay to the chassis. I used the large rubber plug to push the wires into the cabin of the car. There is a little black nub that I sliced into to pass the wires. It seems to be there for some other wiring installation so I just decided to use it. It comes in right next to the pedals inside the car.

These are the two wires you need for the switch. The green went out to the splice of the high beam and the yellow was from the relay.

There was also a blue wire for grounding the switch which I had trouble figuring out where to put. I finally found a spot up near the rubber seal where a bolt could be placed. Since I had an extra I decided to use it as ground. Right now I have the switch just tucked under the dash until I can figure out how to mount it nicely.

Once I hooked up the battery again I flipped the switch and put on the high beams. They worked!

Another view.

In the dark. Looks ominous. It would look better with roof lights. :)

I also found out that they will stay on during the day unless you turn your switch off. The daytime running lights use a lower intensity of the high beam and powers on the auxiliary lights using the default installation instructions for the Hella 500's. So make sure to switch off the lights unless you're using them. :)

OEM Brushguard Install

Well, I couldn't pass up on all the people that were selling their OEM brushguard on fjcruiserforums.com so I picked one up. It looked brand new and it should fit nicely with the other mods that I'm planning on doing next - Lucrum mount and winch.

First I received the Hella 500 halogen driving lights which were to be mounted on the guard. Once I saw the covers with so much white all over I took the black plastic spray I used on the skid plate and painted them black. It looked much better. I only wish I had covered up the white letters where it says HELLA. NOTE: ***Install the lights on the guard PRIOR to installation. *** There is no way to put them on afterwards that I could see. The lights were still hard to bolt onto the brushguard when it was off.


I first took off the center grille by unscrewing the top two screws and taking off the two expanding black plugs. There are three white plugs on the bottom which hold the grille in so make sure you pull back so that the whole grille comes out perpendicular to the bumper. There are two long prongs on the top of the grille that will snap off if you take it off up or down.

Here's one side with the white plug on the bottom and the long prong on the top.

Here's the other side.

This is what the car looks like afterwards. I then taped off the bumper and the lights and put on the templates. The templates seem to have been reduced to a smaller size since I found the instructions on the internet. More on this later.

Once you look behind the top of the bumper you will see a bumper support bracket of sorts and it will have two of the black expansion plugs in it. Take those out since it will make the installation much easier once you loosen those up. I put in a bolt from the bottom and pushed up after the hole in the bumper was drilled.

Another picture of the plugs removed from the bumper support bracket.

Right brushguard support bracket installed. You have to take off the bolt on the right and the cap on the left (bottom of brush guard bracket) to put it on. You also must put it BEHIND the radiator support bracket. Once installed just tighten these two bolts along with the bolt provided on the top.

Top view showing radiator bracket in front of brush guard bracket.

Installed right side bracket.

Installed left hand bracket. This was very much like installing the right one except the mounting holes were in different places.
After the two brackets were set I placed the brushguard on top of the bumper and noticed that the template was not the correct size. I then proceeded by using a pencil and marking out the holes on the bracket onto the paper. Then I drilled some small pilot holes using the smallest available drill bit I had and looked around the general area where I had marked with the pencil. I found it on the second try for both sides. I then made a hole big enough to mount a bolt from underneath. I placed a washer on the bolt since I noticed that the bolt was too small for the bumper support bracket hole under the bumper and it would go through.

Top view of grille and brushguard. Not much room to work with when tightening bolts. It was very hard to do so.

This is what the nut looks like after tightening. I suggest that you put as much tape around the bottom of the grill guard prior to installing since I nicked mine with the bolt. You must also put the bolt so that it sticks up just a little bit from the bumper in order to fit the brushguard in place. It won't fit very easily if the bolt is sticking up all the way and almost impossible to do so. This actually took the longest!

Front view after installation and tightening. Nice painted blacked out covers and wires sticking out.

Side view.

Another front shot.

Full frontal picture with all the wires tucked in behind. Next will be to connect all the wires for the lights and somehow make the switch fit into the dashboard somewhere. I might just tuck the switch underneath the dash and use it when I need it for now until I can figure our a way to make it look nice on the dash.