Yakima Sparetime

I picked up a Sparetime from a very nice couple on Craigslist. They had picked it up this year and barely used it. Now that they were getting rid of their Jeep, they didn't need it. It was practically brand new.

The install was easy. I took off the spare tire, put on the plate with the large tongue and placed the tire back on. After placing the rack on with the knob fully tightened, it was very loose. I then took everything off and swapped in the medium tounge. With everything placed back on again, it fit perfectly.

Now I can open my trunk without having to swing out the old rack and I can use my rear parking sensors. The old rack sat behind the sensors and they would beep continuously if they were on while backing up. The old rack will still be used for family rides where I will carry more than two bikes.

I also noticed that the short tongue piece was missing. After contacting Yakima via email, they sent me the tongue, the bolt and a hex key to me the next day - free! This is one of the reasons I only buy Yakima products.

I might swap out the hitch next since I don't need to use it now. I noticed, when I bought it with the FJ, that it was crooked. I took a look under it recently and saw that it was bent underneath which caused a tilt towards the right.

New transmission

At 95k miles the FJ started stuttering at 2000 RPM when shifting from 3rd to 4th gear. I took it in to the dealership and they said they couldn't do anything about it since they didn't know what the issue was. After reading through the forums I saw a posting about the torque converter. I took it to another dealership and showed them the problem and told them what the issue was. They replaced the entire transmission with a remanufactured Toyota part after paying the difference from the aftermarket part that the extended warranty company wanted to install. Everything is working well now.

Black Out

I picked up a few silver pieces from the forum and sprayed them satin black.

First was the rear which is easy to take off with just screws and one plastic push holder.  The three silver parts were then very easy to take off.  Once the black parts were installed, the ladder caused a problem when placing the entire bumper in.  The door had to be partially open to get the bumper to slide in underneath.

Then the front was swapped to black.  You do not need to take the front bumper off.  Basically just take off 5 screws holding the plastic splash cover directly behind the bumper.  You can then squeeze an arm in there and pop off the white tabs holding the wings. Then just put on the black wings and make sure that all the tabs slide into the slots. The first was easy but the second wing didn't want to go in properly.  I finally was able to align all the tabs after three time of trying. The middle valence is easy to take off.  The bling skid plate does not need to be removed. You can place your arm through the large holes and get to the screws holding the valance.  For the top two screws you must take off the mesh. To do this, just locate the three plastic push holders between the radiator and the lights.  Once this is done, you can push in the plastic grate above the valence and have access to the top screws.  Unfortunately you will need a 10 mm flat wrench which I did not have with me that can be used to slide between the metal bumper and the screw. Once loosened it can be unscrewed by hand.  This will be done soon.

Finally got to the front valence.

GOBI Ladder

So I picked up a ladder from a local guy who rolled his FJ for a really good deal.  That was the good part.  The bad part - missing brackets.  So I call up GOBI.  Finally, after multiple emails that went unanswered and phone calls that weren't answered, I received the brackets over a month later.

I thought this would be an easy install but it was a little harder than I thought.  The lining up of the top bracket was easy.  Once the ladder was hung and the top bolts tightened, the bottom bracket was almost impossible to put on.  The ladder was sticking way below the door panel and the bottom bracket was not long enough to wedge into the bottom of the door.  So I added 3 washers on the top bracket to bring up the height of the ladder, which helped a little.  I then left the nuts loose so I could push the ladder up from bottom while I was placing on the bottom bracket.  I had to wedge the left side(looking from the outside) so that it would move up level with the right.  That was really hard to do while tightening the hex screw little by little since the allen wrench would hit the door after a quarter of a turn.  The bar for the rear door wasn't much fun either.

Once everything was tightened I noticed that the ladder was crooked.  I yanked it to straighten it and all was fixed.  What an ordeal.

I think the design needs to be reworked in the following areas:

1. The top bracket is straight where the left top side of the door (from outside) curves down.  This caused the ladder to sit crooked.  The top bracket should have accounted for that by making the left screw post higher than the right.

2.  The bottom bracket is way too short.  It should have been made longer on the sides in order to take into account the overhang on the bottom of the ladder.

3. The metal strip that is supposed to be for the screws is very flimsy.  The bottom bracket should be made so that there is a built in plate that moves when you adjust the screws.  This sheet metal with double sided tape "plate" was horrible.

Other than that it looks great once it's on.

External GPS Antenna Install

I kept losing satellite reception in certain areas and decided to purchase an external antenna for the OEM GPS unit.  Ebay had a ton of external antennas and I purchased the Garmin brand that fits the OEM handheld.  I had to cut the antenna in order to get the wire to pass through the firewall where I had passed all my other electrical connections for the auxiliary lights.  The connector for the antenna was just too big to force through.  So I bought a set of coaxial ends and a connector from RadioShack.  Once I had all the connections soldered on, I passed the connector that goes to the GPS through the hole where the power cable was and plugged it into the GPS.  It got much better reception with the external antenna.  The wiring was passed through the same way down the windshield channel as the auxiliary lights.

Coaxial connectors in gold.  Other cable is power from the cigarette lighter.

Connection on back of GPS for external antenna.  The other side with the cover still on is for a mini USB plug.

External antenna placed right behind the light bar (steel).  This antenna is very magnetic and also contains some sticky glue on the bottom for extra adhesion.  I tested with and without the antenna and it gave me at least 3-5 ft extra accuracy in this position.

5' Firestik II CB antenna / spring

Since my old antenna kept breaking on the weak point in the middle where a nylon separator screwed into the metal parts, I purchased a firestik II with tuneable tip.  It was easy to set up and all I did was modify my homemade mount/bracket by drilling bigger holes and insulating the antenna from ground.  Once it was up, I hooked up the SWR meter and tuned it.  It seemed to work best when the tip was screwed out as much as possible.  The SWR readings were much lower than that of the old antenna.

I also came up with a contraption to hook the antenna when not in use.  I had a few stainless steel items and chose the best one.  The rope on the other end was tied to the roof rack.  It bent the antenna just right and it did not touch the rear door.

The first time out with the antenna up, the homemade bracket swung way back and hit the plastic pieces.  To fix the problem I placed a bend in the bracket which touched the door hinge.  This kept it from swinging up and down.

SWR reading for channel 40 - Perfect.  No reflected signal whatsoever.

SWR reading for channel 1 - under 1.5

Antenna sticking straight up.  Only using a rope to hold it down.  The stainless steel contraption I made was slipping against the outside and rubbing the antenna.

Ocean City/Assateauge - Yakima RocketBox 12 / Roof Rack Mount Locks

Went to Ocean City in MD on Memorial Day weekend and needed way more space than I had in the trunk area so I decided to pick up a roof top box.  After researching all the soft rooftop bags and reading that they all leaked, I opted for the hard box.  The Yakima RocketBox fit perfectly on the stock roof rack cross bars.  The hard part was lining up everything to be sitting perfectly in the middle.  After that, it was simple and easy to load/unload since I have the rock rails to step on.  The box can also be opened from both sides which is convenient.

I decided to go offroad on the OSV trail in Assateauge.  Unfortunately the trail was backed up by three hours and, since we were on our way home, we decided to try it out next time we go.  It was nice seeing some of the horses and the beaches.  Also took a nice pic of the FJ, with the RocketBox, next to a flag when leaving Ocean City, which was very fitting for this weekend.  You can see the locking lug nuts I used on the roof rack mounts, which was much easier than using a bike lock.

OEM GPS install

I found a great deal on an OEM GPS that included the Garmin Quest 2 GPS and the installation kit that is installed where the dash storage compartment is located right above the steering wheel.  Installation was fairly simple.  First disconnect the battery.  Then take the center console apart by unscrewing the 4x4 shifter knob, take a few screws off and slide it back a few inches.  After this, you just take off a few tabs and hinge the console that has all the switches on it to reveal the cigarette lighter plug.  Disconnect it and add the harness that splits the lighter connection into two.  Plug in the lighter connection on one end while passing the other end with your hand up to the storage compartment area.  The compartment was easy to take off.  Two screws and a small screwdriver to pry one end up.  Then just pull up to take it off.  Once the compartment is off, it is quite easy to "thread" the connector from the cigarette lighter split to the dash/speaker kit.  It has a small white plug that you just plug in from underneath.  The wire leading up is then zip tied and the sponge tape wrapped around the zip tie areas.  Then just pop the dash/speaker kit into place and push down to pop the tabs in.  Two screws with covers and you're done.  Then just put in the GPS and turn the key.