Future Mods

My list of things to do so I don't forget.

1. Lucrum winch mount - http://www.lucrumind.com/ - might forego depending on price.
2. Winch - http://titanwinches.webs.com/tw1010000lbwinch.htm - dependent on Lucrum
3. Black Widow cargo basket - http://www.discount-trailers.com/roof_rack.htm - Basket won't fit to my standards. Need a small basket that will fit between bar lights and front bracket ~31"x39".
4. Brackets for mounting the shovel and axe - currently making a set from scratch. Might not work as I originally intended.
5. Box for all lighting relays that are under the hood to make everything look neater
6. Possible pexiglass wind fairing for the front of the light bar
7. Offroad tires
8. Hitch wiring harness
9. Subwoofer

TRD Exhaust

I found a great deal on a TRD exhaust and picked one up. Since Larry had installed his already, and I liked the look, I decided to put one on mine.

It took about 2 hours including using the rotary tool to break off the rear bolts which was the first thing I did. The front bolts with the springs were easy to take off. Next, after the 4 bolts were removed, I took some silicone spray and sprayed the rubber hangers. They were a breeze to take off. Then all that was necessary was to put the new TRD exhaust in place and hang it. The four bolts were very easy to install along with the rear gasket.

This is a picture of where the front part of the exhaust is bolted to the old pipes. The two bolts are spring loaded and torqued to spec.

This is a pic of the new muffler. The heat shield above doesn't need to be so large now. This TRD muffler is much smaller than the stock.

This is the rear pipe that bends over the rear axle. The right hand side is the tip shown in the following picture.

And finally the TRD tip. Nice!

Photo Shoot

Well, after I put everything that I'm going to do on the truck, washing it with the kids, and putting the Hi-Lift on the rack, I had Larry bring his nice digital camera out for taking some pics with the FJ. Take note of Larry's artistic abilities on the last picture. Here are the results:

Hella 500 Auxiliary Lights Bar Wiring

I thought it was time to wire up the light bar and decided to poke around to see how I could set up the wires without having to drill through the roof. There was a spot down the channel of the window where it looked like I could pass two wires without any issues. From there I was able to pass it through the engine bay.


First I had to take off the plastic cover so I could grab the wires. I broke off the tab on one of the fasteners closest to the window but I just used a regular fastener and it worked fine.

Plastic cover taken off. The relays were just mounted in the same spot where the brush guard relays were. I just wound some electrical tape around them and they were fine.

This is where I channeled the wire through. There's enough depth on the window seal to squeeze two wires in. I then found some 3M door edge guard that was chromed, spray painted it flat black and stuck it on. You can't even tell that the FJ isn't made like that unless you look at the other side. It's very unnoticeable.

I loosened the bolts on the roof rack and passed the wires underneath the rubber part. This actually held the wires tight enough to hold them in the groove between the white panels. At first I had the ground for the lights going to a bolt on the light bar. Since this didn't work, I decided to take out my multimeter and check continuity on the bolts for the roof rack. The bolt worked great. I took off the rear one and screwed the connector into it.

The results. When I was standing in front of them they were so warm that it was almost like having a small heater. I haven't tested them in the dark yet, but when I do, I'll take some pictures.

Tuffy Light Bar Install

Right side before bolting lights on bar. I used some loom from Home Depot and electrical tape to make it look decent.


Left side. The rear cover is held in place using the bolts from the lights. Once it was in place, all the loom is not visible. The curved part of the loom was a little hard to tuck in so I suggest that you don't leave any slack as I did.

Finally mounted and aligned. Had to measure each side to make sure the bar was level on the roof rack. I used a couple of towels on the roof to make sure that the bar didn't scratch the paint. I used a smaller towel that I folded to lift the sides of the bar to the correct height and then tightened the bolts. The lights were also aligned so that they were perpendicular to the roof. The covers were again sprayed with black plasti-dip so that they match the brush guard lights.

Another pic from the front.

Side shot of clamps and bolts. Looks good besides the silver bolts. I might eventually swap them out for black ones.

Angled picture. The electrical tape on the right is just holding the wires where I plan on making a plug. Wiring them up will be sometime in the near future when I can find a non-drill method that looks clean. If not then drilling will be my second option using some silicone auto sealant that one of the members of fjcruiserforums suggested using. One nice option about this bar is that you can mount it on the top of the roof rack using the holes you see on the bottom of the bar so that the lights sit a little higher. The option I chose actually gives me about 5 inches to the top of the garage door. So if I want to lift the FJ a few inches it would be feasible.

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: