Little Girl the 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser

[theBROFESSOR]

I forgot to post this earlier. I purchased some non-traditional on board air for the FJ. The reason I purchased this is that you can get so many different things to run off of the Ridgid Batteries that are sold at Home Depot. Here is a review that I did on the little battery powered air compressor from Ridgid.

https://www.overlandbound.com/forums/threads/ridgid-tools-18v-cordless-air-compressor-non-traditional-on-board-air.12728/

This past week the wife also bought a wet/dry vac to clean out the Oztent that is also powered by the batteries. She is a clean freak and doesn't like to get grass and dirt in the living area of the tent so this thing is perfect. We love it.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/RIDGID-18-Volt-GEN5X-Cordless-Brushless-Vacuum-Tool-Only-with-Floor-Nozzle-Crevice-Nozzle-and-2-ft-Extention-Tube-R86090B/207041080

And a fan. She is one of those who has to sleep with a fan on. This fan is really nice, has constant white noise and moves a ton of air. We are very pleased with it.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/RIDGID-18-Volt-GEN5X-Hybrid-Fan-Tool-Only-R860720B/205907844

Also right now Home Depot is still running their Christmas special where you get 2 batteries for the price of one. And they have a lifetime warrantee on them. We have 4 of them now and they will last us a whole weekend trip without having to be recharged. Plus my FJ has a 110 outlet in the rear so I can take the charger and recharge them while driving on longer trips.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/RIDGID-18-Volt-HYPER-Lithium-Ion-Battery-Pack-4-0Ah-2-Pack-AC840087P/205999648

Very pleased with this setup. Hope Ridgid comes out with a chainsaw also as some of the other companies have. If not I will get the battery powered sawzall so that I can cut up kindling for fires and remove large branches out of the path on the trails if needed.

BROfessor Out

 

[theBROFESSOR]

I was inspired by @Michael who did a hood blackout on his Land Cruiser
https://www.overlandbound.com/anti-glare-hood-blackout/

So I decided to do my own on the FJ. I have been teetering back and forth about doing this to the whole rig, so I figured why not do a trial run on the hood to see how hard it is and if I am capable of doing it or not. I went down the local Wal-Mart and picked up a couple cans of their Rustoleum brand bed liner, a sponge-sandpaper gadget, some painters tape and went to work.


Note to self...if you're going to be doing some spray painting with other vehicles around (such as a city own police patrol car) you might not want to pick the windiest day of the year. But that wouldn't stop me. I had some large piece of cardboard which my Oztent had just been shipped in so I cut some out, wedged it between the front passenger door and the hood and went to town.


After a couple coats of the spray, I went back and picked up a quart of the bedliner and a small roller and rolled on a couple more coats to provide a little thicker coating. It took a few days to do this. I was surprised that the tape stayed on through several rainstorms, but it held and I was able to complete it finally yesterday while it was warm and sunny. Love how it turned out.

My wife even complemented my work. That's odd. lol

Brofessor Out

 

[theBROFESSOR]

Little video I did of my blacked out hood with my body camera.

 

[theBROFESSOR]

With the help of my master craftsman uncle, we worked together to build some rear storage drawers for the FJ. We were going to go light but decided to build it heavy duty since I would most likely attach (at some point) and fridge slide and other things on top of it. So we made it completely out of 3/4" plywood. I looked around for a while on the internet and finally found a design I liked that would fit what I do best. This is what we came up with.

The left side is just a drawer and the right side has a hinged top that folds out into a table. After I got it back home, I went to the local Wal-Mart and bought a couple quarts of bedliner, a brush and roller. Put it on the front porch and proceeded to paint the whole thing to protect the wood from the weather.


Got it all painted up and the hardware reinstalled and then put inside the vehicle.

Shot a little video to show everyone how I installed it and how awesome I think it looks.

Love it! Til next time BROfessor Out!

 

[MrCoffee]

Really enjoying your build thread here! Love the FJ's.... just a bit outta my price range at the moment, but there's always hope :)

 

[theBROFESSOR]

Did a little custom DIY bumper brush guard on my Smittybilt bumper. The Demello front bumper, the Evil Eye, is the one I really liked but the price difference was pretty incredible for me. So I decided to do my own little version of it at the welding shop. Turned out really nice. Getting the bumper off to do the work was not that bad. But getting it back on was a nightmare. Almost got a divorce but we made it. lol

this is the result. Love how it turned out.

Just got back from Brazil over Spring Break. Have several things to do to the Little Girl. Should have a lot to post in the upcoming weeks.

Til next time. BROfessor Out

 

[theBROFESSOR]

So I guess the things that I have put in my drawers in the rear storage area (tools, hammer for stakes, hatchet, jumper cables, etc.) are a little to heavy, the drawers will not stay closed going down the road or when I pull into my driveway face first. It's a little sloped. So I found a little piece of metal and screwed it down between the drawers where I can rotate it to open and then rotate it to keep them shut. Small thing to add here but effective and it keeps me from going insane driving in town with the drawers opening and closing and opening and closing...

Then I had my wife help me lift the box and plug a flat head extension cord I picked up from Lowe's into the 110 outlet in the rear so that I am able to use it again. Its a short 6' cord so it tucked neatly behind my subwoofer. So nice that I am able to use this again to power up and recharge my Ridgid batteries that I use for almost everything.

Lots of things planned for the near future. Til then...BROfessor Out

 

[theBROFESSOR]

The Little Girl got some new wheels. I just had to get away from the stock wheels. Not really a "stock" kind of guy lol. I found these wheels the last time we went and visited the local 4wheelparts store in Little Rock and fell in love.

Really would go well with my grey, black and red theme I had going and would get rid of the chrome/aluminum that I had going with the stock. Don't want anything shiny on this Little Girl! So we went for it and ordered them up through our local tire shop and they look amazing! LOVE them! Completely change up the looks of the FJ. Kept the 2" spacers on there for a wide stance. Have some rubbing issues so I'm probably going to have to remove the fender flares. We will see.

And there she is. She is loving her new shoes!

Til next time...BROfessor Out!

 

[Joey83]

Great story BROfessor! :D

 

[theBROFESSOR]

Great story BROfessor! :D

Thank you. She is coming along nicely.

 

[Mrgalantguy]

Love the build. I really like the awning you have and the mounting solutions you did for the shovel and highlift.

 

[theBROFESSOR]

Love the build. I really like the awning you have and the mounting solutions you did for the shovel and highlift.

Thank you. I love The Foxwing. It is amazing. And the mounts for the shovel and axe I can’t take complete credit for...someone posted the idea and I just followed directions. Lol

 

[theBROFESSOR]

I know the FJ's have the secret compartment on the dash and it holds my Glock 26 perfectly but I was wanting something a little more easily accessible. In some situations time is everything and being a police officer, officer safety is the first thing they teach. So I did some research and found this handy little gadget called the Keeper Gun Magnet.

http://keeper.mg/

I was skeptical at first. A magnet holding a gun while going over rough terrain that will sometimes shake the fillings in my teeth loose? Probly will spend most of my time picking the gun up off the floorboard. Well for the price of around $23 I really didn't think I would be out that much to try it so I did. Mounted it in the Little Girl just beside my right knee on the console.


gun mounts perfectly to it and holds very well no matter how rough the roads are.

Comes off with just a pull and works better than I imagined. So if you decide you want to come up to my vehicle and rob me...I've got a little .38 cal surprise for you. lol.

BROfessor Out

 

[Joey83]

Love what you have done to the FJ so far, keep it up! :D

 

[theBROFESSOR]

Love what you have done to the FJ so far, keep it up! :D

Thank you much my BROther! I look forward to one day visiting your country! So very beautiful!

 

[Joey83]

You (and anyone else) are welcome here whenever you want! :)

 

[theBROFESSOR]

Apparently the stuff that I put in my rear storage boxes (tent stakes, recovery gear, lights, tools etc.) was a little heavy for the drawer slides to keep closed. They started opening and shutting each time I took off and stopped. Open..shut. Open...shut. Driving me insane. So I stopped off at the local Ace Hardware store and picked up a couple $6 clasp hinge latch thingies and installed them. Took about 3 minutes but definitely helps my sanity. lol

 

[theBROFESSOR]

I have been having trouble...well its not actually trouble, but it is a pain having to work my Gaia maps and record my routes and run my GoPro at the same time. So the wife and I went to the local SAM's club and I picked up a little 8" Samsung tablet to do one or the other and ordered a RAM tablet mount from Amazon to hold my little tablet. Perfect mounting spot out of the way of the DRMGRL who is always being my copilot and in perfect view for me. Works out really nice. Now if I can only figure out how to download the maps onto the tablet without completely filling up the memory of the tablet and locking it up I'll be set. lol


My mechanic is installing new brakes, rotors, front axles and my new Volant snorkel today. So excited! Pics to follow.

BROfessor Out

 

[theBROFESSOR]

Got these cool stickers and magnets that state that I am a Trail Guardian. This will now be a permanent part of the Little Girl as we will do our best to make sure we do our part to keep our trails clean and open.

 

[theBROFESSOR]

I was wanting a better place to store water. We carry several Nalgene bottles and other containers full of water but I looked at the Rotopax water containers and thought that would work really well. Always needing something to hold stuff OUTSIDE the FJ because there is so little room inside to carry things. So after I purchased a Rotopax mount for my Garvin rack that goes over my spare tire, I picked up a Rotopax water container and the Rotopax mount. Then I found this spout on the internet where you could mount your Rotopax upside down and then attach the spout for instant water at any moment without ever having to take the Rotopax off of the vehicle. Genius!

So I found a good deal on the web, cheaper than Amazon actually and gave it a shot.
http://www.gowesty.com/product/fuel-water-storage/24473/spout-kit-for-rotopax-water-container
works very well. Used it quite a bit the last time we went out.

I hope to beef up the mounting for my Garvin rack so that I am able to hold 2 Rotopax on each side to hold water on one side and gas on the other. Perfect for what I do.

Have a great week!

BROfessor Out!