Corey's 2007 FJ Cruiser built for expedtion/overland, & daily driver

Corey

OverCamping Specialist
Yes, extensions and splitters are definitely available. Lots of options available including where cable exits male end (top, side), flat or round cable, length, etc. Just search on Amazon or similar. I use one to tuck an OBD2 dongle behind a panel in my lower dash. It was going to get torn out by my knee otherwise. Here are a couple examples (links go to Amazon) of what is available, though I can't specifically recommend one:

http://a.co/c2pYaPf

http://a.co/5DRUn6C
Thanks, those links are useful for sure.
 

Corey

OverCamping Specialist
Adventure Tool Company Medium Pouch Added 2-11-2017

I bought another item from Adventure Tool Company, the medium sized tool pouch.
This one is for screwdrivers and misc. crap as you can see from the two Velcro patches on the pouch.
No more screwdrivers and other stuff rattling around in my smallest of my three cargo drawers.
The bag comes with one patch of your choosing, and you pay for a second patch, pretty nice to name what is inside of the pouch.

I also took some time and rearranged my drawers some, and pulled out the full size hammer.
I do not think I really need it, as the Gerber Bear Gryll's hatchet can be used as a hammer.
The plastic hammer you see if one I have had since my backpacking days 2.5 decades or so ago to drive in tent stakes.
I still use it to pound in tent stakes for my awning, the shower/crapper tent, and the Coleman lantern stand.

These tool bags are awesome, now go buy some!

Links:

Tool Pouches, available in two sizes, I went with the medium one as none of my screwdrivers are over a foot long

Pictures:

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Pouch stuffed with screwdrivers and a few misc. crap items

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The WrenchRoll, Tool Pouch, and SportRoll side by side

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Drawers opened showing better organization

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Closeup of all three Adventure Tool Company items
 

Corey

OverCamping Specialist
Second Set Of Maxtrax Added 2-17-2017

Friday afternoon at the mods!
Yep, added another pair just now.
Why???
I also use my Maxtrax for leveling the FJ Cruiser when camped on uneven terrain, and two is not enough sometimes.
Now if I need to level both the front and rear, I am covered.

I went for Stealth Black Maxtrax this time around, as I really do not need the bright orange as I do not do mud where the orange would be beneficial if they get buried.
These are handy for sand as well, and they stand less of a chance of disappearing into sand than they would in mud or very loose dirt on a trail.

Bought these from the fine folk's at CVT Tents, same place I got my Outer Limits first aid kit from.

Link:

MAXTRAX MKII

Pictures:

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Nice sturdy box, and wrapped with bubble wrap to protect them

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Back in black!

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Got some Oreo Cookie action goin' on here
Yes, the BajaRack ladder is in dire need of a new powder coating, disappointed in how it is peeling.

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Rotopax water jerrycans and Maxtrax secured with a heavy duty Kryptonite cable and lock, as that is a lotta moola sittin' on the hind end

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Filthy rig from the snow last week, needs a good bath some day
 

Corey

OverCamping Specialist
ARB Intensity LED Lightbar Installed 3-3-2017

When I saw this lightbar last year in development I knew I was going to get one as it will compliment the two ARB Intensity LED round light I had installed on my ARB front bumper over the summer.

This has the same beam pattern, spot on the left side, and flood on the right side like my round lights.
Like the round lights, the lightbar is designed by ARB, but actually made by Rigid Industries in the USA, so you know it is of the most excellent high quality.

I talked with John the owner of Auburn Car Repair & Offroad earlier in the week, and the wiring harnesses had just shown up on Wednesday at ARB headquarters which is a few blocks away from John's shop.
I do believe I may be the first rig in the USA to have these, but not 100% sure.
ARB had another lightbar on display in their showroom, but no harness for it yet late last year.

These lights will burn your retinas for sure, so they are not for use at all if you have traffic in front of you or coming at you.
I have been using my round ones on the way into work in the wee hours of the morning when there is no traffic, and it is light night and day compared to just the stock headlights.

Will try and get a video at a later date in the dark and update my thread with it.
I could go with another one on top of my rack by the BajaRack spoiler, but I had bad experience years ago with my '91 4RUnner with Hella 500s up there, it reflected off the hood, they were pretty much useless, but they looked cool
laugh.gif


Links:

ARB Intensity LED 20 Inch LED Light Bar - Combo Beam (AR40CARMP)

Auburn Car Repair & Offroad

Video from ARB they just released March 2nd 2017:


Pictures:

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Upper switch is for the lightbar, middle switch is for the rocklights, and the bottom switch is for the round ARB lights, and with the key on, the switches light up green when the lights are off
Some of you may remember the upper switch was for the round ones, and I wanted the tech to put the new lightbar switch above the old one, but alas there was no room.
So he swapped the wires on the first switch over to the new lightbar since the lightbar is higher up on the bumper than the round ones.
Worked out great!

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When the lights are turned on, the switches light up amber

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All LED lights off

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Upper lightbar on only

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Both the lightbar and round lights on

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Headlights turned on too on low, they do not stand a chance to outshine these ARB Intensity LED lights
 

Corey

OverCamping Specialist
Added Rotopax Fuel Can 3-4-2017

Took off one of my 2 gallon Rotopax water jerry cans, and swapped in a 2 gallon fuel can.
Having the two water ones would be nice, but still not enough H2O for a long camping trip, so I will still have to carry water inside the rig.

I figure it might not be a bad idea to carry a little extra fuel, that is about 32 miles worth of fuel if I get low.

Link:

2 Gallon Gasoline

Pictures:

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Corey

OverCamping Specialist
Tons of good stuff on this rig! I'm getting all kinds of ideas... Nice build!
Thank you very much James.
I just picked up the Eezi-awn 270 Bat awning yesterday, but I may have to have beefier mounts built for it.
The ones holding my Campinglabs awning may or may not work.

If the weather gives me a chance to work on the rig this weekend, I will be doing a few things and updating my thread here.
In the meantime, here is a video from Paul May at Equipt Expeditions where I got the awning from.

 

Corey

OverCamping Specialist
Relocated Fire Extinguisher And Mounted Fiskars Axe 3-19-2017

Took the fire extinguisher off of my Springtail Solutions rack/table from my rear door, and relocated it to the Springtail Mpac Siderack next to the Powertank.
With it in the other location, I had to take it out of its holder whenever I wanted to put the table down to do any cooking on the rear table.

Also picked up a Fiskars X15 chopping axe at 23.5" long.
I like the axe after watching videos and seeing reviews on it, as it has a wedge shape in the head which helps with splitting firewood.
All set now for campfire wood duties with the small Gerber Bear Grylls hatchet I picked up over the winter for kindling, and the Katanaboy folding saw for sawing up downed limbs/logs.

I had some Quick-Fist mounts from some Four Trek mounts I use to use on the stock roof rack when I had an axe and shovel mounted up there oh so long ago.
I did move the first aid kit to the far right, it was over to the left some before, but I had to move it so the axe would clear.

I was also able to keep the Molle bag on the rear door that holds the two new small backpacking type stoves I just got, a couple of fuel bottles, a small MSR cookpot, and plastic silverware.
The table folds down now with no problems with having to remove anything first like I did before with the fire extinguisher.

Links:

Fiskars X15 Chopping Axe, 23.5-Inch

GERBER Bear Grylls Survival Hatchet

Silky KatanaBoy Professional Series, 500mm XL Teeth

Pictures:

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Quickfist mounts bolted to the rack

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Fiskar axe all mounted up

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Table down with the two stoves, and a few pots on them I picked up over the winter
I often use those inside my home as they are non stick, and very light weight.

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Shot with the Gerber hatchet and Katanaboy 500 saw

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Another shot of the hatchet and Katanaboy

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The Adventure Tool Company Toolroll sure came in handy today

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With the Molle bag back in place again on the rack

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Fire extinguisher in its new home, only the 4th time it has been relocated, and hopefully the last
 

Yuman Desert Rat

Expedition Leader
Thank you very much James.
I just picked up the Eezi-awn 270 Bat awning yesterday, but I may have to have beefier mounts built for it.
The ones holding my Campinglabs awning may or may not work.

If the weather gives me a chance to work on the rig this weekend, I will be doing a few things and updating my thread here.
In the meantime, here is a video from Paul May at Equipt Expeditions where I got the awning from.


Let us know how you like the awning.... thats a REAL nice Hundy in his video.. ;)
 

Offroadmuch

Explorer
I have always thought about getting one of those scan gauge tools in the past, but never got around to it.
I saw a post the other day by Lifestyle Overland on Facebook, and he had a tablet running in his 4Runner with the Torque app from Android running on it, and I was intrigued since I run an NVIDIA Shield tablet for the Gaia GPS/Mapping app in my rig for logging future campsites.

I asked him about the device he he was using in his OBDII port, and he said it was the BAFX Products one which is highly rated on Amazon.
I bought it via Amazon, and I went to the Play Store on my PC, and bought the Torque Pro app, and told it to send the file to my NVIDIA Shield tablet.
I like how you can be on a computer, but tell it to go to your phone of your tablet, very neat!

I have never looked at my OBDII port before, but I had an idea where it was since the emissions place hooks up their scanning cable to it when you go to get your emissions done here every other year.

I plugged in the device, and a red LED came on like it was suppose to.
Since the port has power all the time, the light will remain on when the rig is off, no biggy, very small current draw.

The instructions for the device to pair it with the Torque Pro app is very simple.
Have the scanner plugged into the port, fire up the rig, then go to your Android device and have it scan for new devices, and it said OBDII in there, and I selected it, typed in 1234 for the code.
Then you open up the Torque app, and it fired right up with the tachometer showing me my RPMs.
You have a few different screen you can go through, and I selected the one that shows all of the gauges on there such as tach, vacuum, water temperature, and a few others.
I will have to play around with it more later to see if I can add in more gauges.

Overall, I am pretty happy with it.

Links:

Android Bluetooth Wireless OBDII Reader & Scan Tool - For Android Devices Only

(Via Amazon)
BAFX Products 34t5 Bluetooth OBDII Scan Tool for Android Devices


Torque Pro (OBD 2 & Car) Not for IOS yet

Picture and a movie:

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Movie on theTorque app not working? I would love to see transmission temp. On my truck...
 

El Gordo

EL Gordo
I want to see your guitars! (I play too).
you guys got me thinking about an FJ...but dam! that stuff for them is expensive! I've always been a full size chebby guy. I have a project suburban for me & my grandson to work on and travel in. I do like your rig. Well thought out.
 

Corey

OverCamping Specialist
I want to see your guitars! (I play too).
you guys got me thinking about an FJ...but dam! that stuff for them is expensive! I've always been a full size chebby guy. I have a project suburban for me & my grandson to work on and travel in. I do like your rig. Well thought out.
Thanks, it has been a work in progress for sure.

Here are all of my guitars, mostly PRS with a 2012 Gibson SG '61 Reissue, and that little Fernandes guitar being the odd ones.

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