Corey's 2007 FJ Cruiser built for expedtion/overland, & daily driver
- Thread starter Corey
- Start date
SirCampalot
Adventurer
Ahh... one of my favorite rigs from the fjcruiserforums! :victory:
Corey
OverCamping Specialist
BajaRack's FJ ladder installed 3-21-2009 (Part II)
OK, there was definitely something wrong with my first ladder as the holes drilled on top of the ladder where not aligned correctly.
Plus my bottom bracket kept popping off and also knocking off the doors shock that holds it in the open position.
Ladder number two arrived Friday the 20th of March, and I dug into it this morning.
I hope this is the last time I have to take off my spare tire now for the ladder.
The new ladders upper part has the holes drilled correctly, and there is a new surprise, the bottom bracket has been totally redesigned with a hook that ties the bottom bracket and the bottom ladder together to keep them both tight and to prevent the bottom bracket from popping off the door.
I have not had time to take it fir a road test yet to see if any flex pops off the doors shock again, but I will know by Sunday when I go grocery shopping.
Onto the new installation.
Tools needed:
13 mm Gear wrench and open end wrench on one end for the top bracket.
14 mm Gear wrench and open end wrench for the bottom bracket.
Assortment of Allen wrenches.
Pictures one and two show the ladder fresh out of the box and the brackets.
Note the new bolt that ties in the bottom bracket and the bottom of the ladder flange.
Picture three shows the new and improved ear above the wrench that now lets you get a ratchet wrench on.
Before for just that bolt I had to use the open end of the wrench.
Picture four shows the bottom bracket and the new bolt that ties it and the ladder together.
Picture five shows a different angle of the bottom bracket bolt.
Picture six shows where I lined up my top bracket in relation to the top of the door.
Picture seven shows indeed the holes are aligned correctly, not out of alignment like my first ladder was.
Picture eight shows the bottom bracket from the inside view with it tightened down.
Picture nine shows an outside view of the bottom bracket and ladder now tied in with that new bolt flange system that was revised for the new ladder I received.
Picture ten a view of the ladder in place without the spare tire.
Picture eleven shows the clearance with the spare tire on.
It is barely up against the 285x70x17 tire.
Picture twelve shows the spare tire back in place.
OK, there was definitely something wrong with my first ladder as the holes drilled on top of the ladder where not aligned correctly.
Plus my bottom bracket kept popping off and also knocking off the doors shock that holds it in the open position.
Ladder number two arrived Friday the 20th of March, and I dug into it this morning.
I hope this is the last time I have to take off my spare tire now for the ladder.
The new ladders upper part has the holes drilled correctly, and there is a new surprise, the bottom bracket has been totally redesigned with a hook that ties the bottom bracket and the bottom ladder together to keep them both tight and to prevent the bottom bracket from popping off the door.
I have not had time to take it fir a road test yet to see if any flex pops off the doors shock again, but I will know by Sunday when I go grocery shopping.
Onto the new installation.
Tools needed:
13 mm Gear wrench and open end wrench on one end for the top bracket.
14 mm Gear wrench and open end wrench for the bottom bracket.
Assortment of Allen wrenches.
Pictures one and two show the ladder fresh out of the box and the brackets.
Note the new bolt that ties in the bottom bracket and the bottom of the ladder flange.
Picture three shows the new and improved ear above the wrench that now lets you get a ratchet wrench on.
Before for just that bolt I had to use the open end of the wrench.
Picture four shows the bottom bracket and the new bolt that ties it and the ladder together.
Picture five shows a different angle of the bottom bracket bolt.
Picture six shows where I lined up my top bracket in relation to the top of the door.
Picture seven shows indeed the holes are aligned correctly, not out of alignment like my first ladder was.
Picture eight shows the bottom bracket from the inside view with it tightened down.
Picture nine shows an outside view of the bottom bracket and ladder now tied in with that new bolt flange system that was revised for the new ladder I received.
Picture ten a view of the ladder in place without the spare tire.
Picture eleven shows the clearance with the spare tire on.
It is barely up against the 285x70x17 tire.
Picture twelve shows the spare tire back in place.
Corey
OverCamping Specialist
BajaRack's FJ ladder installed 3-21-2009 (Part II)
Continued, ten picture limit here.
Overall it seems to fit better than the old ladder since it has the holes drilled correctly on top, and with the newly designed bottom bracket holding the ladder and it more securely together.
Links:
BajaRack
The FJ Cruiser ladder
Continued, ten picture limit here.
Overall it seems to fit better than the old ladder since it has the holes drilled correctly on top, and with the newly designed bottom bracket holding the ladder and it more securely together.
Links:
BajaRack
The FJ Cruiser ladder
Corey
OverCamping Specialist
Thanks Craig.
I hope to get out some too this summer.
Most of it will be for camping though.
We have a YotaTech campout planned for early June if we get good weather, then of course I hope to camp somewhere for a whole week.
Maybe Mt. Rainier again like last year.
Good weather is finally coming to WA. state tomorrow with no rain in site until late next week.
The rig needs a bath bad, it has been since September.
Then Sunday I hope to crack open the tent and wash the bedding and test out a 12v heating bunk pad I picked up to try some winter camping with next year.
I hope to get out some too this summer.
Most of it will be for camping though.
We have a YotaTech campout planned for early June if we get good weather, then of course I hope to camp somewhere for a whole week.
Maybe Mt. Rainier again like last year.
Good weather is finally coming to WA. state tomorrow with no rain in site until late next week.
The rig needs a bath bad, it has been since September.
Then Sunday I hope to crack open the tent and wash the bedding and test out a 12v heating bunk pad I picked up to try some winter camping with next year.
Corey
OverCamping Specialist
PowerFilm Solar Panel installed 6-27-2009
Normally I would post the installation of a mod like this in this ongoing buildup thread here, but I felt the addition of the solar panel was worthy of its own thread.
Here is a link to the installation of the solar panel.
http://expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28712
Normally I would post the installation of a mod like this in this ongoing buildup thread here, but I felt the addition of the solar panel was worthy of its own thread.
Here is a link to the installation of the solar panel.
http://expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28712
Corey
OverCamping Specialist
Engel Wireless Thermometer and tent shelf installed 7-10-2009
Thank you very much Don.
Two mods today, been busy all morning.
First up is the new Engel Wireless Thermometer that I bought from Wil at Sierra Expeditions.
First pictures shows the transmitter next to the receiver for size comparison.
Second picture shows the transmitter sitting in the fridge.
I did not use the supplied Velcro to attach it anywhere, as I want the option of putting it where I want once the grub is packed inside the fridge.
Third picture shows the receiver that can display the time, outside temperature, and the fridge temperature.
It is off by a few degrees (higher on the Engel unit) compared to the readout that comes stock on the ARB fridge.
Not sure which is the more accurate, I guess I could get one of these dial gauge thermometers and set it inside to check it out.
I find the range on this though is not eighty feet like they claim, in fact when I had the receiver up on my dash it would not pick up the temp of the fridge, it showed the old temp from when sitting in my home.
These need to be real close, hence why I used the Velcro and stuck the receiver onto the fridge.
My intentions for adding the Engel thermometer was so I could monitor the fridge at night while in the AirLand tent, or driving down the road.
I will try switching out the batteries in the transmitter and see if I can get a longer range like they claim.
What inspired me to buy this was a thread I read here on Expo.
Links:
Engel Wireless Thermometer
Next up is the "Bjorno Maggiolina roof top tent mod.
Saw a thread over on fjcruiserforums.com by Bjorno who has the exact same tent model I do, the AutoHome Maggiolina AirLand medium.
I found camping in mine last year there is no storage space in the tent, and having a shelf like this is nice to put your shows up on.
The shelf is to small to put my BadBags duffel on, and way to heavy too.
But it can be used to store other stuff besides shoes/boots.
I was gong to try and install mine without cutting out the thirteen ribs like he did, but I would have had to tie the shelf with something to the lifting mechanism of the tent, and that would be kind of a pain.
His method worked out pretty good.
I cut the thirteen ribs out, and set the 16" arms along the tenth inward support rib.
This puts it at an almost level position.
Pretty simple to do, you just bend the tabs over with some adjustable pliers so they will anchor into the top of the roof top tents area which is made that way to hold the custom pockets that AutoHome sells (comes stock on the higher priced Maggiolina models) to put up there to use as pockets to hold stuff in.
Before I put my dirty shoes into a dishpan and stored it on the bed.
Kind of in the way while I slept, this will be nicer not bumping into it during the night.
I can put my Cabelas LED lantern up there, a box of nosewipes, flashlight, or other stuff up there that normally lays on the bed and gets kicked around.
Here are a few pictures of the installation.
Links:
Bjorno's thread on how he made the shelf
ClosetMaid shelf model 51041 from Lowe's
Bjorno's was a different part number, but it appears to be the exact same one as his.
Thank you very much Don.
Two mods today, been busy all morning.
First up is the new Engel Wireless Thermometer that I bought from Wil at Sierra Expeditions.
First pictures shows the transmitter next to the receiver for size comparison.
Second picture shows the transmitter sitting in the fridge.
I did not use the supplied Velcro to attach it anywhere, as I want the option of putting it where I want once the grub is packed inside the fridge.
Third picture shows the receiver that can display the time, outside temperature, and the fridge temperature.
It is off by a few degrees (higher on the Engel unit) compared to the readout that comes stock on the ARB fridge.
Not sure which is the more accurate, I guess I could get one of these dial gauge thermometers and set it inside to check it out.
I find the range on this though is not eighty feet like they claim, in fact when I had the receiver up on my dash it would not pick up the temp of the fridge, it showed the old temp from when sitting in my home.
These need to be real close, hence why I used the Velcro and stuck the receiver onto the fridge.
My intentions for adding the Engel thermometer was so I could monitor the fridge at night while in the AirLand tent, or driving down the road.
I will try switching out the batteries in the transmitter and see if I can get a longer range like they claim.
What inspired me to buy this was a thread I read here on Expo.
Links:
Engel Wireless Thermometer
Next up is the "Bjorno Maggiolina roof top tent mod.
Saw a thread over on fjcruiserforums.com by Bjorno who has the exact same tent model I do, the AutoHome Maggiolina AirLand medium.
I found camping in mine last year there is no storage space in the tent, and having a shelf like this is nice to put your shows up on.
The shelf is to small to put my BadBags duffel on, and way to heavy too.
But it can be used to store other stuff besides shoes/boots.
I was gong to try and install mine without cutting out the thirteen ribs like he did, but I would have had to tie the shelf with something to the lifting mechanism of the tent, and that would be kind of a pain.
His method worked out pretty good.
I cut the thirteen ribs out, and set the 16" arms along the tenth inward support rib.
This puts it at an almost level position.
Pretty simple to do, you just bend the tabs over with some adjustable pliers so they will anchor into the top of the roof top tents area which is made that way to hold the custom pockets that AutoHome sells (comes stock on the higher priced Maggiolina models) to put up there to use as pockets to hold stuff in.
Before I put my dirty shoes into a dishpan and stored it on the bed.
Kind of in the way while I slept, this will be nicer not bumping into it during the night.
I can put my Cabelas LED lantern up there, a box of nosewipes, flashlight, or other stuff up there that normally lays on the bed and gets kicked around.
Here are a few pictures of the installation.
Links:
Bjorno's thread on how he made the shelf
ClosetMaid shelf model 51041 from Lowe's
Bjorno's was a different part number, but it appears to be the exact same one as his.
Last edited:
Corey
OverCamping Specialist
BajaRack MG model Installed 4-28-2010
Much of this info is already in a separate thread for the new rack, but I need to update my buildup thread with the info.
Been running my Maggiolina AirLand roof top tent for a little over two years on the stock FJ Cruisers rack.
While it works, it is not the best as in the COG is very high, and I get buffeted around on the freeway at speeds over 50 miles per hour when there is any amount of wind.
Last year we had a discussion at fjcruiserforums.com about a possible rack made just for the Maggiolina and Columbus style tents from Autohome.
Others have come up with ideas to get the tent lowered, but I wanted a specific off the shelf rack you could buy instead of fabbing one up to do this.
BajaRacks out of California stepped up last year and came up with a design.
It is all flat with no basket setup to contain any cargo on top, its sole purpose is to carry an AutoHome fiberglass shell tent which takes up most of the length and width of the rack.
In March of this year I decided it was time to jump on a new rack to make my rig safer while driving, and also to have the tent look more streamlined on the rig.
The new rack fulfills both criteria for me.
I ordered the new rack through Mike at AutoHome tents who is a reseller for BajaRacks.
The rack and awning brackets were shipped directly from BajaRacks though.
Mike will be stocking these new "MG" (Maggiolina) style racks shortly for both FJ Cruiser owners, and also for Land Cruiser 80 series owners.
Here are a few shots of the old set, and a few shots of BajaRack's owner Sergio's FJ Cruiser with the naked rack and a Maggiolina Extreme borrowed from Frenchie, a member over at expeditionportal.com.
His tent was used to design the new rack.
Also ordered from BajaRack was a set of three awning brackets made to mount an awning that has tracks on the back of the case like my Campinglab and the ARB style ones have.
Here are a few pics from BajaRack of them.
I had the rack and awning brackets shipped to my dealer, Doxon Toyota of Auburn, WA.
If I had a home with a garage I would have attempted the installation myself, but since I live in an apartment complex, I am somewhat limited on what I can accomplish here.
I dropped my rig off at Toyota on Tuesday and they provided me with a free loaner car.
The next day I called around 11 am to inquire how the installation was going, and the tech had hit a snag.
They wanted me to come down, so I left work a few hours early, and I just caught the tech as he was going to lunch.
The service manager and I walked over to their new service bay (talk about nice!) and Scott the tech who was working on my rig showed me the front two hinges for the lid were hitting a front horizontal bar right behind the wind deflector when you tried to release the hinges.
He went to lunch and I called up BajaRack's who suggested we try moving the tent back some.
The service manager and I went back to the service area and slid it back some.
No good, as they just hit the other bar one position back.
A tech in the next bay said they already tried that.
Of course they did, I would have done the same.
Another call to BajaRacks and they asked me to snap a picture for them from my Droid.
As soon as they saw it they knew what was going on.
My latches are more than an inch longer than Frenchie's latches.
A call into Mike at AutoHome's US distributor here in the US resulted in me learning that some latches are different lengths for various models.
No way BajaRacks could have known this.
After lunch Scott and I discussed a plan.
We did not want to cut out that horizontal bar, so he suggested grinding down the latches.
This would solve the problem and the latches would still work, even without the little curved area which you would normally grab to swing the latch down to unlock it.
A little over an hour later my rig pulled up to the service waiting area where I was, and it looked great!
The only thing I had to redo later was the rear awning bracket mount.
It was up against the rear foot pad mount for the rack, thus not letting its vertical tab to stick out like the other two, so it was very close to the fiberglass shell of the tent, and would have thrown off the alignment of the three mounts when the awning was attached by me later.
I was able to on Sunday to unbolt the bottom half of the bracket and move it out of the way, then twist the upper part sideways with the bolt in it still to remove it from between the racks tubing.
It was a good thing I could get it out this way.
The only other alternative would have been to loosen the tent mounts in their tracks and jack the tent up a few inches so I could pull the bolts out.
The way I did it was a timesaver for sure.
Once I repositioned the awning bracket, I used the old 10mm bolts and nuts from the Campinglab awning brackets to insert into the awnings tracks.
I did pick up six new stainless steel flat washers to go behind the nut.
This way the nut would not grind off any of the brackets powdercoating.
I hope the info here can provide FJ Cruiser owners a good design now to mount a roof top tent lower to their roof.
I see no reason why this would not work with other tents too, although if you wanted to carry other cargo on top of the rack, you would need sides on it somewhere.
Below are some pictures from the time it rolled out of the shop at Toyota, and also at my home.
First up is showing the unmodified latch hitting the bar.
In a later picture you can see the latch after it has been shortened.
Much of this info is already in a separate thread for the new rack, but I need to update my buildup thread with the info.
Been running my Maggiolina AirLand roof top tent for a little over two years on the stock FJ Cruisers rack.
While it works, it is not the best as in the COG is very high, and I get buffeted around on the freeway at speeds over 50 miles per hour when there is any amount of wind.
Last year we had a discussion at fjcruiserforums.com about a possible rack made just for the Maggiolina and Columbus style tents from Autohome.
Others have come up with ideas to get the tent lowered, but I wanted a specific off the shelf rack you could buy instead of fabbing one up to do this.
BajaRacks out of California stepped up last year and came up with a design.
It is all flat with no basket setup to contain any cargo on top, its sole purpose is to carry an AutoHome fiberglass shell tent which takes up most of the length and width of the rack.
In March of this year I decided it was time to jump on a new rack to make my rig safer while driving, and also to have the tent look more streamlined on the rig.
The new rack fulfills both criteria for me.
I ordered the new rack through Mike at AutoHome tents who is a reseller for BajaRacks.
The rack and awning brackets were shipped directly from BajaRacks though.
Mike will be stocking these new "MG" (Maggiolina) style racks shortly for both FJ Cruiser owners, and also for Land Cruiser 80 series owners.
Here are a few shots of the old set, and a few shots of BajaRack's owner Sergio's FJ Cruiser with the naked rack and a Maggiolina Extreme borrowed from Frenchie, a member over at expeditionportal.com.
His tent was used to design the new rack.
Also ordered from BajaRack was a set of three awning brackets made to mount an awning that has tracks on the back of the case like my Campinglab and the ARB style ones have.
Here are a few pics from BajaRack of them.
I had the rack and awning brackets shipped to my dealer, Doxon Toyota of Auburn, WA.
If I had a home with a garage I would have attempted the installation myself, but since I live in an apartment complex, I am somewhat limited on what I can accomplish here.
I dropped my rig off at Toyota on Tuesday and they provided me with a free loaner car.
The next day I called around 11 am to inquire how the installation was going, and the tech had hit a snag.
They wanted me to come down, so I left work a few hours early, and I just caught the tech as he was going to lunch.
The service manager and I walked over to their new service bay (talk about nice!) and Scott the tech who was working on my rig showed me the front two hinges for the lid were hitting a front horizontal bar right behind the wind deflector when you tried to release the hinges.
He went to lunch and I called up BajaRack's who suggested we try moving the tent back some.
The service manager and I went back to the service area and slid it back some.
No good, as they just hit the other bar one position back.
A tech in the next bay said they already tried that.
Of course they did, I would have done the same.
Another call to BajaRacks and they asked me to snap a picture for them from my Droid.
As soon as they saw it they knew what was going on.
My latches are more than an inch longer than Frenchie's latches.
A call into Mike at AutoHome's US distributor here in the US resulted in me learning that some latches are different lengths for various models.
No way BajaRacks could have known this.
After lunch Scott and I discussed a plan.
We did not want to cut out that horizontal bar, so he suggested grinding down the latches.
This would solve the problem and the latches would still work, even without the little curved area which you would normally grab to swing the latch down to unlock it.
A little over an hour later my rig pulled up to the service waiting area where I was, and it looked great!
The only thing I had to redo later was the rear awning bracket mount.
It was up against the rear foot pad mount for the rack, thus not letting its vertical tab to stick out like the other two, so it was very close to the fiberglass shell of the tent, and would have thrown off the alignment of the three mounts when the awning was attached by me later.
I was able to on Sunday to unbolt the bottom half of the bracket and move it out of the way, then twist the upper part sideways with the bolt in it still to remove it from between the racks tubing.
It was a good thing I could get it out this way.
The only other alternative would have been to loosen the tent mounts in their tracks and jack the tent up a few inches so I could pull the bolts out.
The way I did it was a timesaver for sure.
Once I repositioned the awning bracket, I used the old 10mm bolts and nuts from the Campinglab awning brackets to insert into the awnings tracks.
I did pick up six new stainless steel flat washers to go behind the nut.
This way the nut would not grind off any of the brackets powdercoating.
I hope the info here can provide FJ Cruiser owners a good design now to mount a roof top tent lower to their roof.
I see no reason why this would not work with other tents too, although if you wanted to carry other cargo on top of the rack, you would need sides on it somewhere.
Below are some pictures from the time it rolled out of the shop at Toyota, and also at my home.
First up is showing the unmodified latch hitting the bar.
In a later picture you can see the latch after it has been shortened.
Corey
OverCamping Specialist
Continued, 10 picture limit here
Awning mounted to the brackets
Links:
BajaRack
AutoHome US site
Doxon Toyota
Awning mounted to the brackets
Links:
BajaRack
AutoHome US site
Doxon Toyota
Overland Hadley
on a journey
I like the new rack. Looks good!
Mike S
Sponsor - AutoHomeUSA
Corey
Thanks for posting up photos of the new rack. Looks good.
Sergio tells me that they are 'reengineering' to resolve the issue with the front cam latches by changing the spacing.
We are making the racks available for both small and medium sized Maggiolinas and Columbus tents, and they are being well received. Great rack at that price - quality is comparable to racks costing twice as much.
Thanks for posting up photos of the new rack. Looks good.
Sergio tells me that they are 'reengineering' to resolve the issue with the front cam latches by changing the spacing.
We are making the racks available for both small and medium sized Maggiolinas and Columbus tents, and they are being well received. Great rack at that price - quality is comparable to racks costing twice as much.