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

[Corey]

I would ditch your bike rack and have a custom bumper made.

I enjoy cruising old growth forest service roads up by Mt. Rainier (the Greenwater area) and I am afraid that rack that goes on the spare tire would have the bike banging all over the place.
My Thule T2 was made for the punishment of off roading, and I have already tested it out quite a bit on very rough forest service roads.

I like that Expedition One rack, I will see what the owner has to say about them.
He seems to be absent though as of late over at the blue forum.

Always enjoy seeing the great build you did on your FJC Corey... Very nice.

Thanks a lot!
I enjoy what you have done with yours too, and I always enjoy the great videos you make.

 

[XJtoFJ]

Hello everyone I'm brand new to this forum. Corey I really like your FJ! I had a Jeep Cherokee with a painless wiring kit for dual optima batteries and was running into similar issues. The problem is that the painless kit will not allow you to start the engine using the second battery alone. When you flip the switch it uses both batteries in parallel. The dead battery (primary) tended to drain the good bat (secondary) and I would end up with 2 dead batteries. This was not a problem when the batteries were new but the older they got the more this happened. I will never run this wiring kit again!



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[Corey]

Thanks XJ, nice new rig you have there too.

I did not know that about the Painless kit.
That kind of defeats the purpose of having the kit.

May switch to another setup one day, but my main battery stays topped off while camping with the solar setup I have.

 

[teotwaki]

Awhile back I came upon a thread on IH8MUDs forum about relocating the hinges so the lid will open from the side.
The creator of the thread ended up putting together a kit so one does not have to hunt around for the parts.

Click here for the instructions and to order the kit.

The thread on IH8MUD that started it all

Hey Corey, in post #9 Your flip kit URL seems to be broken or outdated

http://www.wagongear.com/Fridge_Lid_Flip_Kit.html


For anyone to buy the partsthemselves:

Mc-Master-Carr PartsFriction Hinge 1791A48
Draw Latch 1794A43
6-20 X 3/8” self drilling screws 92364A146
1/4-14 X 3/4” self drilling screws 92364A275

 

[Corey]

Thanks Jim, gotta update my threads on:
YotaTech
IH8MUD
FJCruiserforums
also, and my personal website

URLs change, the nature of the bizz.
He use to host it on a Mac site, not sure when he changed his URL to order the kit.

Still diggin' the kit too, much nicer having the lid lift on that way instead of the way it comes.

 

[Corey]

Ham Radio Setup Finally Completed 9-13-2011

Been a long time since I have done a mod to the rig.
Actually this is an old mod from fall of 2008 that was just completed yesterday.

My ham radio setup:
Yaesu 857D
ATAS-120 antenna
Diamond Duplexer MX62M for the antenna
Diamond GLP58 mount for the antenna
I had the faceplate for the 857D mounted long ago, and the antenna mount, but not the rest.

On vacation this week and took the time to have Cartoys put the main unit and duplexer underneath the passenger seat, wire up the power, run the coax for the antenna, and solder the ends of the coax to their connections.
I do not solder well, and after watching some YouTube vids on how to solder up the coax ends, I gave up, so I had the pros do this.

Now its time to get back to studying again for my Technician Class ham license, and then onto my General Class license as well.

This Yaesu radio has more features than I would ever use for quite awhile, but the same guy who talked me into spending the extra bucks on my roof top tent also talked me into getting the radio.
His motto?
Do it right, buy it once.
This radio will grow with me as I get higher up in license classification.

A few pictures.

Faceplate mounted on dash, looks better than the old photos posted earlier in this thread since there is now power

Did not have to drill for the mic mount, as I just used the left side of my Cobra 29 CB to mount the mic, and I added the mic mount that came with the Yaesu to the right side of the CB to hang the CBs mic from.

Shot of the ATAS-120 antenna.
This antenna is made specifically for the Yaesu 857D, and it raises/lowers the whip automatically when you change frequencies on the radio, pretty trick.
You need to run the duplexer though and takes its two ends and put them in the radio for the VHF and UHF sides, and then the ATAS-120 plugs into the end of the duplexer.
This way one antenna does the job of two antennas.

Rear view of the radio and duplexer.
Both are mounted with heavy duty Velcro to the floor.

Side view of the radio.

Not seen in the pictures is a Big Mouth external speaker that is used with the radio.
It is mounted to the right of the CB underneath the dash.

I also like how the radio displays your battery voltage so you can keep an eye on it if using the radio with the engine off.
Fire up the engine, and the voltage immediately goes up.

Now back to my studying...

 

[Dgurley2000]

and solder the ends of the coax to their connections.
I do not solder well, and after watching some YouTube vids on how to solder up the coax ends, I gave up, so I had the pros do this.

Looks nice!

There are also crimp+solder connectors that make it easier.

I have the same antenna but am moving it from the front bumper to the rear bumper. I get nervous going through tight trails while watching it get smacked around.

 

[Corey]

Thanks, do you have the 857D too?
If so, I have a question for you.

 

[Dgurley2000]

Thanks, do you have the 857D too?
If so, I have a question for you.

I do have it and the ATAS-120.

 

[Corey]

OK then, maybe you can help me, I am frustrated.

I just found out today I needed to turn on the ATAS via the radios menu, and that was easy, as you just select item # 085 after you push the function key for one second, then use the select knob to scroll to 085 (tuner/atas.)

But then you have to do this to apply power to the antenna so it will adjust the whip up/down for the different bands.

Automatic Tuning
1. Press the [FUNC] key, then rotate the SELECT knob as needed, to recall Multi Function
Row “k” [TUNE, DOWN, UP].
2. Press the [A](TUNE) key to turn the ATAS-100/-120 on (this action only supplies voltage
to the antenna at this point; re-tuning does not begin). The “ATAS” will appear on the
LCD.
3. Now press and hold in the [A](TUNE) key for one second to initiate ATAS-100/-120
tuning. The transmitter will automatically be activated, a carrier will be sent, and the
antenna’s length will be adjusted for best SWR.
4. If the microprocessor determines that the antenna’s length is radically incorrect from the
optimum value, no carrier will be sent out. Instead, in the receive mode, the antenna will
retract to its longest or shortest position (this may take up to one minute). While this is
happening, do not press the [A](TUNE) key again.
When the ATAS-100/-120 reaches its minimum length, automatic tuning will be initiated,
and the transmitter will automatically shut off when a satisfactory SWR is achieved.5. On the 144 MHz and 430 MHz bands, the ATAS-100/-120 does not require a tuning
process. SWR will be satisfactory when the antenna is fully retracted.

I can not find number one above after hitting the function key and then using the select knob.
I read earlier in the manual there are several lettered menus, and the one I want is "K".

After finding Row K, then you hit the physical button A of the three buttons labeled A, B and C.
But I do not see any of the lettered rows such as row K at the bottom of the screen, I only see the options for numbers 001 through 091 to select the different features.

Am I missing something here?

 

[Corey]

I figured out what I was doing wrong to access the one menu, I was holding the function key in for two seconds, and when accessing the menu, you only push the button once and not hold it.

But I have another snag now, I can not power up the antenna.
I get scratchy static when on the two NOAA channels, and when I access the menu to apply power to the ATAS antenna to tune it, the word ATAS is suppose to appear on the LCD, then you push the button again to start the auto tuning process.

The word ATAS does not appear on the screen, only a beep.
I am betting the tech at Cartoys may not have the two ends of the coax soldered right, so I am going to have to hook up with a ham that knows their stuff including testing my radio and coax to see if the ends were done up right.
That is all I can figure out now, and maybe why I can not hear anyone broadcasting except for NOAA.

 

[Corey]

A little troubleshooting earlier this morning.
Took the antenna off and I could not hear the two NOAA channels I have saved to memory, put the antenna on and they then came in.

I am thinking the tech did not get the antenna grounded perhaps, so this is not letting the software power up the antenna to adjust it.

Have an email into Yaesu on this, and if this is the case, I can add a ground wire to the antenna mount to the frame.
It might not be grounding properly on the ARB bumper.

 

[Dgurley2000]

Am I missing something here?

The bottom row on the display is a menu. You can shift what displayed on the menu. I'll try to take some screen shots after work.

 

[Corey]

I figured out last night how to get to the "K" menu to hit:
tune
up
down
ect, but when I hit the A button for "tune", it just beeps and does not display the word ATAS like the manual says.
Keep push the A button and it just beeps, so I am not getting power to the antenna it seems in order for it to adjust itself.

 

[Corey]

All fixed.
GF took me out for brunch this morning before she had to head into work, and I spent a bit ago on the phone with Yaesu, and trying some stuff out.

He said to disconnect the antenna from the rear of the duplexer, and I also pulled off the duplexer.
I was able to get ATAS on the screen.
I then plugged in the ATAS cable directly to the HF port on the radio, set the software to HF&50 MHz only, and ATAS lit up, and it started to self tune.

The antenna actually does go up and down, pretty cool looking.
With that setting though, I lost the ability to receive NOAA up on the 162 MHz band.

Just for kicks I hooked up the duplexer again the normal way, went into the menu, and it automatically was set to ATAS - All.
I gave the self tune a try, and it worked.
Must have been some kind of fluke earlier, or maybe a cable was not pushed in all the way.

Now I can get back to my reading for the test, but unfortunately I will not make the test this Saturday for my area, as we have plans for the whole day.
Hopefully I can get to the test in October.