Weezerbot, get your own stinkin' truck! My 1998 4Runner SR5

[CYi5]

Lookin good, I think the cot idea is great. I was also considering how to build a removable sleeping platform for my box, but I may just remove it all together and run a cot. The ability to set you up higher than the wheel well and the tumbled rear seat would actually make it possible for a 6' person to sleep in the back.

 

[FurthurOnTheFly]

Nice looking truck. Where did you get your hood blackout?

Safety note- be sure to cut the passenger side airbag off when the laptop is on the tray or the tray is in front of a passenger. This has become an issue with the increased use of laptops in our emergency services vehicles (LEO, ambulance, fire) and there are some crazy pics showing up on some of the forums.

Well since this is an older truck I don't really have any kind of switch to do that. I'm not too worried I'd say 9/10 when I'm running a laptop in there I'm solo and usually when I have a passenger I have no laptop being used.

Lookin good, I think the cot idea is great. I was also considering how to build a removable sleeping platform for my box, but I may just remove it all together and run a cot. The ability to set you up higher than the wheel well and the tumbled rear seat would actually make it possible for a 6' person to sleep in the back.

Ya, I'm 5'11" myself so that was what I had to figure out. The Roll-a-Cot is really comfy and my camp set-up/take-down time has been reduced to literally 3 mins or less. Right now I carry two boxes with me: a smaller actionpacker which holds my thermarest, first aid kit, ENO Hammock, garbage can and some other small essentials; and a larger rubbermaid box that is my kitchen. I do have some plans in the near future with a friend of mine to build a new kitchen box which will make the set-up even easier. Hopefully we will get that done by the end of the summer!

 

[Cypher]

Well since this is an older truck I don't really have any kind of switch to do that. I'm not too worried I'd say 9/10 when I'm running a laptop in there I'm solo and usually when I have a passenger I have no laptop being used.

Great post robert!

I think that is part of the problem though... Many of the older vehicles deploy the passenger side air bag regardless if someone is sitting there or not. Upon deployment, the air bad would turn the laptop into a deadly projectile, and who knows what direction it is going to take. I have also read about this on a few other forums. I do not now the details of your truck but I have seen many people dig into the wiring harness and literally put the passenger side bag on a toggle switch.

 

[02TahoeMD]

This one is a little on the expensive side, but there are aftermarket passenger side airbag switches available.

Click me!

We use them on our work Expeditions so we dont end up launching our computer system in a crash.

 

[FurthurOnTheFly]

This one is a little on the expensive side, but there are aftermarket passenger side airbag switches available.

Click me!

We use them on our work Expeditions so we dont end up launching our computer system in a crash.

Ah thank you, I guess I should have known there would be an aftermarket solution for this. Looks like josh may have another wiring project in the near future...his favorite!

 

[FurthurOnTheFly]

June 5-6: Sedonafest

Myself and Tibaal89 were the organizers for Sedonafest this year. Unfortunately Josh and I caught a nasty bug the week of the event so I didn't get to do much other than lay around camp all weekend, and he was so sick he didn't even go. But I did manage to grab a couple of pics around camp:

Another weekend with the camping set-up and again it was so comfortable!

Trail carnage!

We lost our Sedonafest GPS Challenge title to these bozos. Revenge will be mine!

They say the sunsets are prettier the closer you are to hell

June 14th:

Last weekend we knocked out quite a few projects that had been sitting around the garage, mostly electrical stuff.

First we were able to cram the Fuse Block by the drivers side kick panel keeping it dust and hopefully water-free.

From there we were able to finally get the HAM radio installed, the YAESU FT-8900R. I moved my scanguage to just below its original position on the center console and put the radio face where the scanguage was. The main unit of the radio is mounted under the drivers seat. I love this radio! You can usually find me monitoring those two stations in the pic so don't be afraid to say hello!

You can also see in that pic that we put in an additional 12v plug there below the scanguage to power the portable XM radio. We were unable to hardwire the power for it. This is the XT Roady radio which we also have the boombox for so we can finally have decent camping music wherever we go! Does this make me a glamper now? :Wow1:

I told you I like gadgets!

 

[FurthurOnTheFly]

The ham operates off the Comet SBB-5NMO Dual Band Mobile Antenna on a Larsen Mount.

We also added an additional 12v plug to the passenger side of the center console. This was for my IGo system which powers my laptop and cell phone. I highly recommend this system for anyone who does a lot of traveling around! With the powerpack I can power my laptop and my charge my cell at the same time on only one plug; this is important for me since I tether my cell phone to my laptop for the internet connection. You can purchase additional 'tips' for whatever you want to charge like a MP3 player. The end of the powerpack also changes out to a regular 110v plug that you can use in the coffee shop or hotel.

Next was getting the Hi-Lift mounted up on the Baja Rack. It's been sitting in the garage for over a year now since we switched to the big orange marshmallow for the FJ, so I claimed it as mine! I didn't want to pay $50 for other mounts so this is the home-brew version.

$10 engine mounts from ebay and about $14 in hardware from ACE:

My last project of the weekend was replacing the horrible interior lighting. Lucky for me AZFJ has had a group buy going on for LED replacements for $30. These are not great pics but the difference is truly amazing!

 

[Dave Bennett]

Awesome progress on your build! :Wow1:

 

[ttora4runner]

Any plans for auxilary lights??

 

[FurthurOnTheFly]

Awesome progress on your build! :Wow1:

Thank you!!

Any plans for auxilary lights??

Oh yes! I'm already planning on picking up some of the Checker HID's for the front and 3 of the Vision X for the sides and rear mounted to the rack. The only thing I haven't yet decided on is if I'll do 4 of the HID's on the rack or wait for a bumper and just do two there.

Next project on my list though is the dual battery. We already have an extra Odyssey 1200 sitting in the garage to use, so I'm just trying to figure out where to put it. I really want to keep as large a battery as possible in the stock location rather than doing two smaller Odyssey's, so I'm thinking of either mounting to the frame under the truck or inside the rear. Right now I'm leaning towards mounting in the rear if I can figure out how to do it and still keep it as much out of the way as possible; we have been using the Runner a lot lately to haul a lot of large items so I really need to maximize the space back there. I'm certainly open to suggestions!

 

[Clark White]

Not too sure on suggestions for the battery's as I'm currently having the same dilemma. I've been thinking of building a mount up in the corner for the front bumper. There are frame mounts on either side from the stock bumper with some herky fasteners, would be just perfect for a battery trey. Would get the battery out of the way, yet easily accessible, and it would be well protected from impact by the bumper.

What brand of LED dome lights did you use? As you said, the factory ones are horrible!

Thanks!
Clark

 

[FurthurOnTheFly]

Not too sure on suggestions for the battery's as I'm currently having the same dilemma. I've been thinking of building a mount up in the corner for the front bumper. There are frame mounts on either side from the stock bumper with some herky fasteners, would be just perfect for a battery trey. Would get the battery out of the way, yet easily accessible, and it would be well protected from impact by the bumper.

What brand of LED dome lights did you use? As you said, the factory ones are horrible!

Thanks!
Clark

Well I just did a few quick measurements tonight and I'm pretty confident that I can mount the battery in the rear between the fridge and the side panel which should keep it mostly out of the way when I need to put larger items back there. I will have to re-build my fridge mount to include some kind of cover but in the end thats going to be a lot cheaper and a lot less hassle than having to move stuff around in the engine bay, or welding up some kind of frame mount.

As for the LED's I'm honestly not sure. A guy in the FJ non-club was buying them in mass quantities and passing them on to non-members. I don't think it was this exact brand but something very similar. Since they were using them on the FJ's they were pretty much just a universal kit. If I find out the exact brand I'll be sure to pass it along. Now if I can only find some LED replacements for the two map lights in the front!

 

[Bighead]

I've been looking at using the National Luna Portable Power Pack in my 4Runner. It will take up a bit of space but will be easily removable if I am not running the fridge.

 

[adventureduo]

The 'runner is really coming along. Good job and nice work Heidi.

 

[FurthurOnTheFly]

I've been looking at using the National Luna Portable Power Pack in my 4Runner. It will take up a bit of space but will be easily removable if I am not running the fridge.

Thats very interesting! I'm going to have to look into this more.......

The 'runner is really coming along. Good job and nice work Heidi.

Thanks Dave! I hope we can find time to run together again!