Corey's FJ with a few mods!

[Corey]

I am like a kid on Christmas morning.
As soon as UPS dropped off my package from Expedition Exchange, I tore into it and got out the camera.

First off I really dig my ARB fridge/freezer.
No ice to mess with, low battery draw, and you can pack enough food for a week or more into it.

When I took my vacation to Mt. Rainier in August of 2008 I ate really good
Problem is you still have to move around a lot of the grub as it is just one big deep carnivorous well that swallows whatever you can throw at it.

One problem I solved keeping the lid open on the fridge by itself, and not having the lid hit the roof of the FJ was solved in a prior post in my buildup thread.
So once again the fridge is undergoing another mod, it is being transformed into a basket case...

I saw a thread on Expedition Portal that led me to the TwoZone Basket Set sold by Sierra Expeditions.
They are two different sized baskets that hook onto the stock basket in an ARB or Engel 42 qt fridge.
Here is a little info from Sierra's website:

The TwoZone Suspended Basket Set is compatible with most ARB, Engel, Norcold, and Waeco fridge/freezers.

The larger basket measures 11.5" from suspension tab to tab, and the basket is 10.4 wide, 9.5" long and 4" deep.

The smaller basket measures 11.5" from suspension tab to tab, and the basket is 10.4 wide, 5" long and 4" deep.

This will allow you to pack your vegetables and fruits on top without the worry of them getting bruised and turned into mush by heavier items that may bump up against them.

You can also load up a basket with your snacks, eggs, dip, whatever you do not want buried.
Below the two baskets you still have room to store stuff you might want to keep a little colder such as meats, frozen burritos, milk, orange juice, whatever beverages you are into

So if you are looking for a great solution to keeping your trail/overlanding grub well organized, look no further, these baskets are a great addition to your fridge.

Here are a few pictures showing the size on my laptop for comparison, and some out in the fridge loaded up.
You can easily access the food below by taking out one basket.





TwoZone Basket Set sold by Sierra Expeditions

[davidHchiem]

Holy moly ARB makes coolers too! hehe. Just when I thought saw it all. :P

[Corey]

Yes, the ARB is the same as the Engel fridge/freezer.
However I am partial to the ARB since it has a temperature gauge on it.

[CactusJK]

How is the HG100R. Looks a little smaller than the 250 but might be good enough. 4Wheel parts has a good sale on halons right now.

Corey previously said:

Saw this mentioned on fjcruiserforums.com website in a search for fire extinguishers.

The nice thing about the HalGuard system is it is a "premium clean agent" which means it will not corrode like a dry chemical fire extinguisher can.

You can spray this stuff under your hood, under your dash, even your home computer and it is not suppose to short circuit or corrode anything.

Here is some info from their website:


Their website

How is the HG100R. Looks a little smaller than the 250 but might be good enough. 4wheel parts has a good sale right now on the Halons.


The HR250R (chrome available if ya wanna shine )




I drilled 4 holes into my Powertank bracket and bolted the HalGuard mount to it.
I may raise it up to the next higher position, have not decided yet.

I also have to test fit the ARB fridge tomorrow to make sure it clears the bottle.
I am pretty sure it will.

I have a few other areas where I could remount it, one would be the face of the middle drawer of my cargobox.
Already had it positioned there, and the drawers will all open fine.

I bought this from a reseller, they have many listed on their site.
More than likely you will also get charged a $20 hazardous shipping fee, and it has to come ground.
They do not ship these on aircraft.

[Corey]

It is a nice unit, worth the extra $$$ since you can use it on wiring in the rig and it will not destroy your wires.

[CactusJK]

I went with the chrome 100. Will install to my MPAC side rack next to my CO2.

Corey previously said:

It is a nice unit, worth the extra $$$ since you can use it on wiring in the rig and it will not destroy your wires.

[Corey]

This HAM radio setup will be taken in steps as it is very labor intensive, and I am taking my time on it also, as I am still working on my license.

I have all the gear on tap, and here is what I have.
Yaesu 857D HF/VHF/UHF mobile transceiver
YSK-857 Separation Kit to remote mount the faceplate of the radio
Diamond GLP58 mounting group to mount an antenna to the ARB front bumper
Diamond NR770HA 2 meter and 440 MHz (70 cm) mobile antenna (Will be getting an all band Yaesu ATAS-120a antenna in the future)
Valor VS4 Big Mouth mobile extension speaker (Got two, going to replace my present one for my CB radio)
Diamond MX62M duplexer (Allows two antennas or one ATAS-120a antenna to be used with the 857Ds two antenna connection on the radio)
And various small parts such as fuses and RG58U coax

I installed the antenna back on 10-29-2008, here are some pictures of the install.
This antenna is only for 2 meter and the 70 centimeter bands, hence why I will switch out later to the Yaesu ATAS-120a antenna.

I had to pick up some step drills from Harbor Freight to drill out the antenna hole on the ARB bumper, as the Diamond mounts stud is bigger than a CB antenna stud.
You pop out the plastic cap on the bumper by tapping it from below with a hammer.

Installed the Diamond mount and screwed the antenna to the base.
I still have to have the coax soldered at both ends for the antenna mount and the plug that goes to the back of the radio.
That will come another day.

The antenna is very stealth.
The Yaesu ATAS-120a antenna I will get later however is not so stealth.





Installed the remote faceplate of the radio today.
I used an existing mount in the rig which was for an iPod, cell phone, or GPS.
Corey's FJ with a few mods!

I took off the grip pod part of it, and much to my delight, the Yaesu faceplate kits holes line up perfectly with the holes in the Panavice mount.
I can even move it around for different configurations, and the holes still align up.

Picture one shows the Panavice mount only with the grip pod off of it.
Picture two shows the Yaesu remote faceplate mount bolted to the Panavice mount.
Picture three shows the Yaesu 857D faceplate mounted to the remote mount.
It is a perfect reach for me to reach out to adjust the radio.



The next phase will bet getting the the two external speakers mounted, and hopefully taking out the passenger seat to install the radio underneath of it and get the power hooked up to it, and the cables from the remote faceplate ran down to the radio.

[IZVERG]

--Bump, for an awesome thread!--

[Corey]

TXterra37 previously said:

--Bump, for an awesome thread!--

Thanks, I will have an update this weekend.

[IZVERG]

I am looking at getting that roof rack awning for my X, it looks really nice and would be nice to have for all of our camping and beach trips. I just had a custom roof rack made and seems I will need to go the route of mini-bolts for the mounting, not sure yet until my rack gets back from the powdercoater...