[tarekag]

Hi Guys, I am new here..

I have a beast FJ fully modified and tuned for high speed, high dune climbing off roading in the deserts of The Emirates. Now I moved to Lebanon where it is all rocks and mud and I am taking my rig with me. I wanna know what is needed to make my FJ rock ready. My current setup:

• 2.5" lift with upper control arms (Total Chaos UCA)
• stage 4+ front and back Radflo suspensions (high speed/low speed adjusters)
• reinforced spindles & heavy duty sway bars
• Full underbody skid plates
• Custom front Steel bumper
• Beadlock method rims with -33 offset
• 285/70/17 Cooper AT3 4s Cooper tyres
• Full off road Vision X lighting setup

For performance

• air raid cold air intake and a snorkel
• Tundra throttle body
• Exhaust: Headers with Y Pipesc, catback with valvetronic resonator
• pedal box for throttle response boosting
• and an engine tune to get all of this working just right.

I am definitely changing the tires to suit the terrain, but do I want a higher lift? . bigger tires.. front diffs? regearing? Body reinforcement? Rear steel bumper?

I am clueless when it comes to rock crawling. I will take my time learning, but I just need to budget for things and I wanna know what a full FJ project would look like.

Thank you guys in advance

 

[Lee44]

Welcome from Oregon

I'm more into trails and over landing not rock crawling but you have come to the right place as many of Forum members crawl. He's a video you may find interesting. Folks from the forum doing Rubicon.

Pretty sure more lift, tires and suspension mods. I'm sure you'll get more input.

Again, Welcome!

Oh, I'll add, very nice FJ the way it is.

 

[Supasta]

I agree with @Lee44 above, and I’ll add that your FJ already sounds pretty awesome and any additional mods required simply depend on how aggressive you want to be.

A good course of action might be to take it on a few trips and add mods as you find weaknesses in your rig 🤷🏻‍♂️🤷🏻‍♂️

 

[tarekag]

I agree with @Lee44 above, and I’ll add that your FJ already sounds pretty awesome and any additional mods required simply depend on how aggressive you want to be.

A good course of action might be to take it on a few trips and add mods as you find weaknesses in your rig 🤷🏻‍♂️🤷🏻‍♂️

Thank you for your reply. Knowing myself, I will say I will start slowly but I will end going the whole nine yards.. so, yes, aggressive..

 

[FJtest]

I would think that one accessory you might want to delete is the electronic throttle controller ... rock crawling would probably not be the place for more abrupt throttle response than stock.

 

[jamesepoop]

Tires. 5 big ones. And if it's underneath, skid it.

 

[Archy Chris]

Welcome aboard!

 

[debFJVT]

Greetings from Vermont! I thought Lebanon was gorgeous and I really enjoyed my long ago visit there. Hope you post pics from the trail!!

 

[FJtest]

Thank you for your reply. Knowing myself, I will say I will start slowly but I will end going the whole nine yards.. so, yes, aggressive..

While aggressive full-throttle rooster-tailing may be the central theme of dune-blasting, if you are talking about transitioning to true rock-crawling you will find that 'aggressiveness' frequently leads to broken CV joints, broken tie-rod ends, and serious undercarriage & body damage.

There's much more finesse involved in carefully picking the optimum line, knowing intuitively where each wheel is, knowing exactly where the lowest points of your vehicle are, and utilizing every tiny increment of traction.

Kind of like the difference between riding a full-race motocross bike WFO across the open desert, vs a riding a trials bike through a very technical section.

 

[tarekag]

thank you guys for your replies. Now i understand fully the throttle situation and the precision required there. As for protection, I have a skid plate and front steel bumper. What else do I need, rock guards, and rear steel bumper?

And for me to put bigger tires (mine are 33's), do I need to life higher than 2.5"? Do I need to change the differentials, the axles, etc? Do I need to regear?

 

[debFJVT]

The bigger the rocks the larger the clearance needed....and I know you do have mountains! Ideally you’d be on 35” tires with a 3” lift and full armor (yes definitely rock sliders). Those first two items will require some other changes, such as regearing to 4.56 or 4.88, and body mount chop for wheel clearance. Since you’re already into Cooper tires I’d recommend the STT Pro for rockcrawling (I have 315/75/16). You might want to talk with Radflo about going long travel - it’s probably my favorite mod! Rear bumper is optional unless you find you’re tearing the plastic off lol Other future mods to consider are front locker, limit straps on the front, and swaybar removal. But nothing will advise you better than wheeling - get out there and you’ll figure it out I’m sure 👍

 

[tarekag]

The bigger the rocks the larger the clearance needed....and I know you do have mountains! Ideally you’d be on 35” tires with a 3” lift and full armor (yes definitely rock sliders). Those first two items will require some other changes, such as regearing to 4.56 or 4.88, and body mount chop for wheel clearance. Since you’re already into Cooper tires I’d recommend the STT Pro for rockcrawling (I have 315/75/16). You might want to talk with Radflo about going long travel - it’s probably my favorite mod! Rear bumper is optional unless you find you’re tearing the plastic off lol Other future mods to consider are front locker, limit straps on the front, and swaybar removal. But nothing will advise you better than wheeling - get out there and you’ll figure it out I’m sure 👍

Thanks a lot for that. The radflo long travel setup could set me back around $17k, it includes the regearing, tyres, retuning and every other reinforcement. So I'll wait for that a little. But since I am newbie on rocks I will be doing the following, and tell me if that makes sense for the first phase:

• Changing tyres to BFG but staying on 33's for now (KM3 285/70/17)
• Installing rock sliders and rear steel bumper
• Extending the skid plate to protect the entire bottom of the car
• A body lift
• Some rust proofing and waterproofing for the car

For a newbie not going so aggressive, especially on the climbing part, do you think this is ok. (Next step is definitely a long travel setup and a 3.5" true lift)

 

[debFJVT]

Good you’re taking it slow - it’s easy to spend a lot and regret it early on, and wise to go with your approach! 33s on a 2.5” lift will take you lots of places, and I’ve seen that exact configuration do amazing things....it really comes down to the driver, so building up your rockcrawling skills is the absolute best “mod” you can do at this stage of the game.

The next best mods are protection - rock sliders and engine/transmission/transfer case armor plus rear lower link mount skids and aftermarket RLLs like Metal Tech. This is often an overlooked but essential mod as rocks love to bend the weaker OE rear links and smash the mounts just to the front of your rear tires. RCI makes the best design for this skid and I’m a fan of all their armor.

Rustproofing is ALWAYS an important item - good on you for prioritizing that!

IMO the other mods you mention are more optional and can wait....wheel it awhile and keep researching - you may be surprised about the changes in your thinking as you learn more about rockcrawling! And please don’t forget to post pics of your adventures 😁