MY BACKGROUND
I always wanted an FJ since I saw a Voodoo Blue when they first came out. Just thought they were neat looking vehicles but I wasn’t aware of their off-road capabilities. Fast forward a few years and I was in a place financially to buy one. I had been lurking in and learning from this forum for a year during my search. I finally pulled the trigger and purchased my new to me FJ Cruiser on July 18, 2015. I ended up with an Iceberg because my wife liked this color the best. It's my first off road vehicle and it's been a blast to mod, daily drive and take it off the beaten path. Daily life takes up most of my time including work, my wife and my young daughter but as a weekend warrior I do all the modifications myself and get out there when I can. Thanks for following along.
STARTING POINT:
This was the day I bought it: July 2015
SPECS: 2013 Iceberg 4x4 AT stock, bought used from Carmax with about 20k on the odometer with the convenience package and most importantly the Rear diff locker. Originally a WA state vehicle.
BUILD TIMELINE PICS:
CURRENT:
I decided to name my FJ "Ghost" from Game of Thrones. "Ghost" is one of six direwolf pups that are found by the children of House Stark. He is adopted and raised by Jon Snow. Ghost is an albino with white fur and red eyes. Though he was the runt of the litter when he was born, he quickly grew to be as big as the rest of his siblings.
BUILD LIST
BUMPERS/ARMOR:
Trailworx front bumper
JTA Metalworks rear swingout bumper
RCI Metalworks steel skids- Front, transmission, transfer case, rear diff
OPOR Rear LCA front mount skid
FJ toyman rear lower shock skid
Pure FJ rock sliders
LIGHTS:
Baja Designs S1 (spot) x 2 in FJ grill
Baja Designs S1 (wide cornering amber) x 2 in front bumper
5" 18W EBay special CREE LED flood flush mount x 2 (rear bumper)
WINCH/RECOVERY:
Comeup Seal Gen2 9.5 winch-synthetic line
Factor 55 Prolink
Ellis Precision aluminum hawse fairlead
Krazy Beaver shovel
Iconic's rear recovery points
Maxtrax
Mean Mother exhaust/air jack
Southeast Overland Kinetic Recovery Rope: 7/8" x 30'
Rear fold down storage rack is complete. I made a couple changes compared to the video. I used vinyl coated 3/32 steel wire rope (32 cents per foot) instead of paracord to hold the table up and instead of an L bracket to secure the top of the wire, I reused my rear cargo hooks from the FJ which makes it more flush
Celebrating 3 years of ownership today. The FJ has grown up quite a bit in the past few years. Looking forward to creating many more wonderful memories together.
@Iconic_ thanks man. wish I had your fab skills. @Joabmc you are too kind, loving the GX build. I am still looking for one with low mileage to build @debFJVT thanks, but it's far from perfect, wishing I was at summit right now with the rest of the FJ gang but I am waiting on a special delivery :wink @jamesepoop thanks brother but long travel I don't have, you inspire me...
@Joabmc you are too kind, loving the GX build. I am still looking for one with low mileage to build
@debFJVT thanks, but it's far from perfect, wishing I was at summit right now with the rest of the FJ gang but I am waiting on a special delivery :wink
@jamesepoop thanks brother but long travel I don't have, you inspire me...
Snapsafe underbed gun safe (large)...it just so happens the dimensions (40”x22”x6”) worked out for the FJ rear cargo area and this thing is heavy duty (100lbs). It’s suppose to be a safe afterall. Using it to store tools and recovery gear.
The front factory tie downs were removed and the safe is bolted down with these holes. The back is secured with turnbuckles to the factory tie downs
Snapsafe underbed gun safe (large)...it just so happens the dimensions worked out for the FJ rear cargo area and this thing is heavy duty (100lbs). Using it to store tools and recovery gear.
Wow! I love it! It's the perfect size I want. I mainly want to carry spare parts and tools and don't want a drawer too tall. Was planning to build my own but now saw this. How does the top feel? Can you put much weight on top of it? Does it flex much?
Baby Mod in progress...getting a little a crowded in here.
The stork is delivering a little princess to us in a couple of weeks. It turns out as others have said on this forum, the best place to put the baby seat is in the middle...whew, I don’t have to trade the FJ in for a 4Runner now. It doesn’t compromise me or my wife’s seat position and I am tall enough to bend over and secure and release the baby carrier from outside. A win-win situation
DFG Off-road fridge slide installed this evening. I just bolted it to the snapsafe. I had to remove the Dometic handles because it wouldn’t fit depth wise. Replaced the dometic fridge handles with these cargo tie downs in order to be more flush. Seems to be pretty sturdy without any rattling. It locks in and slides smoothly. I need to figure something out for the handles so I can secure the fridge to the slide.
I took your model and built on it, I caught the sale on safe and grabbed one. I installed it to the far right losing my 110 plug (who cares I don’t use it anyway) so I could still access the jack panel because that’s where my compressor wiring and plumbing is. Only hiccup was I sport a large 52 qt fridge so I needed the larger tilting slideout, well I can make the slide fit but unfortunately the seat won’t allow my 52qt with the increased height so that was a waste of $400 :mecry:.
Great build dude. :blueblob:
I have the old Engel and there are mounts for it that you put in place of the handles. They are "L" shaped pieces of metal that screw on in place of the handles and they have a hole in the other end to let the hook from a strap slip in and then you hook the other end to the tray you are mounting to and tighten it down. They are about maybe 3/4" wide and the tab for the strap sticks out maybe 1". The tab could probably be bent down a fair amount after the strap hook is attached to get it out of the way.
Thanks buddy. I was going to get the Dometic slide which is just slightly more expensive but the reviews said it rattles offroad. This DFG slide is solid. No rattling with good reviews on other forums.
@Loganbeere and @HeisKai are you using anything as a divider for the drawers yet? The carpet floor in yours is nice but I'm trying to figure out how to fit stuff in my drawer. I found a plastic tote that is the perfect dimensions to put in my drawer, but for the other half I really like the idea of using 5.11/LAPG/molle type bags to store stuff. This is my temporary setup with the blanket as a spacer.
@Loganbeere and @HeisKai are you using anything as a divider for the drawers yet? The carpet floor in yours is nice but I'm trying to figure out how to fit stuff in my drawer. I found a plastic tote that is the perfect dimensions to put in my drawer, but for the other half I really like the idea of using 5.11/LAPG/molle type bags to store stuff. This is my temporary setup with the blanket as a spacer.
I foresee a roll cage build coming AKA crib. :wink:
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