[Offroad94]

Offroad94's "Black Bear" Build Part Two

I am starting a new Thread to keep it less confusing on my build. Here is a link to my first build that I sold: http://www.fjcruiserforums.com/forums/member-build-ups/125901-offroad94s-black-bear-build.html I was luck enough to have a great dad that helped me find one of the last five 2014 Army Green in Colorado.

Purpose: The purpose of this build is obviously for offroading but I am designing it as an expedition vehicle as well. My goal is to able to go as far as possible and be able to live out of the vehicle for a good amount of time. For the off road section build I'm going to design it for mountainous regions rather than desert. In the future I will be going with an extended travel setup like my old one had. This one will be built a little bit differently but I will be taking some lessons I learned from the old one. That means skids and sliders first

. This build will be a lot slower but more thought out with less buying and selling (meaning I won't go through 3 different roof racks lol.

Name:
I got this name through my great interest in bears, one of the most powerful predators in North America. When I was in elementary school I got the chance to hold a baby black bear cub at a local reserve and since then have had a great attachment to them. (One of my favorite Disney animated movies is Brother Bear) I chose the Black bear specifically because of the color of my FJ and because we don't have grizzlies by me. The bear I keep on my dash I purchased this summer in Yellowstone while staying at the Teddy Roosevelt Lodge were Black bear routinely ran through camp. He travels everywhere the FJ does while having a first class seat of my adventures.

Stock From the factory: Came with the ultimate package that had the rear locker and atrac. No sliders, hitch or roof rack though.


Current Mods: (New Editions in Bold)

Suspension:
1.Old Man Emu Mediums Front, Light Rear. Changing Front to heavies with the new bumper weight.

Tires:
1. 315/75/16 BF Goodrich KO2s

Armor:
1. All-Pro Standard sliders (Installed)
2. All-Pro Shock Skids
3. ARB Front Bumper
4. RCI Metalworks Aluminum Skid Set
5. RCI Metalworks Steel Diff Skid

Electronics:
1. Replaced Dome lights with 2 LED 3175
2. Midland 75-882 CB Radio
3. Mirror Lights Replaced with 194 amber
4. Backup lights Replaced with 921 LED
5. Led Fog lights in Bumper
6. Garmin GPS with Funtrek Trail Chip
7. 22 inch LED Light Bar (SOLD)

Audio: TBA

Exterior:
1. 3ft Wilson Flex

Interior:
1. Plano Storage box
2. Fire Extinguisher (Not Installed Yet)
4. Kabar/Mount (Not Installed Yet)
5. Driver Seat Storage Bag
6. Springtail Solutions Gen 1 Dog Barrier (SOLD)
7. MPAC Rear Door Setup
8. Custom Storage Box (SOLD)

Recovery:
1. US Military Issue Folding Shovel
2. Tool Kit
3. Survival Bag
4. Slime Tire Repair kit
5. Smittybuilt 2x30ft Tow Strap 20,000lb
6. 2 D Rings
7. 4WD Type Tire Deflators (Thanks Wilson for the gift!)
8. Kobalt 16ft 2 gauge jumper cables
9. ARB Tire Deflator
10. Badland 12k Winch with synthetic line
11. Kolbalt Axe
12. Gerber Gator Machete

Misc.
1. Stock Rubber floor mats (no trunk)
2. Walkie Talkies
3. FJ Newbs Scuba Kit
4. Blackout with plasti dip
5. PRG Snorkel
6. FJoel Steath Shifters
7. Fjoel Custom Grab Handles
8. 12v outlet with cb connection
9. Switches with driverside vent.
10. Aggressive body mount chop

Damages: TBA

My Approved Vendors:
1. Richochet
2. Metal Tech
3. Springtail Solutions
4. Demello
5. Expedition One
6. Gobi
7. Red Dirt Offroad
8. RCI Metalworks
9.Toytec
10.ARB
11. Insain Fabrication
12. Discount Tire

Note: I'm not saying any others are bad, these are just ones I've dealt with that I liked. Refer to my old build to see some of the reasons why I liked them.

 

[Offroad94]

Hit the big mile marker earlier this week :lol:

Also today I added my second mod which were some cheap led dome lights from Walmart that light up the interior sorry about the bad pic it wouldn't focus in the dark (first was just blacking out the bezel and painting the Toyota symbol flat green. But it turning out more the baby poop green shade so I might redo it)

 

[2010armygreen]

Welcome back to FJ land!

 

[Curtis-BW-Guenther]

Enjoyed your last build alot, looking forward to this one aswell congrats on the army green. you should colour match the roof! and yes it is spelled colour in canada.

 

[Offroad94]

Welcome back to FJ land!

Thanks! I've missed it ever since our troubles with the F-150 we traded it for.

Enjoyed your last build alot, looking forward to this one aswell congrats on the army green. you should colour match the roof! and yes it is spelled colour in canada.

Thanks! I was looking for a 2011 NSSE for awhile but they were barely less than a new one so I might down the road paint match the roof, or camo wrap it well see!

 

[dmatt]

Waiting to see more pics...

 

[Offroad94]

Did some work over the weekend and painted the mirrors black while I swapped out the lights to amber and removed the plastic reflector piece.

 

[Offroad94]

Look what showed up besides my snorkel

 

[C.O. Cruiser]

Those AllPro sliders are going to look great! Definitely post some pictures once you get them installed!! :bigthumb:

 

[Samwow]

Looks great already! Have you installed the snorkel yet?

 

[Offroad94]

Looks great already! Have you installed the snorkel yet?

Not yet waiting for a friend to get back from college for break so I have a second pair of hands.



Here's a quick pic of the sliders installed all muddy from the snow yesterday. For some reason one hole wouldn't catch the screws so I might have to work on that.

 

[Offroad94]

New barrier added today, need to get some quickfist's to mount my ar's to it. Holds my German Shepard from getting into the truck where the Christmas cookies are :lol:.

To give you an idea of where I'm heading next with this build. I want to build this in a smart way. That means protecting my investment before I head offroad. I plan to do trail runs in the spring so my goal is to get my skids (ricochet or rci still undecided) as well as the lca skids and diff skid. I also plan to buy my new wheels and sell the stock before I scrape them up on rocks to get more cash out of them. The other part I'm working on currently is buying my suspension so all I'll need to buy in the summer are tires and I'll pretty much be set to go for most situations. Obviously there's little things I'll need along the way like recovery and lights but those will come in time. I'm also going to get my dual battery and build a fuse box. Phase two of the build I'm hoping next fall to get my front and rear bumper with the winch and lights. Phase three will be my roof rack with lighting and my offroad trailer hoping to complete those next winter.

 

[Offroad94]

My dog is loving the head room over the rav4 his ears used to be stuffed sideways in it :lol: Got the snorkel lined up to be installed new years day. I also attached a picture of what my wonderful girlfriend got me for christmas! She wanted me to have it to film my adventures in the FJ and to film my summit trip in the spring.

 

[Offroad94]

Spend most of new years day installing the snorkel. Not done yet but at a drive-able state. I still have to mount the upper a pillar screws and the connection between the snorkel and intake. The connection tube they include is a b word to install over the intake especially when its 20 degrees and snowing :lol: My friend who helped me install it has a different tubing material at work that's a little more pliable we will try. We sorta followed the directions but it was a little confusing because the pictures didn't match the '14. I still need to go to the store and figure out what size black clamp for the air ram on top.

 

[Offroad94]

Wanted to post my finished product of my method for my handheld cb. I have the bandi mount as well installed. I still need to make a mount on the dash for the cb to hang on. The thing next to the antenna mount is just a 12v to power the cb.

 

[MikelH]

Loving it so far!

 

[jimmy-buffett]

Thanks! I was looking for a 2011 NSSE for awhile but they were barely less than a new one so I might down the road paint match the roof, or camo wrap it well see!

Coulda sold you mine for a reasonable price :rofl: :rofl:

For the CB this time, are you going with the full size deck mounted high again or are you doing the Midland setup like I've got? Saw your setup on that first or second Summit convoy in Buena Vista, was impressed with how much better the radio was than the handheld ones.

Edit: ah-ha, looks like you're doing the Midland:

Here's how I mounted mine, with this nub/mount from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002NLQ2MO/

The adhesive won't hold on the center console, so you have to use silicone. Finished product:

With your plugs being behind the shifter, I'd suggest mounting it on the right side of the center console. That way the cable isn't interfering with your shifter.

 

[Offroad94]

Coulda sold you mine for a reasonable price :rofl: :rofl:

For the CB this time, are you going with the full size deck mounted high again or are you doing the Midland setup like I've got? Saw your setup on that first or second Summit convoy in Buena Vista, was impressed with how much better the radio was than the handheld ones.

Edit: ah-ha, looks like you're doing the Midland:

Here's how I mounted mine, with this nub/mount from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002NLQ2MO/

The adhesive won't hold on the center console, so you have to use silicone. Finished product:

With your plugs being behind the shifter, I'd suggest mounting it on the right side of the center console. That way the cable isn't interfering with your shifter.

Yeah I was thinking of getting the springtail solutions center console mount to put it on so its out of the way of the shifter. I thought about doing a full size cb again but this time around I'm getting a ham radio so I'm going to dedicate more space to that.

I also just bought back most of my suspension I sold off my last one :rofl: let me know if you every decide to get rid of the roof rack I might buy it too :lol:

 

[jimmy-buffett]

I also just bought back most of my suspension I sold off my last one :rofl: let me know if you every decide to get rid of the roof rack I might buy it too :lol:

Ha, never. For as great as that deal was, my buddy Shawn got the same rack from Adam for $200 less and didn't have to give up his stock rack, about 6 months after we did our deal. I helped him put it on, and was laughing the whole time about how awesome of a deal he got.

Stick around, somebody will sell one eventually :rocker:

 

[Offroad94]

I traded my 2014 17in wheels with the stock tires to another forum member for his 16in wheels and stock size duratracs. They loud on the road but will do way better on the trail. Now all I have left to be trail ready is to buy the remaining suspension pieces and a full set of skids.