OlympiaFJ60

We recently had a chance to get one last weekend of camping in.  We were heading east to the Naches River Valley to participate in a Backroad Drivers Northwest tour.  This tour was of the Clemen Mountain (ridge) area just east of the Naches River and the town of Nile.  The weather called for rain and I didn’t want to sleep on the ground and chance getting flooded out of our tent.  Since I have been wanting to try one out I decided to pickup the Simpson Series II Roof Top Tent.

Then tent comes mostly assembled.  All that is required is to decide whether you want to orient it to open to the side or to the rear.  If you have it open to the rear you can create a nice sheltered area at the tailgate.  This way is best suited for full sized SUVs and Trucks.  I chose to have it open to the side (passengers for me) as I will be adding the Annex when it comes in off of back order.  Once you have decided the orientation, you can bolt on the “mounting extrusions”.  All of the parts are tucked way inside the folded up tent so you will need to get them out to continue.  These are the parts that will connect the tent to your roof rack.  You can use any type of roof rack as long as it meets the load capacity you will be placing on it (tent and occupants).  I already had the ARB Touring Rack installed.  The tent can also be mounted on factory bars or Yakima and Thule bars.  After the mounting extrusion is attached, the ladder is attached using the supplied stainless steel brackets.  The ladder has a dual purpose.  It is of course the way you get into the tent.  The ladder is also the lever you use to open up the tent.

The annex is a nice little addition that creates an indoor changing/storage area under the tent.  That is one of the features that drew me to the ARB tent instead of others.  The tent has a “vestibule” section that provides a sheltered  for the ladder and entrance to the tent.  The annex slides into a rail attached to the floor of the tent then zips to the bottom of the tent. (more…)

Similar posts that may be of interest:

Buying a 60 Series

Off-road Tent Trailer Build, Part 2

Off-road Tent Trailer Build, Part 1

Rear Drawer

Off-road Camping Trailer

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I recently installed a Safari Snorkel on my 1987 FJ60 Land Cruiser. The snorkel can be found and East Olympia Cruisers. If you are a TLCA member , be sure to mention it to get 10% off.

It was a straight forward installation easily following the supplied instructions.  This kit is designed in Australia and fits all 60 series Land Cruisers including the 2H and 12HT diesels as well as the 3FE powered FJ62.  Slight modification of the instructions is required for the 2F powered FJ 60.  I was fortunate to have installed an air clean assembly combined from an FJ62 and BJ60 for my EFI conversion.

The only tools required are a few standard sockets, a step drill (or a variety of drill bit sizes) and a 95mm hole saw or body saw  (a jigsaw would work as well).  What follows are the instructions included with the snorkel kit with metric to fractional conversions provided by me. (more…)

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‘87 FJ60

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Now that the trailer has been completed and test I thought I would finish up the trailer build with some finished pictures, a recap of features and parts used as well as a summary of the trailers performance.

We recently completed a 1625 mile trip (about 100 miles on dirt/gravel roads) to Idaho.  The full write-up is HERE.

The only changes I need to do to the trailer is to change the axle from spring under to spring over.  Once fully loaded with water, camping gear, extra fuel and bikes (or tent in the future) I have very little travel left between the bump stops and in the fenders.  It will also allow for slightly larger tires.  Here it is with 31″ tires.  I would like to fit 34″ tires to match the Land Cruisers. (more…)

Similar posts that may be of interest:

Off-road Tent Trailer Build, Part 1

Off-road Camping Trailer

ARB Simpson Series II Roof Top Tent

DNR to hold Safety Summit for Off-Road Riders

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A few posts back I introduced my “old” camping trailer and stated I was going to start to rebuild it. Here is the first installment of the rebuild process. It took some time to figure out how exactly I wanted to approach this. The old camp box was built on my M416A1 military trailer. While this would work again, I find I have use frequently for this little trailer as is. I decided a new, dedicated trailer was needed. The next step was to figure out whether it would be better to find a built trailer and make the box fit or build a new trailer to fit the box. I decided on the latter. After a few trips to Centralia Supply and Fabrication I had enough parts together to start the build. I decided on a simple ladder frame build from 2″x3″ tube steel. I chose to use a combination A frame draw bar that extends to the spring mounts. I had some old Land Cruiser springs and hangers so I used them.

For the axle I went to ABC Trailer Parts as recommended on the forum Ih8mud.com. Since it is going to be a little heavy fully loaded and for off-road use I opted for a 3500# axle with electric brakes. I think this will greatly improve the safety and drive ability of the trailer on the Highway and off-road.

I had the old fenders so I went ahead and used them. They are a little small for 31-33″ tires but I think they will work out fine. (more…)

Similar posts that may be of interest:

Off-road Tent Trailer Build, Part 2

Off-road Camping Trailer

DNR to hold Safety Summit for Off-Road Riders

ARB Simpson Series II Roof Top Tent

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I recently replaced the glow plugs on a ‘96 Ford F250 pickup with 7.3l Powerstroke engine. This particular vehicle is also equipped with several Banks upgrades. I found some good articles over at powerstroke.org for replacing the glow plugs as well as a source for an entire “kit” from the powerstrokeshop.com to do the job right.

The drivers side was pretty straight forward but the passenger side was an little more complicated because of the inter-cooler piping and the Banks Brake. I started on the drivers side and removed the air inlet pipe housing from the compressor to the air cleaner. I then removed the brackets and bolts holding down the valve cover. There was enough room to remove the valve cover without removing the inter-cooler piping on this side. I then removed the valve cover gasket and the under valve cover harnesses. I had read several warnings about the glow plugs swelling or becoming carbon encrusted and stuck in the cylinder head during removal. One suggestions was to run some injector cleaner through the system before replacing the glow plugs to clean up the carbon. This truck has been running bio diesel for a while and no problems were encountered during the removal of the plugs. A 10mm thin walled deep socket is needed. The rockers are pretty tight so a thicker wall socket will get stuck. I replaced the glow plugs with the new Ford ones from the kit, as well as replacing the under valve cover harness and valve cover gasket.

As I said, the passenger side was a little more tricky. I had to remove the inter-cooler piping, the alternator and the Banks Brake mounting bolt closest to the valve cover. The back bolts on the valve cover near the A/C evaporator are a little hard to reach as well. With that done I was able to squeeze the valve cover out. Again I removed the valve cover gasket, UVCH and glow plugs replacing them all with new. After reinstalling every thing it was time to test. This truck will no longer need to be plugged in, even on moderate days, to start. (more…)

Similar posts that may be of interest:

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