My FJ Cruiser

[aircooled]

Hi there,

got my FJ Cruiser a few weeks ago, picked it up at a shop in Tokyo.

Since I'm not very interested in driving, I enjoy the build part a bit more, here are a few pics from the changes I made...

Assembly was prety straight forward, just added ball bearings and some GPM parts for steering and the fron suspension. And, as I got them cheap, I also got the Tamiya CC alloy dampers. They look very nice, work great if filled with only a few drops of oil, but might have to go again in the future.





Of course, the standard tires and wheels stayed in the box and got replaced by some China beadlocks and Rock Creepers I had left.

Here's how it looks now





Some smaller things I've done:

- Locked rear diff (parts in the kit) and the front (used one of the left over gears from the rear and squeezed it in)
- got some meat off the C-Hubs and suspension arms to allow for max travel and turning
- replaced the standard steering rod ends with Traxxas hardware, they are just much better.

For the rear, I found an interesting part on Shapeways, turn out to be from a fellow member of my home forum here in Germany.



For 25 $ incl shipping and a few bucks for some more Traxxas rod ends, this works much better than the GPM 4-Link parts as it's mounted on the top of the axle.





Last but not least, I wanted to do something against the drive shaft being the lowest part of the car now, after gaining some ground clearance.

Ripped it out and a replaced it with a Tamiya part (TA-06 K-parts, although I used some aftermarket alloy version), bearings, a 5mm shaft and two shortened Axial shafts.

Before:


After:


and here is what I have done


more to come

[TrilloThrillo110]

Hey man, nice rig, jusr wondering, what's the blue anodized hop up called and where can I get it?
Thanks

[aircooled]

Just like I wrote, that's a hopup for the TA 06: http://gpmracing.com.hk/catalog/prod...oducts_id=6217

Should be avialable in any shop that handles GPM parts... Or just get the plastic Tamiya K-Part, cheaper and will do exactly the same

[TrilloThrillo110]

Sorry, read it wrong. Though you meant the driveshaft was the hop up.
Sorry

[canadianbacon]

Looks great. What Traxxas part # did you use for the steering assembly?

[aircooled]

Originally Posted by canadianbacon

Looks great. What Traxxas part # did you use for the steering assembly?

I used the Traxxas rod ends #1942 for the steering

[killswitch]

Nice job on the carrier bearing. That looks so much nicer than my rustler rear hub carrier What size bearings does it use?

[aircooled]

According to the TA-06 manual, the regular Tamiya 850 bearings (5x8x2.5) should work, but I put 5x8x3 in it

[OSRC]

Very nice, really like the looks of those FJ's! Looks killer in black with that wheel combo.

[wyd]

Originally Posted by OSRC

Very nice, really like the looks of those FJ's! Looks killer in black with that wheel combo.

I really like that tire/rim package with your FJ Cruiser. Looks great. Do you happen to know what the tire diameter is of your new tires? I know when I start building my new CC01 I will be using different tires and rims.

[aircooled]

Thanks guys
Diameter of those tires is 96mm

[littlebuddha]

Love the rims/wheels. Anywhere I can buy that Shapeways part? dont see it on the website... also does the gpm alu steering help? I've read that it doesnt do much for the slop. Also would recommend an aluminum motor mount.

[aircooled]

The Shapeways part can be ordered here

I am using the GPM steering because there is no real alternative for now. It works great for a few rides, after that it develops slop as well. But I have a few ideas on how to fix that...

Motor mount I have to wait and see... I'm waiting for my Electrifly GD-600 and try to use the std plastic mount for now and don't see how the aluminum motor mount would improve anything...

[wyd]

Originally Posted by aircooled

Thanks guys
Diameter of those tires is 96mm

Thanks. Appreciate that.

[aircooled]

brick is gone and all closed up... time for some major mods

[the-gamer]

Nicely done!

Did you made that part or is from somewhere else? Do you have pics of the process?

[aircooled]

I didn't do a big photo shoot, sorry ;)

I just cut of the brick, trying to maintain a relatively nice shape


glued some roughly cut 2 mm Polystyrene plates on there, putty to fill the gaps and sanded it down

[aircooled]

also started to replace the optional Tamiya dampers, although they are realy nice - just too short for max. articulation.

I ordered some 90-95mm Pro-Line Powerstrokes, but already started with the front modifications with some 85mm shocks I had. And those are definately too short for the mod to work well.

Some aluminium profile cut in shape and mounted on the small holes that usually keep the original mounts in place, plus some bigger holes to give the shocks some air. Might cut the rest of the fender as well, lets see...

[R A N D A L L]

This things looking hella good! The wheel & tire package is perfect on that fj. And good looking on the shapeway part, ordered one soon as I saw that picture. Waaaaaayyyyyy cleaner and better set up. The brick trick you got there looks factory too man.

Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk

[the-gamer]

Originally Posted by aircooled

I didn't do a big photo shoot, sorry ;)

I just cut of the brick, trying to maintain a relatively nice shape


glued some roughly cut 2 mm Polystyrene plates on there, putty to fill the gaps and sanded it down

Yours looks a lot better than mine!