Road Trip Adventure Blog

Today was a good day! Planning for a road trip adventure takes a lot of work… no matter what my wife says about my playing around on the Internet. One of the areas to plan for is rig maintenance, modifications and inevitable brakeage. A big part of this effort is having the original manufactures specifications for electrical and mechanical components. And out of shear dumb luck I came across these great resources:

• FJ Cruiser Repair Manual
• FJ Cruser Electrical Specifications
• FJ Cruiser Spec Sheet
• FJ Cruiser Roof Rack Assembly
• Roof Light Installation - Gobi
• FJ Cruiser Auxilary Lights
• Toyota Bulletin ST005-01 Vehicle Pulling to One Side
• Toyota Bulletin PD093-05 Compass Calibration
• SRS Airbag System
• Parking Assist
• Vehicle Stability Control (VSC) System
• VSC Parts Location
• A-TRAC Light Stays On - Trouble Shooting
• A-TRAC Light Dose Not Come On - Trouble Shooting
• 2007 FJ Cruiser Owner’s Manual

With these manuals, we should be able to better plan for some of our upcoming mods including auxilary lights and a low gear transfer case.

Than there is the just plain cool stuff. How do you sell a new car model? You put out a retro coffee table book, FJ Magazine, and send it to dealers along with a New Model Outline that provides a technical explanation of the construction and operation of new mechanism and technologies used in the new FJ Cruiser. And finally include a Product Reference Guide which shows off the best features of the vehicle against the competition. And WaLa you have product launch.

The other cool find is the Toyota Land Cruiser timeline. I’ve never had a rig that got under my skin like this one. Maybe it is the history, the vehicle quality or the rugged go anywhere ability… but this rig is still cool and is the reason we started our overland adventures.

TOYOTA LAND CRUISER TIMELINE
1935 – Toyoda initiates manufacturer of trucks with the G1
1937 – Toyota Motor Co. founded from its roots in Toyoda Automatic Loom Works
1939 – G1 becomes the GB, with 75-hp Type B engine
1950 – Development begins on 4×4 AK10 utility vehicle using the Type B engine
1951 – BJ sold to Japan’s National Police Agency
1953 – Large-scale BJ production begins
1954 – BJ named Land Cruiser
1955 – F-Series 3.8L Six adopted, FJ25 introduced
1955 – BJ discontinued
1958 – Land Cruiser introduced to the U.S. in September
1960 – 40 Series introduced, replaces 20 Series
1961-1965 – Land Cruiser 40 Series is the best-selling Toyota in the U.S.
1967 – 55 Series station wagon introduced
1968 – 100,000th Land Cruiser sold
1972 – 200,000th Land Cruiser sold
1973 – 300,000th Land Cruiser sold
1975 – 4.2L engine, four-speed transmission introduced
1979 – 55 Series production ends
1980 – 60 Series, second-generation wagon, introduced
1980 – Millionth Land Cruiser sold
1983 – Final year of 40 Series sales in the U.S.
1984 – 40 Series production ends
1984 – 70 Series introduced
1989 – 60 Series production ends
1990 – 2-millionth Land Cruiser sold
1990 – 80 Series, third-generation wagon, introduced
1991 – Full-time four-wheel drive introduced
1993 – 4.5L DOHC six-cylinder engine introduced
1993 – 90 Series introduced
1997 – 80 Series production ends
1998 – 100 Series, fourth-generation wagon, introduced
1998 – 4.7L i-Force V8 introduced
2002 – 120 Series (current Prado, Lexus GX 470) introduced
2003 – 4-millionth Land Cruiser sold
2007 – FJ Cruiser introduced