Muninn, son of Fafhrd...An FJC Tale of Adventure

Haggis

Haggis

Adventurist
Senior Staff
Founding Member
So begins the tale of the inheritor to the legacy of Fafhrd the Tundra. Not as a replacement to that grizzled veteran but as a new wanderer in a new telling of being the adventure ride to Clan Haggis. Let us introduce to you Muninn...a 2011 FJ Cruiser.

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He's inexperienced having come from the civilized urbanized lands west of his new woodland home. But he's capable and with the proper training and outfitting from the forges of the Clan he will grow to be a true adventurer. There's forested roads to trod, kayaks to haul, critters to chase and new horizons to find...

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Equipped with the Upgrade Package 3, he comes with the rear locker and A-Trac system so with rear locker already taken care of I guess I can get right on to mounting up one of those light bar thingies everybody slaps on their truck...nah.

There is no plan for this ride, we and he are gonna just go wander and see where we end up. That goes for the places we see and the modifications that come about. Changes will come from real needs instead of checking off "overlanding chic" criteria boxes. The end game is for a vehicle that can accomodate all of our outdoor activities while being as practical to live with as possible. Gas mileage and on the road comfort are going to be as important as off road acumen as he will eventually be carting us great distances from our wooded glen. So with this author forward let the tale begin...




 
Before letting Fafhrd go I swapped out and removed any gear or items that could be used on our remaining rigs. One thing kept was the rim and tire combo, switching them out for an older set of rims and tires we had laying around. Since the Dick Cepek FCIIs only had 8,000 miles of wear on them and the ProComp 16x8 7069 rims were in great shape we might as well keep ahold of them and put them to use.

Some of our research on FJCs on the internet suggested that you could mount 285/75/16s onto an FJ with stock suspension depending on the tire brand and wheel combo. It also seemed to depend on each individual vehicle's tolerances if it would work. Well this new FJ needs some new tires so what the hell I'll give it a go and see if Fafhrd's old work shoes fit...
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They do, until you have to actually make a turn than the tires catch the body mount in disturbing ways. This ain't gonna work. Now what? I could do a body mount chop, a common FJ practice, but I'm loath to do so. I could put a 3" lift on but I'm digging the 21.5 mpg I'm getting out of this thing and don't really want that much lift. Or I could just go get a set of 265s and call it a day. I'm leaning towards the last because even if I put a mild 1.5 to 2" lift it looks like I'm still gonna rub using Fafhrd's old shoes. According to the internet it's also possible that a set of less aggressive 285/70/17s on the stock rims might work but that apparently isn't a guaranteed thing either. Hmm, what to do, what to do? Maybe I'll pick up a used 285/70/17 and get it mounted on one of the spare FJ rims I got laying around here from Cameron's FJ just to see how that works. All I know is that this FJ needs some better meats than the street treads it's shod with now.
 
Finally got that daughter of mine married off yesterday so now it's time to go adventuring again. Tossed a cooler and a minimal amount of gear in Muninn and headed out into the Allegheny National Forest just to the northeast of us. Soon gravel was crunching under a new set of tires that we had just got mounted to replace the worn out Dunlops that were on this rig when we bought it...

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We wandered the back way via the Hickory Creek Wilderness to go for a hike amongst the rock formations of Minister Creek. The morning was spent hiking amongst the rock piles and fern carpeted hardwood forests...

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After the hike we hit some forest roads until we found a decent spot to pull off for a bite to eat...
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This is also where Michelle decided the FJ makes a great spot to kick back and relax after a 7 mile hike...
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100acre said:
What are you thinking about those tires ?
Click to expand...

To early yet to form a real opinion on them. The only reason I bought them was that my tire guy just became a Falken dealer and got 40 sets of tires for promotional purposes and as an end result I got a set for cheap.

But out running the gravel and two tracks of the ANF I noticed some tire shenanigans on loose gravel. Wasn't too impressed with that. I'm hoping the winter/ice traction is as good as advertised though.
 
Been tooling around in the FJ for awhile now getting a sense of what I need to tweak and what I want to change.

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I'm trying to approach this vehicle with an eye on practicality and not on trendiness. So anything I'm going to consider is going to based on what I really need out of a vehicle based on my activities and the locales I will find myself in. So I don't need a rock crawler or trail machine as there is very limited technical terrain in this area. Fortunately the FJ is pretty damn well equipped right from the factory with ample ground clearance, rear locker and the ATRAC system so the drivetrain is just fine as it is. I keep getting asked when I'm going to lift it and I have come to the conclusion that I'm not going too. At least until I come across a real reason to do so. Besides I'm digging the good gas mileage and the stock drivability. So instead I've just been tinkering with basic stuff....

First of all I had to come up with a GPS mount 'cause this FJ has different rear view mirror set up than the one Cam is driving so this mount wouldn't work and ended up here...

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But that spot sucked for the Garmin so I bit the bullet and pulled the trigger on a Pro Fit Mount. Luckily it was on sale but it was still too much change for a bent piece of stainless steel and 17 mm ball of plastic. Still it is a clean mount and was easy to install. Just had to pop off the silver trim piece off to the right of the center panel.

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Better, but not perfect. It will do.

I also tried to swap in the 31 Series Diehard Platinum deep cell battery from Fafhrd into Muninn but it didn't fit in the stock tray. Fortunately the 31 fit in Michelle's Tacoma and I ended up putting the 34 series out of it in the FJ...

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Also the patch collection from Fafhrd got moved over...

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Added another...

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And when the notorious Uwharrie Naked Sasquatch stopped at the Clanhold for a visit I got a few more...

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So beyond that I'm still figuring out what major changes I might want to undertake.
 
Looking at those last three patches, I'd say your modifications are complete :)
Wait, there might be a patch for an upcoming event that would complement the interior motif you have there...

-Andy
 
Sunday was the first day I had time to tackle the bumper project. First things first, the bumper I purchased is an ARB Deluxe bull bar unit. Bought because I liked the full coverage look of the bumper but mainly because it was 20% off and was shipped free. So with me, myself and I (with the occasional appearance of my ever loving Michelle) tear down started on the front end off the FJ...
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So in the ensuing hours I followed the sometimes vague ARB instructions, referenced the blurry, dark photos provided and drilled, bolted, bent and mounted that bumper up. What a pain. I reused the Warn winch I had laying around off the old LJ because a winch bumper without a winch is kinda lame. But it all turned out well. The front settled 3/4" with the added weight so now I have my benchmark for the front lift. Between1 1/2" and 2" of lift will leave just a little rake compared to the height of the rear.

Anyways here's a couple of quickie shots at the end of day.

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Sometimes I miss rolling about in a full sized truck as a SUV like the FJ can be a limiting experience. The need to haul construction materials or a dead deer means that I have to swap vehicles with Michelle and utilize the Tacoma. At times I wonder why I didn't just keep the Tundra or trade for another truck.

But when we want to escape into the woods for a bit we always seem to gravitate to the FJ. Weaving between trees or slipping down a two track when it's just the two of us and some gear just feels right while piloting Muninn. It's also become our urban exploration vehicle when we do take the rare opportunity to visit some city. I don't know if this FJ is the perfect rig for me but I have learned over the years that no ride is perfect anyways. There's always compromises and deficiencies to any vehicular flavor. Yet it does enough things well that we are happy it's out in the garage. I just wish we had more opportunity to use it for what it was bought for over the last several months. Any ways here's a few random shots of the FJ out and about so there's some content here other than my ramblings, lol.

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Haggis said:
Been tooling around in the FJ for awhile now getting a sense of what I need to tweak and what I want to change.

First of all I had to come up with a GPS mount 'cause this FJ has different rear view mirror set up than the one Cam is driving so this mount wouldn't work and ended up here...
Click to expand...

A suggestion for the GPS mount. I did this for the rear view camera I had on my trailer with just 2" x 1/8" stock aluminum from Home Depot.
Power/video line ran over the headliner and down the driver side A pillar through a hole in the center of the mount for the backup camera.
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