"Jerry gas can mount"
Since I don't have a custom bumper fabbed up for the rear yet, I need a place to carry a jerry can.
There are not a whole lot of accessories out for my Yakima Load Warrior roof rack, hence me having to go elsewhere for the Hi-Lift brackets, and the home brewed shovel mount I made.

I ended up buying a genuine WWII type jerry can from Generator Joe.
It's an exact duplicate of the famous jerry cans the German's used, and the cans caught on very fast.
Here is a good article on them.
Also ordered was the flexible V type spout.

I ordered the jerry can, and in the mean time I picked up a jerry can mount from Central 4WD. It's the same mount as this site carries.

I used stainless steel 2" bolts x 1/4" for the top two bolts you can see in the mount.
I drilled two 1/4" holes right into the top bar on my Load warrior.
I used ZIP ties on the bottom of the floor of the mount and wrapped them around one of the lower big bars of the rack.
It turned out real good, and it very secure.
I also used some plastic wing nut things from Yakima like I have on my shovel mount instead of using nuts to secure the 1/4" bolts. They also have washers both sides, and lock washers on the outside for safety so they won't loosen up.

Overall I am very pleased with the way it turned out.

I got these to protect my cloth seats from water as I like to "belly float" on rivers up at Greenwater, and I hate getting my seats wet. The material these are made out is waterproof and can stand upto  some abuse.

I highly recommend taking out your seats to install the cover as it's easier to gain access to the straps you run under the seats.
I used a 14mm ratchet wrench to take the 4 bolts out per seat.
You will see two exposed bolts up front, and after take them out, slide your seat all the way forward, and you will see a plastic cap hiding over the rear bolts.
Simply pry them off, and you have access to the bolts.

The new seat covers are pretty easy to put on. You do end up losing the nice pockets in the back. I used mine quite a bit to hold stuff. I'll have to put it elsewhere.

I plan on getting a rear set soon, and I will update this entry here.
When you have your seats out, you will be amazed at all the crud under there. Time to get out the vacuum and go at it.

This page here will let you see their covers in 4Runners on their website.

I called up Badland Bumpers and talked with the Owner Jeff. I told him I wanted a nerf bar that I could take off for maintenance such as paint repair. I showed him a picture of some nerfs I saw on the Pirate forum that were welded on, but with tubes that slipped over the welded on tubes. He sad he could duplicate that type.

He used a plasma cutter and notched my pinch weld in three places. This way the nerfs would not bang into the pinch weld and dent it if I slam them down on top of something. These are very well thought out bars.

They turned out real well, and are much nicer than the Smittybilt nerf bars I had.
These are meant to take abuse and not bend like the Smitty's would end up doing. I will be able to Hi-Lift off of these with ease, and they will take a good impact if I get near something and they will protect my sides very well.

If you are looking for nice quality bumpers on par with the ARB like I have, look him up. He also makes flatbed kits, and does solid axle swaps as well. He also ships his products, so give him a shout if you are looking for some custom stuff.

Update on the sliderz:
July 15th, 2002
On the first trip out with these up at Greenwater in July, the short tubes that join the two longer tubes got peckered with rock chips. More than likely it was from all the rocks flying up.
It had been only a week and I noticed rust forming around the chips. I bought some Hammerite "Hammered" finish paint awhile back for touching them up, or if I want to pull them all the way off and totally repaint them.
The Hammerite paint is pretty much like POR 15 in that you can apply it right over rust if you want to, and it will stop the rust.

I masked off my doors and sanded them down a bit and shot on 4 coats with about 20 minutes in between each coat.
After they dried for several hours, I applied some BodyGuard Protection Film made by TrimBrite to those short sections of tubes. This will protect that area from any future rock chips.

I also wanted to protect the upper tubes some because I stand on them when I wash the rig, and they are also prone to chipping. I saw what Dok4runner did to his sliderz, and I liked it.
I bought some 3M Outdoor Tread as it is called in black. It comes in a 2" wide x 15' roll.
Very easy to work with, and if you make a mistake, it peels off easily without taking any paint with it.
The results are a non slip surface, and the added protection on top.

In the pics below you can see the clear film I applied, and also the 3M Outdoor Treads.

Added some full size pics:
August 2002

Say what?
Update on the sliderz:
October 23rd, 2002
Yes, I changed my sliderz again. I was unhappy with the paint on them. The paint was chipping off very badly on the bottoms and the sides.
This was from just the rocks and gravel up at Greenwater. Since Washington state is a wet climate, the chips were already starting to rust.

I contacted Jeff at Badland's, and he had just hooked up with a guy who does powder coating.
He'd shoot them for $40 which is a killer deal, and that includes sand blasting them.
However since I put on the 3M tape and the clear stuff, he had to spend more prep time, and it ended up costing me $75 to powder coat them in ARB black.

Still, that's a killer deal.
I talked with two local shops who powder coat, and they wanted $100 to do them, and that did not include stripping them down.

After I went back and Jeff and his partner reinstalled them, they look killer.
The paint on them looks top notch.
I will not put the 3M Tread tape back on again.
That stuff is dangerous when you wear shorts most of the year like I do.
More than once I cut open the back of my leg after coming in contact with the "80" grit surface.

Here are five full size pics.
I also have on my winter tire/wheel setup in these pics as of November 23rd 2003

I am very happy now with the results, and when I get my custom rear bumper fabbed up from Jeff, it will also be getting the powder coat treatment.

Hi-Lift Test
I am happy to report that the sliderz passed the Hi-Lift test with ease.
There was a little flexing of the slider upwards which is perfectly normal when lifting several thousand lb of SUV.
Below are a few pictures. These were taken when I first got the sliderz and had the stock paint on them.

Another useful item for jacking up your rig in the front with your Hi-Lift is the ARB adapter available from most shops that can get your ARB gear, and from Slee Off Road.
I have this item and I can attest that it does work great.

Once off, you slip the covers over the tops, snap the Velcro, and put the carpets back in place. I did have to cut tiny holes for the plastic snaps to go back through, but that was easy. I just used my Swiss Army knifes awl and poked a hole in them.

Doing the bottoms of the seat was real easy. Just slip them on, and then tighten up the straps that go around the seats.
Wet Okole even provides slits in the seats for the strap that you must pull on in order to raise the bottom portion.
The tops part of the covers have the holes in them for the pull lever on top of the seat you pull to put the seats forward.

Added some full size pics:
August 21st, 2002

Since my winches solenoid box is mounted on my bumper, a malicious person could come by and take a paper clip and insert it into the terminals and activate my winch without my presence.
Can you imagine the destruction if said person took your winch line and took it back up over your roof and hooked it to your rear bumper?
They could crush your roof of your rig like a sardine can.

With the addition of the kit, I now have a switch inside the cockpit that must be turned on to energize the Warn relay part which in turn then supplies the power to the 2 gauge cable going to the winches solenoid.
I did not however use the supplied switch as it was not a flat mounting type. I had a Hella switch that had came with me Hella 500 lamps, and I drilled a hole in the plastic that is in front of the console and flush mounted it there.

To now use the winch all I have to do is first make sure the switch is turned on first.
Here is a picture from Warn showing the parts to the kit.
The kit merely consists of the solenoid/relay, a section of 2 gauge wire that goes from it to your battery, a switch, and the necessary wiring that goes from the switch to the solenoid/relay.
All electrical parts on the solenoid are covered with thick rubber boots to prevent shorting on anything under the hood.

What I did after doing some research on YotaTech's Toyota forums was to go out and buy a 6 gang fuse box made by Buss Fuses. The part # for the Buss ATC fuse panel is BP/15600-06-20. Any automotive parts supply store should have this, or be able to order you one.
It was less than $10, so it's not very expensive.

I also bought an 8 foot roll of 10 gauge wire, and a mini fuse blade holder to come off of the battery. I put a 30 amp fuse into it. It also has a cover on the fuse holder to seal it against water.
The 30 amp fuse is way more than adequate as all the taps that are going to the box only require low amperage. The CB would be the biggest draw, as the light switches and the Warn switch only require a small amount of amperage to energize the relays that are under the hood.
The relays themselves are wired directly to the battery with their own appropriate fuse.

This was very easy to wire up. The hardest part was deciding where to put it. I wanted to put it in the cockpit, but there was no room so to speak. I could have gone under a seat, but would have had to run a lot of extra wire.

The way I wired it up is the CB and the Warn each have their own line going out to the auxiliary fuse box. The 3 sets of  switches controlling the lights are all wired together and go out the firewall with a 14 gauge wire and tap in as on plug on the new box.
This is perfectly safe as the switches require only low amperage.

Each circuit on the box is protected with a 15 amp blade type fuse. I wired this up so the box has power at all times. This way all the accessories can be used without having to have the key on. The only concern now is to not leave the CB or the lights on.
No problem, they all light up very well, even in daylight you can see the CB and the switches glowing in the cockpit.
You can use any amperage fuse you want to, but I had a box of about 30 15 amp fuses, so I am using them.

I highly recommend doing this if you also have a jungle of wires tapped into your fuse box inside. It's a much cleaner way of doing your wiring. In the near future I will be picking up the exact same box and using it to get all the wires off of my positive battery terminal. These wires are all for the relays that go to the lights, and other accessories.

Below are some pictures of the setup.
1. The mess in my in cab fuse box.
2. The parts, plus marine grade female connectors to go to the new box.
3. The 30 amp mini blade fuse holder.
4. Box all screwed onto the firewall.
5. Cockpits fuse box back to normal.
6. Product all wired up with the the taps from the cockpit.

I don't see it on their website, but they do have the triple outlet one. Maybe they discontinued the one I bought.

What I did was cut off the plug end after I determined which was positive and negative on the wires. Then I ran a black & red 14 gauge wire through my firewall and it exits right behind where I mounted this on my lower dash.
Hooked the wires up with crimp connectors, then ran the black ground wire to the fire wall, and the red power wire with a marine connector on it to the auxiliary fuse box.
Put in a 15 amp fuse and flipped the switch on the unit, and the red light lit up just like it's suppose to.
I love it when something works right the first time 

The only thing I don't like about it is it's held on via Velcro. Their Velcro they supplied was to week. It may have been OK on a horizontal surface, but as seen in my pics, I have it mounted vertically.
I used some stronger Velcro, so I'll see how it holds. If that fails, the unit can be screwed to the dash with two supplied 1/16" screws.

This is a very easy mod, and very cheap! Very cheap, did I say cheap?
Total time involved on it was probably an hour at the most.

Below are some pictures of the setup.
1. The unit mounted below the dash.
2. Unit with Garmin's 12v converter for the E-Trex line of GPS units.
3. Shows my auxiliary fuse box from another mod and where I tapped into it. Still more outlets available on it to tap into.

I had some auxiliary ones on there, but they were not very bright at all. These are very bright.
4Wheeler magazine had an article in it on using tractor lamps available from any Napa Auto Part store.
The article said you can swap out the lens that is in the rubber housing for 100 w ones.
I did not choose to do that yet, and saved myself close to $30 by using the stock lens that comes with them.
Believe me, the stock lens is plenty bright.

The stock black power wire coming out of the housing is 16 gauge the magazine article said.
If you intend on swapping over ot the 100 w lens, they recommend you use a 12 gauge wire.

The part numbers listed here is what you will need to do this mod to your rig.
Napa part # 50-620w-3 is the tractor lamp.
You need two of them which is the housing, and a 50 watt lens/bulb.
$8.99 each.
If you want the 100 w lens, here is the info.
Napa part  # is 4509 for the 100 w len/bulb.
They go for $14.88 each.

The lamps only have one black wire coming out of the housing. That is your power wire. The mount on the lamps will be your ground.
The hole where the wire comes out is not sealed with a rubber plug such as on a Hella driving lamp.
It would be a good idea to get some silicone and dab some around the hole to keep water out of the assembly.

To put these on, I first drilled a pilot hole in my hitch receiver, then worked up to my 1/4" drill bit.
Still to small though, but with the last drill bit, I went all the way through the top tube also.
I then got out a 13/32" drill bit I had from when I mounted a set of Hella 500s on my old stock bumper up front before I got the ARB.
Drilling with that big bit and a 9.6v Sears cordless drill was a challenge but I was able to break through the top side after switching out batteries.
Drilling into the receiver stock is best left for a higher voltage drill.

If you are going to drill into the receiver like I did, you will need longer mounting carriage bolts.
I used 5/16x18x3", and they are stainless steel so they won't rust on me.
Got these at Lowe's Hardware for around $6.50 or so.
Four came to a pack, though you only use two.
No need to buy extra nuts and lock washers, as the ones that come with the tractor lamps will work.

I am very impressed with these lamps. They are bright, so much brighter than the ones I had before as you will see a comparison in the pictures below.
These are wired up to one single hot line going to a relay under the hood.
They are wired exactly like you would a set of Hella 500 lamps, and I'm using the same Toyota switch that powers all my other lamps which is part # 00550-35976, and can be found at your local Toyota dealer for under $15.
Wiring info for these switches can be found here.

These hang down a tad more than the others, but I'm not worried about it. Most of my wheelin' is not where I am going up steep inclines where I'm going to end up ripping these off.
I am getting a custom bumper fabbed up for back there in the future, and the lamps will be up much higher then.
Might even be able to mount the lamps inside the bumper.
That will be a mod for next year.

OK, on with the pictures

Here are two full size pics

This mod I was inspired by a post on YotaTech for an ad to a power inverter.
The model I bought is the VEC031POB.

I got it at Sam's Club for around $28 which is cheaper than what the manufacturers site shows.
It comes with a cigarette adapter, but you can only power a device upto 150 watts that way.
It also comes with cables that connect to your battery to use the full potential of it's 400 watt capacity.
I choose to hard wire it though instead as you will read about here in this write-up.

I have been wanting to do this mod for quite awhile, and I guess the post inspired me to bet off my butt and do it.
The forum has a way of doing that to you if you see all the ideas thrown out there.

This mod will be great for charging up digicam batteries while on the road, or for charging the cell phone.
400 watts is also powerful enough to run portable trouble lights, TVs, radios, and lots more small appliances.

Below are some pictures of the installation.

Carpet covered panel covering where the stock speakers would go.
This is the passenger side to show you what the panel looks like with no unit attached to it.

Hole where the panel goes.
This is on the drivers side where I will mount the converter.

Unit mounted to the panel board
I have it held on with 4 wood screws.

Unit mounted in place without wiring
This was a test fit to see how it would look.

Unit now wired up
I was going to drill holes in the wood panel and run them behind the plastic cargo area sides, but that was more work than I wanted to do as the sides are hard to get off and often crack easily.
I already have small cracks on each side.

The ground wire I put next to the rear seat belt anchor bolt.
I would have used the seat belt hole instead of drilling a new one, but I did not have a connector that would slip over that big bolt.

For the positive wire I used my stereo amplifiers distribution block
The distribution block goes straight to my battery and is protected by a 100 amp circuit breaker.
The ground & hot wire are both 8 gauge, and the book said to use 10 gauge, so it's more than protected.
I also have a new 50 amp fuse in the distribution block for the 100v converter.
This was a 1x4 gauge in, 4x8 gauge out distribution box.

Here is the unit getting tested after I was done installing it
I hooked up my Craftsman cordless drill charger to the Maxx converter, and it worked!
When the unit is on a green light comes on and also a fan to help keep it cool.
Should the converter be left on to long and start to drain the rigs battery, a warning alarm will sound.
Shortly after that the unit will power off automatically should the batteries voltage drop down to 10.6 volts.