NWFJCC News

What's Happenin'?

Been a busy Winter! Spring is here and the trails are beckoning, but...

By Jim DeFord

VANCOUVER, Washington (April 7, 2008) — But...There is still a lot of snow from about 3,000 feet on up. Some areas are still un-navigable at under 3,000 feet!

Must be all that global warming eh? Here's some global warming for ya from a recent run at GPNF.

Yeah, everyone's getting cabin fever, but running in that snow-cone snow is just plain no fun and it breaks stuff. At the run shown in the photo above two front axles bit the dust.

We just had an awesome Tech Day gathering at Metal Tech's headquarters. You can see a gallery of the event by CLICKING HERE.

We want to run up north in May, but that may be even too soon if the dang snow doesn't melt off. We can always run at Juniper Dunes north of Tri-Cities, WA for some cool fun!

The best way to stay in touch with what's going on in the NWFJCC is to join the forum. It is a private forum, so you have to join the club first and then join the forum to be activated. The reason for running a private forum is to keep the SPAM checked to a big fat ZERO. No SPAM on the NWFJCC forums!!!

So.....Hope to see ya in the forums and on the trail soon!!

Trail Run Tech

Trail pinstripes optional

Step-by-step removal method

By Dean Rodgers

LAKE OSWEGO, Oregon (May 15, 2007) — In all my years of car ownership, I've never cared much about washing. The first one was a white S-10 pickup and the second was a pewter Silverado. Neither looked all that bad dirty. I think I might have waxed the S-10 once and I might have had the Silverado waxed once. Otherwise, it was a trip through the carwash or a quick douching with Tide every 3-6 months. I liked both vehicles fine, but they were just tools. I didn't worry about them too much.

The FJ is the first vehicle I've owned that struck an emotional chord. It is also the first vehicle I've taken off-road. Mine is Black Cherry. Looks great clean, but shows dirt (or dust or pollen or whatever) easily. And, of course, when you go off-road -- at least around here, you have trees and branches and thorns going at the paint like no tomorrow.

I realized quickly that I was going to have to learn how to care for the exterior of the FJ properly -- particularly since I noticed car washes don't cut it for this truck and the soap at the do-it-yourself car wash place tends to take all the wax off. >> FULL STORY

FJ Mod Report

Installing the Lucrum winch mount

Install proves to be easy and straight forward

By Jim DeFord

VANCOUVER, Wash. (April 29, 2007) — I have had the Lucrum winch mount installed for about a month now. It get rave review from both myself and everyone who sees it. The guys at my Toyota dealer were all over themselves when they saw what a cool mount this is.

What sold me from the start was the ability to keep the original designer's look to my FJ. I just do not care for the "Mad Max" look the aftermarket bumpers give. Granted they will give more protection from a 45-degree direction than the stock bumper or the Lucrum mount provides, keeping the stock look was paramount for me.

Not to mention the massive weight savings the Lucrum mount provides. I estimate just a 90 lb gain from adding the Lucrum mount and a Warn M8000 winch.  >> FULL STORY