Article by Owner of a Born Free in FMCA Magazine

[nrmcclain]

There is a nice article by the owner of a Born Free Motorcoach in the February edition of Family Motor Coaching Magazine page 16.

Nick & Dee Dee
2006 BF 24' RB

[dmews001]

Just seeing this. Good catch Nick & Dee Dee. You can blame this article on us.

Attached is page 16 of the February 2018 Digital Edition in case somebody is interested in reading what this was about.

Not very active on this forum here as we got more involved in off-roading. Our Born Free is still alive and towing our Toyota FJ Cruiser anywhere we want to go......

[Roger H]

I had an '07 FJ and had to use a tow dolly and drop the rear driveshaft... how are you towing one four-down???? VERY cool!

I ended up trading my FJ in on a Jeep JKU.

Born Free 32RQ and original Born Free pickup camper by Roger H, on Flickr

MARY6023 by Roger H, on Flickr

Roger

On edit: And a very nice write-up, btw!!! Well done!

[dmews001]

Nitto Ridge Grappler 285-75-17 on FN Wheels 17x8 small.jpg (225.76 KiB) Viewed 6358 times

In early 2014, when we started with off-roading, I had a Remco rear driveshaft disconnect installed. Here is a link:
https://swdriveline.com/remco_drivelin ... nect.html

It works well despite us taken our FJ over the Rubicon Trail and Swamp Lake and several other hard-core trails - mostly in California and Colorado. These are not exactly Sunday afternoon strolls. Had to readjust the collar linkage with its nylon shift blocks because it took a good beating on the trails, but after some 26k miles no failure. It has its own integrated skid plate protecting the most vulnerable parts.

Driveshaft disconnect beats crawling under the car and remove the driveshaft.

The device incl. install was close to $1500.

Hope this helps.

Nice setup you have there. Hope to meet you on the road somewhere or on the trail since you have that Jeep now. Your rig is hard to miss.....

Photo shows our FJ climbing dry waterfalls at Echo Canyon/Death Valley - popping a bead on brand new wheels and tires.

[Roger H]

Thanks for filling me in! Yes, my rig is pretty unique when I'm on the road with it. Here's a photo after driving through 11,000' Vail Pass during a blizzard:

IMG_2315 by Roger H, on Flickr

As I'm not a very bright guy, and being denied overnighting in WalMart in Denver, I headed up for Vail Pass at midnight on I-70 last April on my way to Las Vegas. Once I was committed, there was no place to turn around. The weather was lovely in Denver... a blizzard on the pass. I made it over the pass to Frisco where I DID stop for the night at the Walmart... IN the blizzard. I continued the next morning after sunup. At least I could see where I was going. I didn't have chains. Thank GOD for the traction tires on the rear duals. I never lost traction, but the entire trip over the passes was about 30 mph tops.

My FJ had 130k miles on it and was nine years old. It was the rare six-speed manual transmission. It needed new tires and wheels, and was likely due in the next couple of years for a water pump and clutch. I briefly considered the Remco disconnect as they're manufactured in Iowa and I had easy access, but I still didn't know for certain that with the disconnect I'd be able to tow flat-four without a dolly because of the center differential. I decided after much soul-searching that I'd be better served putting that money towards a newer vehicle. The last new Jeep I'd had was an '81 Scrambler CJ-8 that I kept for six years way back when. I switched to Land Cruisers after that. The FJ Cruiser was the fifth in a line of Land Cruisers spanning nearly twenty years.

My 1981 Jeep Scrambler by Roger H, on Flickr

Jeep is the last man standing when it comes to competent 4WD that you can tow flat-four just by shoving the t-case into N, so I started shopping Jeep JKUs, intending to pick up a late model used one. I did my homework, and found that the only model with a Dana 44 front end and HD transfer case was the Rubicon, so I ended up with a new '16, again with a manual 6 speed anti-theft device for under $40k, not much more than used '14s at the time. I bought a lifetime Chrysler warranty for it as well.

After so many years with Land Cruisers, I was prepared to be unimpressed by the JKU's performance, but I have to say other than not having stump-pulling torque at idle in first (I still kill it occasionally starting) I haven't missed the FJ at all. The Jeep is a pretty stellar performer.

All that said, your FJ is pretty hot and your Born Free is gorgeous too!

[dmews001]

Just stumbled over your response post after what seems like almost 1/2 year. Thanks for your nice comments regarding my setup.

Interesting adventure on I-70. Glad you made it. I really like your Scrambler and its color scheme. What a beauty. We have a guy here in our San Jose 4x4 club who wheels his Scrambler pretty hard. And it shows.

Our next off-roader (if my 2010 FJ Cruiser ever gives up on me - which is not very likely with only some 55k miles on it) may well be the new Jeep JL with the Diesel. But then again, we're in the middle of moving from CA to Florida and I'm trying to figure out what kind of wheeling possibilities I may find there. Not too many I have the feeling...

Happy travels....

Detlef

[whemme]

As I'm not a very bright guy, and being denied overnighting in WalMart in Denver, I headed up for Vail Pass at midnight on I-70 last April on my way to Las Vegas. Once I was committed, there was no place to turn around. The weather was lovely in Denver... a blizzard on the pass. I made it over the pass to Frisco where I DID stop for the night at the Walmart... IN the blizzard. I continued the next morning after sunup. At least I could see where I was going. I didn't have chains. Thank GOD for the traction tires on the rear duals. I never lost traction, but the entire trip over the passes was about 30 mph tops.

Roger, just ran across your post partially quoted above. Last year I tried to overnight at a Walmart in west Denver just off of I-70. Maybe the same Walmart you tried. City cop interrupted our sleep to inform use we could not park there overnight. But he was quite helpful and led us to a small shopping mall also close to I-70 where overnight RV parking was permitted. Sorry but can't remember the name of the mall.

[Roger H]

As I'm not a very bright guy, and being denied overnighting in WalMart in Denver, I headed up for Vail Pass at midnight on I-70 last April on my way to Las Vegas. Once I was committed, there was no place to turn around. The weather was lovely in Denver... a blizzard on the pass. I made it over the pass to Frisco where I DID stop for the night at the Walmart... IN the blizzard. I continued the next morning after sunup. At least I could see where I was going. I didn't have chains. Thank GOD for the traction tires on the rear duals. I never lost traction, but the entire trip over the passes was about 30 mph tops.

Roger, just ran across your post partially quoted above. Last year I tried to overnight at a Walmart in west Denver just off of I-70. Maybe the same Walmart you tried. City cop interrupted our sleep to inform use we could not park there overnight. But he was quite helpful and led us to a small shopping mall also close to I-70 where overnight RV parking was permitted. Sorry but can't remember the name of the mall.

Thanks Bill! I'll keep that in mind should I ever head that way again.

Rog