I'm looking to try to set up some sort of sleeping system with my fj40. Most of my driving/camping is in the desert w/o the hard top. I'm looking for a way to get higher than the local scorpions. Has anyone run across any decent setup to pull this off? My 40 has the stock rollbar. I've been thinking either extending out the back or building some kind of expandable rack for the roof.

If I fold down the front seats, I can get a hammock to go from one corner of the cage diagonally to the other end in the back. It's kind of tight, but I'm short enough to pull it off. Usually I just brush the scorpions and snakes off in the morning. :flipoff2:

You need to install a front hoop to your cage anyway. Safety and all.

I used to have brackets welded to my front and rear "spreader" bars that connect the front and rear hoop.

These brackets were like mock rain gutters made out of 1X angle iron.

I could then use my Yakima rack on open top FJ-40 to haul my canoes and bikes.

You could do a similar thing and build a sleeping rack instead.

Plus the plywood would be good shade in the desert :D

Yup it gets crowded in the back of a 40, still in collage a few girlfriends did not mind….:D

Go for the roof rack set up, this way the coyotes will also leave you alone.

Put a Spacecase up there, close the lid -- lights out.

TJK

whatever you do....do not try and sleep on the bonnet, that bastard is 5'10" from the ground and its a long way to fall :flipoff2: tried the back....to small, tried across the bench when i had that, steerng wheel, handbrake, too short.....im over 6' tall and prefer to be in a bed somewhere

and fi you sleep under it, people will deliberately frighten you in the morning (i did this to a mate) and he bashed his head as he jumped up :D

Originally posted by helocat
still in collage a few girlfriends did not mind….:D



You made them SLEEP back there?? ;)

Originally posted by MD11Fr8Dog


You made them SLEEP back there?

Sean "sleeps" with himself in his Cruiser all the time!

Originally posted by wngrog


Sean "sleeps" with himself in his Cruiser all the time!

I wished I could right now!! I've only been home 1 day since 7/2!! and may not see home until 8/8.:(

I've slept in my 40 once, near the end of my 3 day of driving the thing from NJ to CO last summer. Man, it sucked. It was in the high desert north of Walden, CO at 3am for 2 hrs and it gets cold at night, even in late June. That is when I learned that the heater blower resister was broken and I only had off and hi on my heater. I crawled in the back with my 3 labs to stay warm!;)

Originally posted by wngrog


Sean "sleeps" with himself in his Cruiser all the time!

Oh yea, and its part of the fertility stuff my wife and I are doing, I have to stay in practice for my 5 mins at the clinic!!:flipoff2:

i had a thick (@1")top floor in my old 78, that i could slide out, bolt one side to the spare tire alignment block (it was tapped) and nother tapped block on the left side, then put two legs under the other end to extend my floor.

I lengthened an old Garvin roof rack I got from a friend. It is mounted with 4 bolts to my family cage. Will fit the wife & I easy. Kinda cool up there looking at the stars & beats the heck out of sleeping on the ground.

I need to get the front roll cage (and new seat belts). Until that I was thinking about extending out the back of the floor with plywood. Seemed cheap and easy to fab up a couple legs. The roofrack will have to wait for the cage, I guess.

I still have bench seats, and have slept on the bench. It was easier to do 15 years ago. But even then 1 night was max. Night 2 would involve cramping in the legs. I had thought of putting a plywood board about 2' wide fron the dash pad across the seat to to the rear window. Never tried it though.

get a hammock, tie to a "tree" and the rollbar.


around here men don't wear bonnets when they sleep, must be a 'stralia thing!!!:flipoff2:

Originally posted by Macgyver
get a hammock, tie to a "tree" and the rollbar.


around here men do wear bonnets when they sleep, must be a 'stralia thing!!!:flipoff2:

wearing bonnets? hmmmm, i seen a guy use his cruiser bonnet as a barby hotplate!!

are you a midget? maybe you'll fit between the wheel wells!

Originally posted by lowrider
are you a midget? maybe you'll fit between the wheel wells!

Haha! I swear, sometimes the pirate page makes me laugh more than john belushi. :D

I/we used to sleep in my '66 FJ40, lo those many moons ago. It worked very well. Two adults and a child would fit, if snugly. One 6', one 5'3", one 3'. Now that child is 33.
I cut a couple pieces of plywood to fit over the rear wheel wells (or the folded down back seats, I can't remember 30 years ago so well) and piano hinged to fold over the folded down front pass. seat. It filled the entire area except the driver's side seat, all the way to the dash when folded. We used 3" foam cut in 2 pieces to fit each over the cut plywood. We stored our stuff under the plywood in back, but had to unload some stuff anyway each time. We did some 2 week vacations like that through rain and even some snow in Montana. After that, I made a Toy compatable trailer to store the stuff so I wouldn't have to unload the rig to tie up for the night. As I recall, I had a couple simple 2X4 posts under the plywood to keep it from sagging with our weight on. Do some elevation studies back there to make it all work. I have a pic of that Big Bad Orange '66 and trailer on my website.
http://homepage.mac.com/jefe/
regards, as always, jefe

Jefe, nice pics on your web. I may do a simple folding system like that. How'd you like that IH?

I found this cool camper tent thing that mounts on the roof...probably pretty easy to adapt it to the rollcage or something...might look kinda dorky drivin around with it on your rollcage, but hey, it works http://www.loftyshelters.com/IdeaFrame.htm ...I'm all for the hammock idea though. Out at Pismo me and a friend always set em up between our trucks.