Reader Rigs: El Diablo

{tab=Reader Rigs: El Diablo}Highlands Ranch, Colorado (a suburb of Denver) is home to FJ enthusiast Stan Reed. Even though has only lived in Colorado for a few years, he’s fully embraced what it means to be a real Coloradoan, as well as a hard core FJ owner.{mosimage}

Stan’s rig, El Diablo, is a Sun Fusion 6-speed manual trans, go anywhere (and love it), off road machine. The mod list on this beast goes on and on.

Starting from the top-down, Stan sold his stock roof rack and replaced it with the Gobi Ranger .  And you can't have the rack without the accessories, the Hi-Lift mount, axe & shovel mounts, PIAA lights, and plenty of straps. You probably noticed El Diablo at the 2007 FJ Summit,  it was the one with over 300lbs of camping and recovery gear strapped to it.  An amazing thing to watch is the loading/unloading of all that gear. Stan is able to stand on his Gobi, adding the weight of a grown man, without worry.   

Up front, El Diablo sports the All-Pro bumper and a Warn M8000 winch with Super Winch synthetic line.  He also added the full bull-bar, and mounted two driving and two fog lights for those snowy Colorado nights. Stan chose to go with the All Pro rear bumper as well, it increases departure angle and clearance, and is SOLID. After hearing about the install on this (or any) bumper, we’ll be planning a full-day mod party when it’s TRD Roxy’s turn.{mosimage}

El Diablo rides BFG Mud Terrain 305 70R/16 tires on Trail Ready 16” Bead Locker wheels. These meats can tear up the dirt or mud and come out the other side smiling.   Lift? Yeah….he’s got lift! Stan chose to mix his lift up a little with Donahoe in the front and Walker Evans (from All-Pro) in the rear. The 3 inches all the way around give the truck plenty of clearance for anywhere El Diablo wants to go. Other undercarriage goodies include All-Pro Upper & Lower Control Arms, All-Pro shock protectors, and his installer suggested he remove his bump stops and install reverse jounce shocks.{mosimage}

For armor under the rig Stan kept the stock Toyota OEM rails, but chose to go with Man-A-Fre for the skids. He also added a custom rear diff skid from All Phase Off Road. Other mods include a 10lb PowerTank, window vents, iPod & XM Satellite integration, MAGLite, Halon fire extinguisher, and plenty of custom-mounted switches for all those extra lights. 

So it's easy to see that this is a do anything, go anywhere FJ.  The FJC Magazine crew has the pleasure of wheeling with Stan (and El Diablo) on a normal basis.  We have conquered many things together, both in our near-stock TRD and Stan's built rig that keeps us in aww of the FJ's capabilities.  A word of advise from your FJC Mag crew.  If you can't mod your FJ out like this all at once, find someone who did.  They make the best tail gunners, and there's nothing they can't pull you out of!{mosimage}

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