We had a great turnout for the Colorado FJ’s get together on Feb 9^th. The service department at Stevinson Toyota East took great care of us, and everyone had a good time.

When I arrived there were already about 10 FJ’s, I think we ended up with about 18. We started off with some great munchies, courtesy of Stevinson. Then Jackie & Leo welcomed everybody, and introduced the Service Manager (Jeff Tossie), and his technicians (Kevin, Tanner, and Eric ). They fielded questions from the group, covering items such as mods affecting warranties, body bulges, and other general technical info.

After that, Andii gave a great presentation on the benefits of HAM (amateur) radio over standard CB’s. I answered a few questions & made the WORST drawing of a repeater system ever. While everyone agreed that purchasing a CB (or FRS) should be a first step for everyone, HAM radio definitely has advantages for many off roading uses. For more information, visit this thread , this site , or the presentation that Andii gave (coming soon).

 I briefly spoke about a few things as well. First I mentioned the Georgetown Ice Racing event coming up on Feb 22^nd. You DON’T want to miss it. I also talked about the convoy’s to the FJ Summit Ouray. Jackie & Tony will be organizing the Denver convoy, and Angie & I will be putting together the one from Colorado Springs.

The last thing I mentioned was the upcoming Dirty Toy School. This is the first annual Toyota-only off road driving school. The instructors will be Chris Nelson and Bill Burke, and it’ll be held near Grand Junction, CO. The dates are 16-18 May, and it promises to be an amazing event. The cost will be $300 per driver, and $100 for children 15 and under. The signup & specific details are still pending, I’ll provide more information as soon as I can.

After we were done running our mouths, we all went over to the Stevinson shop for a little hands-on FJ tech. The technicians allowed several FJ’s in the shop & put a few up on lifts. Everyone was able to see many mods first hand & up close. There were skids, rails, and lifts from several vendors represented, we had some really great discussions on what works & what doesn’t for everyone. Stevinson also brought in a very heavily built ‘08 Brick Red FJ. It had a 6” lift, 35” tires, and several other mods – all nice & clean. When I left there were still a few people hanging out, and the techs were still there (off the clock past 8pm). They were hooking a couple of FJ’s up to the laptops that diagnose every issue an FJ can have. Too cool!

In the near future we’ll be looking into setting up mod parties, organized trail runs, and maybe even a trail adoption. If you missed this gathering, hopefully we will see you at some other Colorado FJ’s events this year. We plan on staying very active in 2008! Our thanks again to Jeff, his technicians, Stevinson Toyota East, and of course Jackie & Leo for working so hard to put this event together!

--Shane Williams