ROTW: The Toad

[Dirty Toad]

I don’t have the best writing or story telling abilities, and I tried to get the little woman to edit/contribute but she got side tracked with too much time spent in s/chat.

Background:
It all began in the winter of 1987 when I got my drivers license. I was on the hunt for a car/truck/something with wheels and a motor to get me from one place to another. The vehicle that I wanted most in life at that time was the then brand new Toyota FJ60, but alas, my wallet was not that full. So I settled for the 1984 Toyota sr22 4x4 pickup. I beat the life out of that poor truck, and it took it like a champ! Made me love it even more. Every fire road in the Los Angeles area was my playground, when I could not find enough time to make it out to Frasier Park or Azusa Canyon. The years went by and thought of owning a landcruiser slowly faded from my mind. Girls and fast cars became my main interest.

Then one day things changed. I started talking to the wife (you all know her by now) about the landcruiser and she was hesitant until she saw one in person. She was onboard from that moment on. We sold her passat when we found our rig on Ebay. Won it, and flew up to Portland OR to pick it up (having only seen pictures of it) and drove it back home to (then) California. Looking back it was kind of silly assuming that it would make it back without really knowing much about the vehicle. It had 193K on the OD, but she made it without issue. That was in the April of 2005.

From almost the day we bought her we have taken her off road as often as our schedules will permit. She has also taken us from Colorado to California a few times now and family members still think we are nuts for driving her that far. I think they think it is going to break down because their POS cars would. This is a Toyota we are talking about here folks!

We have since moved to Colorado and met some great people to wheel with (not that we have done all that much wheel’n here yet). Just finished the De-smog, and we are now getting ready for Cruise Moab 08. This will be our first trip to Moab and we can’t wait to see how she will perform there.


Current Modifications:

• OME 3” medium duty lift
• BFG Mud 33x10.5 on stock rims
• H55 trans, SROR rear bumper with tire/gas can swing arm
• Bent front bumper
• De-smog, 4.11 gears
• Rear locker (lockrite)
• Kenwood cd player with aux input for the kick ass Sirius satellite
• Small but efficient rear storage box
• 1200 watt power inverter (margarita’s anyone?)
• Cobra CB (so I can make fun of you on the trail)
• Rock lights
• Tinted windows

Future Plans include:

• SROR Sliders (coming very soon)
• U-Bolt flip kit
• Custom front bumper (coming not soon enough)
• On board air
• Dual battery
• Dual alternator (fits where the smog pump was)
• GPS navigation system
• Maybe a snorkel someday.

Her name comes from the journy home from Portland OR. The suspention was so worn out that we we all over the road. It felt like Mr. Toad's wild adventure at Disneyland... and there ya have it.

I am still trying to dig up some good shots to post up.

If I forgot to mention something, please remind me.

[Dirty Toad]

Here are some pics to go along with the story.

The day we picked her up. Natalie claimed her fast (it was to be HER DD)



The proud new papa



Then I got her stuck when the road collapsed under me and we didn't have good enough tires or a locker to get us out of the mess



Our fisrt camping trip to Bigsur with her



Our littlest cruiser chick (no longer the littlest)



The first major project I took on (H55 and transfer case rebuild)



As a team we take on the rear end



And then Jim @ SROR gets us that extra rear end ground clearance we had wanted for so long. Thanks for making a killer bumper Jim!



This is still one of my all time favorite shots of her. The bumper was not on at this time, but the lift and tires were, and COME ON, the moon is in the sky at sunset with beautiful mountains and our beautiful Toad.



This is the last one. Everyone at my work (hung it at my desk) thought that it looked broken. I would just look at them and think "Dumbass"!



That is all got folks. More to come if I can find them.

[Mace]

Thanks!

[Dirty Toad]

Originally Posted by Mace

Thanks!

No Sir, Thank you!

[hicruise55]

Looks awsome! Great job

[Goode]

Great looking rig...

And that was definetly a Kodak moment....that should be in the calendar.

[Isotel]

Sweet truck, and it was nice to meet you at the FR4x4 Get together,, BTW your dog looks just like my dog!

I i could find a girl that would help me chage out my diff!

[Tapage]

I thought the best part of this it's your wife helping you in the Cruiser .. ( I hope I can live to see mine at the same ) .. hope you don't have much more history skills ..

Thanks for sahring with us your experience ..

[krookedpandas]

the mountain picture was my background for a long time, I love that one!

[landcruiserjunky]

Good stuff!!

[serenity]

that photo with the mountains is beautiful. it must be great having the family interested in cruisers(mine thinks i'm nuts) you got a nice clean lookin cruiser.

what is the lockrite like? are they an auto locker or cable or air?

[mel lowe]

Digging the silver!

[Butt Ugly Chuck]

Nice rig man! Wish I could get my wife to fix mine!
Butt

[umpqua]

Fantastic mountain/moon photo.

Like the bumper a LOT.

Nice looking cruiser and a better looking family. Things are good for you....enjoy!

[samba]

beautiful! great photos.

[Tvaldriz]

You are blessed, man. Great photos of the family, your rig and
an insight into you.

Awe inspiring.

[sk8salomon]

Looks awesome Dirty! Those tires are right on, good choice! nice pics too.

[Dirty Toad]

Thanks for all the kind words guys. Most of you know the labor of love that is required to be a cruiser owner, and our baby has been great to us from the very begining. Not without issue, but still a great rig. I just wish there was an imoticon to express the love felt petween a person and there rig.

We have mad-crazy-love for our Toad.

[bigDcruiser]

nice pics of a great looking rig. awesome to see your ol' lady workin on it w/ you. i've had mine for a year now and my wife has never so much as taken a spin around the block in it. (seriously, not one F'ing ride in it for the past 12 months). i'm not bitter or anything though. that's ok, my number one girl rides w/ me every morning to daycare.

[chicago]

Its nice to see the people here utilizing their rigs to get out and enjoy the beauties of the country!
Beautiful pics in the scenery.

Thanks for sharing!

Chicago

[FJ60Cam]

Sweet truck, and great pictures.

My wife likes to ride in the 60 (roomier than her LX450), but I can't get her to drive it, let alone wrench on it... good score there! My 19mo. old son on the other hand cries when we have to put up the tools

Originally Posted by Dirty Toad

...Most of you know the labor of love that is required to be a cruiser owner...

Originally Posted by Dirty Toad

...and family members still think we are nuts...

X 2 I don't think you can explain it to them either.

[Man Jerk]

Once again...best color ever! Thanks for letting me hug the toad.

[AKcruiserfreak]

Great ROTW! Great mods do far.

TK

[JJS]

Excellent write-up and pics, and a very nice rig.

[cabron]

The couple that wrenches together, stays together!! Thanks for sharing!!

[Skillet]

Very nice.

[Ducks]

I love working on the cruiser with my wife. Excellent job.

Chad