I thought I would do another turn at the ROTW. My truck has changed quite a bit since first one. I will start at beginning though to make this a complete Thread:
In July of 2004 I started looking for an 80 series Land Cruiser to go with my FJ40. I looked locally, but they wanted $16K and above for ones that were not in pristine condition. I started looking on ebay and Autotrader. I was leary of ebay even though my friend bought an Infiniti there. I set my list of requirements for 100K miles or less, Factory lockers, no rust, great condition and for less than $14K. I read in the 80’s thread that the LX450’s were the same thing and started looking at those. I found a black one I really liked in Houston and I pm’d Texican to ask for advice on having it checked out. He put me in touch with Jim Reiss (El Mariachi) and he kindly went to look at it. Jim sent me a 2 page write-up on every thing that was wrong with it and then came the clunker. The underside was rusty and the Carfax showed it spent 4 years in Jersey. I talked it over with Jim and passed. I then found another one in Dallas and Gary Coberly ( Wagonner5) looked at it for me and gave me a similarly detailed report. This was a one owner Texas vehicle with no rust and I ended up buying it. I paid $13.8K with 98,000 miles and flew down to Dallas Saturday morning and drove it straight back to Denver, getting home about 2AM on Sunday. It was a dream to drive and I have been real happy with it.
Thanks Again Gary and Jim!
Photos from ebay showing how it looked when I bought it.
The first Mod I did was buy 285 75 R 16 BFG AT’s. I had 33” BFG AT’s on my FJ40 and was real happy with both the on and off road performance.
Next up was an Old Man EMU 2.5” lift that I had Slee Off Road put on. This was the standard Medium 2.5" kit.
I then bought a set of Slee Step Sliders. Both the Slee and Hanna sliders were great products. I selected the Slee’s as the Step model makes it “Wife Friendly”.
Before Moab 2005, I wanted an ARB Bumper and it was pretty simple to install myself. I also Installed a CB radio in the Ash tray slot (the trash on the floor is the box and other wrappers from the CB- had not cleaned up yet)
I went to 2005 Moab (with daughterofromer). Moab is awesome and the longer wheelbase of the 80 was perfect.
Summer of 2005 I also installed an M12 Winch and PIAA Lights. Notice the Mud sticker and I switched from the standard antenna to the “bend over” antenna that Nakman uses.
Of course, along the way my family learned the value of armor. My wife is now a supporter of armor I have since equipped both Rachel's and Sarah's trucks with ARB's.
https://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=50707
Next up was a Slee Rear Bumper. This is a well built unit and was fairly easy to install
I have also learned a lot about Grrr’s in the drive train (There is a write-up in FAQ titled Drive train maintenance), replaced the starter contacts, replaced the Tcase,
https://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=39514
replaced the radiator due to my leaning on it and breaking the top plastic nipple getting spark plug #6. Installed a 94 new Toyota Radiator as they are interchangeable and $300 cheaper.
I also replaced the stock muffler with a Magnaflow
I followed others suggestion and installed my CO2 tank on one of the rear seat brackets:
Brentbba's write up is in the FAQ thread on how to do it here starting in post #28
In July of 2004 I started looking for an 80 series Land Cruiser to go with my FJ40. I looked locally, but they wanted $16K and above for ones that were not in pristine condition. I started looking on ebay and Autotrader. I was leary of ebay even though my friend bought an Infiniti there. I set my list of requirements for 100K miles or less, Factory lockers, no rust, great condition and for less than $14K. I read in the 80’s thread that the LX450’s were the same thing and started looking at those. I found a black one I really liked in Houston and I pm’d Texican to ask for advice on having it checked out. He put me in touch with Jim Reiss (El Mariachi) and he kindly went to look at it. Jim sent me a 2 page write-up on every thing that was wrong with it and then came the clunker. The underside was rusty and the Carfax showed it spent 4 years in Jersey. I talked it over with Jim and passed. I then found another one in Dallas and Gary Coberly ( Wagonner5) looked at it for me and gave me a similarly detailed report. This was a one owner Texas vehicle with no rust and I ended up buying it. I paid $13.8K with 98,000 miles and flew down to Dallas Saturday morning and drove it straight back to Denver, getting home about 2AM on Sunday. It was a dream to drive and I have been real happy with it.
Thanks Again Gary and Jim!
Photos from ebay showing how it looked when I bought it.
The first Mod I did was buy 285 75 R 16 BFG AT’s. I had 33” BFG AT’s on my FJ40 and was real happy with both the on and off road performance.
Next up was an Old Man EMU 2.5” lift that I had Slee Off Road put on. This was the standard Medium 2.5" kit.
I then bought a set of Slee Step Sliders. Both the Slee and Hanna sliders were great products. I selected the Slee’s as the Step model makes it “Wife Friendly”.
Before Moab 2005, I wanted an ARB Bumper and it was pretty simple to install myself. I also Installed a CB radio in the Ash tray slot (the trash on the floor is the box and other wrappers from the CB- had not cleaned up yet)
I went to 2005 Moab (with daughterofromer). Moab is awesome and the longer wheelbase of the 80 was perfect.
Summer of 2005 I also installed an M12 Winch and PIAA Lights. Notice the Mud sticker and I switched from the standard antenna to the “bend over” antenna that Nakman uses.
Of course, along the way my family learned the value of armor. My wife is now a supporter of armor I have since equipped both Rachel's and Sarah's trucks with ARB's.
https://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=50707
Next up was a Slee Rear Bumper. This is a well built unit and was fairly easy to install
I have also learned a lot about Grrr’s in the drive train (There is a write-up in FAQ titled Drive train maintenance), replaced the starter contacts, replaced the Tcase,
https://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=39514
replaced the radiator due to my leaning on it and breaking the top plastic nipple getting spark plug #6. Installed a 94 new Toyota Radiator as they are interchangeable and $300 cheaper.
I also replaced the stock muffler with a Magnaflow
I followed others suggestion and installed my CO2 tank on one of the rear seat brackets:
Brentbba's write up is in the FAQ thread on how to do it here starting in post #28
Last edited: