[Hayes]

A day early, because I won't have time on Monday:

I bought my 1993 FZJ80 in January of 2004 when my wife and I decided that we needed a second automobile that could carry the whole family (me, wife, 1 year old son, and future 2nd son).

At the time, the garage contained a Suby and a 1979 FJ40 that I had owned for 5 or 6 years. It was trusty ol' beast that never failed, had more rust than sheet metal (you could see the highway through the tub), and I loved it. Not a very practical family wagon though. I hadn't yet mustered the ambition (or confidence) to give it the restoration it deserved, and we concluded that we couldn't keep it sitting around. It was sold for $2,000.

I DID convince my wife that what we needed was a NEWER Land Cruiser. I looked at a few 62's, made my first foray into the MUD forum with questions, and eventually concluded that an FZJ80 was what we needed.

I bought it from its second owner with 109,000 miles. It was very clean and in good shape as far as my untrained eye could tell.

Early maintenence and repair was done at Mark Miller Toyota, including dropping and cleaning the tranny pan, replacing the starter, and fixing some AC stuff.

In the meantime, I was learning a lot on the MUD forum. With the help and wisdom of the folks here, I've slowly transitioned from a "pay a mechanic" kind of guy to a confident do-it-yourselfer.

General preventative mainenence I've done in the last year or so:

Front axle overhaul, including new wheel and knuckle bearings, gaskets, seals, and wipers.

Diffs and tranny breathers extended to engine bay.

Coolant flush (green!) and hose replacement.

Brake pads.

Replaced K&N air filter with OEM.

Flushed power steering.

Fuel filter.

Regular engine oil, tranny, t-case, & diff changes.
*Changed engine oil this weekend, unless I screwed up my measurements, I didn't comsume any measureable amount of oil in 4,000 miles!? (MaxLife dino).

Here's a shot of a squeeky clean engine bay:



Mods:

OME 850/863 2.5" lift with caster correction bushings.

Slee front bumper.

Warn XD9000 winch.

Link to install writeup:

http://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/68452-ome-heavies-slee-front-bumper-warn-xd9000-kickin-butt.html

Nitto Terra Grapplers 295/75 R16









Recently added a speedo correction gear. There's a perceivable improvement in driving.

I'm very happy with how I wired my winch. I added a "arming switch" for the winch. Here's the writeup:

http://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/69043-winch-arming-switch-installed.html

Here's a picture of how I routed the winch power lines too (I think I did a clean job). They're sheathed and bracketed to the section of body below the tranny oil cooler. The hot wire runs through a hole in a section of sub-frame, and the ground line runs up behind the headlight:



I had new front speakers installed early on. They're 6.5" Focal Access separates. The installer did a good job making the woofers look good on the doors by installing one thin spacer BEHIND the interior panel, making the speaker appear to stick out less. These speakers sound really really nice.



I also had a Viper 100W x 4 amp installed where the factory "sub" goes. There's a picture in the following link to my custom subwoofer writeup.

Custom subwoofer.
To fill out the bottom end I installed a small volume box with a 8" JL woofer behind the interior cargo panel--where the little cubby hole is. A JL mono amp sits where the OEM jack used to. Now the system sounds really really really good.
Here's the writeup with pics:

http://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/53710-diy-custom-subwoofer-install.html

I also did the "spare tire mod," where you gain a wee bit of departure angle by tweaking the factory spare tire mount. Photos are pre-295 Nittos:

http://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/62029-spare-tire-mod-pics.html

I've done some minor bling treatments, including refinishing the center caps:

http://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/49788-refinished-hubcap-photos.html

And repainted the "Land Cruiser" writing on the rear mudflaps:

http://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/55971-bling-landcruiser-mudflaps.html

My current project is a cargo drawer setup.
I'm building a two-piece (halves) system with 30" drawers. Here's some photos of what I've got so far. The first photo shows how I've attached the base to the third row anchors with u-bolts, and tied into the OEM cargo hook mount with a longer bolt:



Here's another shot:



I'll follow up with a new thread as the project progresses.

Cargo box finished!
Here's the post:

http://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.p...ayes+cargo+box


Future projects may include a custom rear bumper, but this is on hold at least until the weather warms up around here.

I mean to put together a dual battery setup sometime soon.

Ultimately, I'd like sliders, Air Lockers, and 4.56 gears, but we'll see how the long term budget works out...


Last but certainly not least, what do I do with my Land Cruiser?

Like I said in the beginning, it's primarily a family-hauler (malls, grocery stores, and daycare, oh my), and my daily-driver.

Here's a photo of my copilot:



And here's one of the tail-gunner:



When not serving as a sweet spot for parking-lot diaper changes, the tailgate becomes the perfect seat for after-ski beers (I'm the stunningly handsome one on the left):



We try to get out to the Uintas and southern utah as often as we can. My wife and I have a long history of mountaineering, backpacking, and backcountry skiing, but--for obvious reasons--we're trying to make a transition to Cruiser-centered camping. I don't have as many photos as I should, but here's a couple shots of my 80 off the asphalt:

San Rafael Swell in January:



The best I could do for a southern Utah shot:



And if you feel like downloading a movie, here's one I made last year in the Uintas. The movie focuses on a day out with just pappy and son, but my 80 is a central feature of the flick:

http://www.mintchewsessions.com/Papp...2007-01-04.wmv


I plan to explore pure off-roading a lot more than have in the past, but my use will remain primarily expedition-type wheeling for scenery and camping trips.

You can count on some actual action pics in the future.

Thanks again to IH8MUD and all the great people who participate on this forum.

Ryan Hayes

EDIT 04-09-06: DIY Roof Rack.

EDIT 05-19-06: Haze Maze 2006 video.

[Romer]

Great write-up Ryan. Thanks!

[reffug]

Awesome write up...............


Thanks for contributing.


Gonna steal some of those threads for FAQ .

[apcoleman]

nice rig. those tweeters look like they belong there and a great install all around.

[loquito]

One mean lookin Tail Gunner there, wont be creepin up on your blind side
Real nice write up and rig.
Steven

[Trunk Monkey]

I'm eating my next lunch off your engine - damn!

[Arleaux]

Well done Ryan.

[notyourmomslx450]

nice writeup and nice rig. you've done several great tech writeups, too.

[CodyRx7]

Good lookin truck...

Everything seems normal in the LC regard...but the picture of everyone on the tailgate. Youre the guy on the left....but whats with BOTH the other guys all over the chick? lol...

[Hayes]

Originally Posted by CodyRx7

Good lookin truck...

Everything seems normal in the LC regard...but the picture of everyone on the tailgate. Youre the guy on the left....but whats with BOTH the other guys all over the chick? lol...

You know, I never noticed that.
Guy with hand on knee = husband. Other guy = friend, maybe closer than I previously thought...

I'm going to send this picture to these three and ask them what's up.

Hayes

[stevezero]

Nice rig. I too was questioning the pic.....wasnt sure if it was one of "those" weekends, NTTAWWT....

I love the tail gunner term. I wish I woulda known about that one when my daughter was that small

[RWD]

Nice truck Hayes. I like the clean look of a white truck. Can you estimae how tall the tires are? IIRC they are about 33" ?

[Hayes]

Nitto lists an inflated diameter of 33.27 inches and 11.73 inches overall width on an 8 inch wheel.

http://www.nittotire.com/tires_terragrappler.asp

Hayes

[fuelgeddes]

Great write up and well done video clip. Worth the down load time. I just need to move out there , so I can head out for the day and get in some real mountains. I cant wait for spring to roll around so i can take my little one on his first Land Cruiser Adventure. thanks

[NorCalSam]

nice looking rid and cool pics.

are you going to cruise moab?

[NorCalSam]

good write-ups too

Sam

[PabloVTA]

Very cool.
Nice box work.
But why all the washers? Why didn't you just cut short nipples out of some 1/4 in. steel tubing? or 3/8"? How many of those washers are still there?

Sweet rig.

[Hayes]

Originally Posted by fuelgeddes

Great write up and well done video clip. Worth the down load time. I just need to move out there , so I can head out for the day and get in some real mountains. I cant wait for spring to roll around so i can take my little one on his first Land Cruiser Adventure. thanks

Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed the movie. The amateur videos are another hobby that I enjoy as much as my Land Cruiser. I hope to put together some vids with Land Cruiser footage soon!

Originally Posted by NorCalSam

nice looking rid and cool pics.

are you going to cruise moab?

Thanks. Unfortunately no Cruise Moab for me. Not feasible with my May work schedule.

Originally Posted by PabloVTA

Very cool.
Nice box work.
But why all the washers? Why didn't you just cut short nipples out of some 1/4 in. steel tubing? or 3/8"? How many of those washers are still there?

Why washers and not steel tube? No good answer to that one. Tubing would obviously be better, but the washers do the trick. Hopefully I'll be able to move the spare to a bumper mount sometime soon...

Thanks for the compliments everyone. This is a great site and outstanding forum. I've participated on a few other (non-automotive) online forums, and I can honestly say that the MUD tech forums are the most well-managed and productive, with the best members, that I have seen so far.

The Chat forum is another story...

Hayes

[spartan]

I love white cruisers. Awesome truck and very nice piece of work.

Do you have 1" spacers in the front? It's sitting way too level. LOL

Great kids BTW.

[Cruiserhead05]

Originally Posted by spartan

I love white cruisers. Awesome truck and very nice piece of work.

Do you have 1" spacers in the front? It's sitting way too level. LOL

Great kids BTW.

I was thinking the same, especially with the slee front bumper, winch and stock rear.

And the 295 Nitto's look really clean.

[Hayes]

No spacers. Nothing much in the back except a half-built cargo box, a few tools, and and a couple amplifiers. And another big heavy Terra Grappler.

For some reason, all the photos I take end up with the illusion of a perfectly level truck. It IS pretty close to level, but not quite. I'll get out and measure the difference later.

I don't mind a wee bit of forward rake. It also feels good to know that I can load it down and not have saggy butt.
(Insert joke about your favorite MUDder's mom here.)

As for the clean tires, yeah, well... I'm working on it. You can count on a full report and many pictures of dirty tires when I get there.

...waiting for the ...

Hayes

[spartan]

I run those tires on my " other " truck. They are superb.

[GeoRoss]

This boy has great taste in clothing
Great truck too.

Ross

Originally Posted by Hayes

[NorCalSam]

squeeky clean engine bay

that looks as good as new

[alaskacruiser]

Hayes- beautiful, clean truck and awesome pics. Especially like the San Rafael Swell pic- amazing. What were the temps there when the pic was taken?