Builds ROTW: Land Speeder (1 Viewer)

OK, so if it was the owner of the week then I’d be posting pics of me sitting my rotund self on the couch. So here’s very little about me and a lot of Cattywampus as I now affectionately call my rig.

I am the third owner of this rig and it is a 1991 that was manufactured in 3/90 and sold in the US in the summer of 1990 somewhere in Colorado. Until 2 weeks ago, no one had produced evidence of an older manufactured 80 in the US. Generic did when he found a 2/90 in a junk yard in Idaho.
I can’t tell you how, but mine made it from Colorado to Alabama where a woman bought it and put smaller than stock tires on it thus making the speedometer reading off (reading more miles than it actually has) and giving it a “non” clear title. Because of this title issue I was able to negotiate a great price for Catty in September 2003. Cattywampus was so nice when I got it, and frequently took it to the Tuskegee National Forest and got the 29” tires dirty. I love that forest since I used to mtn bike there as an obsession before I got into obsessing about Land Cruisers. It was then that I found this site and the 3FE and 80scool yahoo groups… and that’s when the games began.

Drivetrain (engine, lockers, etc):
• 3FE for life
• Aussie Locker Rear
• HiFlow Cat to Borla all tucked very high and out of the way
• SS Extended Brake Lines
• Orbital Battery
• CruiserParts.Net PowerSteering Pump Upgrade

Suspension/Lift, Wheels/Tires:
• OME J Springs w/ old school Slee adjustable coil spacer in front
• OME 2.5" Medium Shocks w/ 2" Extensions
• Slee Castor Correction Plates
• BFGoodrich 35" Mud Terrains

Interior Enhancements:
• LED Dome Lights F & R - Autolumination Festoon
• 1600W Power Inverter
• Integrated in-dash Cobra CB w/ Over-head speaker
• Laptop Stand with Internet Access and GPS
• Spector Tuff Duck Seat Covers
• War Eagle Cruisers Center Console Arm Rest (homemade)
• War Eagle Cruisers H/L shifter boot (homemade)
• War Eagle Cruisers Carpeted Rear Cargo shelf for Sleeping Quarters
• Pelican Case Storage Below Shelf

Exterior/Armor Modifications:
• Toshiba HIR Headlamp bulbs (same as John Deere)
• Flairless w/ Custom Durabak Brown & Black Mix to = Mocha!
• Dismissed rear bumperettes (removed)
• D-rings on rear cross member bumper
• Painless Fab Tubed Front Bumper
• Painless Fab Tubed Rear Bumperettes
• War Eagle Cruisers Sliders (homemade)
• War Eagle Cruisers Swaybar Drops (homemade)
• War Eagle Cruisers Relay Rod (homemade)
• Hella Fogs
• Wollo Horns From Harbor Frieght
• Wilderness Full Size Roof Rack W/ Shovel And HiLift Mount
• 4' Firestick Antenna
• Auburn University Flag Flying off the Firestick!
• Dents from all over the South East US

Future Modifications:
• Removing a Few Inches From The Rear Quarter Panels
• ARB Front Air Locker
• 5.27 Ring and Pinion Gearing
• Rock Lights
• Dents from all over the Nation

Former Modifications That Are No Longer:
• 2" OME Lift
• Slee Front Bumper
• Warn 8274 Winch
• 36" TSL SX Tires on Steel Wheels
• 33x10.5 BFG AT's
• 31x11 Interco Thornbirds
• American Racing Steel Wheels
• Yakima Roof Rack Bars
• Surco Roof Basket
• Internal Upright Tire Carrier

As Cattywampus sits now..


As Catty was a few months after I got it, I accidentally won some thornbirds and steel wheels on ebay, so I used them and hated them and then sold them.


I used to like mud…


Found another set of tires on ebay… BFG At 33x10.5 and installed them on the original lift. Then purchased a 2” OME lift. Here’s the before and after.


First time I met IH8MUD’ers in person…. The first MLK run, ’05, Tellico. my first “real” offroad trip with Cattywampus


The river crossing was fun


me flexing at a place called Morris Mountain here in Alabam


Following TiredIron at this past year’s Cottonland Cruiser’s Southern Cruiser Crawl


Another pic of rear flex


Crawling through “The Canyon” at GrayRock ORV




Leading a group ride


Entering the trail


It amazes me at how small the photographer looks here….


Yes… I do fill the roof rack sometimes…

My removable laptop stand setup, which has in car internet and GPS




Dash installed Cobra CB


Notice the LED dome lights and the Cobra CB speaker mounted


Flashlight at hand


Fire extinguisher at hand


Very proud of my triple duty shelf. Made it low enough to use for air mattress sleeping with the seats folded down, but will also hold pelican cases below… I love pelican cases because I can take them out when needed. The hinge was to be to access the inner fender storage.


A little roof rack backetry


Cattywampus’ Halloween costume this past year…. Spinners! They 15’s though



Homemade shock brackets… gives me 3” more travel from my 2” OME lift shocks


Homemade swaybar extensions…. That need lengthening again


Homemade bumpstops, again, need to be lower since I have a J lift.


Lowered my rear shocks by 3”


A lot to see here… used angle iron to extend my LSPV, works great with the holes in it, notice SS brake lines… and a custom exhaust hanger. Also notice the clear dif breather tube that actually routes up and into the rear cargo area.


Adjustable Spring spacers… told they came from Slee a long time ago (?) All I know is they give me an additional 3” on top of my J springs…. These spacers could give me 4 more.


Pic of my single hi-flow cat where the shop welded a y pipe in front of the cat. Also the leg of my homemade sliders protecting the cat


Other legs of the sliders, welded to the frame via ‘scab’ plates

Recently decided to lighten the front end… had a Slee bumper with an 8274 winch.
Upon deciding to have my friend build me a tube bumper, I decided to trim the front to gain maximum entry angle. Here is a contrast/comparison of what I did


The nip-tuck matches the bumper perfectly



To close… I ran into two local club members (War Eagle Cruisers) at Walmart during lunch last week. Low and behold they were parked a space between Each other. I jumped between them and my co-worker snapped this.



OK, so there it is… probably the most ghettoed rig to ever make ROTW. I tell you, Cattywampus is such a nice rig. I try to use my imagination to make up for money when it comes to mods, I hope you enjoyed it.

Damn, didn't know you had so much s#%t on that truck. Hope it's not leaking now. ???

Later,

Bodean said:

Damn, didn't know you had so much s#%t on that truck. Hope it's not leaking now. ???

Later,

Click to expand...

S#%t is right! it's come a long way since that first MLK when we met huh?
The rear main will have to leak for a little while longer...

Question with your laptop setup...

My laptops suck in air on the bottom and blow it out the rear. It looks like you just have yours sitting on a foam pad......wouldn't that block the intakes for the cooling fans?

Any more pics on the 36 TSLs ? I am thinking of running those.

Why did you decide to not run them any longer ?

I wish you had been with us a couple of weeks ago at Gray Rock, I was the only 80 there.

CodyRx7 said:

Question with your laptop setup...

My laptops suck in air on the bottom and blow it out the rear. It looks like you just have yours sitting on a foam pad......wouldn't that block the intakes for the cooling fans?

Click to expand...

They're on the side. IBM is the best IMO

Skim said:

Any more pics on the 36 TSLs ? I am thinking of running those.

Why did you decide to not run them any longer ?

Click to expand...

I got alot of pics of them, but in the end, the 36" bias ply was a pain to have since you couldn't justify driving them anywhere, and hauling that size tire on your roof then changing them which took an hour.... just wasn't worth it over the 35" radials.
They were SWEET tires though, gave me all kinds of courage.

TiredIronGRB said:

I wish you had been with us a couple of weeks ago at Gray Rock, I was the only 80 there.

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Wish I had known ya'll were going... i saw the pics, they were nice

Cool rig Eric! Nice writeup.

Nice rig! Thanks for taking the time to write all that up.

Karl

Wow! I really like your creative thinking outside of the box on the mod. How do you like the LED interior lights?

Nice write up and cool looking rig. Lots of good mods there! Love the tube bumper. Thanks for teh write up.

Preciate the comments...

A buddy told me this morning that looking at the pics he didn't think my under body was as rusty as it is.... I didn't clean my rig before all these shots.... that's not rust, it's South Alabama red clay/mud. When i pressure wash my rig, all that comes back to looking nice, not much rust if at all on this wagon.

97 FZJ80 said:

Wow! I really like your creative thinking outside of the box on the mod. How do you like the LED interior lights?

Click to expand...

The lights cost $15 each and are amazing and easy to install. Find my friend Heckler's install thread for more info

lovemylc said:

Nice write up and cool looking rig. Lots of good mods there! Love the tube bumper. Thanks for teh write up.

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Thanks. Love the tubed bumper 10 times better than I ever knew I would

cool rig. nice to see a 3FE getting put to really good use.

cheers.

john

That's some very good work well done!

How could i forget my current project.... the tubed bumperettes that I've been working on with Brad at Painless Fab... more like what he's been working on...





I love these especially for a rig I wouldn't cut into... but I don't think I'll have these long since I plan on cutting/raising the bottom of my rear quarters about 4 inches from the bottom.

Sweet rig man! Love the tubed bumperettes, gives me some great ideas for mine, when I have $$ to build it.

Nice rig. Thanks for the write-up.