Hey all, My name is Keith, or some of you may recognize me as Chicago. The name of my beloved 1988 FJ62 is "The BLOTCH RIG", however, within my club (BBCNN) its referred to as "The grizzwald wagon"!
My story begins a little more than 3 years ago with an annual off road trip called BLOTCH!
Blotch has been running on the same weekend every year for the past 18 years. I was lucky enough to have been invited to ride along as a passenger on the 15th annual run. Growng up in Chicago (now residing in Reno, NV.) my exposure to off roading was essentially non existant, so this was an experience that was completely new to me. Needless to say I was very impressed at the capabilities the rigs and drivers posessed. Also, the group as a whole are some of the greates individuals to wheel and PARTY with...! It is the ONE run that I look forward to ON THE DAY I LEAVE, EVERY YEAR!
On the way home, I picked up a 4WD publication, and read it, then started parusing on the internet, researching varoius types of rigs, modifications etc. learning what a locker was, the difference between a solid axel and an IFS, what a lift was and what was the true purpose for it, with the idea that one day MAYBE I could get a rig for myself.
I decided that I wanted a rig with a solid axel, and a fuel injected engine, something that was in good running condition, but maybe not the prettiest thing in the world, something with maybe a mild lift and tires to get me wheelin a bit...
I began looking at the Jeep Wranglers and XJ's, and the toyota mini trucks and 4 runners (since those are the most exposed rigs you hear about). I had looked at a lot of rigs, weighed the pros, cons and costs of each that I looked at to get an idea of what I needed to do to get it where I wanted it. Everything I was looking at was beat and over priced and needed a TON of work.
Till one day I was looking on the local Craigslist...I saw an ad for an 88 Toytoa Landcruiser..."Landcruiser" I thought..."Never heard much about those." I called the guy to get more info on it. It had a mild shackle lift, 32 in tires, fuel injected and most importantly it had a SOLID FRONT AXEL! However, it did have some rust around the edges.I went onto pirate 4x4 and inquired about LC's there. George (OrangeFJ45) looked over the ad for me and said that it looked to be a decent deal! He was also the one who referred me here to mud! (Thanks again George)
I met the guy who was going to shcool to become and airline pilot and needed to sell off his toys to do it...I bought it In January on the 17th for 2500.00! In hind site I could have got it for a lot less, but I was totally GREEN so I bought it without negotiation. As it turned out it did have some rust on the tub...primarily the PS rear 1/4's and rear PS door. But the frame and components lookded pretty good and everything mechanically was in good order!
And thus, the BLOTCH RIG was born!
I promptly began working on it doing the PM stuff per recommendations here on mud with the main goal to wheel it down to Blotch for its inaugural run!
Here it is when I got her home after I replaced a bad alternator!
My story begins a little more than 3 years ago with an annual off road trip called BLOTCH!
Blotch has been running on the same weekend every year for the past 18 years. I was lucky enough to have been invited to ride along as a passenger on the 15th annual run. Growng up in Chicago (now residing in Reno, NV.) my exposure to off roading was essentially non existant, so this was an experience that was completely new to me. Needless to say I was very impressed at the capabilities the rigs and drivers posessed. Also, the group as a whole are some of the greates individuals to wheel and PARTY with...! It is the ONE run that I look forward to ON THE DAY I LEAVE, EVERY YEAR!
On the way home, I picked up a 4WD publication, and read it, then started parusing on the internet, researching varoius types of rigs, modifications etc. learning what a locker was, the difference between a solid axel and an IFS, what a lift was and what was the true purpose for it, with the idea that one day MAYBE I could get a rig for myself.
I decided that I wanted a rig with a solid axel, and a fuel injected engine, something that was in good running condition, but maybe not the prettiest thing in the world, something with maybe a mild lift and tires to get me wheelin a bit...
I began looking at the Jeep Wranglers and XJ's, and the toyota mini trucks and 4 runners (since those are the most exposed rigs you hear about). I had looked at a lot of rigs, weighed the pros, cons and costs of each that I looked at to get an idea of what I needed to do to get it where I wanted it. Everything I was looking at was beat and over priced and needed a TON of work.
Till one day I was looking on the local Craigslist...I saw an ad for an 88 Toytoa Landcruiser..."Landcruiser" I thought..."Never heard much about those." I called the guy to get more info on it. It had a mild shackle lift, 32 in tires, fuel injected and most importantly it had a SOLID FRONT AXEL! However, it did have some rust around the edges.I went onto pirate 4x4 and inquired about LC's there. George (OrangeFJ45) looked over the ad for me and said that it looked to be a decent deal! He was also the one who referred me here to mud! (Thanks again George)
I met the guy who was going to shcool to become and airline pilot and needed to sell off his toys to do it...I bought it In January on the 17th for 2500.00! In hind site I could have got it for a lot less, but I was totally GREEN so I bought it without negotiation. As it turned out it did have some rust on the tub...primarily the PS rear 1/4's and rear PS door. But the frame and components lookded pretty good and everything mechanically was in good order!
And thus, the BLOTCH RIG was born!
I promptly began working on it doing the PM stuff per recommendations here on mud with the main goal to wheel it down to Blotch for its inaugural run!
Here it is when I got her home after I replaced a bad alternator!
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