08Jan2004 (UTC +8)
Yup, you read it right!
I've logged more than 1,000+ (1,600+ km) with my Land Cruiser for this Christmas and New Year holiday here in the Philippines. We chose routes that had lots of rough roads (where there is much less traffic and where we can have complete dominance), running from Manila to Batanggas to North and South Mindoro to a complete tour of Panay (border to border from Boracay to Guimaras) and back. My US-spec UZJ-100 Land Cruiser never had so much pounding ever experienced! It is arguable that the structural stresses on an FZJ-80 running the Rubicon (in Northern California) is less than what I had my UZJ-100 go through. Imagine road speeds just like what you see on a Paris-Dakkar road rally 
Had to use my fr/rr ARB lockers a couple of times when I got lost and then overshot the road and ended up off it... One of those times was at night, you see... and the other was a mud puddle that I *thought* was still part of the road.
Frankly, I thought that the IFS would need to be re-aligned after the trip... but no. It's still drives straight and true like nothing happened! IFS is way better when you want to really run on rough roads. I thought too that every bolt would rattle afterwards... but no again. Only had to re-torque the front bolts on my front ARB Sahara bar since I put them on two and a half years ago. It still drives as silent as a tomb, like the the day I bought it new in May 2001 in Fremont-California... except for the GoodYear MTR's (305/75R16's bought from Derek Lee) making sounds as it whines a bit on the pavement or as itcrushes the rocks on unmaintained dirt roads. Only issue I have is the width of those tyres and it rubs every now and then on the front reservoirs of my OME LTRs --and the drag on the fuel economy that minimizes my travel range.
The only two failures I had was (I deduce) to be the fuel pump and subsequently the fuse also on my auxiliary Long Ranger fuel tank; and the other being the welded support on the Borla resonator (the can after the muffler). No original Toyota part failed on the trip.
I've posted my pics in http://www.pbase.com/drexx , with 10 new galleries dated from Dec 28 2004 to Jan 6 2005.
Yup, you read it right!
I've logged more than 1,000+ (1,600+ km) with my Land Cruiser for this Christmas and New Year holiday here in the Philippines. We chose routes that had lots of rough roads (where there is much less traffic and where we can have complete dominance), running from Manila to Batanggas to North and South Mindoro to a complete tour of Panay (border to border from Boracay to Guimaras) and back. My US-spec UZJ-100 Land Cruiser never had so much pounding ever experienced! It is arguable that the structural stresses on an FZJ-80 running the Rubicon (in Northern California) is less than what I had my UZJ-100 go through. Imagine road speeds just like what you see on a Paris-Dakkar road rally Had to use my fr/rr ARB lockers a couple of times when I got lost and then overshot the road and ended up off it... One of those times was at night, you see... and the other was a mud puddle that I *thought* was still part of the road.Frankly, I thought that the IFS would need to be re-aligned after the trip... but no. It's still drives straight and true like nothing happened! IFS is way better when you want to really run on rough roads. I thought too that every bolt would rattle afterwards... but no again. Only had to re-torque the front bolts on my front ARB Sahara bar since I put them on two and a half years ago. It still drives as silent as a tomb, like the the day I bought it new in May 2001 in Fremont-California... except for the GoodYear MTR's (305/75R16's bought from Derek Lee) making sounds as it whines a bit on the pavement or as itcrushes the rocks on unmaintained dirt roads. Only issue I have is the width of those tyres and it rubs every now and then on the front reservoirs of my OME LTRs --and the drag on the fuel economy that minimizes my travel range.
The only two failures I had was (I deduce) to be the fuel pump and subsequently the fuse also on my auxiliary Long Ranger fuel tank; and the other being the welded support on the Borla resonator (the can after the muffler). No original Toyota part failed on the trip.
I've posted my pics in http://www.pbase.com/drexx , with 10 new galleries dated from Dec 28 2004 to Jan 6 2005.
