Builds 1995 HZJ77 wagon build - Japan sourced

[Pip Bernadotte]

December of 2021 - Finally some fun! Took the HZJ77 to Uwharrie National Forest in Troy, NC! ^_^
Went out with the NOAS (Nissan Offroad Association of the Southeast) group that a few of my friends are in.

OMG is it dusty out there all year round! I had to immediately blow out my air filter and excess catch when I got home.

Also decided that I needed some new tires. Was looking at BFG K02 skinnies, but my friends who're more experienced offroad convinced me to keep the 285/75R16 size. They also suggested I go with some Cooper STT PRO.

First pic is a comparison of the Goodyear Wrangler 285/75/R16 that came with the Cruiser with the BFG K02 skinny. Next is the beefier STT Pros

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

Oh yeah! When I got the new tires, I tried to balance them on 3 different machines. 2 at school, and 1 at work... and it was gonna take over a POUND of lead PER TIRE to balance them... So I decided to get new wheels because there's NO WAY that new rubber is THAT far off balance. (Especially when I tried to balance them with the old tires and it was gonna be similar... )

So, I like the look of the simple classic chrome wheels with equal holes. 4WheelParts had Pro Comp had 6 on 5.5 at R16 x 8" with a -11mm offset for 137.99ea which seemed like a pretty good deal. So that's what I went with ^_^

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

Ended up having do drive around with them for some reason... Just glad I could fit them all in the back ^_^

I then started measuring them for "stick out" from my fender flares. Didn't want to rip one off if I slide into a mud wall (which I've done several times since deciding to do something about the wheel depth)

Also decided to install some caster correct shims (and extended spring pins) to fix the axle rotation caused by the shackle lift the previous owner had installed. I grabbed a set from Specter Off-Road (First time I've ordered anything from them since High School when I was working on my FJ40).

Then I was finally ready to do an alignment and see if the wheels, tires, and caster shims had gotten rid of the shaking/vibration that I was getting and had been getting since I bought the car in Japan.

It did!! Now I can ride on the highway with just regular tire noise from the mud tires. (still better than the GoodYears)

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

Alignments are cheap when you can do it yourself ^_^

Looks nice with the new shoes on it too~

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

As any 70 series owner knows, the rear axles are narrower than the front axles (for whatever reason... )
So with the measurements I had taken before, I bought some wheel offset adapters from CruiserParts.net. They had a decent price and the sizes I needed.

I found that I needed 2" spacers on the front, and 3" spacers on the rear to have the wheel stick out about even. (Don't forget to Loctite them to the OE wheel studs, and torque them to the regular lug nut torque spec)

This allowed me to have 1/2-3/4" of stick out past the fender flares front and rear. Which I think is just perfect ^_^ and the stick out has saved me from scraping up the side of the HZJ several times while offroad. It also makes it feel MUCH less tippy when I take a corner due to the extra width.

So despite some people warning you "Spacers will never survive off road" or "they'll only cause problems" or "I just wouldn't trust them"...
After nearly three years of use, I give them an 10/10 over all - would buy again.

 

[coldtaco]

did those wheels clear everything in the front without the spacers?

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

did those wheels clear everything in the front without the spacers?

The front cleared better than the rear, but I didn't have much of a problem either way. The rear just rubbed a bit of the paint off of the inside of the wheel well at full tuck

My friend and I drove into a ditch at an angle to measure full droop and full tuck for tire scrub in the front and rear. We found that kicking them out just a bit would help keep them from scrubbing the body/chassis. So that, along with wanting the tire kick out to stop body rub on obstacles were the reason I decided to go with the spacers.

Thus far, zero issues and they work as intended

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

Some more random stuff:
Replacing the motor in my passenger door lock assembly. Solder off old motor contacts, solder on new. Easy peasy ^_^

Some fun for the future ^_^

Snowy Cruiser ^_^ (Actually had to use 4WD to get to work haha)

Metal Fab project - Under Seat Lock Box

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

As you've probably seen, I like to DIY things whenever I can. So... I made a 30mm body lift out of a giant rod of Polyurethane - 3" diameter 90A durometer, only $67 to make all of the pucks!

All I had to do after that was take some measurements and order some new body mount bolts.

Well... then I had to cut the PE rod... which wasn't to hard, but clean up on melted plastic inside a slide saw wasn't particularly fun... still worth it though ^_^



Also got a surprise from my mom for my birthday~ She got me a reproduction of my original license plate in Japan!

I still don't know how a lot of y'all get to keep yours... Because you have to file a police report to say it was stolen if you don't return it when you de-register the vehicle... (which I didn't want to do)

And on the vehicle

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

August 2022 -
This time: the first truly permanent mod I do to my Land Cruiser - DIY rock sliders / side steps welded to the chassis.

Goodbye old side steps

I started by stripping spots on the chassis to weld some 1/4 inch steel plate to as mounting points for the slider/steps. This will allow the whole chassis to take the force of any impacts to the sliders instead of just the foot of the slider.

I wanted to use the slider in place of the OEM side step, so I made it out of 2x5-3/16 rectangular steel tubing. I also wanted to have it just wider than the fender flares to continue giving me some clearance between the body and any obstacles offroad. (In addition to the tires, as I said before)

You can see the 1/4 plate welded to the chassis in this picture

I used 2x2-1/4 wall square tubing as the "legs" that connect the slider/step with the plates welded to the chassis. 3 legs per side.
Though the Driver's side has the exhaust pipe on the outside of the chassis rail, so I had to use some 1/4 wall 1.5" DOM tubing to get the clearance to work with it by angling it forward fairly decently and running it over the exhaust pipe.

I don't think it will ever be a problem, and it hasn't been in the past 2.5 years, but we'll have to see.

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

The reason I DIY things?
1. It's cheaper - The total cost of the sliders was $500, with enough metal left over to make a second set (which I plan to do for my friend's Cruiser)
2. I can build it how I want it, for the exact purpose I'm going to use it for.
3. It's a lot of fun building stuff, especially with my friends ^_^

Oh yeah! I forgot that I switched to 285/75R16 Cooper AT3 All Terrains for daily use around this time (as you can see in this post and the previous one), and have the Mud Terrains (on my old crappy Japanese wheels that won't balance properly)
The AT3s are SOOOO much quieter on the road it's amazing.

First pic with the sliders fully on -
I didn't have time to cap them or paint them. I literally left from my friends house after I finished welding and drove to Uwharrie for the weekend to go offroading/camping ^_^

Oh! I forgot, I also had to replace the radiator the week before this! I found that there was a slow leak that I missed in fall of 2021 when I noticed the hoses were leaking - The radiator itself T_T
I looked at getting it rebuilt, but there aren't a lot of shops that rebuild them in the Charlotte, NC area (despite all the auto shops that support NASCAR in the area)... and the cost was going to be within $50-70 of just buying a new one. So new aluminum Monroe Racing Radiator (from Amazon) it was~ ^_^ Just had to remove the radiator fan shroud. I haven't had any other cooling effects, so I've left the shroud off.

Anyways, back to Uwharrie! I finally did the Front side of Daniel! ^_^ - as anyone who goes there knows, that's THE HARDEST trail in the park (by far). And with the new sliders and wheel spacers fit, I thought I would be able to make it for the first time.

Somehow I never got a photo of me actually going up Daniel, but here's one of me following my friend.

And then there was BODY DAMAGE!!! (TT__TT) (right where my friend is getting around the rock wall in the above picture)

To be fair, I was told what would probably happen if I continued with the line I was on (My friend and spotter Darren is EXCELLENT)
but... I thought I could make it with JUST one more try...

But no... I dented the quarter panel pretty badly, and scratched the paint up pretty well too. Thankfully I missed the side mounted vent (cause they can be a bit pricey)

Lesson learned: Listen do Darren.

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

A couple new stickers on the back window. Most are just for fun, but the "Land Rover Recovery" sticker was because I had to recover my friend's DiscoveryII 3 times in one trip, and also had to drive him home to get him some new tires because he also had 2 blow outs on the trail!

Also pleasantly happy with how well the Cruiser just soaks up whatever I throw at it. Like a rear full of cinder blocks and bags of cement when I was helping Zac work on his house.

A decent bit of sag on my (admittedly ABSOLUTELY FLAT) rear leaf springs... (need to get new ones at some point) But it still handled really well. ^_^

Also happens to be one of the las pictures I have of my Cruiser before I had my motorcycle accident in October of 2020 (X_x)

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

Picture of the aftermath of my motorcycle accident.

I don't remember any of what happened. The last thing I remember from that day is saying goodbye to my coworker and starting the bike in the parking lot. Apparently I went to the grocery, and then headed home. On the way home I crested a hill and was on the down slope towards the Catawba river, and someone decided they had to turn RIGHT in front of me so suddenly that I ended up hitting them right behind their front tire and went THROUGH the front fairing, windshield, and gauge cluster on the bike, and ended up sliding over the hood of their car.

Next thing I remember is being in the hospital 2.5 weeks later...

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

Spring of 2023. Finally kind of starting to "get back to things" after my accident. (Brain damage takes a loooong time to bounce back from... if you ever do... thankfully I seem to be fairly resilient)

Next up on the HZJ, some general maintenance just before 300,000km : Timing belt and water pump swap. Parts kit thanks to Cruiser Outfitters.

The last time the belt was changed was apparently 176,988 km. I bought it with 235,000 km and it was at 282,000 km when I finally got around to doing it. So it's technically well past due.

 

[Gun Runner 5]

Join the rest of the 70 Series faithful this September.

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

March 2023 - A mod that I get asked quite a lot about: a snorkel. (thanks to Rob at Odd Iron Off Road)
I get the full gamut of questions. Anything from "are you expecting to ford a river?" to "you expecting noah's flood part two?"
It seems that most people don't know that snorkels have other uses than just going through deep water... Primarily: dust reduction. (because the inlet is higher than most dust clouds when going offroad) But I digress.

Anyways, this one was a fun but nerve wracking mod because I don't like cutting into bodywork or doing things "permanently"...

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

Interestingly, and unknown to me when I purchased the snorkel, the JDM HZJ77 airbox is different from the two other world wide air boxes.... which caused a problem with the ARB Safari Snorkel... The JDM air box has a front facing inlet that runs along the right hand fender well, and has a little end connection so it pulls air from inside the fender. The two "world" models are: the OE snorkel box which exits directly into the RH fender, and the "regular" air box that pulls air from the engine side of the air box which allows the Safari snorkel to have a rubber tube go through the fender and curve back towards the airbox and connect there. (you can imagine where the connection should be by looking at the picture with the rubber tube)

Thankfully Rob at Odd Iron Off Road makes an adapter to make a harder 180 degree curve out of the fender to meet the JDM air box inlet. (see picture)
While not ideal, because it adds another choke point, and 180 degree bend to the air flow, it does work like it should

Another mod while I was doing the snorkel: an antenna mount for my GMRS radio.
I love the Aussie style thicker antennas that they usually mount to the front of their vehicles, but also want the best transmission/reception possible. So I decided to mount it to my roof bars.

I also wanted to keep the functionality of the roof bars (where I carry sheets of plywood fairly regularly) so I grabbed a Rhino Rack folding antenna mount, and used a piece of 2" angle iron to mount it under the bars.

Running the antenna cable through the firewall wasn't too bad, but getting it up the A-pillar to the roof mounted radio console I got from 4x4 Offroad World in Australia as rather... trying... haha
Another fun thing that keeps recurring, the HZJ77 is a 24v truck... so that means I had to add a 20 Amp 24-12V step down... So I drilled a hole in the floor under the passenger seat, and have a Victron step down under the seat with a "keyed power" cable run from the cigarette lighter so it only functions with the ignition key on.

The Midland MXT500 works pretty flawlessly, and I'm able to hit the Crowder's Mountain repeater in North Carolina all the way from Little Mountain, South Carolina! (just north of Columbia) That's 60-70miles as the crow flies!

Picture of the snorkel and antenna mount finished ^_^

Many thanks to:
Sam Houston at Offroad Communications for the Midland MXT500 radio and advice on setup
Alamosa Antennas for the US made Aussie Style antenna
4x4 Offroad World for the 76 series roof console

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

Join the rest of the 70 Series faithful this September.

I'm already registered for this years event! I look forward to finally meeting you and some of the other 70 series owners on here in person! ^_^

 

[Gun Runner 5]

I'm already registered for this years event! I look forward to finally meeting you and some of the other 70 series owners on here in person! ^_^

Outstanding ….

 

[Pip Bernadotte]

May 20, 2023

Next mod: Power Trax rear "lunch box" locker.

My friend Darren runs a PowerTrax mechanical locker in his Honda Passport, and hasn't ever had any issues with it. He says it takes a little bit of adjustment in driving style so you don't try cornering with it locked up, but otherwise it's a much cheaper option to an ARB or Harrop/Eaton E-locker. So I decided that was the way I was going to go with mine.

But first, you have to pull your axle shafts... which is "interesting" when they haven't been out in a while (ever?)...

Darren and Dylan helping pull one of the shafts.

One of the shafts was VERY stuck... Like wouldn't come even using a bolt threaded into the hub end (as you're supposed to) to help separate it... so we had to take a torch to it... but it finally did come off.

Darren pulling the trolley with the third member out after I muscled it out of the differential.

Whoops, apparently my Cruiser came with a factory limited slip! Guess that's why I've had several people ask me if I have a rear locker in it before.

Sadly didn't know this before hand... But also, it wasn't working very well... and I already had the locker... So we went ahead with the locker install.
Incidentally, the limited slip member isn't compatible with a locker... so A. I had to find the third member out of an 80 series (thank you Toyota for keeping the axles the same) and B. thankfully Dylan knew someone who just happened to have a regular "open" third member sitting in their garage and C. if anyone wants a factory limited slip member, let me know