After some prodding I've decided to document my ute project. Hopefully this thread will serve as a record of all work performed, preserve a few of my thoughts and editorial as I proceed, and provide a bit of entertainment for my fellow mudders.
I have a few reasons for going this route, none of which are that relevant... the short story is, I really like 80 series land cruisers, and I want a pickup truck. I can assure you the time for debate has long past--this is happening, and no one is talking me out of it.
Secondly, I've been putting off learning how to fabricate for way too long. I've relied heavily on fellow cruiserheads (@hicruise55 built my 4x4Labs rear bumper and has been a great resource for all of my questions, intelligent and otherwise) and have decided once and for all to jump in.
So, we'll start at the beginning...
In December, the decision that I would be building a ute this winter/spring made, I bought myself a welder. I really need to thank @bugsnbikes for his "plasma cutter and some ducktape" thread as somehow being the final push I needed to do this thing. Watching him whip his "bacon bits" project together outside of his apartment is awesome, so when he mentioned he was doing everything with a Millermatic 140, I went ahead and did some research. It's a great little welder, so I pulled the trigger and had one delivered along with a free cart.
After that, I went to a place here in town and got a tank. The reached out to @hicruise55 and got a sweet list of starter accessories for my future as a driveway fabricator, all of which ended up under the tree on Christmas. After that, I went ahead and got myself an auto darkening mask from Amazon that got good reviews and didn't totally break the bank. A quality electric grinder with some leftover Christmas giftcards and a $21 sawzall from harbor freight later, I was set up.
Except... I had never welded anything before. Being determined to get this thing done, I figured getting the proper equipment together first would make for excellent motivation to see it through.
After a long weekend watching @hicruise55 put my swingouts together (I ran the grinder and masked up to watch him run beads... he let me tack a few things together but I'm pretty sure half of those fell apart!) in addition to a great deal of research, I was confident enough to... practice!
Alright, enough tangent.
Fast forward to January. I've had my feelers out for an 80 series to chop up but hadn't found anything. My budget was under $2k, as I figured I would drop that in maintenance items alone getting it drivable and I wanted the truck to be a driver for under $5k.
In conversation, I learn that @JackZilla (who isn't around here much anymore, but may come on back eventually) had caught the Cummins bug pretty hard and his 80 had fallen by the way side. He was spending time with his Dodge, and threw me a number I couldn't pass up for Black Betty, the LX450 he bought while we were deployed to Iraq in 2008 from a mudder. I offered lunch and gas money to a fellow law student for a ride back to Tacoma, and on a lazy Monday I drove her home.
Black Betty had been sitting for quite some time. She needed coolant, had two dead batteries, had a bit of mold on the inside and just needed attention. I checked and added fluids, threw a new battery in and of course, she right fired up (this is 80-series tech...). We wobbled to the nearest gas station for air and a full tank of premium, along with a final inspection underneath, then to the highway for the 4 hour drive home.
Here she is in my driveway after nice January drive... I had to keep the windows down all day, as the exhaust was broken underneath the body and it got pretty bad if you didn't. Behind Black Betty is our other 97 LX450, which the has already told me is NOT to be cut up.
She's a baby with 151k on the ticker:
And... the next morning, her first act of defiance. Looking like some new radiator hoses are in order, at the very least:
A quick rundown:
1997 LX450
Originally silver, deflared and painted flat black/rhino lined (poorly)
Full Slee 6" lift (all the bells and whistles to make her drive right, done right)
ARB Front bumper
Slee A/C Drier skid
ARB brush guard things
ARB side steps
Warn M12000
Unknown synthetic winchline
Viking fairlead
Provisions for dual battery (in parallel, no isolator yet)
IPOR Skid
4.88 Gears
Longfields up front (we picked these up personally in Auburn, WA, right before the co. was sold)
JK Custom Rear bar with dual swingout
AO Drawer system
ARB Compressor
Aussie Locker rear/open front
JDM Cupholder for my Starbucks (that's for you, @Booger weldz )
Hand throttle
Projector headlights (Acura projectors with HID's retrofitted, done right)
IPF's
CB
Firestick
SOR Seat Covers
Blah blah 80 series stuff, blah blah
And of course, the reason it's not horrible that I'm cutting her up is that she has a salvage title that we didn't learn about until after @JackZilla bought it. One of the engine mounts on the frame is tweaked a bit (hasn't affected drivability, but I know it's there...) and, as I'll show later on, I've found evidence of body work and lots of random little repairs done. Someone fixed this truck back up way back in the day with Bondo and electrical tape.
I have a few reasons for going this route, none of which are that relevant... the short story is, I really like 80 series land cruisers, and I want a pickup truck. I can assure you the time for debate has long past--this is happening, and no one is talking me out of it.
Secondly, I've been putting off learning how to fabricate for way too long. I've relied heavily on fellow cruiserheads (@hicruise55 built my 4x4Labs rear bumper and has been a great resource for all of my questions, intelligent and otherwise) and have decided once and for all to jump in.
So, we'll start at the beginning...
In December, the decision that I would be building a ute this winter/spring made, I bought myself a welder. I really need to thank @bugsnbikes for his "plasma cutter and some ducktape" thread as somehow being the final push I needed to do this thing. Watching him whip his "bacon bits" project together outside of his apartment is awesome, so when he mentioned he was doing everything with a Millermatic 140, I went ahead and did some research. It's a great little welder, so I pulled the trigger and had one delivered along with a free cart.
After that, I went to a place here in town and got a tank. The reached out to @hicruise55 and got a sweet list of starter accessories for my future as a driveway fabricator, all of which ended up under the tree on Christmas. After that, I went ahead and got myself an auto darkening mask from Amazon that got good reviews and didn't totally break the bank. A quality electric grinder with some leftover Christmas giftcards and a $21 sawzall from harbor freight later, I was set up.
Except... I had never welded anything before. Being determined to get this thing done, I figured getting the proper equipment together first would make for excellent motivation to see it through.
After a long weekend watching @hicruise55 put my swingouts together (I ran the grinder and masked up to watch him run beads... he let me tack a few things together but I'm pretty sure half of those fell apart!) in addition to a great deal of research, I was confident enough to... practice!
Alright, enough tangent.
Fast forward to January. I've had my feelers out for an 80 series to chop up but hadn't found anything. My budget was under $2k, as I figured I would drop that in maintenance items alone getting it drivable and I wanted the truck to be a driver for under $5k.
In conversation, I learn that @JackZilla (who isn't around here much anymore, but may come on back eventually) had caught the Cummins bug pretty hard and his 80 had fallen by the way side. He was spending time with his Dodge, and threw me a number I couldn't pass up for Black Betty, the LX450 he bought while we were deployed to Iraq in 2008 from a mudder. I offered lunch and gas money to a fellow law student for a ride back to Tacoma, and on a lazy Monday I drove her home.
Black Betty had been sitting for quite some time. She needed coolant, had two dead batteries, had a bit of mold on the inside and just needed attention. I checked and added fluids, threw a new battery in and of course, she right fired up (this is 80-series tech...). We wobbled to the nearest gas station for air and a full tank of premium, along with a final inspection underneath, then to the highway for the 4 hour drive home.
Here she is in my driveway after nice January drive... I had to keep the windows down all day, as the exhaust was broken underneath the body and it got pretty bad if you didn't. Behind Black Betty is our other 97 LX450, which the has already told me is NOT to be cut up.
She's a baby with 151k on the ticker:
And... the next morning, her first act of defiance. Looking like some new radiator hoses are in order, at the very least:
A quick rundown:
1997 LX450
Originally silver, deflared and painted flat black/rhino lined (poorly)
Full Slee 6" lift (all the bells and whistles to make her drive right, done right)
ARB Front bumper
Slee A/C Drier skid
ARB brush guard things
ARB side steps
Warn M12000
Unknown synthetic winchline
Viking fairlead
Provisions for dual battery (in parallel, no isolator yet)
IPOR Skid
4.88 Gears
Longfields up front (we picked these up personally in Auburn, WA, right before the co. was sold)
JK Custom Rear bar with dual swingout
AO Drawer system
ARB Compressor
Aussie Locker rear/open front
JDM Cupholder for my Starbucks (that's for you, @Booger weldz )
Hand throttle
Projector headlights (Acura projectors with HID's retrofitted, done right)
IPF's
CB
Firestick
SOR Seat Covers
Blah blah 80 series stuff, blah blah
And of course, the reason it's not horrible that I'm cutting her up is that she has a salvage title that we didn't learn about until after @JackZilla bought it. One of the engine mounts on the frame is tweaked a bit (hasn't affected drivability, but I know it's there...) and, as I'll show later on, I've found evidence of body work and lots of random little repairs done. Someone fixed this truck back up way back in the day with Bondo and electrical tape.