Builds 2013 Land Cruiser Build Thread - Daily, Adventure, and Weekenderlander (2 Viewers)

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Ha, I was actually in the same situation as you with a bunch of parts piling up in the garage until I had a trip to moab planned that forced me to actually install all the parts that I had accumulated. It was a mad rush over the span of like 2 weeks to get it all done even though I had it in my garage for like 6 months lol.

I am doing the same thing, every time I think about rescheduling the install I talk myself into holding out longer in order to accumulate more parts and just do it all at once lol. At this rate that might never end lol.
 
Gosh can't believe it's been a while since I did anything and worked on the LC200 but really haven't touched it over the last year in terms of mods. There will be a few more mods and upgrades in the next few weeks/months but the LC has been doing local trips, ski runs, and daily driving. I did have the dreaded valley plate leak so that was recently fixed at a hefty price. Oh well, the trucks at 120k mi so hopefully it can keep on trucking for another 120k mi before a radiator or valley plate leak comes again lol.

Latest mod is the Dr. KDSS panhard relocation bracket. I had a pretty steep angle on my panhard bar with the lift in the rear so this kit brings it back into stock geometry. Install was pretty easy and the only thing that sucked was the rust on the stock panhard bracket which I decided to wire wheel, spray it with some rust reformer and hit it with an enamel coat. Also had to retap a few threaded holes because of the rust too. I did noticed quite a bit more rust underneath on my rear axle and even some spots on my LRA tank and Dobinsons rear coils which have only been under the truck for a year. Living or traveling through salt states SUCKS!!! At least it's not rust belt or NE rust bad. I figure I need to spend some significant time this summer doing to rust mitigation. I picked the King blue bracket and slapped the sticker on there but I mount my spare tire underneath so no one will really see it anyways.

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So last trip on white rim trail which is a 100 mile loop I had just enough gas to make it the entire way. I was never in real trouble of running out of gas on it but the moment I hit hwy 191 returning back to Moab the "E" light came on. I didn't carry any jerry cans that trip but it made me think about what I need to do about carrying extra fuel. My build is supposed to be more practical and it is my fiances daily driver so I have intentionally decided against a swing out rear bumper since they just add a lot more weight, complexity and steps to opening the rear hatch. I don't have a roof rack so I won't be able to carry extra fuel up top but have considered Armadillo Bags to put in my Thule box. I knew I wanted a Long Range tank eventually and when they had their 30% off BF sale it was a no brainer. Their headquarters is also local to me in Boise so I had Khris and Aiden at LRA do the install. I did not do any upgrades to the lines, pump, etc etc. I'm not sure if any of that is worth it TBH and I figure the engineers at LRA understand their system and have selected the right components. From what I understand the upgrades that SLEE and Ed Martin do costs an extra $1k.

Here is a picture of the tank installed underneath. I'm looking forward to testing the unit over the next couple of weeks even with just daily duties and excited to have some extra fuel on those longer excursions.

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I have a 40 gallon LRA in my 2013 LC. The best option ever.
 
A few mods I threw on before another trip to Moab. This time we're going to the Maze for a few nights. Of course I wait til the last week before installing all them even though they've been sitting in the garage the last year 😆

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I also splurged and went for the US Jack 6-ton jack stands. You can't pay enough for safety!!!

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My passenger side fog lights blew out so I decided it was time to upgrade to LED. I went with the Baja Designs Squadron SAE fog lights. These are made for 07-13 Tundra's but you can bend the bracket a bit to get them to fit on the fog light brackets. I got the inspiration and help from @cosport on IG which was much appreciated!!!


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My passenger side fog lights blew out so I decided it was time to upgrade to LED. I went with the Baja Designs Squadron SAE fog lights. These are made for 07-13 Tundra's but you can bend the bracket a bit to get them to fit on the fog light brackets. I got the inspiration and help from @cosport on IG which was much appreciated!!!


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Nice work on those. I even took that chrome surround out and painted it black while it was all apart.
 
@Gazziza more details on the fog lights! Fellow 2013 LC owner, and finding aftermarket fogs has been a nightmare!

So a little write up on this. I purchased the Baja Designs SAE kit for the Tundra 07-13MY. It's this one right here


What you will need to do is remove the OE fog light + housing/bracket assembly. Pop off the old fog light from the housing assembly by removing the plastic worm drive screw and prying up on the two plastic tabs. Now for the Baja Designs kit, you'll need to bend the two metal ears. You'll have to bend them in with a little bit of a S-curve.

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Once you find the correct angle you will screw the hex bolt supplied by the BD kit through the two holes that had retained the old fog light clips. They'll fit right in but you do you need to just thread the holes a bit as you screw the bolt in. There are holes on either side.

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With a little back and forth adjustment of the metal tabs you'll be able to screw the hex bolts through the holes of the plastic OEM bracket and into the metal tabs on the BD kit. I used a little bit of blue locktite here.

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Once the assembly is all together you can just reinstall it back in to the fog light bezel. The one area I did have trouble with was the connectors. One, make sure you have the wires lined up correctly. Two, the supplied connector from BD that connects into the OE harness is a shade thicker than the OE fog light connector. I had to shave and sand it down a tiny bit make it fit into the OE connector. A little super lube also helped with this along with slowly pushing it together with some pliers. It is a snug fit. I'm not sure if I'd be able to install the connector without thinning it down a little bit but perhaps I just have weak hands and fingers.

After that make sure it works and lights up, clean up the wires a bit and reinstall the plastic fender liner. Also on the passenger side there is a fog light shroud. I'm not really sure why the passenger side has one and the driver side doesn't but I was able to gently remove it and reinstall it without breaking any of the clips, there are 3 of them. Two on the sides and one up top. Just gently push down on the clips with a flathead and you'll be able to get it loose. You won't be able to see the upper one but you'll feel it.

Hope that helps!!! It's a HUGE upgrade.
 
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You can see I had to shave down the connector a tiny bit with a dremel and sanded it with some fine grit paper.

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Fog light installed on the passenger side with the shroud
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How does the spare fit with the LRA tank installed? Is it any lower hanging than before? Considering the same mod for my 14. Nice truck!

It hangs lower. I don't know how much exactly but I think others have said it hangs about 1-1.5" lower. IMO it's worth it. It's one of the few game changing mods I've done.
 
It hangs lower. I don't know how much exactly but I think others have said it hangs about 1-1.5" lower. IMO it's worth it. It's one of the few game changing mods I've done.
Figured it wouldn't be too much. Have you had any issues with clearance over obstacles while wheeling when you have the spare down there?

Thanks for the help!
 
A few mods I threw on before another trip to Moab. This time we're going to the Maze for a few nights. Of course I wait til the last week before installing all them even though they've been sitting in the garage the last year 😆

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You may know this already but those Kaon shock guards are pretty light weight and really just intended to protect the shocks from kicked up small rocks and gravel. They won’t take rock crawling type abuse.
 
Figured it wouldn't be too much. Have you had any issues with clearance over obstacles while wheeling when you have the spare down there?

Thanks for the help!

Not really. The toughest trail I've taken so far is Top of the World which has some pretty large rock ledges. This was with a sagging rear end with hundreds of pounds of camping gear in the back. I've been meaning to upgrade to a stouter rear coil so that I don't sag so much loaded down. Around town without gear it rides at perfect height. I'm running the Dobinsons C59-535 rear coils and will likely upgrade to the C59-545's. I'm sure with coils that are matched for a heavier load it will sit up a few more inches and any clearance problems won't be a big deal.

You may know this already but those Kaon shock guards are pretty light weight and really just intended to protect the shocks from kicked up small rocks and gravel. They won’t take rock crawling type abuse.

Yeah I saw the other thread about shock guards. I already had them so I thought I'd better just use them. I figure if they get trashed I'll upgrade to the FJToyman ones.
 
Not really. The toughest trail I've taken so far is Top of the World which has some pretty large rock ledges. This was with a sagging rear end with hundreds of pounds of camping gear in the back. I've been meaning to upgrade to a stouter rear coil so that I don't sag so much loaded down. Around town without gear it rides at perfect height. I'm running the Dobinsons C59-535 rear coils and will likely upgrade to the C59-545's. I'm sure with coils that are matched for a heavier load it will sit up a few more inches and any clearance problems won't be a big deal.



Yeah I saw the other thread about shock guards. I already had them so I thought I'd better just use them. I figure if they get trashed I'll upgrade to the FJToyman ones.
I have the equivalent from ARB with the heavy load OME setup and BP51s so I guess i should be fine. Rock on!
 
Finally installed the E-E OffRoad skid plate kit. This thing is nothing less than a piece of art!!! Install went relatively easy, just a ton of bolts, lining up and there are a few pieces that you have to install, remove and reinstall to get the subframe aligned correctly. Otherwise it went together as it should.

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