Builds Atnolan94 Land Crooser Build Thread (2 Viewers)

[atnolan94]

Hey all,

My name is Andrew, I'm from Dallas, TX but also lived in Oklahoma for about 4 years recently attending Oklahoma State University. One of my best and closest friends (who is a member here on Mud @DirtDawg ) has always been a Toyota 4x4 nut, and I've worked on his 2000 LX470 a couple of times with him. But he has also had multiple 4 runners. After all these years of playing with Ford half tons and Powerstrokes, today was the day I decided to buy a 100 series!

Here she is, a 2000 Toyota Land Cruiser in silver with 235k. Not a spec of rust, reupholstered interior, and a great color. It need love in a few spots, but that's why I'm excited to get involved here on Mud.

My first plan is to deal with my wheels/tires as these are bald. I plan to either do 285s on the stock rims or go to Tundra 18s and run some 275/70s. BFG KO2 either way. In the near future I will be doing a Tough dog/Tour Flex lift. I have not decided whether I will go 2" or 3" on this kit.

I am also working on a fluid baseline plan with Amsoil products.

All these items are top priority. I am hoping to be at HIH this year, and the goal is to have the rig to this point by then!

I am excited to be part of this community and am excited to meet a few of you.

 

[SlowBuild]

Welcome!

 

[lazarus18]

Great looking rig! I also purchased my first 2 weeks ago.... I need to fix my front leather any ideas on who to go to? I dont want to spend $1000.... would love to spend under $300.

 

[atnolan94]

So 2 days in I am already making great progress on the Cruiser. @DirtDawg and I are meeting in OKC on Saturday to do a fluid baseline an address a few items. So far we are planning on doing front and rear diffs, transfer case, engine oil, and trans fluid, all from AmsOil. I will also be throwing on a Toyota oil filter for good measure. The running boards will be coming off along with the fender flares and we should be off to a great start. I am also slowly working on peeling off all this faded, fake wood trim from around the vehicle. Some of mine is fine, but most of it is absolutely awful. Luckily it coming up pretty cleanly.

I couldn't help myself so last night I bought a set of 4 BFG KO2's in 285/75r16 at Discount Tire. The tech said there was NO WAY they would fit. But at the advice and experience of many people on these boards I had him press on, and surely enough they fit like a glove! I'm really happy with the size, as they look great now and will still be perfect with a 2" lift.

Other than that I was excited to hear the headlight and fog light bulbs are both 9006. My fogs were dead, and my heads were pretty weak, so I got some Silverstar ultras for the headlights and moved the headlight bulbs to th fogs and WOW! Night and day difference....literally. I will report back after the baseline Saturday, we are also going to see if we can get our 100's a little dirty afterwards!

 

[atnolan94]

Great looking rig! I also purchased my first 2 weeks ago.... I need to fix my front leather any ideas on who to go to? I dont want to spend $1000.... would love to spend under $300.

To be honest I don't really even have a guess. i would check locally and price it out. I know its a ways for you to get to Dallas, but on both sides of I35 just south of 635 there are a ton of used car dealers, so there are a lot of shops for things like upholstery, PDR, Parts, etc. Call around to some of them and get quotes.

 

[chopperjamie]

Nice rig!
I would replace the heater hose "t"'s
DIY: Replacing heater hose pipe T's *important*

And since I am knee deep in replacing a broken timing belt, I would recommend replacing the timing belt.

 

[atnolan94]

Nice rig!
I would replace the heater hose "t"'s
DIY: Replacing heater hose pipe T's *important*

And since I am knee deep in replacing a broken timing belt, I would recommend replacing the timing belt.

Yep Heater T's are on the list too. Luckily my local Toyota dealer has them so I will be picking them up tonight before going to OK.

No clear history on my rig in terms of the timing belt so it will be getting done soon. Even if it was done 45k ago or something I think I'd rather just have the peace of mind anyways. As Connor pointed out too, then my Heater T's and Timing belt will be on the same interval.

Thanks!

 

[krice118]

Front Recovery brackets from trail-tailor.com and you are good to go!
Baseline, remove running boards, 285s and good recovery gear and that 100 will go whereever you want

 

[atnolan94]

Front Recovery brackets from trail-tailor.com and you are good to go!
Baseline, remove running boards, 285s and good recovery gear and that 100 will go whereever you want

If it wasn't pouring rain these boards would've been gone already. I am adding to the list for Saturday's baseline day. The flares will be coming off at that time as well.

I'll look into the tow point brackets, I need to call Jason anyways about a lift so I will discuss that as well.

Thanks!!

 

[TXSunDevil]

Welcome to Mud. When you remove those fender flares you may need to do a little touchup painting. Here is what mine looked like.
Before

And after I tried my hand a being a body and paint guy.

You can still see it if you look close but at first glance it is unnoticeable.

 

[Ouray19]

If it wasn't pouring rain these boards would've been gone already. I am adding to the list for Saturday's baseline day. The flares will be coming off at that time as well.

I'll look into the tow point brackets, I need to call Jason anyways about a lift so I will discuss that as well.

Thanks!!

Man, this rain in Texas is awful right? I had planned on working on the car this week and we can't catch a break. Doesn't look like it's stopping anytime soon either! Rig looks great, looking forward to watching your thread.

 

[krice118]

@atnolan94 Awesome! Your 100 is coming along nicely!

 

[atnolan94]

Man, this rain in Texas is awful right? I had planned on working on the car this week and we can't catch a break. Doesn't look like it's stopping anytime soon either! Rig looks great, looking forward to watching your thread.

It is MISERABLE....just nonstop for 4 days so far in Dallas. Thanks man, I'm very excited.

@atnolan94 Awesome! Your 100 is coming along nicely!

Thanks! I know a lot is happening, and fast. Once the rig is baselined I won't worry about it for a second. It has already impressed me with how well-built of a vehicle it is. I was looking at an 80 series, but I'm glad I ended up going this route.

 

[atnolan94]

Welcome to Mud. When you remove those fender flares you may need to do a little touchup painting. Here is what mine looked like.
BeforeView attachment 1640022And after I tried my hand a being a body and paint guy.View attachment 1640023You can still see it if you look close but at first glance it is unnoticeable.

Thanks for the tip! I'm hoping mine are ok as the dealer I bought the vehicle from just put them on.

Can't believe the number of Texans on this board this is great!!

 

[krice118]

Thanks! I know a lot is happening, and fast. Once the rig is baselined I won't worry about it for a second. It has already impressed me with how well-built of a vehicle it is. I was looking at an 80 series, but I'm glad I ended up going this route.

I love the 2uz. it is incredibly smooth! Not the fastest rig out there but they are fun to drive fast or 4L crawling

 

[atnolan94]

It is SO smooth. I've been a Ford Pickup guy my whole life, so I've always had V8's, but this one drives like a 6 cylinder without he lack of power. Sure its not going to blow the doors off anyone but it absolutely gets the job done, and it won't let you down as long as you maintain it. I'm excited to get this thing off road and see what it can do!

 

[OSTATECRUISER]

Welcome! I bought a 2000 in Dallas in November. Not as refined as my 2006, but still love it! GO POKES!!!
Can't wait to see more pics and mods!

 

[atnolan94]

Welcome! I bought a 2000 in Dallas in November. Not as refined as my 2006, but still love it! GO POKES!!!
Can't wait to see more pics and mods!

Go Pokes!!

 

[atnolan94]

So, Saturday was the big day for my new 100! @DirtDawg and I spent about 18 hours tackling all sorts of items to both baseline the vehicle, and to repair some known issues (a couple of those hours were actually this morning).

This may take more than one post so I can include all our pictures, but bear with me! I will start with the cosmetic things first then move to the mechanical.

First things first, we took off the running boards and fender flares. The boards were a touch harder than expected but used some ingenuity and they popped right off. The flares came off easily enough, and the paint damage below was very minimal. The front flares were held on with 3 screws each, and the back half of the rears was the same. The front half of each rear flare that goes on the back door was a bit of a pain. The dealer I just purchased the cruiser from was the one who installed these flares. In their infinite wisdom, they installed this portion of the flares with thick, black, giant globs of silicone epoxy. we were never able to remove these fully, and on a couple of spots on the lower trim, the paint was actually ripped off along with the silicone. Very frustrating, but I reminded myself, this truck was a steal and its not the end of the world. I think the plane will be to just sand the rest of it down and monstaline my lower trim in a matching color. If not I will find someone who can paint them for me. This is the only really bad thing we found about the truck, nothing but great news coming up.

The other cosmetic item we addressed was my saggy, 235k mile front end. We took hub to fender measurements on all corners as our benchmark and these were our results:

DF: 19.5"
PF: 19.75"
DR: 20.5"
PR: 20.75"

Because the Passenger side was a tad higher we turned the passenger torsion bar adjustment bolt twice, and the drivers side we turned 3 times. After driving around the block, we re measured and it turned out perfect. The Measurements are as follows:
DF: 20.25"
PF: 20.25"
DR: 21"
PR: 21"


Overall, the flare/running board removal coupled with our minor torsion bar adjustments really helped show off the 285s and give the truck a great stance. I included a little "before" pic for reference.

To be continued...

 

[atnolan94]

Pics... sorry my first post they didn't work right.