brevitything's first yota - 98 LX470 black unicorn

[brevitything]

Brought home a 1998 LX470, black with gray interior, 159k miles. Previous owner had the factory alloys painted black. It could be none more black, as Spinal Tap says.

It really is ridiculously clean, I know people say that, but this one... I don't understand. It has no corrosion underneath after living for 15 years in Ohio. You could polish a little place on the bottom and eat off of it. My coworker says that he is pretty sure he is the first human to touch the leather on the rear seats. Supposedly the PO was a dentist, apparently one with OCD. The service history was written by Tolstoy.

Long story short, when I told my wife I wanted to sell my truck, she asked me what I was wanting, what the mission was. I said "I am kind of looking for a unicorn...". A 10-15 year old Land Cruiser, with low miles, in great condition, for cheap. A vehicle that is imported from Japan, only a couple thousand units per year. When I brought her to test drive this LX, on the way home she said, "you did it. You found your unicorn."




My buddy at work said it must have been in a warp in the space time continuum, that is the only way it could still be so clean. I had to take it back to the dealer this morning, it threw a code and they replaced the O2 sensor on bank 2, sensor 2. I stopped on the way home by a field and had a picnic on the tailgate.



Love this thing I plan on using the Cruiser to take camping and hiking, and also to tow my old Jeep when needed. Eventually I want to armor it and install a winch and recovery points. It will never be this clean again. Immediate plans are just a CB, sliders, and recovery points. I have a lot of recovery gear for my Jeep.

Glad to be here

 

[Alleycats]

I love unicorns, and nice vehicle dude, and that's a good year I believe, before the transmission issues 2000 and so on, nice work.

 

[oftpiste]

I bought mine 2 weeks ago from a dentist too. Ridiculously clean and well maintained. Must have something to do with teeth.

 

[brevitything]

Thanks for the comments guys! Enjoying running around. Put at least 1000lbs of mulch in the back this morning, drove great. I didn't know that the AHC would correct for it... Still had plenty of power too.

I keep trying to remind myself that even though it drives like a fast car, it will guzzle gas and eat brake pads if I drive it that way Haha

Crawled around underneath a little bit and noticed that there are already recovery hooks front and rear However I think I will be replacing the fiberglass skid underneath, and also buying or fabbing a skid for the gas tank. I just got my 220V service put in the garage for the welder, so I would like to try to fab some of my own armor. I have done a little welding before, but I didn't really have enough amperage for it. So I'm looking forward to getting back into it.

I need to read more about AHC, and how it is supposed to work. Apparently people tweak it as well?

 

[1loudLX]

The recovery hooks, are you sure those aren't just the OE tie downs?

That thing looks awesome, enjoy it.

 

[OGBeno]

..."if you're not into that whole brevity thing..."



Nice ride. Very balanced.

 

[brevitything]

The recovery hooks, are you sure those aren't just the OE tie downs?

That thing looks awesome, enjoy it.

Hmm, yeah I am still learning about these animals. So the hooks front and rear are just for transporting them in boats and stuff, not recovery points? I thought that they looked pretty beefy, a lot like the JK Wrangler recovery points. But yeah I don't know if they are rated for the forces that are generated when you recover a vehicle.

Thanks man, I appreciate it! I think it is really sharp myself I don't think my wife has accepted yet that I will have this thing on trails soon. But after offroading my Jeep for like 4 years, I think the only panel damage was the left rear corner hitting a stump. So I do try to pick my lines!

 

[brevitything]

..."if you're not into that whole brevity thing..."



Nice ride. Very balanced.

Somebody made me some business cards that say "El Duderino" LOL.

Thanks sir, much appreciated. These are fantastic vehicles. I have just been reading about the Roklimo build, I'm amazed at what you can do with these vehicles with fairly limited modification.

My wife and I want to visit Istanbul sometime. I'd love to come and see the grand prix there.

 

[paflytyer]

Hmm, yeah I am still learning about these animals. So the hooks front and rear are just for transporting them in boats and stuff, not recovery points? I thought that they looked pretty beefy, a lot like the JK Wrangler recovery points. But yeah I don't know if they are rated for the forces that are generated when you recover a vehicle.

Your LC s a tad heavier than your JK. Jonesy's makes a stout recovery point. I believe they are making version 2.0 now, which is even nicer.
http://jonesysautoclub.com/shop/100-series-accessories/100-series-recovery-point-urb-pair/

 

[FlammableFishie]

Your LC s a tad heavier than your JK. Jonesy's makes a stout recovery point. I believe they are making version 2.0 now, which is even nicer.
http://jonesysautoclub.com/shop/100-series-accessories/100-series-recovery-point-urb-pair/

I believe they're actually up to a 3.0 version, it's somewhere on these forums. I don't feel like looking but it's probably on the front page. I could also be totally making this up, but if I find it I'll come back and post it here. Really like the look of your LX Brevity! Nice score

EDIT: Knew I saw them somewhere (classifieds) https://forum.ih8mud.com/vendor-marketplace/736974-recovery-points-machined-solid-steel.html

 

[TXLX100]

Your truck looks good, makes me wish I had black wheels, cladding, and bumpers.

 

[SmoothLC]

Nice score on the LX.

 

[brevitything]

Your LC s a tad heavier than your JK. Jonesy's makes a stout recovery point. I believe they are making version 2.0 now, which is even nicer.
http://jonesysautoclub.com/shop/100-series-accessories/100-series-recovery-point-urb-pair/

Excellent tip, much appreciated

The more I read, the more amazed I am at the capability of these vehicles. I have a friend who ran trails with me in a JK Unlimited that was stock, 30 day tags and running boards included Haha. I know the Hundy could do those trails. I'm hatching an evil scheme.

I have a 1995 Jeep that has been heavily built into a mountain goat, I plan to continue hitting the trails with it. But I do want to get a feel for the Hundy on some more mild ones.

I was reading about the 100 Series in the production class in the Dakar Rally starting in 1999. They had several concurrent victories in their class, 1st and 2nd, and later a 1-2-3 podium. I think I saw a 9th overall (!?) which is pretty sick. That's like somebody buying a showroom vehicle and finishing top 10 in the Indy 500.

 

[brevitything]

Your truck looks good, makes me wish I had black wheels, cladding, and bumpers.

Nice score on the LX.

Thanks much guys. Very glad to join the Land Cruiser community

Running from Columbus OH to Toronto, Ontario Canada on Friday. Picked up an FM transmitter that just uses an audio jack, so I can play my tunes from the Android. Works great until I decide what to do stereo-wise.

The radio sounds great, but the CD player is dead. I told my wife that I think I have a case of tapes from 1988 in the basement LOL, she rolled her eyes and said "No thanks!". She knows I was a head banger...

I'm really thinking that I would like do put in a single DIN head unit, with a CB like this.

 

[FlammableFishie]

I'm really thinking that I would like do put in a single DIN head unit, with a CB like this.

Yeah I'm actually leaning towards doing the exact same thing. After I finish up my exterior and performance mods I'm going to install a new single DIN radio with that exact model of CB radio. Looks nice and stock, and actually kind of matches the interior of the 100. If you end up going with this, let me know how you like it!

 

[LCbruiser2000]

Nice find. Makes me miss my blacked out old truck. Enjoy it!!

 

[brevitything]

Drove the Hundy from Columbus, Ohio to Toronto, Ontario and back over the weekend. Had a great drive and a great trip. Toronto is very cool, went to Kensington a couple times, Cabbage Town. My wife enjoyed driving the Hundy too, what a great vehicle. It feels like it's "tight", like it has been sitting too much, which is probably true. I think it was good for it to drive it hard for a couple days, let everything get some good heat into it. I think cars and motorcycles are like horses, every now and then you just have to let them run as hard as they can.

Finally got to do a mod - running board delete.

That's what I'm talking about! Great factory ground clearance. The shape of the bottom of the tub on the rockers is very 3-D, it would be challenging to fabricate sliders. It's easy on a Jeep, just get some angle steel and bolt it on.

Spent some time looking around under the vehicle. Having a Jeep, I spend a lot of time doing that. I think it would be good to have a skid from the front diff back to the gas tank. With sliders and a skid like that, you could drag the thing over rocks all day. But without a skid, there are a couple places that a rock (big rock) could do some damage.

The PO did not adjust the torsion bars ever, there is a ton of adjustment left. I think I will pull the AHC stuff off and put on longer travel shocks. Man there are 4 big AHC contraptions down there! Anyway, I will figure out how much travel the front has, then adjust it so that at ride height there is still a couple of inches of droop left. Learned about that on my old Avalanche.

The rear suspension looks like it could sit a *lot* taller, and be happy travel wise. I'll see where the front ends up, it would be nice to perk the rear up with some springs. I found TJM springs for $165/pair online.

So really I think for $400 shipped I could perk the front up where it wants to be, match the rear and put new long travel Rancho's all the way around. Then go get the alignment done. I think the suspension would be very happy like that. It would be working in a new range of travel that would get the most out of the factory design, and also even though the "shocks" are AHC controlled, I bet they are spanked. New shocks would transform the way it drives, IMO.

 

[brevitything]

Front view.

 

[TXLX100]

Great looking truck. If the previous owner was as attentive to the vehicle as you say, I bet there is life left in the AHC system. Are the accumulators still usable if taken off a vehicle? If so, I'm sure you could sell them. I plan on keeping the AHC until it craps out.

Did the LX ever come from the factory with matching cladding and bumpers? I don't believe so, but looks good on your truck.

 

[ckkone]

Nice looking rig, I've been thinking of selling my 100 and starting over with a 2003+ LX470 in black..