Hey everyone,
back with something a little different this time—today it’s not about the HJ60, but rather my brother’s 1999 Land Cruiser 100 Series, which serves as his daily driver and workhorse. It’s sitting at 279,000 km and still runs strong, but, well… let’s just say the body and frame are starting to show what two decades (and some questionable repairs) can do.
The second picture already tells part of the story:
* The right quarter panel is pretty much gone.
* The left quarter has patchwork welded all over it—spaced out welds every few inches and some seriously rough metalwork.
* Same story on the left wheel arch, where things were just tacked together.
These repairs were all done previously in Serbia by the former owner—let’s just say they were more about keeping it together than making it right.
But the real concern is underneath:
The left rear frame section, right where the last body mount sits, had a huge rust hole. We knew it needed attention, especially since these frames are known to crack in the rear when towing or under stress. Since it’s a frame-on restoration we had to get clever (used for daily business and we only have limited time to fix it)
We started by removing the body mount to get full access, and yeah… the damage was worse than expected. Once open, it was obvious: the surrounding frame was incredibly thin, less than 1 mm thick in some spots, where it should be closer to 3 mm. The rust was hiding behind every layer.
So what’s next? We’re now working on fabricating a strengthening piece to rebuild the bottom and outer wall of the frame. Afterwards we will fit a new outer part.
Also, once the critical frame repair is done, we’ll move on to fixing the remaining smaller issues around the body—like the quarter panels, wheel arches, and any questionable welds we come across. One step at a time, but the plan is to make this daily a reliable rig again.
Thanks for reading, more updates coming soon!
BR,
Wrenching
back with something a little different this time—today it’s not about the HJ60, but rather my brother’s 1999 Land Cruiser 100 Series, which serves as his daily driver and workhorse. It’s sitting at 279,000 km and still runs strong, but, well… let’s just say the body and frame are starting to show what two decades (and some questionable repairs) can do.
The second picture already tells part of the story:
* The right quarter panel is pretty much gone.
* The left quarter has patchwork welded all over it—spaced out welds every few inches and some seriously rough metalwork.
* Same story on the left wheel arch, where things were just tacked together.
These repairs were all done previously in Serbia by the former owner—let’s just say they were more about keeping it together than making it right.
But the real concern is underneath:
The left rear frame section, right where the last body mount sits, had a huge rust hole. We knew it needed attention, especially since these frames are known to crack in the rear when towing or under stress. Since it’s a frame-on restoration we had to get clever (used for daily business and we only have limited time to fix it)
We started by removing the body mount to get full access, and yeah… the damage was worse than expected. Once open, it was obvious: the surrounding frame was incredibly thin, less than 1 mm thick in some spots, where it should be closer to 3 mm. The rust was hiding behind every layer.
So what’s next? We’re now working on fabricating a strengthening piece to rebuild the bottom and outer wall of the frame. Afterwards we will fit a new outer part.
Also, once the critical frame repair is done, we’ll move on to fixing the remaining smaller issues around the body—like the quarter panels, wheel arches, and any questionable welds we come across. One step at a time, but the plan is to make this daily a reliable rig again.
Thanks for reading, more updates coming soon!
BR,
Wrenching
