Builds Evolution of a Land Cruiser: My 80's build thread (1 Viewer)

[jcardona1]

Why don't you route the exhaust on the other side of the frame rail? It’ll fit, and open up the option for a bigger muffler.

It's tough when you have both cats. There's only one good spot to go over the frame and that works if you run one cat. If you have both cats you most likely need to go under the frame (not doing that again) or through the frame (didn't want to cut a large hole in the frame either). I also have the new crossmember that limits some of what you can do inside the frame rails. In the end this seemed like the quickest and easiest solution for getting it back on the road.

 

[joez]

Looking fantastic!

 

[jcardona1]

Quick video clip showing the exhaust sound under heavy throttle. As I mentioned, it's very loud but I can live with it for occasional weekend trips. Side note, the truck does pretty well around corners considering it has a 3 link up front with no sway bar and coilovers on all 4 corners.

 

[thatcabledude]

Wow. I’d say that is surprisingly “quiet”.

 

[scottryana]

I like the exhaust routing! Get a video, let's hear it!

**Damn it, you beat me to it. lol

 

[RFB]

Quick video clip showing the exhaust sound under heavy throttle. As I mentioned, it's very loud but I can live with it for occasional weekend trips. Side note, the truck does pretty well around corners considering it has a 3 link up front with no sway bar and coilovers on all 4 corners.

Listen to those nittos hum, awesome work you do its serious next level when is the shop opening??

 

[jcardona1]

Wow. I’d say that is surprisingly “quiet”.

Yeah it really doesn't sound too bad compared to the tires. I'd say it's really loud when pulling away from a stop for the first few seconds then it quiets up.

Listen to those nittos hum, awesome work you do its serious next level when is the shop opening??

Thanks! And I don't know about a shop - would never make any money because it takes me too long to finish anything. I know a lot of people hate on the Grapplers but they've worked well so far. I love how they look and grip well in the rocks. Don't do a lot of mud or snow wheeling so I can't really comment on their performance in that terrain. May stick with these again when it's time for a new set.

 

[BILT4ME]

Ain't no talking on a cell phone while driving THAT one!

 

[jcardona1]

Ain't no talking on a cell phone while driving THAT one!

 

[RFB]

Yeah it really doesn't sound too bad compared to the tires. I'd say it's really loud when pulling away from a stop for the first few seconds then it quiets up.



Thanks! And I don't know about a shop - would never make any money because it takes me too long to finish anything. I know a lot of people hate on the Grapplers but they've worked well so far. I love how they look and grip well in the rocks. Don't do a lot of mud or snow wheeling so I can't really comment on their performance in that terrain. May stick with these again when it's time for a new set.

Well I can Ive tested these for 20K plus in snow MUD slickrock sand loose dirt class6 NH to moab and everywhere in between they wear better than KM2s and run amazing on 9psi and yea they look serious because they are.

 

[nukegoat]

Well I can Ive tested these for 20K plus in snow MUD slickrock sand loose dirt class6 NH to moab and everywhere in between they wear better than KM2s and run amazing on 9psi and yea they look serious because they are.

I dunno man I think they look serious because the tread pattern is basically the mayan calendar which as you know is really from the lizard people anyway so if you want to advertise to them that this planet is ripe for the pillaging be my guest but ill stick to the bfg tires which are made in france because michelin owns them and the only stuff the french get wrapped up in is helping obama blame bush for 9/11 because jet fuel cant melt steel beams

 

[RFB]

I dunno man I think they look serious because the tread pattern is basically the mayan calendar which as you know is really from the lizard people anyway so if you want to advertise to them that this planet is ripe for the pillaging be my guest but ill stick to the bfg tires which are made in france because michelin owns them and the only stuff the french get wrapped up in is helping obama blame bush for 9/11 because jet fuel cant melt steel beams

I does indeed have a very strong resemblance that must have been the attraction.

 

[cruisermatt]

I dunno man I think they look serious because the tread pattern is basically the mayan calendar which as you know is really from the lizard people anyway so if you want to advertise to them that this planet is ripe for the pillaging be my guest but ill stick to the bfg tires which are made in france because michelin owns them and the only stuff the french get wrapped up in is helping obama blame bush for 9/11 because jet fuel cant melt steel beams

Coffee, proceed to exit nose.

 

[jcardona1]

I dunno man I think they look serious because the tread pattern is basically the mayan calendar which as you know is really from the lizard people anyway so if you want to advertise to them that this planet is ripe for the pillaging be my guest but ill stick to the bfg tires which are made in france because michelin owns them and the only stuff the french get wrapped up in is helping obama blame bush for 9/11 because jet fuel cant melt steel beams

Not one mention of head gasket. I'm disappointed.

 

[jcardona1]

Time for some updates, I'm falling behind here.

A few weeks ago I actually washed the truck. WITH SOAP. I think it's been 2 years since I last washed it. I was almost tempted to use tire shine too.

Then went on the first wheeling trip since finishing up the suspension. Short camping trip out to Sourgrass/Boards Crossing. Short, very easy trail but has a really cool campsite at the end near a river. Trip was uneventful, truck ran well. One thing that needs fixing is the shock valving in the rear. Fully loaded with all camping gear and tools the rear suspension was way too mushy and bouncy for me. It feels fine on the road but it's a bit uncontrolled when things get bumpy.

Once summer comes to an end I'll remove the coilovers and send them back to Radflo. They will be converting these to remote resi's and will also adjust the valving. $300 to convert both to resi's seems like a very reasonable price.

Here's is the only video clip I have from that trip

 

[jcardona1]

ROCKER CHOP/SLIDER/3.11 LOW RANGE TCASE GEARS

During the trip to Sourgrass I put a dent in my brand new cats so I had to get serious about the sliders before doing any real wheeling. By now I am seriously burnt out from working on the truck for so long and don't even want to look at my welder. I am not willing to lose any more weekends in the garage so outsourced the work for the passenger side slider.

3 years after starting the rocker chop/high clearance slider adventure on the driver's side I can now say the project is complete! Enlisted the help of a great local shop (Stellar Built) owned by MUD member @eurosonic and these guys did an awesome job.

I knew the passenger side would be a challenge because of the cats and even more so because I ran the whole exhaust outside the frame. The guys at Stellar Built made the slider so that it matched what I did on the driver's side but went all out on the cat/exhaust protection. Made a beefy removable 3/8" skid plate to protect the cats. The skid plate is just about flush with the frame & cross member. No concerns with bashing up my exhaust now.

Oh and they also installed my 3.11 tcase gears that I've had sitting on the shelf for 2 years. I'm not the quickest at finishing up projects as you can probably tell

 

[jcardona1]

This last weekend the wife and I took a quick Sunday trip up to the Sierras again. I was originally going to run Signal Peak just to get out of the house for a bit but decided to keep driving straight and hit the beginning of Fordyce and took the junction to Eagle Lakes since I'd never gone out here before.

Driveline Hill was fun, but I would not recommend driving out to Eagle Lakes. It was a muddy, swampy mess infested with mosquitoes. The trail is boring and there's nothing to do out here as you don't even wanna get close to the water. So we turned back around and went to the Pierce OHV area instead and hung out by the creek for a bit.

The Swamp

The creek

Previous weekend's hike with the mutt

And climbing up Driveline Hill. Of course the video doesn't show the steep angle. It looks ungodly when you're standing at the bottom of this obstacle looking up. I took the 'easy' line as we were alone and the other side definitely looked like it would destroy my driveshaft.

Gotta say the low range gears made quite a noticeable difference. Can't believe I had these in the garage for 2 years before installing them. I was especially impressed with the additional control you get on steep downhill descents. With that said, these 3.11 gears are far from ideal and this truck really needs something much lower for better crawl control. But you can't go wrong with the $300 price tag.

 

[White Stripe]

How do you like those tires on the rocks?

 

[jcardona1]

How do you like those tires on the rocks?

I have no complaints and they seem to grip fairly well in the rocks and deform to a nice mushy shape when aired down. My only other tire experience with the 80 was the Toyo MTs and I was never a fan of that tire. The Grapplers get a lot of hate but the price is right and they work well in my terrain (dry dirt, rock). But obviously they don't do well as a street tire but my rig sees such low miles each year it's not an issue for me.

 

[Bripars40]

ROCKER CHOP/SLIDER/3.11 LOW RANGE TCASE GEARS

During the trip to Sourgrass I put a dent in my brand new cats so I had to get serious about the sliders before doing any real wheeling. By now I am seriously burnt out from working on the truck for so long and don't even want to look at my welder. I am not willing to lose any more weekends in the garage so outsourced the work for the passenger side slider.

3 years after starting the rocker chop/high clearance slider adventure on the driver's side I can now say the project is complete! Enlisted the help of a great local shop (Stellar Built) owned by MUD member @eurosonic and these guys did an awesome job.

I knew the passenger side would be a challenge because of the cats and even more so because I ran the whole exhaust outside the frame. The guys at Stellar Built made the slider so that it matched what I did on the driver's side but went all out on the cat/exhaust protection. Made a beefy removable 3/8" skid plate to protect the cats. The skid plate is just about flush with the frame & cross member. No concerns with bashing up my exhaust now.

Oh and they also installed my 3.11 tcase gears that I've had sitting on the shelf for 2 years. I'm not the quickest at finishing up projects as you can probably tell

So with this type of mount between your frame and body did you account for any deflection between the two? I’m curious because I’m about to help a guy with a 100 series build the same type of slider attached to his rocker.