Builds Evolution of a Land Cruiser: My 80's build thread (20 Viewers)

[jcardona1]

Why chop the body that high when the frame is hanging down? Why not just build a truggy/buggy? Seems like you're trying to make a wicked rock crawler out of a not wicked rock crawler. These pigs are too heavy and have to sit too high, for decent clearance, to be a true wicked rock crawler.

Because you're more than likely to have a boulder hit the rocker than have one under the frame. If you lodged on a boulder under the frame then you took the wrong line. I'm trying to find the happy medium between wicked rock crawler and ARB'd soccer mom SUV that drives on dirt roads.

ErikB and Wilson(pirate) have had those wheels and love them!

I knew a few buddies that have them too and they have no complaints. You'll be hard pressed to find an aluminum beadlock at a better price.

 

[hamishpotter]

if you need any help with the arb'd soccer mom stuff I can answer any questions

 

[Wheelingnoob]

ARB'd soccer mom SUV that drives on dirt roads.

Now now.... Easy

I park at the back of the Costco parking lot with a tire on the curb.

 

[Phildoh]

It's settled. Doing a slider-to-rocker. Just picked up a stick of 3/16" 2x6 which will give me a nice ledge under the doors. No turning back now because this piece of steel wasn't cheap.

S&K steel?

 

[jcardona1]

S&K steel?

Metal Mart in Rancho

 

[richardlillard1]

Because you're more than likely to have a boulder hit the rocker than have one under the frame. If you lodged on a boulder under the frame then you took the wrong line. I'm trying to find the happy medium between wicked rock crawler and ARB'd soccer mom SUV that drives on dirt roads.

Chopping the doors and bobbing the rear is a happy medium?

 

[jcardona1]

Chopping the doors and bobbing the rear is a happy medium?

To me, yes. But I also know many guys here can't even stomach cutting off the rear cross member to run a 4x4Labs bumper so...

 

[kyzooper]

cutting off the rear crossmember.......id chew it off to put a 4x4labs bar on tomorrow if shipping to australia wasnt so bloody expensive!!!

 

[bmac1996acc]

To me, yes. But I also know many guys here can't even stomach cutting off the rear cross member to run a 4x4Labs bumper so...

Cutting s*** up I can do. Welding.... not so much

 

[Phildoh]

Took off the stock bumper and hitch last week to see what the project entails. Looks like fun, going to build my own bumper, after moving the rear xmember forward a bit. Going to save about 1700 bucks!

 

[jcardona1]

Took off the stock bumper and hitch last week to see what the project entails. Looks like fun, going to build my own bumper, after moving the rear xmember forward a bit. Going to save about 1700 bucks!

Offtopic - were you at Folsom and Florin-Perkins around noon yesterday? Saw one that looks very similar to yours without a rear bumper.

 

[jcardona1]

Cutting s*** up I can do. Welding.... not so much

You know what that means, get a cheap little welder and start practicing!

 

[GW Nugget]

Can't wait to see those 2x6 rocker body sliders..
Your such a outside the box thinker.
Are they going to stick out like steps or stay in close?

 

[jcardona1]

Can't wait to see those 2x6 rocker body sliders..
Your such a outside the box thinker.
Are they going to stick out like steps or stay in close? Got any set he's drawn?

I can't take credit for that The real pioneers are the guys that were doing this 10+ years ago. I just wish all the pictures still worked from those old threads. Get nothing but red Xs these days. But to answer your question yes, they're going to stick out a few inches to serve as a step, that's why I went with 2x6 even though I have about 20' of 2x3 at home. I then want to add a kickout tube that's almost flush with the line of my tires because the tires stick out quite a bit.

I'm picturing the end result similar to what my buddy did on his Jeep

 

[Mandito22]

X2 ^

 

[warezdog]

Rear kickouts too?

 

[scottryana]

I did it on my 55 years ago a couple things I would do differently.

I would not weld the 2x6 directly into the body. Yes you can and many people have but I think for the kind of wheeling you are going to do you are going to want more support than just the body bolts, and when you tie the 2x6 to the frame you essentially solid mount the body to the frame.

I would run a piece of sheetmetal under your cut give yourself like 3/8" and then basically make 2x6 sliders back to the frame. This gives you the best of both worlds. High clearance, rubber body mounts for isolation and strong sliders.

 

[richardlillard1]

I did it on my 55 years ago a couple things I would do differently.

I would not weld the 2x6 directly into the body. Yes you can and many people have but I think for the kind of wheeling you are going to do you are going to want more support than just the body bolts, and when you tie the 2x6 to the frame you essentially solid mount the body to the frame.

I would run a piece of sheetmetal under your cut give yourself like 3/8" and then basically make 2x6 sliders back to the frame. This gives you the best of both worlds. High clearance, rubber body mounts for isolation and strong sliders.

This is one of the thoughts I had. I would do a strip of 3/8" to replace the bottom of the rocker, then do the slider separately. I know this seems overly built, but if the slider ever bent into the doors, they would have some protection as well.

The biggest drawback to this idea is weight. In order to beef everything up enough to prevent bending into the now very exposed body means adding much more weight than just that of typical sliders. The most heavy duty sliders I've seen are 4+ from Dave Gore and while they're very stout, that comes at the cost of a lot of weight.

The rig already weighs a metric s*** ton; I'd like to avoid adding too much if I can.

 

[FZJ80 in KC]

No matter which way you go, I just can't wait to see how you maneuver the cat and exhaust section on that side......because I plan to copy it completely...

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

No matter which way you go, I just can't wait to see how you maneuver the cat and exhaust section on that side......because I plan to copy it completely...

Going with the shallowest cat and pushed up to the heat shield will put you ~1.5" above the bottom of the frame. That was the best I could do. Without deleting the cat I dont see it going up any higher unless you let the 2" x 6" tubing double as a slider and exhaust