Builds Evolution of a Land Cruiser: My 80's build thread (7 Viewers)

[jcardona1]

The mud grapplers are AWESOME! Sidewalls are nearly bullet-proof and it sticks to the rocks pretty well. I air them down to 10 psi when out on the trails, even then the sidewall is still stiff. Have had them down to 8 psi before and never had it come off the bead. Nitto and Toyo are my top two choices. Pitbulls would be awesome but I'm not sure about spending $500/tire

Thanks for the info! I came across several of your posts/pics when searching for the Grapplers. Looks like we both run similar terrain - dry rocks and a small bit of occasional snow. If you like them, I'm sure they'll be good for my needs.

And I hear you about Pitbulls and Krawlers and radial Swampers...paying $500ish for a single 37" tire is way too much cash.

 

[AMMO]

Pitbulls had some issues, I ran 37's on 16.6 HMMV beadloc's. The issues I had is the molds are not true, they weld a weighted rubber "patch" inside the tire to help "true" and balance the tire. I had 3 of my 5 loose the patches off the inside of the tires... Not fun when traveling at hwy speed to loose 5oz of rubber left bouncing around inside the tire. I finally got an RGA from Pitbull, and they made it right. This is in no was a bad tire, and the company is awesome! But for a multi use rig, road and trail I'd advise Toyo or Nitto as others have said. both are American made in size 37. My Nitto TrailGrapplers took less then .5 OZ to balance. They are super true, the quietest mud tire I've ever had, and thus far kicked ass in mud, rock, snow, rain and street. I wish they made 39's or 40's!

Ammo

 

[BlacknBlue2002]

with 17" wheels these are my top 3 37" tires:

Toyo MT 37x13.5r17
Wrangler MTR 37x12.5r17
Nitto MT 37X13.5R17

for the price these tires are the only ones I even considered. A friend of mine hooked me up with a distributor for better prices than I could have hoped for so I went w/ Toyo's for under $1325 for 4

 

[ajax1]

I've ran toyo which I believe are made in japan good tire but heavy, I run mtr2s now and love them one of the lightest 17 by 37 tires out there, I wheel colo and Utah Moab they do Awsome. Very tough sidewall, if I were you I'd buy from discount and get there tire warranty, I've used it 4 times now so basically have got four new wranglers for 480 bucks! I believe they are around 380 from discount, I air down from 20 to 10 and never lost a bead

 

[jcardona1]

with 17" wheels these are my top 3 37" tires:

Toyo MT 37x13.5r17
Wrangler MTR 37x12.5r17
Nitto MT 37X13.5R17

for the price these tires are the only ones I even considered. A friend of mine hooked me up with a distributor for better prices than I could have hoped for so I went w/ Toyo's for under $1325 for 4

Pretty much my same choices as well. And that is really cheap for the Toyo 37s. Everywhere I've looked they're close to $400ish per tire these days. In fact, here's my full list of tires I've been looking at:

1.Pitbull Maddog
a.38.5x13.50x17
b.38.6”
c.21/32
d.$523.65 / $2,094

2.Pitbull Rocker
a.37x12.50x17
b.37.25”
c.22/32
d.$462.76 / $1,851

3.ProComp Xtreme MT2
a.37x12.50x17
b.36.9”
c.22/32
d.$419.99 / $1,680

4.Mickey Thompson Baja Claw TTC
a.37x12.50x17
b.36.7”
c.22/32
d.$424.12 / $1,696

5.Super Swamper M16
a.37x13.50x17
b.37.0”
c.21/32
d.$424.34 / $1,696

6.Super Swamper SSR
a.37x12.50x17
b.36.9”
c.21/32
d.$458.46 / $1,834

7.Super Swamper TrXus MT
a.37x12.50x17
b.37.2”
c.20/32
d.$418.20 / $1,673

8.Super Swamper Irok Radial
a.37x12.50x17
b.36.9”
c.21/32
d.$471.25 / $1,885

9.Toyo Open Country MT
a.37x13.50x17
b.37.0”
c.21/32
d.$429.54 / $1,718

10.Nitto Mud Grappler
a.37x13.50x17
b.37.05”
c.21/32
d.$385.16 / $1,541

11.Nitto Trail Grappler
a.37x12.50x17
b.36.77”
c.21/32
d.$397.96 / $1,592​

I've ran toyo which I believe are made in japan good tire but heavy, I run mtr2s now and love them one of the lightest 17 by 37 tires out there, I wheel colo and Utah Moab they do Awsome. Very tough sidewall, if I were you I'd buy from discount and get there tire warranty, I've used it 4 times now so basically have got four new wranglers for 480 bucks! I believe they are around 380 from discount, I air down from 20 to 10 and never lost a bead

MTR2...is that the "MTR w/ Kevlar"? Those seem like a good tire too. And just yesterday in fact I priced out a set of Grapplers from Discount Tire. I really like them as a company but it gets expensive. With sales tax, installation, fees and replacement certs, it will cost me nearly $500 more than if I ordered online from a website that has free shipping and no sales tax!!!

 

[ssbob]

Don't know if you have a costco membership but bought BFGs (33") for my LC and they were just as competitive, that and the 2% doesn't hurt.

 

[Razor One]

I like the wall mounted bottle opener so much that I ordered two for the bumpers I'm building. You just cost me an extra $15.

 

[ppc]

Last year I bought a set of Nitto Motivos for my car from Discount. The online prices from Discount were higher than what was quoted in the store. I printed off online prices from two other companies with even still lower prices and they did a price match. As I recall that saved me at least $350 on a set of four.

 

[Booger weldz]

You forgot cooper discovererSSTs

 

[ajax1]

Yes mtr2 is mtr with Kevlar you can no longer get the mtr 1 or original mtr, you could also order from discount direct online and no tax then take to store should still warranty them. You can also usually get them to drop some of the fees, last time I bought a set they gave me free mount balance when I did the warranty for my wife's tire. They will also match prices just ask them

 

[ajax1]

I also owned a set of coopers in 315 size they chunked out bad from Moab and so did my friends other then that worked well for Colorado conditions

 

[jcardona1]

You forgot cooper discovererSSTs

I also owned a set of coopers in 315 size they chunked out bad from Moab and so did my friends other then that worked well for Colorado conditions

STTs seem like a decent tire and lots of tread (23/32) but I've read mixed reviews. Most of the complaints seem to be about chunks of rubber coming off. Kinda put me off since most of my time is spent on rocks.

you could also order from discount direct online and no tax

See America's/Discount Tire is weird. It forces me to select a store in my area and go there to pick them up after they arrive - which charges me tax. But when I ordered the wheels/tires for the 4Runner, they shipped mounted/balanced to my house and no tax. I think it depends on product availability. I can't figure out how to shop on their site without having to deal with an actual storefront and sales tax.

EDIT: Never mind I just realized I needed to be on Discount Tire Direct's site instead of America's Tire/Discount Tire. So yeah, no sales tax

 

[gothodgie]

http://www.tirepackage.com/Tires/37...163&t_pt=100893&t_pl=100266&t_pn=GDY750578326

i found these a while back when i was tire shopping and it seemed like an awful good price... i never did call about them but thought i'd let you know...

 

[jcardona1]

http://www.tirepackage.com/Tires/37...163&t_pt=100893&t_pl=100266&t_pn=GDY750578326

i found these a while back when i was tire shopping and it seemed like an awful good price... i never did call about them but thought i'd let you know...

That is a good price, but they want another $250 for shipping and taxes to California!

 

[jcardona1]

NITRO 5.29s & REAR BRAKE OVERHAUL

Well dammit this project is finally DONE! As some may remember I started collecting parts for this months ago. Wanted to get everything up and running before the MUD camping trip next month so I had to get on with it! Everything is back together as of this morning. Gave it a quick test run to make sure nothing detonates and so far so good. Truck definitely has a little more pep to it. Haven't taken it on the freeway yet, but I did notice my speedometer is about 10mph off now! Didn't realize it'd make such a big difference. For example, my speedometer reads 50mph and my GPS says I'm really going about 41mph.

First off, rear brakes. A few months ago I overhauled the front brakes so I decided to take advantage of this while I had everything taken apart. Rotors and pads are the Powerstop K1156 kit. The calipers are remans from Advance Auto. They have a $40 off $100 coupon code and free shipping. Can't beat that!

Ok on to the gears! This is an expensive project no matter how you look at it. Even if you do most of the work yourself and drop the 3rds off at a shop you're gonna pay some $$$. Install kits cost just as much as the gears so that costs quickly add up. Here's a list of all the parts I used. Everything came from JT's:

Front
http://www.justdifferentials.com/T8R-529R-NG-p/t8r-529r-ng.htm
http://www.justdifferentials.com/YOKTOYFITKIT-29-p/yoktoyfitkit-29.htm
http://www.justdifferentials.com/MKT8-ELOC-B-p/mkt8-eloc-b.htm
http://www.justdifferentials.com/SKCSTV6-p/skcstv6.htm

Rear
http://www.justdifferentials.com/TLC-529-NG-p/tlc-529-ng.htm
http://www.justdifferentials.com/MKTLC-ELOC-p/mktlc-eloc.htm
http://www.justdifferentials.com/SKCSTLC-90-p/skcstlc-90 .htm

The ring/pinion gears were cryo'd, adding about $100 to the project. Gears were sent here for a cryo bath: http://www.performancecryogenics.com/

Here's a photo after the 3rds were removed. The rear 9.5" third is an absolute monster. To get it back in I set it on my chest and laid directly under the diff then 'bench pressed' it back into place. Fun times.

The rear third was done by a local shop and the front was sent to Zuk (Ken) since it's the more fragile of the two. I would have sent him both but shipping is a killer, adds about $200+ just to ship both ways.

River City Differential took care of the rear third. Ken was happy with the patterns of their install. This shop has a good rep on all the 4x4 forums. http://www.yelp.com/biz/river-city-differentials-rancho-cordova

After picking it up from the shop

Stock ring gear vs the giant Nitro 5.29

Patterns

The full write-up of the front is on Ken's website here: http://gearinstalls.com/jose.htm But I'll add just a few highlight photos. Huge props to Ken. He's great to work with and very detailed in what he does - and he keeps you up to date with the whole process!

Why it costs so much to ship!

On his bench

Patterns of the stock gears....BAD! He said this is due to old worn bearings

Solid collars were installed front and rear

Ken's notes

Final patterns...GOOD!

 

[gtfour43]

Jose: I wish every picture ever posted on the internet looked as good as yours....

 

[jcardona1]

Jose: I wish every picture ever posted on the internet looked as good as yours....

Haha thanks man! Just doing my best to not ruin the internet with blurry pics that look like they were taken with a potato

 

[scrowley]

Nice mods cardona. 5.29's Rock! I just put on 37"x16 Truxxs MT's. So far they are awesome. Very quite on road for how meaty they are.

 

[ewillis]

"Mud camping trip" ??

 

[jcardona1]

Nice mods cardona. 5.29's Rock! I just put on 37"x16 Truxxs MT's. So far they are awesome. Very quite on road for how meaty they are.

Sweet! Man I really want my 37s already. Put about 50 more miles on the truck after posting up the pics. I'm really like them so far. Truck actually feels fast now - for a forklift. But holy crap my speedo is whacked out. At freeway speeds it reads 85 when I'm doing about 70 - that really messes with your head. Can't wait to see what difference they make in slow speed crawling.

"Mud camping trip" ??

This one! Gonna be a big ol shindig https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/spring-summer-lakes-basin-cruiser-trip-norcal.790057/