F(Z)J80 v8 (1 Viewer)

[SNLC]

Where did you get the guard?

Guard what? Guard dog?

Cheers

 

[SNLC]

Cheers

 

[SNLC]

Waiting for paint to dry on my swing out and some plastidip to dry too on my jerry cans. So here I am on Mud!

Pretty happy with how my front end came out. I think the steering is a huge improvement. The cut & turn should also make this truck drive very nice. The last year driving it sucked as it drives good but wanders badly. Have not even driven the truck much in the last 5-7 weeks since I took it to Idaho for sliders. Should be a whole new truck in a few days when I pull it out of the shop.

Was concerend my suspension might squat badly with the rear bumper, camping platform, fridge, ect ect but it takes the load real nice with the J springs. Fox shocks are nice and stiff too to handle all this weight. No idea what she is going to weigh loaded for Baja but it was 5200lbs before I did the Slee front bar, winch and all this other stuff. Likely 6,000 or 6,200lbs loaded, that is my guess anyways.


So I got the UMP all done last night. Made a bracket to mount it, no hole drilling in my inner fenders, used stock holes. First try it was a touch to high and hood hit it so I had to pull it out and modify a bit. Almost perfect now. test plumbed it too. Pulling it out one last time to do some wiring and then it goes back in for good. Thing is though it is so long I have to pull the canister to check it. No biggie though as the two straps and one clamp on the intake and it comes right out. In the future if I go with a snorkel, this canister will mate to one real easily and nicely.

Now this sucker is designed for dirty air so I am starting to feel it is so large in order to have lot's of surface area. This means it takes longer to get dirty. Any ways, I like it a lot, been nice not to have to move my battery but no worries. have not even started the truck since I installed it, curious to see if there is any difference over the shat 3" K&N pod I had.


On the final items on my punch list for prep on the truck for the Baja trip. Thursday I bail on out of here, meet up with my buddy Krazytoy in Vegas and off we go to Mexico! I will be gone at leasta month. Few things are not getting done before I leave but most of it is either done or just about done. Few small items I won't get installed I am taking as spares just in case. Last big thing to do is a bunch of wiring. At least a full days worth. Little bit of maintenance, get the truck aligned Thursday morning, pack and hit the road.

Oh ya got to fab up some brackets to mount the ARB awning to my Thule load bars. That is super easy though compared to all this other crap. I bought a roadshower too but it will bolt right up to the load bars.

Cheers

 

[SNLC]

So I nailed it spot on for the cut & turn. Alignment specs are caster @ 4* one side and 3.7* the other. Camber is spot on too. Trucks drives like a dream now, very happy I did the c&t and very happy with the results. Steering is super nice too. New brakes also rock.

Can't tell much difference with the UMP but can hear the engine more and it sounds good. Fabb'ed up my high lift jack holder last night as well as my ARB awning mounts. Changed all fluids, rear diff was dirty. Completely re-wired my winch and everything in the engine bay. Still got to wire up the 2nd batt kit and all my aux lights for camping and power ports plus fridge. Probably 3-4hrs to do that.

I am supposed to be leaving real soon but have tons to do so best get to it and log off.

Cheers

 

[ironhippy]

Good luck! Sounds like it's gonna be a fun time.

this thread has been interesting, I'm looking forward to updates from the road

 

[GW Nugget]

All I can say is AWESOME build thread. I can't wait for you to post pics of you're trip to Baja.

 

[Krazytoy]

I'll just drop this here and let Ian finish the rest...

 

[jeffro109]

So we needs more pics of the hammock setup...

Looks like a nice spot to be!

 

[SNLC]

Alrighty, now that I am home I will do a bit of trip report (short) and add some pics.



As you can see by previous posts it was a major crush for me to get ready to leave. There was a bunch of reasons for that which I will skip but it was a first for me to crunch so hard before leaving on a trip.

The two days before I left I only slept 6hrs in 48 and worked on the truck almost the entire rest of the time. I finally just stopped working on the truck at about 12am or 1am Thursday/Friday. I had a few things left to do but they were not important (wiring of camp lights & power ports) so I stopped and began to toss my gear together. I rolled out of Jackson at 4am Friday morning. Once loaded I knew I had rear suspension issues, actually knew before that. Was squatting in the rear and I was worried I was going to blow a Fox shock on the trip. So I made arrangements to pick up new rear coils and some shocks from Kurt. Picked those up on my way south. Spent 5 or 6 days with my buddy Jason (Krazytoy) before we had to part ways, mostly because I needed to go to the hospital in Loreto and he didn't want/need to go that far south on his limited time budget.

After that we (my co-pilot & myself) drove down to Los Barrilles, 4wd out a wash onto the beach between Los Barrilles and La Ribera and camped. After that we drove the East Cape road. Met an amazing father/son team from mainland Mexico who are kayaking the entire Sea of Cortez. Spent most of a day drinking beers with the son and listening to his awesome stories. That was at Cabo Pulmo.

We spotted some waves while on the East cape, mostly at 9 Palms. But we lacked boards and were heading to San Jose to get some. As soon as we hit San Jose we hit up Costa Azul Surf Shop to buy boards. I bought one there last time in Baja, back in 2009/10 and liked it so wanted another. However, last trip i didn't get to met Alex Olea the shaper and owner of Costa Azul. Well, this time he was there and came right out to greet us. As most people know Baja got beat down hard by the hurricane last September. Costa Azul lost 95% of their inventory and their shop was a total loss. None the less Alex starts hooking us up left and right. We bought two boards from him (used) and he gave us wax, shirts, hats, stickers, sunblock and tossed in new leashes. before we left he also invented us to go fishing with him on Sunday, at this time it was Friday afternoon. We were soooo stoked, Alex is such an outstanding human being and person. Of course we agreed to go fishing! He said all we had to pay for was fuel, no worries we said. I had met Alex's nephew Roy Olea who runs their shop at Cerritos on my last trip, mentioned it to Alex and told him we were headed there next to see Roy. BTW, Roy is an outstanding person also and is a surf instructor at Cerritos. Alex instantly says, you guys can camp in our compound there, for free! Man, we were blown away, these people are more than just nice.

So off we went to Cerritos, we arrived late like 9pm. I was disappointed to see it has really blown up there. It was a much mellower scene there 5yrs ago when I last was in Baja. None the less we posted up in the Costa Azul compound, met everyone, Rafa Roy's uncle and all of their's mother, her we just called mama. Now she is one fantastic human being also. Unbelievable really. They were cooking carne asada and fed us. We spent the next 4 days at Cerritos. Unfortunately it was raining and cold, this began and 9 day stint of rain on us. I had forgot my wetsuit at home and Alex didn't have any at his shop. So my first day surfing I only spent 45mins of so in the water before I was freezing. Normally it is warm here but with the rain it was cold. There was swell though. On Sunday we went back to San Jose to go fishing with Alex. We kind of got skunked that day and only caught a bunch of bonita which I don't care for. Oddly enough at the docks that morning, just random, was a high school buddy and good friend of Alex's, his name I am leaving out on purpose but he is on the city council for Cabo+San Jose. Something we didn't learn until the end of the fishing trip. Of course he jumped in the boat with us and we all went out to the tuna grounds. Both these guys grew up together and have been friends for nearly 40yrs. They also knew all the people at the docks so they scored a big bag of yellow fin for free and we headed up in the hills to the council man's house. His wife prepare dish after dish of sushi. It was outstanding and the conversations I will remember a lifetime. Some bonding definitely took place. We went back to Cerritos for that night but the next day hit up Cabo again to stock up as we were running low on supplies. Alex had ofered to exchange some money for me as he gets a really good rate so went back to Costa Azul where he hooked me up again! Man, what a guy, can't say enough god things about this guy, his family and friends.

After this we spent another day at Cerritos and then decided to head north. We said goodbye to Roy & Rafa but saying goodbye to mama was heart breaking. She hugged me and wouldn't let go and started crying, I almost cried myself. I will never forget her!! While there we had shared a bunch of meals with them and also sat around every night sharing beers and stories. Please if you go to Cerritos give these folks your business, they have been there a really long time and as you can read are exceptional people. They have a lot of competition these days and just 5yrs ago it was nearly all their beach.

We wanted to drive from Todos Santos up the coast/beach to Punta Conjeo. We tried to do just that but got shut down about 40 miles north of Todos due to a massive construction project taking place. We couldn't find a way around it, even right up the beach. I did however air down to 8psi and did 40mph for 20 miles or so right along the ocean. A fun but risky drive as the sand was soft and it was obvious at high tide it came up to where we were driving. We finally gave up at dusk and found a good place to came in the dunes. The next day we headed back to Todos and then made our way to Scorpion Bay. I missed this spot last trip and wanted to hit it up.

It was kind of a long drive and the paved road out to Scorpion in trashed badly. We made it in though and found some camping on the point at about 930pm. I woke up at sunrise the next day to see the bay as flat as a lake, bummer. I took a long walk that morning checking out all the other points where there actually was some waves. However, I was not surfing that until I saw it at low tide since it is over rocks/reef and I am a newb surfer. It rained a it this day too and was a bit cold. I worked on the wiring I hadn't finished before leaving and got it done. My buddy went for a short surf on very small waves on point #2, the main point. That night I got very sick. I started throwing up violently at about 9 or 10pm. It got worse and worse and I also began to have bad diarrhea. This continued for 2-days and I spent all but about 6hrs of 48 sleeping in the back of my truck. I couldn't keep anything down. On the 3rd day I felt a little better but still not much for waves and it was rainy so we decided to leave and head back over to the SoC and Loreto. I had met a super awesome couple who have a place south of Loreto 5yrs ago and wanted to see them again. They were not there when we passed through 7-10 days earlier. But we had heard they were coming down so we stopped in to see if they were around and sure enough they were. We spent the rest of the afternoon at their place and they both nurtured me with tea, fresh grapefruit juice from their garden and much more. We shared some really nice steaks we had gotten from a local butcher earlier that day. That night we camped on the beach near their place. The next morning we saw Richard on the beach in his FJ55 Cruiser so I had to get a pic of the two Cruisers together. See below. He invited us over again and gave us more love. At this point we headed into Loreto to do some laundry and stock up and decide on our next move. I was still sick so we decided to head for the US. We pushed hard for San Felipe but spent the night about 70 miles south of there. That night was the worst for me, I got no sleep, threw up a lot and had god awful diarrhea which was now black and I thought I saw some blood in my barf. Gross I know. The next morning I bee-lined it for San Felipe and went straight to a doctor. He put me on an IV as I was going down fast. He also gave me acupuncture, both made me feel better. He prescribed some meds and said I had an "amoeba" which I took as a parasite. I got the prescripts and we headed straight for the US.

After all this I came straight home and only just got in tonight at about 8pm, it took me 2.5 days to get home as I took my time and stayed in motels but it still was one of the hardest drives I have ever done being so sick.

So that is about it folks, I am home and deathly ill. I feel ok and have not thrown up in 3 days but still have bad diarrhea which is black which means I have internal bleeding and feel weak. I have a buddy who is a surgeon so as soon as I hit the US I called him. He thinks I have a toxic e-coli. Tomorrow first thing I am calling my doc and going to begin to work on getting better.


Unfortunately it turned into the worst trip yet for me. If you have followed my posts or previous trips you know I have spent much time in Latin America living out of my truck. In 10yrs of traveling I have never gotten sick and have always ate everything. I guess I was due. Every trip for me is a learning experience and I always take something from each trip to expand my life. This trip was no different in that regard. I left a lot out to try and keep this short(er) but the above sums it up fairly well.

For more, see my buddy Jason's thread here,

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/138140-Boise-to-Baja-in-a-60-Series-Land-Cruiser

So now on with the pics! I didn't take many so don't expect to much.

Climbed the Cruiser up a mountain above Pescadero. Pretty decent 4wd to get up there, only dirt bikes had been up it for some time. We met a gringo up there on a hike who lives close by and he couldn't believe we had driven up here. Hail the mighty Cruiser!!

Some tiny waves north of 9 Palms on the East Cape.

and my super awesome Cruiser

doing it right on the beach

the infamous selfie

our camp at Cabo Pulmo, don't try to get here without 4wd.

another Cruiser shot

this one speaks for it's self

Alex Olea and us in front of his shop

Scorpion Bay camp

and yet another Cruiser pic :sombrero:

Richards FJ55 and my 80

Loreto area

I didn't mention it above but I received a counterfeit $20 in SoCal at an AmPm

I like my scan gauge

My 12.5yr old Shiba Inu happy to be in a hotel bed

I may have a few more pics on my iPhone but that is about it for now.

Cheers

 

[jeffro109]

Other than the illness it sounds like a great trip!!

 

[SNLC]

Other than the illness it sounds like a great trip!!

Thanks man and yes it fully was a great trip besides getting sick. For me it was a great shake down run on the Cruiser. Meaning now I can do some more work/upgrades for a bigger-longer trip. I was super happy with the truck for the whole trip, 3500 miles of it. It never let me down and I pushed it hard. Only repair on the road was the spring change out early on. Impressive in my book and a big confidence booster in my skills, ability and work. The truck and work before the trip had zero test time. I literally dropped it off jack stands, loaded it and drove out of town. The old Chevy 5.7L also only burned 1/2 or less of a quart on the entire trip. Not bad considering it's age and how hard I ran it.

Got some things I certainly want to do to the truck now but they are all really minor. I feel like the truck has finally come around for me and is to a level I want and am happy with. I didn't finish off posts and pics of the build before I left as I was pressed for time but will post more on that soon now that things are done and gear tested. All in all I also really like how I set it up, very easy to live out of it now for extended periods of time and she is a beast both on and off road. The pic above on top of the mountain was a 3-4ft. ledge to get up on the trail, locked it down and second try and line up on the ledge and it went right up, all 6500lbs+ of it. I didn't even air down. Heading home yesterday, I was doing 80mph on the freeway with one finger on the wheel, it tracks and drives that well now.

I am sold on the 80 now big time and keeping it for many years.

Cheers

 

[OGBeno]

I am sold on the 80 now big time and keeping it for many years.

Cheers

 

[GW Nugget]

Just read your posts.
Wow man.
Get well soon..
Your 80 is awesome!

 

[SNLC]

Just read your posts.
Wow man.
Get well soon..
Your 80 is awesome!

Thanks, bouncing back fast. had blood work done the other day just to make sure. All is well, just have a toxic e-coli. My doc canceled the Mexico meds and I am on cipiro which is already working great, powerful stuff.

Was going to do a full gear review but think I will just say what I like most and what got used the most in Baja.


Ridged Industries LED bar got used a lot on the trip. I did a fair amount of driving at night in Baja, both on and off road. Best thing about the light down south though is a lot of people drive with their brights on and won't turn them off. In the past in my Tacoma hitting them with my highs only worked 25% of the time. Now when I hit them with the LED they turn off their highs 99% of the time.

The Engel 45MT fridge is required for any trip like I did to Baja or for that matter anything over a weekend. If I am going camping nothing beats a fridge! Otherwise it pretty much sits idle and is not used. In Baja you simply can't beat it for carrying steaks, juice, water other food and of course cold beers. Nothing beats pulling up on a beach and cracking an ice cold beer. As with my previous Engel though if you crank it up it sucks a fair amount of power.

The Vision X camp light, a 4 square LED got used every single night. Super bright and uses very little power. I had it on for hours and hours some nights and it barely dropped my aux battery 1 bar on the National Luna monitor. The Quickfist I put the Vision X on works awesome. Hangs from rear tailgate lid handle perfect or can be mounted just about anywhere around the back of the truck, like on the tire carrier pointed into the awning area. The Baja Designs are also sweet and got used a lot too, once I had them wired. My mounts do get in the way a touch though if packing the truck to the roof.

The shelf on the backside of the tire carrier got used daily. Usually for cooking but for other camp duties too. Definitely a bit of kit I will use every time I go camping.

The sleeping platform and chest inside the truck is just about perfect. I can sleep in there with the back door closed. The pull out shelf for the platform didn't get used much but may in the future. High Lift jack mount and set up inside the chest is perfect for me. High Lift never came out in Baja so keeping it tucked away and out of the way plus weight inside is ideal for me. My tie down system, just a ratchet strap front to back and the lids work great. Easy quick access to chest and secure cargo outside the chest. No rattling down the road if gear secured with ratchet strap. I also bought a big Plano plastic chest for gear. It is cheaply made and already the bottom is cracked but a large storage box works well on top of the chest strapped down and can keep gear dry outside the truck on the ground.

The ARB awing rocks! Best bang for the buck for any of the gear put on my truck so far. It is well made and price is solid. It rained on us on and off for 8-9 days in Baja, the awning was so good on many nights to keep us dry. At least one night we had 5 people hanging out under it. Enough room under it for a 2 man tent. Kept the tent dry enough to not need to put the rain fly on it. Kept all gear outside the truck dry. Held up fine in winds up to and above 20mph. Really like the pole design for height adjustment as well as the guy lines. Easy and quick to deploy with two guys, harder with one. However, I have mine currently mounted wrong. Before the trip I just fabb'ed and slapped a quick mount together. Having never set up the awning I knew not how it worked. Basically I just hung it off my Thule bars. When it should be mounted at a 90* angle. I was still fully able to set up the awning no probs but could not use the horizontal bars along the cover's edge. Once I make a new or modify my mount all will be as it should. Another really nice thing about the awning, sleeping in the truck with windows open on the side I sleep on and no rain got me wet. Sleeping platform is on the same side as the awning. For the first time since owning the truck I was using my rear sliding windows for ventilation. Now I would like to add screens to them.

Front Runner water jug and grill. Water jug is a good bang for the buck. 5 gallons (maybe more don't recall) with tap on the bottom. We just bought 5gal jugs at the store or had the FR jug filled at the water stores. It straps down with other gear easily on top of the chest or can be stored behind the front seats, my preferred location for it. My only complaint was there was some plastic shavings inside it and it kind of polluted our first fill up. The tire mounted grill is killer. However two probs with it for me. The edge of the grill comes with an unground lip which is sharp. This wanted to cut my trash bag straps. Kind of not so cool for the price of the grill. Next issue with it is the legs are made from a pot metal material that is weak. They have notches in them that make them even more weak. One leg broke off mid trip and we had to improvise with a rock after that. I think I will make my own legs from solid stock and weld it all up. Other than this the grill is killer and got used often. We cooked hamburgers on it, steaks, pork chops, bacon, eggs, coffee and heated up beans in a pot. Keeping it on the spare tire outside the truck rocks as you get no funk in the truck. I got a Howling Moon trash bag rather than the Trasharoo because it is PVC rubber. At one point we had a dead jack rabbit in it and it cleaned up easily with the road shower. I never put a black plastic bag liner in it either which for me is big since I am reducing the amount of bags I would use, throw away or buy. Great bit of gear.

The Roadshower is pretty awesome. For dishes though it would be best to have a fold up table, even if very small. For showering it works great too but the side of the truck is going to get wet, keeping windows closed on this side when shower in use is required. I only pressurized it once or twice, otherwise we simply used it on gravity flow. Pressurized you can burn the water up quickly if not careful, it is only 5 or so gallons. This is a bit of gear I probably will only use on longer trips. For short weekend trips, my big MSR bota bag works fine.

The Scangauge is a nice addition too although I didn't get around to tracking fuel on the trip. I also like the National Luna battery monitor, had one before and liked it so bought another. I used the jerry cans and the 10 gallons of fuel only 2-3x on the trip. One time coming home they were required. I ran from Loreto to San Felipe without buying fuel, used it all except for about 5 gallons. I was under a 1/4 when I filled up in San Felipe. I bought a nozzle from Sierra Expeditions or Front Runner, can't recall atm that is super sweet and does not leak at all.

Other normal everyday camping gear used often on the trip was the stove, a Camp Partner two burner and a 2 gallon tank. Filled up the tank in San Felipe on the way down and with two guys using it for 2.5 weeks it is still over half full. Been using this set up for awhile and it rocks. The stove cost me some coin but it has been absolutely trouble free, indestructible and burns hot or cold with little fuel usage. A couple of ARB camp chairs were used daily and survived the trip. My egg carrier let me down twice on the trip busting eggs inside the fridge. Never had an issue with it before but I think the Mexico eggs are irregular size as the ones busted always seemed to be the big ones.

Cheers

 

[SNLC]

Few more pics

Cheers

 

[warezdog]

What brand of cans are you running out back? Lexington Container?

 

[SNLC]

What brand of cans are you running out back? Lexington Container?

Nato's, bought them here

http://www.sierraexpeditions.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=25612

and the pouring spout which again is 99% leak free.

http://www.sierraexpeditions.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=13411

Cheers

 

[SNLC]

By the way, I know tires will squat once mounted and weight on them but mine have been looking small to me for some time. Put a tape on them the other day, 33.5". I know I am at least at 70% tread left too. I am all about balance and proportions on my trucks and the tires are bugging me. Look a bit like roller skate tires. So this year, funds allowing, I think I am going to upgrade to 17" wheels and 37" rubber. I wanted to go this route originally but at the time when I needed tires didn't have or want to spend the dollars on this combo. Might have to re-gear too and beef up the front axle but that is ok by me.

Cheers

 

[warezdog]

Thanks, not worried about spout, using a jiggler siphon so I don't have to lug them up or down to fill, they'll just stay on the swingout.
I've got 35's that I haven't mounted yet but seriously considering going with the HMMWV wheels and tires, so much $ saved on rubber plus you get a double beadlock and can air down to 5lb.

 

[SNLC]

Thanks, not worried about spout, using a jiggler siphon so I don't have to lug them up or down to fill, they'll just stay on the swingout.
I've got 35's that I haven't mounted yet but seriously considering going with the HMMWV wheels and tires, so much $ saved on rubber plus you get a double beadlock and can air down to 5lb.

Right on, a siphon is certainly a sweet way to go. Been so long since I used one I almost forgot about them.

Been as low as 8psi on my current tires and wheels with zero issues. Don't really need beadlocks on this truck, got them on another truck already but that is for the rocks. Just don't like 35" tires that are 33" tall. So wanting to look at something a bit larger this year.

Cheers