From Japan to my garage: RHD UZJ100 LC- my first post and first Cruiser

[Trapper50cal]

View attachment 4127377

I'm stuggling to figure out which part fits my car. I have done a bunch of research but there's no definitive way to know my production date. There was a mid year change in these models and there's a ton of different parts that vary between pre august and post august, it's not the first time that I've run into this.

I got my original auction sheet and the original owner purchased the LC december of 2000. That means it's production date could have been between june to november. I was hoping that it was registered september or earlier so that there was no room for misunderstanding

Get your specific vehicle report from Toyota by VIN. Mine looks like this...

Also comes in handy to copy/paste your VIN on sites like partsouq.com

Also, your truck's production date should be on the sticker on your front/driver side door well. (near the latch)

 

[frawstme]

Get your specific vehicle report from Toyota by VIN. Mine looks like this...

View attachment 4127399

View attachment 4127400

Also comes in handy to copy/paste your VIN on sites like partsouq.com

Also, your truck's production date should be on the sticker on your front/driver side door well. (near the latch)

It's a JDM model, so there's no VIN. There's no production date on any stickers either, there's not even a plate on the inside frame of the door. There's a frame ID under the hood but it doesn't indicate a date.. amayama and partsouq just show all options for 2000 model years since it doesn't know the production date. I've checked glass stamps and seatbelt stickers but they don't have dates on them.

edit:
I figured it out- it wasn't first registered in dec of 2000, it was July of 2000. I found out that japanese date formats use a different calender lol. That makes things a lot easier.

 

[Trapper50cal]

It's a JDM model, so there's no VIN. There's no production date on any stickers either, there's not even a plate on the inside frame of the door. There's a frame ID under the hood but it doesn't indicate a date.. amayama and partsouq just show all options for 2000 model years since it doesn't know the production date. I've checked glass stamps and seatbelt stickers but they don't have dates on them.

edit:
I figured it out- it wasn't first registered in dec of 2000, it was July of 2000. I found out that japanese date formats use a different calender lol. That makes things a lot easier.

Wow, I had no idea. I guess I'm guilty of assumption. I'm glad you got it figured out though.

 

[frawstme]

Got my sway bar bushings and new mounts in today.

They were wrong

I don't know how I keep getting the wrong parts from partsouq. I have my car built out on there exactly as it is.

I was able to use the new bushings but obviously not the mounts, the holes didn't line up. While I was doing that I installed extended sway bar links. Hoping that will help with the sway bar binding.

Kind of annoyed that I ordered the wrong parts again, and also annoyed that I bought sway bar links then replaced them three weeks later these did install a lot easier though.

I did do something embarrassing that I've never done before, I tightened the top bolt with a closed end wrench. As the bushings compressed it locked my wrench between the bolt and the frame. I had to take my wheel off again and raise the other side of the suspension to get it out

Also that did not get rid of the squeeking. At this point it's gotta be either the lower control arms or a body mount, there's nothing else rubber back there

 

[frawstme]

Any opinions on installing rear upper and lower control arms aftermarket? I'm not sure I have enough lift to need them but i'm wondering if it'll improve the ride. My rear upper control arms are brand new OEM so those would be lesser priority, unless both upper and lower are required to be replaced at the same time to adjust pinion angle

My lower left side control arm has a bushing that is cracking and when I lift the rear end with a jack it sort of twists and stretches the cracks apart. If aftermarket adjustable ones wont improve the ride I think I will press new bushings into the lower control arms, and likely the panhard


edit:
Toyota doesnt offer the bushings for the control arms and panhard without buying entire new bars??

 

[frawstme]

Glad to see another JDM v8 make it to the states! I don't know why people get so weird about it. They are cheaper to buy from japan, the v8 has better mechanic support in the US, and it's in every way other than seat position a pretty regular land cruiser.

I will tell you that I have had no problems sourcing parts, everything has been land cruiser standard so far. Some shops flip out when they can't search by VIN for parts but I have no trouble at all finding parts and nothing has been japan specific yet.

Tell me, if you take your glovebox down, do you have a space for a cabin air filter? I found mine has a cabin air filter space, but the JDM models never actually had an air filter sold for them. I'm working on making a custom filter and perhaps you would like one. This video shows how to find the cabin air filter slot, except mine (and from a few other posts here, all the other JDM versions, too) is about half the depth necessary to fit a replacement land cruiser filter.

Sorry that I'm two months behind on this but I was tearing out aftermarket stuff on my passenger side and pulled the glovebox. I do have a small spot for cabin filter

Looks to be 5.75" deep and 5.75" tall. A few wires in the way

 

[frawstme]

been too busy at work to do any real work to my car, but I found out that I have to remove my exhaust to access my torsion bolts

I didn't take any pics but I went through the rear trim and removed everything to add weather stripping. There was a lot of rattle back there, these things drive me crazy. One interesting thing I found was a compartment with shades in it for the windows

I was wondering what the deal was with the window tracks

Another weird thing is that I have eight holes in my carpet. At first I thought he drilled holes for something aftermarket, but the holes are right above empty bolt holes. They're part of the frame. I have no idea what they could be for but you can look straight down through some of them and see the ground

The main reason for the post is to say that I ordered a transfer case regear kit from cruiserteq today. Looking forward to that, it'll be the first big job on this car. After that I'd like to go to 35's, but I haven't really done any research on what actual sizes will be best fit

 

[Trapper50cal]

Are those holes in the 2nd Row? The RHD 2nd row 40/60 split seat is a mirror opposite of the 60/40 seat for LHD 2nd Row, so I imagine there are holes for both set-ups.

 

[frawstme]

Are those holes in the 2nd Row? The RHD 2nd row 40/60 split seat is a mirror opposite of the 60/40 seat for LHD 2nd Row, so I imagine there are holes for both set-ups.

4 of them are, then theres two at the very back a few inches from the tailgate opening, and two that are kind of in the middle between the two sets.

shaped like this top view

_______
|.. ..|
|.   .|
|.   .|
-------

What are the holes at the second row for? I have second row seats there and there's still all the hardware for them as far as I can tell. A few of them do seem to line up with the seats though

oh you're saying that the holes are there from the factory for the US models. I don't know why they cut them out of the carpet like that

 

[Trapper50cal]

Could be completely unrelated. IDK

 

[frawstme]

Could be completely unrelated. IDK

No, I think you're right actually. It looks like the rear holes are drilled and only the front holes have threads in the frame. I'm guessing that he had some kind of bed set up in the car? would make sense why there's curtains for every window. I'm going to fill the holes and sew the carpet eventually

..for now I'm gonna get ready for next big project though.

The transfer case underdrive kit is mostly a complete kit for the job but I still need to get more gear oil and a few other parts. The exhaust has to come off to remove the transfer case and the bolts are in very poor shape. I'm gonna have to angle grind them off and buy new bolts along with gaskets. I think I have all the tools that I'll need, just hoping the pipes that I have will be a good fit for pressing the gears.

The only other thing is maybe a parts cleaner. We have one at my job's shop but I can't see myself bringing all the individual parts of the case there and not losing something. Was thinking of just getting 5gal of solvent and using brushes but I don't know if that's going to be good enough (or just a lot of extra work to save $100).

 

[frawstme]

I bought new rear LCA bushings and panhard bushings from cruiserteq. Started with the panhard because I feel like it's my top suspect for the squeeking

I tried using a hydraulic press for this, it damn near killed me. I couldn't center the weight and the panhard rocketed out from it when I got too much pressure on it. I had a hell of a time getting these bushings out. Ended up using a hand press

Once the backside got started, I removed it and hammered the bushing out with a small sledge.

The bar was in bad shape with rust. I know it probably didn't actually matter but since I had it off I went ahead and sanded it down

Painted, good as new

Gonna let it dry over night.

Does anyone have any advice for pressing this thing back in? I have a tube that is the diameter of the bars hole but I don't have one that's the diameter for the tube.

I have the red press plate that fits the inner diameter, but since it's not hollow, all the pressure will be on the inside metal ring (that the bolt goes through) instead of the outside sleeve. Will that be okay?

 

[frawstme]

damn i messed up



a 7:25 he shows that the LCAs on the rear have two different bushings..i just ordered 4 of the same bushing. i didnt see that cruiserteq had any variation for the LCA bushings i wish the guy packaging my parts had noticed and notified me or something

 

[hoser]

It’s the same bushing, just oriented 90 degrees differently.

 

[frawstme]

It’s the same bushing, just oriented 90 degrees differently.

Oh- thank you. I'm not home so I can't look at the bushings myself but I ordered these:

The video shows the rear bushing to have holes in it

You're meaning that one side is pressed in the opposite direction and there's holes on only one side right?

 

[hoser]

I had to review my notes because Toyota made some changes over the years. For the 100, the "solid" bushing was in the front position and the 2nd one, the one with the slits, is in the rear position. I think the "slits" allow the bushing to flex on that plane a little easier.

For the 80 series (with similar rear suspension configuration), they started with the slits, top and bottom and then revised it (see PDF).

For the 200, they went with solid bushing on both ends, no slits.

Anecdotal information, of the 80/100/200, the 80 rear flexes best and the 200 the least. The bushing orientation is different but the frame is also narrowest in the 80, axle also narrowest. The UCA length might be different too. Bottom line, all bushings, solid, slits, no slits will work. It's up to you.

 

[frawstme]

I had to review my notes because Toyota made some changes over the years. For the 100, the "solid" bushing was in the front position and the 2nd one, the one with the slits, is in the rear position. I think the "slits" allow the bushing to flex on that plane a little easier.

For the 80 series (with similar rear suspension configuration), they started with the slits, top and bottom and then revised it (see PDF).

For the 200, they went with solid bushing on both ends, no slits.

Anecdotal information, of the 80/100/200, the 80 rear flexes best and the 200 the least. The bushing orientation is different but the frame is also narrowest in the 80, axle also narrowest. The UCA length might be different too. Bottom line, all bushings, solid, slits, no slits will work. It's up to you.

Thanks again, it's reassuring having someone so knowledgeable tell me that it'll be alright. I'll go ahead and install these.. I really didn't want to buy another pair, and honestly was debating installing these even if they were wrong . I figured worse case it rides a bit stiff and might wear faster than the correct ones.

Gotta first get my panhard bushings pressed in when I get home, hopefully that's easier than it was to get the old ones out

Edit:
Panhard bushings went in remarkably easy. It took less than ten minutes. After watching videos of people struggling with those and considering how tough it was to get the originals out, that was a pleasant surprise. It was a bit of a bear to get the bar back in with the screws aligned though, it almost seemed like the bar was twisted a bit. When the bottom bolt was totally lined up, the top bolt would be lined up on one side but not the other.

I ended up bolting the top one first and then using a ratchet strap to force hold the bottom one into place while I shoved the bolt through

Took it down the road and there's still a squeek in the rear lol

 

[frawstme]

I found it

New video · Monday, May 11 🎬

Tap to view!

photos.app.goo.gl

I tried lubing up that part but it didn't really make a difference. There's a lot of rubbing between that bracket and my line, not 100% what to do about it

Also

I didn't mention it but I pulled a part of my mid pipe off so it would be easier to deal with when I needed to remove it for my transfer case. The bolts had to be cut off with an angle grinder, and when I did that I accidentally cut into the pipe.

I had that welded today and replaced all the bolts then returned the mid pipe

Should save a lot of time when it comes to removing the transfer case. I drove around without a mid pipe for three days and the sound was ridiculous it makes me want to replace my muffler, but with something about half as loud

 

[hoser]

FYI, your intermediate pipe is not OE. They didn't have flex pipe but rather more or an "Accordion" pipe. I just know it is a bit pricey.

 

[frawstme]

FYI, your intermediate pipe is not OE. They didn't have flex pipe but rather more or an "Accordion" pipe. I just know it is a bit pricey.

I think the entire exhaust is aftermarket. I have no idea what a stock lc even sounds like unfortunately. Mine has dual tips

Both tips have small mufflers behind them (or resonators- I know nothing about exhausts) and the main muffler is a lot larger than I would have expected it to be. The brand is Ganador. Its very quiet, just has a very deep rumble when you're accelerating

I'd like to do something about it but it's pretty low priority right now. My wallets taken a hit lately lol