Ok here it goes.
My goal for this Summer - drive my 97 LX450 out from NC to Alaska, work on a salmon boat for two months, drive the LX back to NC.
This is going to be my attempt at a real build thread outlining everything I do to get my cruiser ready for a ~9000 mile trip.
About the cruiser:
I bought it back in the fall of 2017 with 185xxx miles on it. I bought it fully built and have since not done a whole lot outside of drive it 50k miles. It has been a super reliable vehicle and has only ever let me down a couple times, but to drive 9000 miles there's a number of things I'll need to do to get her prepared.
What's already been done:
- Head Gasket was done ~75k miles ago
- All done in 2017 before I bought it: Slinky long travel suspension with icon shocks, caster correction plates, double Cardin front drive shaft, adjustable front and rear panhard bars, extended bumpstops in the rear, 11mm extended HD rear lower control arms
- Slee offroad HD tie rod and drag link along with Toyota tie rod and drag link ends
- Robinson steering dampener
- 4.88 Nitro gears, Eaton E-lockers F+R with factory switch
- 4x4 labs sliders and rear bumper
- Rear axle has been rebuilt
- Starter replaced and rebuilt
- New ignition switch and ignition coil
- Coolant flush recently with Toyota Red
- New Toyota rear DS U-joints
- AC system was completely replaced back in 2017
- New Toyota blue fan clutch
- New Toyota master cylinder
My current maintenance/PM plans in no real order:
- Rebuild front axle and replace all seals bearings and other components
- AC is currently not working, the idler pulley nut is stripped and I haven't gotten around to fixing it, but I have the parts. I need to chop it off and replace everything and AC should be ice cold
- Flush all fluids other than coolant
- All new belts and vacuum hoses, along with maybe all new radiator hoses if needed
- PHH
- New spark plugs and wires
- I have a couple of small oil leaks, going to knock out the oil pump seal, distributor O-ring, and the front engine seal all at once
- All new steering and suspension bushings
- Fuel filter
- All new fuses and relays
- None of my windows work except the front Driver's side. I need to figure that out and fix it
The only other thing I can currently think of that could knock me out is the fuel pump. Is it worth spending 500 on that as PM?
Now for the "overloading" mods to make the truck better equipped
- Take out all of the seats except the drivers seat and build a full bed setup to cover the rest of the vehicle (passenger seat must go because I'm 6'4")
- Full length sliding drawers underneath with one side for cooking and one side for storage
- Refrigerator/freezer
- Dual battery setup with solar charging
- On board air compressor
- New springs front and rear
- Jerry cans for extra gas
- Build some system that can hold 15-20 gallons of water
- Front bumper
That's everything I can thing of for now, I'll add things and cross things off as I go.
Any suggestions would be much appreciated. I'm going to spend significant time reading up on 80 builds but any advice on important things or just stuff to think about from people with experience would be awesome. I'm a college student working with a not crazy budget. My plan is to sell my 94 pickup to help fund the build, but overall I won't be able to spend more than 5-6k on this, which I think should be doable if I'm doing most of the work myself.
Here's how she sits now. I'm super excited to build it out and really use it for what it's built for!
My goal for this Summer - drive my 97 LX450 out from NC to Alaska, work on a salmon boat for two months, drive the LX back to NC.
This is going to be my attempt at a real build thread outlining everything I do to get my cruiser ready for a ~9000 mile trip.
About the cruiser:
I bought it back in the fall of 2017 with 185xxx miles on it. I bought it fully built and have since not done a whole lot outside of drive it 50k miles. It has been a super reliable vehicle and has only ever let me down a couple times, but to drive 9000 miles there's a number of things I'll need to do to get her prepared.
What's already been done:
- Head Gasket was done ~75k miles ago
- All done in 2017 before I bought it: Slinky long travel suspension with icon shocks, caster correction plates, double Cardin front drive shaft, adjustable front and rear panhard bars, extended bumpstops in the rear, 11mm extended HD rear lower control arms
- Slee offroad HD tie rod and drag link along with Toyota tie rod and drag link ends
- Robinson steering dampener
- 4.88 Nitro gears, Eaton E-lockers F+R with factory switch
- 4x4 labs sliders and rear bumper
- Rear axle has been rebuilt
- Starter replaced and rebuilt
- New ignition switch and ignition coil
- Coolant flush recently with Toyota Red
- New Toyota rear DS U-joints
- AC system was completely replaced back in 2017
- New Toyota blue fan clutch
- New Toyota master cylinder
My current maintenance/PM plans in no real order:
- Rebuild front axle and replace all seals bearings and other components
- AC is currently not working, the idler pulley nut is stripped and I haven't gotten around to fixing it, but I have the parts. I need to chop it off and replace everything and AC should be ice cold
- Flush all fluids other than coolant
- All new belts and vacuum hoses, along with maybe all new radiator hoses if needed
- PHH
- New spark plugs and wires
- I have a couple of small oil leaks, going to knock out the oil pump seal, distributor O-ring, and the front engine seal all at once
- All new steering and suspension bushings
- Fuel filter
- All new fuses and relays
- None of my windows work except the front Driver's side. I need to figure that out and fix it
The only other thing I can currently think of that could knock me out is the fuel pump. Is it worth spending 500 on that as PM?
Now for the "overloading" mods to make the truck better equipped
- Take out all of the seats except the drivers seat and build a full bed setup to cover the rest of the vehicle (passenger seat must go because I'm 6'4")
- Full length sliding drawers underneath with one side for cooking and one side for storage
- Refrigerator/freezer
- Dual battery setup with solar charging
- On board air compressor
- New springs front and rear
- Jerry cans for extra gas
- Build some system that can hold 15-20 gallons of water
- Front bumper
That's everything I can thing of for now, I'll add things and cross things off as I go.
Any suggestions would be much appreciated. I'm going to spend significant time reading up on 80 builds but any advice on important things or just stuff to think about from people with experience would be awesome. I'm a college student working with a not crazy budget. My plan is to sell my 94 pickup to help fund the build, but overall I won't be able to spend more than 5-6k on this, which I think should be doable if I'm doing most of the work myself.
Here's how she sits now. I'm super excited to build it out and really use it for what it's built for!
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