Half-Ass.....the rebirth of a Land Cruiser (1 Viewer)

[wngrog]

The date is November 30, 2009. I am on a mission to find my 16 year old nephew a reliable vehicle that won't break the bank. Figuring it will get abused completely his father and I ended up with the best vehicle that $5000 can possibly buy, the 80 series Land Cruiser.

After an exhaustive search of 11 minutes, I stumbled upon this for sale thread in IH8MUD.COM and it looked like the perfect candidate.

https://forum.ih8mud.com/vehicles-trailers-sale-wanted/338178-original-ocd-owner-94-lc-sale.html

The vehicle proved to be everything the prior owner promised. It ran flawlessly and hauled my nephews and even my own kids around for a bit over a year when disaster struck.

Consumed with a full head of testosterone and an ipod changer, said nephew decided it was time to play with his ipod on the 360 on-ramp at Nissan Parkway just south of Canton. A little swerve here, a bit of a swerve there and Jake found himself down the embankment on his lid. The MHP patrolman said people did not generally walk away from rolls like that with a little cut on the elbow.

After another search for Jake's replacement Cruiser, Daryl and I basically did a swap. He found us a great replacement and in the process, he landed the wrecked 80 for a song.

So begins the rebirth of Half-Ass.

 

[wngrog]

*Disclaimer* Most of these photos have been stolen from various Facebook pages and I, the Rock Midget, do not condone such horrid images, but it is all I have.

Armed with a photo, a pile of ideas and a sharpie, Bossman pulled Half-Ass into the workshop at his Secret Lair and began her transformation from child hauler/grocery getter to extreme trail machine.

So the cutting begins.

 

[Kaderabek]

*Disclaimer* Most of these photos have been stolen from various Facebook pages and I, the Rock Midget, do not condone such horrid images, but it is all I have.

Classic

TJK

 

[wngrog]

So the Bossman gets Half-Ass fully prepped and ready and rolls into Madison MS's ONLY Suzuki garage for a full cage install with Leonard Ross and James Roberts.

With the Shunt on the camera, the photographs have gotten MUCH better.

Progress began fairly slow and the three genius' taught themselves how to use Bend Tech on Friday night until 3:30 am.

By Saturday at 3:30, the making of the main cage had come together nicely.

 

[wngrog]

Asked how much of the 80' of DOM that Bossman purchased had been wasted when I got there Sunday, he replied that due to an ingenious use of a messed up B pillar being used as the D pillar ( or ASS end) that wastage was very low but they did use every bit for the main cage structure.

The dash bar was nicely built with Lenny's trick roll bender.

As evening fast approached, the peanut gallery begins to swell in numbers bolstered by heaping quantities of Sheila made vittles and cold beer.

Round about dark reinforcements rolled in as the Tolleson crew arrived.

 

[Kaderabek]

Is that whatchacall a Mississippi T.V.?

TJK

 

[wngrog]

It was quiet at the Suzuki garage when I rolled in on Sunday morning. Bossman, Leonard and I had the place to ourselves. Lenny and Boss had taped off the truck to get the final design nailed down.

From here, all that was left was to finish off the rear end and put seatbelt bars/spreaders behind the B and C pillars.

Because all of the rest of the bars will be straight, Bossman will be finishing the door bars and the triangulation back at his secret lair.

While Lenny did the bending and notching, Bossman and I pulled the rear diff and installed a lunch-box locker.

JesS showed up and heckled and helped me install Lenny's 38.5's on 2" BS wheels on Half Ass and Bossman trimmed the fenders for clearance.

 

[wngrog]

By about 3:00 on Sunday I was able to back the beast out and take it for a spin. My first impression is that it is very light with minimal body roll.

I think it will work great when finished. All it needs it a bit more tube and a bit more front end lift and it is ready for Hot Springs! I can't wait to see it on the trails.

Sorry I missed the Friday/Saturday crew but I had a great time working with Lenny, JesS and the Bossman on Sunday.

Good stuff.

 

[Bodean]

Love it with the fenders on. That thing is gonna be a beast!

 

[Kaderabek]

Very impressive!

TJK

 

[Land Speeder]

With the Shunt on the camera, the photographs have gotten MUCH better.

hold my shunt whatch 'is

 

[Land Speeder]

While shunt and boss waited for Lenny to get up at 10AM, shunt watched Boss tape off the truck to get the final design nailed down. shunt approved and hauled ass.

fixed for accuracy.

 

[wct49]

doing what I do best at a wrenching session. NOTHING

 

[Kaderabek]

doing what I do best at a wrenching session. NOTHING

I thought you were going to say, "Looking better than Greg."

TJK

 

[lenross1]

fixed for accuracy.

The plan was to just pack it up and head out by noon Sunday, but that quickly changed after we got excited about the blue taped lines by the bossman..
I do believe it was more like 8:30 ish. I'm not a mornin person plus I was
still recovering from the 3:30am Friday near all nighter... Which I believe the shunt was fast asleep by 10

Any who Daryl's design came out great. Daryl made it real easy to find attachment points for the cage with the nice boat sided sliders he crafted.

The motalbo'd fromt fenders came out great and help to keep the 80 look.

Daryl is truly a master with the motalbo..it's Like watching Obi wan with a light saber!

Now if he would only cut up Landspeeder.....

One of the best wrenching sessions to date!

 

[Bossman]

Man, how sorry am I that I can't even start my own build thread...

Nolen has a great start on it though (thanks Nolen) and again I want to thank all involved for all the hard work that went into the build thus far. I'll try to get up some better pics and keep the progress updated. I'm sure it will slow down quite a bit from here for the next few weeks as I work on adding all the straight bars and bracing to the cage. This has been an absolute blast so far working with my Cottonland peeps! I hope this thing turns out as well as I imagine cause I see a few more of these builds in our future....

 

[SHUSH]

awesome truck and great update/pics/thread Nolan-Daryl....i feel like I was there, but apparently Chris and Greg did what I would have done anyway.....Nuthun

 

[fjfar80]

Sweetness...

 

[Domek]

nicely done guys!

 

[MEMCruiser]

I hope this thing turns out as well as I imagine cause I see a few more of these builds in our future....

I think your right bossman. I had a dream about
that truck last night. Think I might finally get an 80
and a rock crawler! I knew I didn't start that 80
series dreaming thread for nothing.

I just have to find a bumper for my 100 first.