HDJ100 Zimbo

[Shane Drummond]

I bought my 2007 LC100 1HD-FTE about a year ago, I have been going through MUD for about 2 years now, and joined it recently... My 1st post...
Although only 4 years old when I bought it, it was on 258k km's, but had been looked after, and was mint, owned by a friend of mine, and I asked him to let me know when the time came for him to sell it.

So far I have done 30,000 km in my first year and was told to do a major service every 20,000 km and a minor every 10,000 km

After spending a lot of time going through MUD I decided I must learn how to do my own services and sort suspension & brakes... So that when I go over landing to Namibia or Botswana I can do the basics if the need arrises

 

[Sverige]

Hey man, where are you located? I'm in Angola, planning a roadtrip through Namibe to Windhoek later this year.

 

[Shane Drummond]

Harare, on Harare Drive close to Mr Cruiser, let me know if you pass through, always good to catch up and see LC100's vs pics

 

[Shane Drummond]

I have changed my belts, after much squeaking from the ones it came with, and asking service shop to sort the problem (another reason I wanted to learn it myself) and the Goodyear gator (I think, bought spares incase) belts were a very welcome change and no noise since.

I also had a pro look at the garret turbo & its running 90% efficient so will need replacement as soon as finance improves, will cost about $3k

 

[Shane Drummond]

I had a look at the suspension and the shocks looked a little beat up and I figured that after 285,000km they needed replacing, i went out and bought new shocks, went home from work early, so I started taking off the front right when all of a sudden oil started pissing out all over the place, after I was advised to start by taking off the bottom bolt first then going to the top, and AHC not letting me push the shock in like the new standard shocks, I figured I had something different. I quickly tightened everything back up and read up all I could on AHC (I knew I had the buttons and enjoyed playing around, but as far as how it all worked... Well MUD schooled me pretty quick) .
I ended up somehow burning out my AHC pump motor and had to replace that, first I replaced all the "shocks" more like hydraulic rams, and two different size nipples, with supplier flying out wrong front size twice in a row, used new back, old front, did a quick trip to Mozambique for a bachelor weekend, and when I got back, fitted the front set of rams (dampers I think is their correct name), so a used pump, new dampers all round, & 3 cans of proper hydraulic oil & a lot of research on MUD I learnt almost everything there is to know about AHC

 

[Shane Drummond]

My Cruiser has number plates all over, the pervious Company Moto and goes by the name Solomon, all painted on and stands out so much so that hopefully it will never get stolen or hijacked here, pics to follow, gotta learn how first

 

[Shane Drummond]

The further north u go, like Zambia, people tend to rivet on big number plates both sides. I like the sticker paint better.
The local shop Mr cruiser in Harare, Zimbabwe is 2 minutes from the office, is very good with spares and imports from Dubai once a month so if they don't have, it's not too long before we can get any spares we need. And as far as cruisers go here, well they are legendary, I first looked at a red 80 series VX about 10 years ago, but could not afford it. Now that I have finally got the 100 series, well I plan on taking it to 1 million km's

 

[Shane Drummond]

I am looking at mounting a Kaymar spare wheel carrier to the chassis but it does not fit to the chassis, it's about 3inches to the left on my IFS HDJ100 chassis...

So planning on removing the tow bar frame and as that's about 6 to 8mm steel, I can get the right piece welded onto that and holes drilled to mount the spare wheel carrier

I don't want the carrier on for day to day, but I do want the little mounting bolted on permanently as it would then be a lot easier to add and remove the 6th wheel

 

[Shane Drummond]

Hey Sverige, sorry I didn't read properly, when are you going through to Namibia? Are u going for a holiday? I have been told of the Dunes & the antelope that appear out of nowhere like ghosts of the desert & the beauty of the sky at night, so I definitely plan on going, and my brother has ordered a LC100 out of UK so we may go pick it up together from the port in Namibia when it finally lands... Would be cool to catch u there

 

[Shane Drummond]

I usually have the back kitted with camping chairs & blow up mattress incase I find myself in Chirundu and want to go to Mana pools for the night... But been thinking about a root rack for this tent & mattress... Liked the one that a MUDDER built, and the low strong ones u get In SA, have a look at the plan. Some tips would be good. Want to add the ladder to the corner frame when I get the roof rack

 

[Shane Drummond]

As far as mods go.. I have been reading MUD regularly since I bought Solomon a year ago and did some reading upto about a year before that looking for the best vehicle

The list is long and I wont add it here, although I do have a winch mounted in standard bumper and I was given the Kaymar spare wheel carrier when I bought the cruiser along with a spare transfer box

It includes sliders, roof rack, 33 inch tyres, strengthened under carriage, I am not too sure I will add bumpers due to the weight

Airbags will come with towing I guess, as I have a semi rigid that's perfect for diving off the coast of Mozambique.

I also want to kit out Solomon with all the over landing gear... And I have a very comprehensive list for that too that I found off a serious over landing website... Will find and post if anyone interested

Taken the cruiser up to Gomo Carera & have some very cool 4x4 spots on our farm, chrome dumps, gravel pits... Jamboree is next but need the sliders to play or the bulbs on the AHC will be toast

Snorkel will come when I replace my turbo, as the guy at turbo solutions Africa told me that fine dust along with oil from the turbo makes a fine past that wears away the turbo blades and so to clean out the inter cooler and replace the turbo is a must as well as the snorkel because the air intake is too close to the wheel, in the front right wheel well...

 

[DallasFJ40]

Great truck and great location, other than some of the Zim politicians. I have only been to RSA, but plan to visit other countries in southern Africa. Welcome.

 

[Sverige]

Hey Sverige, sorry I didn't read properly, when are you going through to Namibia? Are u going for a holiday? I have been told of the Dunes & the antelope that appear out of nowhere like ghosts of the desert & the beauty of the sky at night, so I definitely plan on going, and my brother has ordered a LC100 out of UK so we may go pick it up together from the port in Namibia when it finally lands... Would be cool to catch u there

No firm date yet. Keep in touch on it. We'd like to drive to Harare too, but I think it might be a difficult drive. I hear roads are really bad/slow and the borders terrible in eastern Angola. I took a trip up by DRC border a few weeks ago and it took 5.5 hours to go only 140 km!

 

[Shane Drummond]

Thanks DallasFJ40 & Sverige, u r welcome, we are thinking of putting in a campsite for 4x4 folks that pass through Harare, about 60km west on the shores of Lake Manyame, previously called Darwendale, until then both myself and my brother regularly get mates with 4x4's out for some fun, we have the mud, the hills, the chrome dumps & the hill with rocks & plenty trees, and riverbeds that flood occasionally, so we welcome the fun & learning that goes with meeting 4x4 folk

 

[Shane Drummond]

Sverige as far as roads go from Harare to Lusaka, they are ok, the dangerous parts are going into & out of the Zambezi Valley, plenty of skeletons of burnt out lorry's to prove it, going north of Lusaka, the road is good to the copper mines, and going up the east coast to Tanzania, but I have heard that going into the Congo is not clever, if u r coming from the west coast through namibia, there is a new road to Vic falls that's good, and I heard one is going in from Namibia to Lusaka, but may have been built already, been a while since I have been that way

 

[Shane Drummond]

So it's almost 2 years since I bought my cruiser, and I finally saved up enough to replace the turbo, put on a bigger inter cooler, this has resulted in me having to remove the bumper, with 9000 lb winch, so I have been looking into making something cool that works with the winch, gotta lot to do, gonna see Sami @ Samburn & hopefully he can come up with something, we have been planning sliders for 9 months now & with the bumper off, coz of the inter cooler... Well that's next

I also did the change of ownership finally and figured it was time to remove the stickers that make this cruiser stand out, so I took it to my neighbors paint shop, and when they tried to remove it, they also took off the paint... So a full respray is required to make it look normal again... Any suggestions? Was thinking of asking for double or triple the clear coats so scratches could be polished out easily but I am no expert...

With a respray comes the question of the rear bumper... I have the kaymar, but a double tyre swing out has always been at the back of my mind...

I work in mm here as opposed to inches, and we have waited for 9 months for the right size steel to be imported, and the way they are going, it's better to just start with a sheet of steel, I am guessing 3mm for the main parts? And 5 or 6mm for the mounting points? Any advice here would be great, CAD drawings would be better, I am just going with pencil & paper & tape measure for now

The sliders I was thinking of making it so instead of having the round pipe come out the side of the rectangular tube, I make mounting points to hold a high lift jack, and a multi rescue & recovery tool, like a shovel, pick, axe, wire cutter, knife etc all in one, down the one side of the slider, and something else down the other... Was also thinking each slider could be an air tank or a water tank for the compressor & air tools(yet to be bought). The handle of the high lift I was thinking could line up with the top of the slider, like a step? ... Again, any input here would be cool

As for the bumper, well I want to go with max entry angle, plus a winch mount, plus a good airflow for the inter cooler & radiator, plus single strip LED Cree XP-G 5w bulbs, with stealth black covers, mounted inside the bumper so they can't get damaged by much. Not worried about any bars above the grill or indicators, prefer a mean & clean look. Because its diesel & IFS, I have different chassis to the 105 series, and the inter cooler pipes mean the core of the bumper has to be wider... Again any artists that can bring that to life are welcome

 

[FlammableFishie]

The sliders I was thinking of making it so instead of having the round pipe come out the side of the rectangular tube, I make mounting points to hold a high lift jack, and a multi rescue & recovery tool, like a shovel, pick, axe, wire cutter, knife etc all in one, down the one side of the slider, and something else down the other... Was also thinking each slider could be an air tank or a water tank for the compressor & air tools(yet to be bought). The handle of the high lift I was thinking could line up with the top of the slider, like a step? ... Again, any input here would be cool

I don't think using sliders for tool mounting is a great idea. That's just asking for damaged equipment.

As for using the sliders as air tanks: you're asking for some sort of explosion. I would never use something designed to take an impact and try to repurpose it for holding gas of any kind.

It's your truck so you can do whatever you want but I absolutely suggest not using sliders as air tanks, and I advise against using them for equipment mounting. Use them for their intended purpose: slamming on rocks and protecting your truck.

 

[Shane Drummond]

Water tanks then? For a hot water shower system? On the equipment side I was looking at side mounting and keeping the sliders for their purpose of landing on rocks & sliding, I just didn't want the weight up top, heard many a complaint about that... As far as damage goes, it would replace the step side of a slider

 

[Shane Drummond]

Saw a cool truck tent while browsing belonging to a mud member, below, lost the page on RV's & RTT's but got the picture Did some searching for trucktent.com as he said but came up dry, but googled & searched and found tentsontrucks.com and cam up with this pic Wasn't quite the same but after reading the write ups on Amazon I figured it was adjustable. And $129 seemed fair, but for $99 I came across this, which looks like a better deal, has anyone got any experience with it? No reviews but looks more practical for less $$$ Let me know what you think, I use a mosquito net usually that just covers the back of the car, but I went for a night in Mana Pools with my daughter & brother & we met up with friends, and my daughter & I ended up sleeping in the cruiser, with the mosquito net, but when a lioness came walking round the camp for a couple hours, I really didn't feel safe, especially with my little girl in the car, so I held the top door closed for the rest of the night, so this kinda shouts out at me as a great plan! Truth be told, when Lions & Hyena come walking into camp in the dead of the night, what good will a mosquito net be? Against the king of the jungle? Although I haven't heard of any cases where people have been dragged out of bed with Mozzi nets it is still a little scary, so better a RTT or a truck tent to a mosquito net, that's basically "keeping the flies off the food" if you relate it.

 

[Shane Drummond]

Decided to remove all the stickers, but they had merged in with the paint so that thieves/hijackers couldn't easily remove them, rack & running boards off, bumpers too while I sort a winch mount & kaymar 6th wheel mount, then the cruiser goes back to the paint shop, both my Princess & my old man reckon it had alot of character with all the numbers all over, but I will not get a good resale with them on... Don't think I will ever sell though, what can beat a 2007, 1HD-FTE? Only a modded or "mudded" version of the same...




Went out to test the semi rigid for the weekend at the lake




I have just bought a Roof Top Tent, an old 1991 Eezi Awn that has a History in mana Pools & Save Valley, stoked now I just need the roof rack...