Help us set up our BJ71 for a mega expedition ...

[LiveLifeOffRoad]

We are planning a trip to drive from Canada to South America and wanted some input on what upgrades or modification we should do before we go. On the way we plan to do some real 4 Wheel Driving.

The Land Cruiser so far....
[FONT=&quot][/FONT] 1988 Toyota Land Cruiser BJ71 (Japanese Import, Right Hand Drive) 3.4L Turbo Diesel, Manual, 165k Km, PTO winch, New Tyres 33x12.5x15 General Grabb 2's, 9 1/2" differentials front and rear (full floater) w/ 4.11's and limited slip, Factory Alimeter and inside/outside Temp Gauges, Turbo Timer, Thule Roof Rack.

Things we need to consider.....

• Diesel/Water/Cargo Storage

We would prefer to leave the back bench seat in and maybe install cargo draws in the small space behind. Jerry can attached to the outside of the vehicle and under car water storage (if possible).

• Bike/Snowboard Rack

Spare wheel mounted bike rack. We are unsure what to do with the snowboards as the car is short and we plan to install a roof top tent. We have been looking for a bike rack that can accommodate both snowboard and bikes at the same time but are yet to find one.

• Security

Mul-T Lock, engine immobiliser, wheel locks. Also we need ideas on how to deter/stop people from breaking into the cab for petty theft.

• Reliability upgrades

Replacing the chrome bumper bar with a ARB Bull Bar. Adding a fuel water separator. Nothing much else because it’s a Land Cruiser!

• Spare parts/tools

Hubs, fan belts, 24 volt bulbs, repair manual, basic metric tool kit, tie rods.

• Setup for camping

Maggiolina Rooftop tent and standard camping gear. Maybe a small flip down table on the inside of the back door.

Any ideas, advice, suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[sirenmoses]

Sooo, first off, welcome: <official Mud salute.

Secondly, you might've hurt your chances of getting some decent feedback by calling your rig a "landy", as in Land Rover. This forum is for Land Cruisers, which are correspondingly called "Cruisers".

Not to worry, the Search function is your friend, and can help you restore credibility.

Never leave home w/o your Hilift jack and tools/ spare parts you know how to use/replace.

Being in Canada currently, Specter cans are your friend. In fact, you could fill the rig w/ them and fund a portion of your trip by reselling them stateside. Don't forget the accessories: I could use a couple nozzles myself, BTW. :grin:

While on the road, don't store fuel inside, if at all possible. Could you mount the RTT on a rack atop the Thule bars, so as to provide more outside cargo stowage?

For your back seat: Hardigg or Pelican cases, and ventable drybags for your soft stowables. Keeps dust and moisture out, and the venting bags allow for compression when needed (not recommended as long-term stowage).

Have you thought about mounting an interior rooftop elastic stowage system? Great place to let sleeping bags and clothing air out, depending on the relative humidity...

Why not install a winch on your current bumper: prolly get better use out of it?

both Yakima and Thule make a spare tire mount that will hold multiple items, dunno bout bike + boards tho. Why couldn't boards be mounted under the RTT, perhaps w/old cycle innertubes? would keep the UV off as well. Are you driving to Patagonia, that there will be snow?

More information will result in better feedback.... Best of luck

Look forward to both write-ups: on the build and during/after the trip.

 

[LiveLifeOffRoad]

Land Cruiser BJ71

Hi thanks for the response guess I am just use to calling a Land Cruiser a Landy from work in Australia (all sorted now).

So what is the story with these Scepter Jerry cans can’t they be purchased in the US? And how can I profit? As far as storage under the RTT I think having it as low as possible would be ideal to help with fuel efficiency and I don’t think we will have heaps of gear. For in vehicle storage aren’t hardigg/pelican a bit of over kill?

I have seen a couple of rooftop elastic setups and they always seam a bit messy.We already have a PTO winch and intend on keeping it, just think a bulbar is the way to go especially with all these deer (already hit one in another vehicle).

We also thought about mounting the boards under the RTT but all the off the shelf board holders are to high and we would really like something secure so we don’t need to worry about the boards if we leave the car.

Our route is very flexible but we will definitely be going through Patagonia just not to sure what time of year.

 

[bj70_guy]

If you don't HAVE to have the back seat a drawer/storage unit is a great help. Lots of out-of-sight storage in the drawer, and a full, flat, side to side platform area to tie stuff down.
As you know there's almost no useable space behind the seat, I don't know how you could utilize any kind of cargo drawer back there.

This is the one in the back of my BJ70. It was a HUGE improvement in cargo management. I placed the tie downs (not all installed at the time of this pic) to fit Rubbermaid Action Packers. Worked great.

A little 1/4T military trailer would make your life a lot easier... in some ways. In others, I guess not.

 

[earl]

Very nice BJ71! I had the privilege of seeing it in person a few days before you bought it. I have a BJ70 and the owner took me for a spin to show me what it was like with the turbo.

Here's just a few thoughts I had... I'm not really experienced with expedition builds though.

Bike/Snowboard Rack
- If you're wanting to take both bikes and snowboards, you may have to custom build a bike+snowboard rack for the back. The snowboards could stand up vertically. Otherwise, it seems the only option is to mount them (snowboards) on top of your RTT.
- How about a small trailer?
- You could build a receiver hitch tray... but it might get in the way of your rear doors, depending on how you build it?

My BJ70 already has a water separator... yours might also?

I remember reading a thread on here somewhere at one time where they discussed various nifty and simple ideas for security. If you search all forum sections, you may be able to find some good info.

Not really necessary... but if it were me and I was going to be doing a lot of highway miles, I'd want small+skinnier tires with less rolling resistance. You'd likely also see fuel mileage increase. You probably don't want to go much smaller in diameter (or at all) though with 4.11s.

An ARB would be really nice, and would do a good job protecting your truck from animals. Do you currently have a PTO winch?

A Toyota BJ71 repair manual, and 13BT engine repair manual are really nice to have.

I think it's already been mentioned, but you can probably find a lot of good information already on here from previous builds. You might find things you haven't thought of, or things that you want to make sure not to do

Familiarize yourself with everything on your truck!

Best of luck with your preparation!

 

[Malahki]

Hey, I just got a very inexpensive new power inverter you might be interested in to replace that tiny 3amp unit

https://forum.ih8mud.com/diesel-tech-24-volts-systems/375580-negative-booster-power-inverters.html

 

[Gib009]

PM replied to Kristy,

Firstly, nice BJ71! It looks like it is in great condition.

I would say keep 33s as a maximum tyre size. For expedition generally keeping the car as close to stock is favoured but the 33s with 13BT/h55f/4.11s is actually a good combination, my friend has this setup and the bigger tyres lower the revs slightly at highway speeds and they also make the whole trip a bit more comfortable. Like sombody else said, maybe swapping for thinner tyres would be a better option for fuel economy.

Definatley ditch the rear seats, and use a drawer setup. For even greater cargo space install a cargo barrier behind the seats so you can load the back right up to the roof. If it works out, try make use of the space behind the seats for stuff you need to grab while on the road or need to grab quickly once off road. I keep some recovery gear/tools/map books/service manual/20L water can/air compressor/24-12v convertor/spare coolant/cooler bag behind the seats.

When you design your drawer setup, lay out all you gear in front of you and ask yourself what needs to be accessed quickly/ what can be stored out of the way etc. I have found that my drawer setup is about 20mm to short lengthways to stack in some things that would go really well in one drawer, and the also about 10mm too short to stack other things standing up. If i had these as a reference when i started, I could have made packing things alot easier and more efficient. My rig is more of a short getaway camping type of rig, so i dont carry many spares. So you would probably want to organise all of your spares needed out of the way somewhere or in its own separate drawer. Think of everything that could go wrong. Even down to a few spare sheer pins in case you overload your PTO the first time you get stuck!

Also decide now exactly what you are going to bring with you, and stick with it. For instance, are you going to run a third battery? a fridge? on board air? 13BT engine compartment is pretty full so the battery would have to go inside somewhere- which could compromise on your already organised storage space.

Roof top tent is a good idea as it gets all the sleeping gear (in my case its a full size matress or a full size swag + pillows + sleeping bag + blankets) all out of the car.

It might be a bit tricky getting everything (snowboards/bikes/jerry cans/tent/ jack/spare) to fit outside of the car, but im sure it would be possible with a decent rear bar and roof rack.

Good luck on your travels!

 

[toms42]

Gday, I am currently building up my BJ42 to do long distance touring so I thought I would throw around a few Ideas that I was tossing around.

• Diesel/Water/Cargo Storage

I have a dual fuel tank something like 160L of diesel in total a bit of overkill for a 3b but better than gas cans floating around, if you must go cans maybe you could source a rear wheel can carrier combo or fab something, keeps them out of the back and off the roof. As already mentioned if you remove the back seats it opens up a bit more room and gives you the ability to have drawers to aid in ease of access to equipment you need regulary. A roof top tent will take up most if not all of the roof so it eats a big chunk out of your storage area. you maybe able to mount a water tank under the rear or along the chassis rails somewhere if not boat supply places have awesome bladders in different sizes that you can stuff just about anywhere and then plumb in a 12/24v pump

• Security

There are a lot of little quick things that you can do to a diesel to prevent it from starting something as simple as removing the oil pressure cut out sensors wire will prevent the engine from being started. there is heaps of info in the FJ 40 forum that will help u keep your rig

• Reliability upgrades

should already have a water seperator if not buy a generic truck one with an extra filter incorperated as well as they are usually cheaper to replace and easier to come by.

• Spare parts/tools

spare wheel bearings, hoses,belts,electrical wire and connections,wheel and axle studs fencing wire, tire plugs, air compressor, assorted metric bolts and nuts, suspension rubbers, shockies, spare spring, fully equiped workshop the list goes on depending on where u are going and the road/offroad conditions will effect the availability of parts I guess I am lucky in Oz toyotas are everywhere and lots of interchangeable parts. A good manual is a must tho and either a hard copy or electronic copy of factory manuals are great. on tyres just check that 33 12.5 tyres are going to be available in most places that you intend to head other wise you cant go past skinnies on factory splits with tubes I only carry the 1 spare on rim and 1 spare tyre, cuts down on weight heaps and they are easy to change once you know what you are doin.

• Setup for camping

What about a tent that is not attached to the vehicle less weight and more space on the roof. In Oz we have an excellent tent called Oz tent funnily enough, bigger than roof top you can stand in it has awning to cook under takes 30 seconds to put up weighs stuff all and is about a 5th of the cost of a decent roof top tent

Just my 2 cents anyway SWB are not the greatest long range expedition vehicles unless you are willing to rough it a bit just part of their charm I guess good luck and keep posting your progress.

 

[Jan-78FJ40]

We put a lot of time and miles into Baja with our BJ70. The biggest limitations were actually the short wheelbase, as it literally shakes the fillings out of your teeth on the endless washboard roads. Airing down helped a lot though.
We had a sturdy roof rack, which kept heavy stuff and camping equipment. I took the rear bench out for other storage, which worked well. We took 1 gas can and 2 water cans, which was enough. a dual tank is nice, but 2 spares are MUCH more important and should definitely take priority.
We actually slept in the truck. I built a small platform that extended the bed and folded together and was stored on the roof. Then we built a tent over it that was secured with bungee cords. This setup worked extremely well, even in the worst of storms in Baja.
I actually might still have the tent-thingy, and would give it to someone that can use it-it is sized for a 70 short wheel base series.
here're 2 pics, cheers,
Jan

 

[LiveLifeOffRoad]

Thanks everyone for your valuable input, here is what we are thinking so far.

We are going to custom build cargo drawers and have drawn up some plans which will allow the back bench seat to stay and also provide a flat surface to double as a bed if need be (similar to the photo above). I will be sure to post the project.

Scepter 20L Military Jerry can mounted in a bracket fixed to the left hand side of the backdoor. I haven't found a bracket suitable yet so may have it custom made.

Lifesaver Jerry can for water storage The Lifesaver Bottle
We thought these looked great as they filter water as you need it and will save us buying bottled water where fresh water is not readily available. Has anyone used these before?

We have decided we will attach the snowboards (without bindings) with ratchet strap underneath the rooftop tent.

Mountain Bikes attached to a rear wheel bike rack.

Although the OzTent looks great we are still keen on a rooftop tent, maybe a Maggiolina. We think the advantage of leaving the bedding inside, the quick set up/pack up and the ease to camp anywhere including urban settings is worth the extra money.

We are still looking for a bullbar solution which will keep the functionality of the PTO winch if anyone has any suggestions?

 

[roscoFJ73]

Why keep the back seat? Unless you plan on picking up hitch hikers,its a lot of room and weight thats not needed.

I would contact ARB,see if their bullbars can accomadate the PTO. ,but these days the electric winches are lighter, more compact and reliable.

Rather than have jerry cans of fuel hanging off the outside,I would go with something like a Longranger tank that increases the fuel capacity to 155(from 90) litres in the same space and keeps the weight down low.

Maybe you could fit the bikes to the bullbar so you can access the rear more easily.
Put the snow boards in the Maggiolina during the day.
I store all the lightweight bulky items up there and it keeps thieves eyes off them.

 

[sirenmoses]

Maggi is the way to go for RTT, and ^ has a point: if you're removing bindings, they'll slip in there no prob.

I was proposing sumting like RTT atop rack (for stowage) atop bars.

Don't care why you want to keep the back seat: flipdown bed-able is spot on, if you fit.

Spectre = money b/c new US laws regarding gasoline storage disallow them. Sumptin bout venting. New compliant cans are POS, leak everywhere, but dats da gmnt...

 

[LiveLifeOffRoad]

We are finally getting a little organised and have built our cargo drawers.

I decided on double stacking the drawers rather than 2 long side by side drawers as I really wanted to keep the back bench seats, so this way when the bench is up the drawers can remain. For the majority of our travels the back bench will be folded down and all the stuff we don’t use everyday will be stored in between the seats and the drawers. However if we meet people along the way that want to come 4wd with us we can fit them in with some re-shuffling.


There is also plenty of room on either side to store our jerry cans and water.

Check out the link for more details/photos on drawers. Live Life Off Road: The Vehicle


Thanks to Mike at Autohomes our Maggiolina Grand Tour is on its way.
AutoHome Maggiolina Grand Tour Roof top tent camper

As soon as we have it mounted on our cruiser I will post photos here!!!!!

We also have our bikes now mounted on our Yakima bike rack which is attached to our spare tyre. Thankfully the setup leaves us just enough room to get into the back door.i

We have now discovered first hand (after locking our keys int he car) how easy it is to break into '88 Land Cruiser. So we are now researching the best way to secure it.

 

[LiveLifeOffRoad]

We picked up our custom made bullbar today and are eager to test it out...so watch out deer, letter boxes and shopping trolleys. After not being able to source a bullbar off the shelf that would accommodate the winch our only choice was to get one custom made. Peirce Manufacturing in Kalispell did a great job, holding up our car only for one day. Complete with powder coating, the bullbar set us back $650 which we thought was a fair price.

 

[24HOURSOFNEVADA]

That's going to be a great trip. Have you joined Expedition Portal yet? There's some up to date information on traveling in Central/South America and each countries specific requirements.

Expedition Portal: Vehicle-Dependent Overland Expedition Community

Like here, their going to suggest getting rid of the back seat as well. It's usually the first thing to go.

 

[Rusty Phillips]

I see you already got your rooftop tent on Its way..... One of the ideas Wayne and I have been kicking around is truck camping with hammocks.... Set up a extendable crossbar on the rear of the roof and have a receiver built into the front bumper to drop in goalposts to allow you to hang other end of hammock

I hope to have something cobbled together sometime this summer

hanging hammocks off side of the vehicle is inspired by this photo from D&D Hammocks website

 

[MANUCHAO]

Livelifeoffroad.... I think we met yah guys in Crested Butte...
Forgot yer name (sorry)...
Hope that was you guys..we were camped out on Rustlers Gulch by the 401 trail....

Drop me a line if that was you guys.....

Laters,

Frank

 

[SHREDwagon]

Hey Guys - Assuming you're planning on leaving next spring to catch winter? Few suggestions:
- You're not gonna be shredding until you get south, unless you're bringing a ton of avy gear, outerwear and split-boards as well. So, IMHO have a bro ship you're riding gear down to you when you are south...... (unless you bring a trailer)
- which will make more room for bikes
- Consider pulling you're 2 rear side windows and install alum./fiberglass inserts. Im building for a similiar trip in a HDJ81, but south to north. Going this way myself, with a cargo barrier. Creates a lockable area as spares will cover the rear window. Also safer for punching brakes and you can stack stuff beside, giving more space.
70's and diesel tech sections are amazing. Best of luck!

 

[LiveLifeOffRoad]

Hi Thanks for the ideas. We are getting pretty well set up (has only taken 10k miles) We are still struggling with what to do with security for our vehicle any suggestions on how to prevent / minimize the damage of leaving our vehicle unattended.

 

[Malahki]

Hi Thanks for the ideas. We are getting pretty well set up (has only taken 10k miles) We are still struggling with what to do with security for our vehicle any suggestions on how to prevent / minimize the damage of leaving our vehicle unattended.

I was just searching through some old threads and stumbled across this. I was the previous owner of this BJ71 and had sold it to this nice Australian couple. Sadly the irony of their last post was the truck with all their belongings was stolen in San Francisco cutting their trip short and sending them home.