So been nearly a year since Honey Badger was bought and we’ve done enough to the truck now to start a thread. Up to now what has been done is pretty much what you’d expect but wanted a place to document all the work/time spent on this awesome vehicle.
What’s the back story? Basically a buddy and myself wanted to build up an expedition vehicle to take off road. His wife was understandably getting fed up with two fully grown kids (her husband and I) taking her Escape out into the back country blowing shocks, getting rocks wedged in engine bay, destroying oil pans etc etc. Neither of us really wanted to own our own “real” 4x4 – mileage, maintenance costs, repairs, etc etc…..
Anyway – researched a ton and all roads led to the world of the 80 series land cruisers. Test drove around 5 or so in the LA area and the minute we tested out what was to be Honey Badger we knew we had the right vehicle.
173K on the clock, no lockers, pretty much stock, interior leather driver cracked up and split but rest of the seats in okay shape. Exterior clearcoat on bonnet (hey- I’m from the UK!) is all screwed up – we’ll fix that eventually…..purchased for the grand total of 4500 in July 2014.
First things first – PM and baselining on the backburner while we do a 3 inch heavy ome lift…..we’ll regret the lack of baselining soon…..
Head up to Mammoth lakes in Nov 2014 for a ski weekend and HB decides to take a piss on the side of the road – luckily right as we pulled in to the grocery store…… limp back to the condo and perform a PHH replacement – a royal pain in the ass…especially in front of a condo in the Sierras at 30F…..maybe we should have baselined….
https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/phh-dammit.824249/#post-9454060
End up ordering new radiator and all heather hoses– finally get everything in and replaced Jan/Feb 2015 – heater valve was completely corroded.
Time for some deflaring action along with getting rid of the stock rack – no rust – thank you California weather!
Next up - Full platform Gamviti rack installed – HB in her element in Saline Valley (March 2015)
Prepping for another trip out to Death Valley and incontinence strikes again.
https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/atf-leak.846819/#post-9656191
Turned out the head gasket had gone – luckily I got it before any overheating – shipped car off to YotaMasters (great guys btw) in Corona to get the job done (April 2015)– the while your in there list…..Headgasket, whole head rebuilt, injectors cleaned, etc etc ...
AAA membership has saved us a lot of money so far…
What’s the back story? Basically a buddy and myself wanted to build up an expedition vehicle to take off road. His wife was understandably getting fed up with two fully grown kids (her husband and I) taking her Escape out into the back country blowing shocks, getting rocks wedged in engine bay, destroying oil pans etc etc. Neither of us really wanted to own our own “real” 4x4 – mileage, maintenance costs, repairs, etc etc…..
Anyway – researched a ton and all roads led to the world of the 80 series land cruisers. Test drove around 5 or so in the LA area and the minute we tested out what was to be Honey Badger we knew we had the right vehicle.
173K on the clock, no lockers, pretty much stock, interior leather driver cracked up and split but rest of the seats in okay shape. Exterior clearcoat on bonnet (hey- I’m from the UK!) is all screwed up – we’ll fix that eventually…..purchased for the grand total of 4500 in July 2014.
First things first – PM and baselining on the backburner while we do a 3 inch heavy ome lift…..we’ll regret the lack of baselining soon…..
Head up to Mammoth lakes in Nov 2014 for a ski weekend and HB decides to take a piss on the side of the road – luckily right as we pulled in to the grocery store…… limp back to the condo and perform a PHH replacement – a royal pain in the ass…especially in front of a condo in the Sierras at 30F…..maybe we should have baselined….
https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/phh-dammit.824249/#post-9454060
End up ordering new radiator and all heather hoses– finally get everything in and replaced Jan/Feb 2015 – heater valve was completely corroded.
Time for some deflaring action along with getting rid of the stock rack – no rust – thank you California weather!
Next up - Full platform Gamviti rack installed – HB in her element in Saline Valley (March 2015)
Prepping for another trip out to Death Valley and incontinence strikes again.
https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/atf-leak.846819/#post-9656191
Turned out the head gasket had gone – luckily I got it before any overheating – shipped car off to YotaMasters (great guys btw) in Corona to get the job done (April 2015)– the while your in there list…..Headgasket, whole head rebuilt, injectors cleaned, etc etc ...
AAA membership has saved us a lot of money so far…
