If I was to start all over again, I would...

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Hornd said:
Funny you say that.
I sent her that pic this morning. She said "Funny"
This chick can handle a 1.5L herself.
Wish she was as serious about wine as she is about LCs.
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Step 1. Find place that makes custom wine labels.
Step 2. Start small, hide a Toyota logo or the words Land Cruiser on the label.
Step 3. Make label with other Land Cruisers on it.
Step 4. Make labels with YOUR Land Cruiser on it.
Step 5. ???
Step 6. Profit.
 
NCFJ said:
I am fortunate that my wife is a "car girl" Her 80 is our wheeling rig as well currently. She likes to go wheeling and camping and has no problems budgeting $ for parts. Maybe we can get her to "council" some of the other wives and GFs.
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MR. SHOW OFF!
 
NCFJ said:
There is a trade off, she has 8 horses..... guess which end I own
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UH..THE s*** PICK UP PART OF IT? I HATED MY SISTER'S HORSES! they stink and they s*** a lot and they have too much surface area to be brushing down! it's always the same equation, she rides you do ALL the rest!

atleast with land cruisers you don't have to pick up theirs hit and brush it down!

both are costly though.
 
I'm on the fence with 35's vs 37's. I have 295's now on stock wheels but will be upgrading to 17" Tundra wheels. I've seen both sides: I wish I would have gone 37's first and 35's are easier to manage for a DD.

I don't want to buy 35's and regret not getting 37's and I don't want to get 37's only to find they don't drive as nice as 35's.

BTW, my wife says "You are going to buy 37's!"
 
I'd have imported a rust free low mileage 1HD-FT auto from Japan, kept the suspension at stock height and fitted Tibus portal drop boxes
 
lumbee1 said:
I'm on the fence with 35's vs 37's. I have 295's now on stock wheels but will be upgrading to 17" Tundra wheels. I've seen both sides: I wish I would have gone 37's first and 35's are easier to manage for a DD.

I don't want to buy 35's and regret not getting 37's and I don't want to get 37's only to find they don't drive as nice as 35's.

BTW, my wife says "You are going to buy 37's!"
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I have 37s on my daily driver...

Here, have some wine.
 
I have a LX450.
I thought I was going to save $250 by purchasing 35s after getting some free wheels. After posting my plan @retrofive wrote that 15" wheels don't fit very well on a fzj. Like an idiot I chose to do my thing. After spending several weeks shoe horning them in by grinding my calipers to an almost unsave point, I got them on. Then went wheelin hit a big bump taking large chunks of rubber out of my new tires & almost my fender flare with it. I finally sold them & went to 315s. It was a $400 lessen to learn.

Here is another one, I bought those Rancho #999234 adjustable shocks thinking they would work great like they did on my fj40 18 years ago. Well the LX is a sloppy, sloshy mess at slow speeds. The high speed valving works perfect. The faster I go the better. But Lexi is no pre runner. That is another $450 bones wasted. Here is my shock delima. Please tell me L shocks are better than this.
 
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I would've kept it stock and run 33's. So glad that I have it back to stock.
I would've put seat covers on it sooner to preserve my brown tweed seats that are unobtainium.
I would never have bought a 70 series thinking that it was better than an 80. Oh how I was wrong.
I would've spent the money I from the 70 on another 80.
I would never have put a flip down DVD screen in it. And certainly not let someone else install it and my stereo.
I would've fixed my AC 8 years ago rather than wait.
I would buy a welder sooner to mess around with different slider and bumpers.
I would peel the covers off my third row seats and throw them away rather than moving them across the country four different times.
I would never have moved it to Texas. F$%# Texas.
Other than that, no regrets. Wouldn't change a thing. Mr. T did a damn good job for what I use it for.
 
As others have said:
1st & MOST importantly build it the way YOU will use it!!!!!
I've owned many 4x4's in the last 22 years (@ least 20). I've lifted/big tires quite a few of them way more than I should have for DD. I read MUD for several months before I bought my LX450 & knew I wanted 3 things out of it:
dependability
overland capability
daily driver
On a daily basis I have to remind myself this so I don't go bigger than my 2.5" OME lift & 33'' tires. I've found when you lift too big, with big meats, it looks cool but it's a pain in the ass just to drive to the gas station. I searched till I found a clean Texas rig w/zero rust, no evidence of ever being off road before then I did almost ALL PM w/in the first 12K miles of owning it. I actually have no regrets on the way I've done this one. We've driven from Texas to Wyoming to camp & back w/zero issues so the dependability is there. Drove to Big Bend to do primitive camping w/zero issues (& total comfort) so the overland aspect is there. I drive it every day & usually prefer to drive it instead of my wifes BMW so the daily driver aspect is there. I've, thus far, done everything how I wanted to.
Once again, build it as YOU will use it!
 
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I'm on my second 80 and I did most of my "learning" on the first one. My first truck was unlocked and eventually got an aussie locker. I went through a few different suspension setups.

Doing it again on the second cruiser the only real change was starting with a truck with factory lockers. As for mods, I'd start with sliders instead of a lift/tires. Like someone else mentioned I'd have bought a welder much sooner.
I would have gone for 37's but the 35's are probably better suited for how I use the truck most.
Stick with OEM parts for most things.

Everyone's goal for their 80 is a bit different. Some guys are more hardcore rock hounds, others stick to more exploration stuff. IMO, the best all-around 80 setup is a 4-5" lift, 35's, 4.88's, lockers, bumpers, sliders, winch. It's a setup that is still very street friendly and big enough to still tackle most rock trails but not so big that it's tougher to use on the road or on the overland trips. I think 37's are still acceptable on an all-around rig but beyond that the bigger tires just aren't ideal for the stuff other than the rocks and you end up changing stuff enough to work with the big tires that you start having to be more concerned about maintenance and reliability. If you set up the truck smaller on 33's or less, it may work great on the road and for the mild exploration but you start to get limited if you venture into the hard stuff. So that's why I think the rig I described is the way to go for anyone looking to build an all-around wheeler.
 
Would have searched longer for a better less troubled truck.... Or offered 2-3k less for the one I bought. But now I'm stubborn and determined to fix this one and throw money at it instead of just starting over with something a little cleaner.
 
You don't see forced induction on the list because it doesn't need to be mentioned. I wouldn't change anything about my setup. Lol. Well maybe a touch bigger intercooler but nothing else.

4rings5cyls said:
I don't see forced induction on anyone's list, and there's 1 vote for not swapping the engine. Interesting.
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lumbee1 said:
BTW, my wife says "You are going to buy 37's!"
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You will find the wife is always right. This is why I'm driving an LX now instead of dumping money into my fj62 :o
 
When I put the Dana 60 in the Blazer, I said to myself I'd never get any truck again where I'd have to swap axles, and I'd never want to worry about weak front diffs again... Then we went out and bought the '80. And then the LX450 found its way into the fleet. Well, good going....

The LX has earned its keep by being the runabout we truly needed in the past half year. The '80 has been good for driving to work, and now has a bunch of things on it that -due to time constraints, life, and change of plans- probably won't see any action on the trails. So while I really like both trucks, and while they are fun to drive, I'm not so sure I would walk the same path again if I were to start all over.
I will keep the K5 as it can do most of what a similarly set up 80 can do. Besides that, I were to start all over, I'd either be looking for a 2-seater buggy with 1-ton axles, 4-speed Atlas, and A/C. Or another '40.
 
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