Left with Discovery: Land Cruiser Edition

[tdferrero]

Hello all,

I've had my Land Cruiser for a few months and have been meaning to start a thread, but never got around to it. Alas, here we are. I bought a 2001 Land Cruiser back in February to double as an occasional daily driver and off-roading/camping/overlanding (can I say that word in here?) rig. It was one family owned prior to me, had years of receipts and maintenance records, a new transmission installed in 2018, and a price on which I couldn't pass up. I've done a bit to it since getting it, so I will upload some photos of the progress. I must say, after years of driving stance cars, sharpening my driving skills to avoid every pothole, speed bump, and rock in the road - it's rather refreshing to have something that so effortlessly floats over everything. So, without further ado, my humble Land Cruiser build.

It started out mostly stock, it had an almost new set of 265/75/16 NITTO Trail Grapplers (which I have ended up loving, I might add), a JL Audio 10" sub, amp, and door pod tweeters, and some load bar pads. A good starting point.


First up was supposed to be headlights. Everywhere I read said the Philips 9011 HIRs would be the best upgrade for my headlights without retrofitting, so that's what I ordered. After two days of waiting, they arrived. Perfect! They fit...in my high beams, the connectors didn't fit the low beams. In my head, I thought, "of course, this is how this entire build is going to be." And, low and behold, I was right. After I finished putting the new 9011s in (may as well use them), and having the hood fall on my head a few times, I noticed a good upgrade for the high beam, and was content enough to go to bed. The next morning I was trying to leave for work...dead battery. (See my premonition from the night before.) It turned out to be some corroded terminals and a bad cell in the battery. No worries, a new battery is good peace of mind anyways. So, after I got that sorted, I ordered some new hood and tailgate struts ($40 for four shipped from Amazon) and had them replaced a few days later when they arrived. Next up: key fob.

And as for the name, "Left with Discovery," I wrote a blog that I never published for my solo backpacking trip, but I thought it was a pretty cool name.

 

[tdferrero]

So my original key fob, as it was nearly 20 years old, was of course falling apart. My introduction into the Land Cruiser world was quickly turning into an expensive one. After some research, I decided to go with a YotaMD fob due to the titanium insert that, at the time, I thought was overkill. After a very straightforward installation, I got sent to the field for a few days on Ft. Jackson. Insert the oddest turn of events: as I was exiting one of our vehicles, my keys somehow got lodged in between the hole of the seat belt buckle, rotated, and ultimately bent the metal portion of my key leaving it inoperable. So there I was, a key with a 45 degree bend in it, no power locks (the fob won't pair with the vehicle for some reason), and a locked car. But! Here is where my pessimism was finally defeated, I was able to, rather crudely, straighten out my key using the pliers on a Gerber - the force of which would have obliterated the OEM fob. Alas, the YotaMD fob took the torque like a champ, and lives to see another day, or at least its 4th day in my possession.

After I got home a few days later, and drug my way through the workweek, I was anxious to finally get the LC on some trails. Now, I'm not sure how many of you are familiar with the Low Country of South Carolina, but let me explain our trails to you. There are none. Thank you for coming to my TED talk. No, there are "trails," which are not much more than either mud holes or, in the case of a governed body of land, forest roads that are typically gravel, with some mud and sand. All of which can be fun, but nothing to write home about, or in this case, the forums. And yet, here I am doing just that. The closest "trail" to me is Lewis Ocean Bay Heritage Preserve here in Myrtle Beach. It's about 1000 sq. acres that is primarily used for hunting and conservation, but there are a few roads open. The most illustrious of them all are the fire breaks which, of course, are off limits and inviting you with a lovely $250 fine should you get caught. But, make due with what you have, right? I took the girlfriend and dog out for a Saturday morning drive, and we were greeted with brisk (for South Carolina standards) Spring weather, and a nice walk along the foot trails. Of course opting to ensure hitting every mud and sand puddle, I was pleasantly surprised with how well the Land Cruiser handled off-road. For being only 10 minutes from home as well, I was content with Lewis Bay as well.

 

[tdferrero]

The next few weeks went by without much progress. A few more maintenance checks were completed, and thankfully nothing came up too alarming. I had picked a local set of Method wheels for a friend of mine for his DCLB Tacoma, so I was driving around with them in the back for the better part of two weeks. Once he came down to pick them up, we, along with one of his friends, went back to Lewis Bay to enjoy the 80 degree weekend. As they had never been there before, I took lead. To my surprise, there was an entire section of trails that had always been closed off that was finally open. As with every trail at Lewis Bay, it abruptly ends, forcing you to make a u-turn on a relatively tight trail. Not tight in the traditional sense, but in the Southern sense - the sides of the trail immediately drop off into deep swamp. What often looks quite shallow, rarely ever is. After a successful day of riding the trails, an unsuccessful evening of fishing commenced. We spend the better part of our fishing time discussing the future plans for our trucks, which I was content with. I kept bringing up the potential of building a drawer/sleeping platform that I could use for when I go out solo. (The girlfriend isn't exactly fond of camping.) What I figured would continue to be just talk, lo and behold, Monday after work, I found myself crawling around the back of the Land Cruiser taking measurements.

 

[tdferrero]

Next thing I knew, I was at Lowe's four different times over the next two days. After an entire project riddled with issues ranging from Lowe's saw not making straight/accurate cuts, to my circular saw's blade being stuck and unable to be replaced (see outrageously dull blade and very rough cuts), along with someone (I'm not saying it was me, but...) forgetting to take the thickness of the wood into account, the drawers were together. Overall, it really wasn't a bad experience, just a few hiccups. I will be modifying them more in the future, but I was on a time crunch and wanted to get something finished by the next weekend. I plan on adding wings and a flip up hatch to access the drawer with the tailgate closed, for which I got the materials today. I decided to forego sliders and instead wax the bottom drawers and add felt mover's feet. Loaded with 100 lbs. of gear, I had zero issues opening or closing; plus it was free vs. the high cost of good sliders.
After a month of waiting, my PFran LED's finally showed up as well, and wow. It's like the book of Genesis when the doors open, "Let there be light." I also replaced the reverse lights, since the stock lights gave less than no visibility, as well as the license plate lights, while also cleaning the lenses. Overall, I was pleased with the quality of the lights, after I finally got them to work because of a blown fuse mid install.

 

[tdferrero]

One of the biggest issues I'd had with the LC so far was the OEM flares. I loved the way they looked, but I hated how sunken it made the stock wheels look in the wheel well. So I had a few choices: take them off, get spacers, or get new wheels. I could have taken them off, but the wheels still wouldn't be flush with the body, so that was out of the running. Next choice was spacers, but with a good set of spacers setting you back upwards of $250, I figured for a few hundred more I can just get new wheels. Thus, the hunt was on. And I was severely disappointed in the aftermarket options in 16" with a good offset. Realistically, the two biggest competitors were SCS, which everyone and their mother have, and KMC. I love the look of the F5's from SCS, but disliked the lack of originality they presented. That just left KMC, which is the same company as XD. Now normally, I hate any sort of rep wheels, and would spend my money on top quality like Work, BBS, SSR, etc. but aside from TE37s in a midrange offset, there was nothing of the sort which was rather disheartening. Ultimately, I decided on KMC 542 Impact wheels in 16x8 et 0. A friend of mine is a distributor, so they ended up being $550 shipped to my house, which I was pleased with. Took them to my local tire shop and got them mounted, got some new lugnuts to fit the holes, and I was on my way looking like a meathead who skipped leg day no longer.

 

[tdferrero]

So after the new wheels and drawers got installed, of course it was time to take it off the beaten path. This time, to Francis Marion National Forest. I met up with a close friend on Friday night at the ranger station so he could park his car (he's in the market for a Wrangler or Trail Hawk if anyone is selling one), and we set off. Since it was already getting close to dark, we took the first trail we could find off the main road, and found a really great secluded spot. Of course, since this was both of our first time's out in awhile, we were a bit unorganized, forgot a slew of things, and took forever to get situated. As darkness approached and our campsite was setup, we quickly realized most of the wood surrounding our site was wet due to the massive rainfall we'd had all week. After some time, though, we had a warming fire to accompany our beer and dinner.
The next morning, we decided to forego another struggling attempt to light a fire and, instead, went to the closest store about 30 minutes away to get a few supplies. We made our breakfast, broke down the campsite, and were on our way to a day of discovering the many forest roads within Francis Marion. While there aren't that many (any) technical trails, there were quite a few mud pits and deep ruts that proved to be a good bit of fun to navigate. As afternoon approached, we decided to start looking for another campsite for the night. After a few hours of some less than stellar sites, we managed to find one that was nearly perfect.
Thankfully, we got a bit smarter after the previous night and left a good stack of wood in the truck to dry. So, by the time dinner came around, the wood was dry and the fire ignited with ease. After another relaxing night of delicious food, good beer, and better music, we slept like babies. The next day brought another morning of breakfast and campsite tear down. We had to be back at the ranger station by 12:00 noon since we both had about an hour and a half drives to make it back home. We set off in search of a few more trails before it was time to part, and we were not disappointed. The final trail of the day was, naturally, the best and toughest. Deep ruts, gumbo mud, and a steep incline to make it back on the road. The last 20 yards were the most difficult, and I am saddened to say we did not make it through. The mud was too deep and the incline was too steep to risk the attempt with no cell service and minimal recovery gear. Until next time... So we managed to turn around in the tight trail and made our way to the ranger station to go our separate ways.
All in all, it was a great weekend with perfect weather and some stressful navigating. We used the MVUM's available on the National Forest web page, but I'd forgotten half of them at home, and the ones we did have were a bit less than accurate. That made for a fun time.

 

[tdferrero]

More pictures

 

[Tower1]

More pictures

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[Tower1]

Awesome, looks kinda like where I grew up in Mississippi , and the dogwoods are in bloom. Enjoy

 

[silverhammer]

So after the new wheels and drawers got installed, of course it was time to take it off the beaten path. This time, to Francis Marion National Forest. I met up with a close friend on Friday night at the ranger station so he could park his car (he's in the market for a Wrangler or Trail Hawk if anyone is selling one), and we set off. Since it was already getting close to dark, we took the first trail we could find off the main road, and found a really great secluded spot. Of course, since this was both of our first time's out in awhile, we were a bit unorganized, forgot a slew of things, and took forever to get situated. As darkness approached and our campsite was setup, we quickly realized most of the wood surrounding our site was wet due to the massive rainfall we'd had all week. After some time, though, we had a warming fire to accompany our beer and dinner.
The next morning, we decided to forego another struggling attempt to light a fire and, instead, went to the closest store about 30 minutes away to get a few supplies. We made our breakfast, broke down the campsite, and were on our way to a day of discovering the many forest roads within Francis Marion. While there aren't that many (any) technical trails, there were quite a few mud pits and deep ruts that proved to be a good bit of fun to navigate. As afternoon approached, we decided to start looking for another campsite for the night. After a few hours of some less than stellar sites, we managed to find one that was nearly perfect.
Thankfully, we got a bit smarter after the previous night and left a good stack of wood in the truck to dry. So, by the time dinner came around, the wood was dry and the fire ignited with ease. After another relaxing night of delicious food, good beer, and better music, we slept like babies. The next day brought another morning of breakfast and campsite tear down. We had to be back at the ranger station by 12:00 noon since we both had about an hour and a half drives to make it back home. We set off in search of a few more trails before it was time to part, and we were not disappointed. The final trail of the day was, naturally, the best and toughest. Deep ruts, gumbo mud, and a steep incline to make it back on the road. The last 20 yards were the most difficult, and I am saddened to say we did not make it through. The mud was too deep and the incline was too steep to risk the attempt with no cell service and minimal recovery gear. Until next time... So we managed to turn around in the tight trail and made our way to the ranger station to go our separate ways.
All in all, it was a great weekend with perfect weather and some stressful navigating. We used the MVUM's available on the National Forest web page, but I'd forgotten half of them at home, and the ones we did have were a bit less than accurate. That made for a fun time.

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A little late to this thread (and ownership, for that matter). Great write-ups, and love the WHEELS! I'm about the pull the trigger on some - any rubbing issues? I'm running a 2.5 OME lift and currently have a set of 285/75/16 K02's. Cheers!

 

[SHIfTHEAD]

Damn fine looking rig. But yeah, there's a reason I drive North West from Charlotte when I wanna play.