Build Let's Baseline my new to me 1993 Land Cruiser

[PNWTreeOctopus]

WKOR Install

Well I read some optimistic posts about 1 banana job and 30-45 minutes per side....and I'm not sure I agree. The puzzle of trying to mount these sliders solo is no longer a fun challenge. I have a jack and some tall jack stands at my disposal. Im wishing I had a small HF transmission jack, but it's hard to justify a $125 tool that I will use once and then takes up quite a bit of shop space.

I made a small jack extension for my floor jack, that was essentially a carriage bolt and 36" of 2x4. That sort of worked, but the slider was still awkward AF. and fell and made me do some bench presses to get it back up on the jack stands...I sort of thought that might happen, so I was expecting it. But honestly I should have set up a camera to film the comedy.

So this will apparently be an on brand install for me...still moving at a glacial pace.

 

[duece71]

WKOR Install

Well I read some optimistic posts about 1 banana job and 30-45 minutes per side....and I'm not sure I agree. The puzzle of trying to mount these sliders solo is no longer a fun challenge. I have a jack and some tall jack stands at my disposal. Im wishing I had a small HF transmission jack, but it's hard to justify a $125 tool that I will use once and then takes up quite a bit of shop space.

I made a small jack extension for my floor jack, that was essentially a carriage bolt and 36" of 2x4. That sort of worked, but the slider was still awkward AF. and fell and made me do some bench presses to get it back up on the jack stands...I sort of thought that might happen, so I was expecting it. But honestly I should have set up a camera to film the comedy.

So this will apparently be an on brand install for me...still moving at a glacial pace.

The Jack stands did the trick for me, the left side (I have a RHD HDJ81) was a pain due to the brake lines and having to put in the gap spacer. Very awkward and fiddley. Definitely took me a lot longer than 30-45 mins per side but I went slowly anyway.

 

[PNWTreeOctopus]

WKOR Sliders Done.

After pulling myself together and thinking about what I might modify in my process, I Nmanaged to get my sliders and skid plate installed. In the end I used my Jack and 2x4 contraption and a pair of jack stands. I also used my favorite short tie down straps (titan straps) to secure the slider to my jack. Getting the passenger side to line up was the most challenging for me. Everyone complains about the DS brake line bolts. I fond them to be super easy with a long handled offset box wrench. Im very glad to have these bolted to my truck and not sitting on the floor of my garage.

My Dudes, I think I have very few reasons to not go wheeling now...

Pics of the process

My 12mm/ 14mm & 13mm/ 15mm off set box wrenches made this job easy.

The difference between the factory transfer case skid plate and WKOR's is pretty astounding. I'm glad I plunked down that cash too.

 

[PNWTreeOctopus]

Winches

So I'm shopping for a winch. It's my birthday on Friday. Im turning 23! (x2)

I have this ARB bumper the PO purchased. It's fine, not amazing, but fine. So I reached out to come up winch and inquired about fitment for the SOLO 12.5rs. I received the following reply:

Hi Greg,
You will need two of the ARB spacer kits for the 12.5 and our control box relocation kit to make it work in that bumper. I would also recommend using a roller fairlead in that bumper as I’m not a big fan of the hawse fairlead spacer ARB offers.
Please let me know if you have any other questions.
Thank you,
Jon Snow
Sales Manager

Honestly it took two hours for this response via an online info form--Come up Customer service is really responsive, a big nod in their direction.

I'm also considering a Warn m12000, but it is more expensive--unless I scrounge up a used one and rebuild it...which would be less expensive, and more time consuming. Not considering any "cheap" winches. I've never owned a winch, but Im determined to buy the best quality I can afford, and I've been putting off this purchase until the major stuff has been accomplished (gears, lockers, sliders, suspension, head gasket) as a bit of dessert.

I'll keep you all posted. Hopefully someday I can rescue a fellow traveler with my winch--at Starbucks!

 

[FMC80]

Happy early birthday, Greg!

I read on this forum that Warn winches have waned in quality. I am happy with ComeUp. I have the 12.5 and used it to move my skid steer’s implements while standing on it, which is made possible by the included remote control. Yay!

Never used it in any emergency situation because my 37s MTs are for asphalt only. BUT, whenever I did “whip it out”, it pulled some very heavy skid steer stuff and some super not so heavy stuff; it worked every time. So a total of two or three times. Lmao. And I let my kid play with the controls too.

Anyway, there’s my anecdotal evidence to show why a Comeup is superior to Warn. Have a great birthday

 

[PNWTreeOctopus]

Man that was a long winter of not driving my cruiser...

Still have not pulled the trigger on that winch, but all in good time. I was just checking out the date code on my General Grabber AT2 tires and 2116 is what I found. Which sounds about right. Tires are starting to crack on the sidewall at the shoulder ever so slightly. So time for new tires (aka help me spend my money.) Things to know:

• I'm sticking with 315 75r 16--no new wheels.
• I am struggling to decide between A/T vs M/T
• I no longer need the tire to be winter rated (tacoma has dedicated snow tires and is the DD)
• I literally have not really gotten to wheel this truck yet (moving to midwest, took me forever to get sliders etc).
• I am not a tire geek. I had toyo M/Ts on my 89 4runner long ago and they were great. Currently have Falken AT3s on my tacoma and they are fine.
• I have this truck as a 3rd vehicle. It is not a DD, but I live a very long way from the places I want to explore so I will do some big highway miles. its 1,262 miles to Moab from my driveway.
  
  Anyhow there's talk of finally doing another trip in the cruiser with the family. Thinking of heading out to the desert southwest then up and over to the redwoods and whatever else we want to see in CA. Maybe back to some of our secret spots in SE Oregon and back to the upper midwest. Two week's of cruiser time with my family.

 

[FMC80]

G, good hearing from you. I’d go with something like the BFG KO2 or KO3s. I’ve never ran the KO3s but they seem to get good reviews. I don’t prefer extended driving with mud terrains, although my Toyo MTs are comparatively quiet. They’re expensive and wear faster too.

With that said, you should go with 37” mud terrains. Time to shop wheels.

 

[Irish Reiver]

I'll second the KO3. I've done about 10k miles on mine over some tough terrain and lots of freeway driving. They are quiet enough for a conversation and rugged enough to survive a lot of Moab abuse.

 

[PNWTreeOctopus]

Ok, so I'm hearing that its totally reasonable to make a purely emotional decision, or a logical one here. I seem to see lots of conflicting opinions of KO3s--which i suppose is right on track for opinions on tires. Ok, I'll post some photos once I've made a logical or emotional decision get them installed.

 

[PNWTreeOctopus]

Functional A/C!

I just got my cruiser back from the shop. I hired out my A/C system overhaul to the shop that did my head gasket job. They are nice to work with. I debated doing this one myself, but I was eager to het the A/C functioning again. My system was R12. It is now a R-134a system. My previous compressor had failed, which was my suspicion. So now it has a new compressor, o rings through and a new dryer. I pad just over $1500.00 for this job, which for me in this moment of my life feels fantastic. My time feel really crunched, and we just had a few 80 degree days here in the upper midwest. It was a treat to feel the A/C super cold and working. Actually it was a relief to have a non operational system back up and functioning. Onward to the next thing which is tires.

I'm still in analysis paralysis. I am deciding between the Yokohama Geolander X-ATs and the g003 M/T tires. Hoping to get new rubber on next week.

 

[SteelHunterFJ80]

Functional A/C!

I just got my cruiser back from the shop. I hired out my A/C system overhaul to the shop that did my head gasket job. They are nice to work with. I debated doing this one myself, but I was eager to het the A/C functioning again. My system was R12. It is now a R-134a system. My previous compressor had failed, which was my suspicion. So now it has a new compressor, o rings through and a new dryer. I pad just over $1500.00 for this job, which for me in this moment of my life feels fantastic. My time feel really crunched, and we just had a few 80 degree days here in the upper midwest. It was a treat to feel the A/C super cold and working. Actually it was a relief to have a non operational system back up and functioning. Onward to the next thing which is tires.

I'm still in analysis paralysis. I am deciding between the Yokohama Geolander X-ATs and the g003 M/T tires. Hoping to get new rubber on next week.

It's great when you get value out of spending hard earned money. I'd recommend looking at the falken wildpeak at4w as well. Very quiet and superb in the snow. And they have true 35s in their lineup.

 

[PNWTreeOctopus]

It's great when you get value out of spending hard earned money. I'd recommend looking at the falken wildpeak at4w as well. Very quiet and superb in the snow. And they have true 35s in their lineup.

Thanks @SteelHunterFJ80, it felt good to also continue this relationship with this shop—it’s nice to have a mechanic you like in your back pocket.

As for the Falken AT4W, they are on my short list for the cruiser. I actually have a set on my Tacoma already*. I bought them and a set of snow tires when I moved to MN. I like them. No complaints and while on paper they are heavier than all other equivalent tires, I haven’t noticed on the pickup.

I’m slowing down the tire move, as the cruiser isn’t my daily and the old tires, while having some cracking are fine for getting to the Mall of America and Starbucks. I’m feeling a bit limited by the selection of 315 75r 16 tires at Discount Tire, there are a few AT tires that would be available in 315 70r 17 if I ponied up for 17” wheels…but the tire costs are also much more in that size.

So I’ll get tires soonish, but need to think through my Land Cruiser budget and see if there are any long term considerations about upping to 17”. To be continued

*Edit: After checking, I actually have AT3W's on my Tacoma.

 

[PNWTreeOctopus]

No summer Trip this year but…

I’m still working on the cruiser a little at a time—totally on brand for me. I did order a DC DS from @landtank and it arrive earlier this week, and hoping to get that bolted up today.

 

[PNWTreeOctopus]

No summer Trip this year but…
View attachment 4141454
I’m still working on the cruiser a little at a time—totally on brand for me. I did order a DC DS from @landtank and it arrive earlier this week, and hoping to get that bolted up today.

And it’s all bolted in.

I took it for a short drive at city speeds tonight. I’m expecting my vibration noise (really pronounced on deceleration) has been eliminated, but I need to get it up to highways speeds to know. There appears to be a new noise with this DA, but it is rotational and constant…curious about the ujoints. I don’t add any grease as it appears the DCDS shipped greased up. The DCDS shipped with grease in the slip joint and the zerks seemed greasy too, but I don’t recall any information on the site about grease type used/ or needing to add grease to the joints. I’ll probably do the over greasing the u-joint thing so I can fling grease all over the chassis, but first I’ll read through the threads.

 

[baldilocks]

The DC driveline is no magic fix all solution to shaft vibration. It requires nearly zero angle difference between the driveline tube and the pinion shaft. Going part time is the vibe free solution every time.

 

[PNWTreeOctopus]

The DC driveline is no magic fix all solution to shaft vibration. It requires nearly zero angle difference between the driveline tube and the pinion shaft. Going part time is the vibe free solution every time.

I really appreciate your experience and perspective here. Thank you.

 

[FMC80]

I really appreciate your experience and perspective here. Thank you.

I basically taught him everything he knows. Next time, you can thank me instead.