it all started when i seen my buddys 4runner, and what it was capable of. also my younger brother was in with the local samurai guys and he was building up his 'turtle'. id go offroading with my buddys, who all had toyota mini truck and i really wanted to get into this, escpialy since im an avid outdoorsman and i really enjoy travelling.
anyways i wanted a truck and i saved up all my pennies and started looking. samurai was too small and all my buddys had toy mini trucks and i wanted something bigger (and badder). then i found out about the landcruiser and i researched and discovered the long tale of reliability and capability. so i narrowed my search to land cruisers but there is a limited market here, so i looked at some jdms but they had 13k price tags...anyway along one day is a 1989 FJ62 in the autotrader so i go and check it out. i took it for a test drive and was satisfied so we negotiate a price and i bought the truck a few weeks later. this was in march 2007.
the truck only had 2 bad rust spots and the rest of the body was clean, it came with full maintenance history records including some 20000$ worth of receipts. truck also had a nice warn12k which was a good selling feature.
this is the original ad picture
my boss at the time was a jeep guy and he just pt new tires on his truck so he sold me a set of 32x11.5 and i got some old 80's looking rims of a buddy of mine.
so like 3weeks after getting the cruiser i head up north for 4/20 weekend and i get my first taste of offroading. where we end up going is like the top of a flat mountain. all rock and small forest, no mud. anyways the truck had obviously never seen any terrain like this so it was stiff has hell and all he weak points strated breaking. on that afternoon, a leaf spring broke at the eye, a t.r.e poped out, and i ri[pped my power antenae off
im the super cool looking dude leaning on the truck
this is the only picture of the truck with the power antenae
the leaf broke at the shackle eye :S and those bungees are holding the tre in. i drove like this for a few months|(not advised)
this all happened at scotts cottage @ brandy lake, muskoka 4/20/2007
here are a couple more pics from april 2007 in burnt river
anyways i had a pretty damn good excuse to get some ome springs. so my brother gave the truck a brake job, and i ordered some tre's from ccot and swap them out. then i ordered old man emu extra heavys from cruiser outfitters'
BE|FORE
AFTER
anyways i did the regular maintenance and the truck treated me well, i went off roading lots and for two years i opened the door, and inserted paychecks fixing every little thing and in aug 08 i do my first front axle rebuild.
one of the birfield were craked, it just happened that a buddy of mine did a sas on his 4runner and put in longfields, so theres a spare birf 10feet from where i do the rebuild. anyways it took all weekend!! i put new rotors, pads, calipers, all new bearings, marlin inner axle seals, learned how to make brake lines X4. i took the diff out to see how it works and put in a new gasket.
in now08 my power sterring pump went so i found a 91fj80 pump and swaped it. my tcase also was making funny noises so i ordered a rebvuild kit. I REBUILT THE TCASE IN the cold rain in a puddle and it took me 7days(nites). what a epic adventure. i also rebuilt the rear axle at the same time(new beraings/seals) and also put all new brake lines on the truck amd swapped out the rear diff cuz it was making funny noises too.
anyways i wanted a truck and i saved up all my pennies and started looking. samurai was too small and all my buddys had toy mini trucks and i wanted something bigger (and badder). then i found out about the landcruiser and i researched and discovered the long tale of reliability and capability. so i narrowed my search to land cruisers but there is a limited market here, so i looked at some jdms but they had 13k price tags...anyway along one day is a 1989 FJ62 in the autotrader so i go and check it out. i took it for a test drive and was satisfied so we negotiate a price and i bought the truck a few weeks later. this was in march 2007.
the truck only had 2 bad rust spots and the rest of the body was clean, it came with full maintenance history records including some 20000$ worth of receipts. truck also had a nice warn12k which was a good selling feature.
this is the original ad picture
my boss at the time was a jeep guy and he just pt new tires on his truck so he sold me a set of 32x11.5 and i got some old 80's looking rims of a buddy of mine.
so like 3weeks after getting the cruiser i head up north for 4/20 weekend and i get my first taste of offroading. where we end up going is like the top of a flat mountain. all rock and small forest, no mud. anyways the truck had obviously never seen any terrain like this so it was stiff has hell and all he weak points strated breaking. on that afternoon, a leaf spring broke at the eye, a t.r.e poped out, and i ri[pped my power antenae off
im the super cool looking dude leaning on the truck
this is the only picture of the truck with the power antenae
the leaf broke at the shackle eye :S and those bungees are holding the tre in. i drove like this for a few months|(not advised)
this all happened at scotts cottage @ brandy lake, muskoka 4/20/2007
here are a couple more pics from april 2007 in burnt river
anyways i had a pretty damn good excuse to get some ome springs. so my brother gave the truck a brake job, and i ordered some tre's from ccot and swap them out. then i ordered old man emu extra heavys from cruiser outfitters'
BE|FORE
AFTER
anyways i did the regular maintenance and the truck treated me well, i went off roading lots and for two years i opened the door, and inserted paychecks fixing every little thing and in aug 08 i do my first front axle rebuild.
one of the birfield were craked, it just happened that a buddy of mine did a sas on his 4runner and put in longfields, so theres a spare birf 10feet from where i do the rebuild. anyways it took all weekend!! i put new rotors, pads, calipers, all new bearings, marlin inner axle seals, learned how to make brake lines X4. i took the diff out to see how it works and put in a new gasket.
in now08 my power sterring pump went so i found a 91fj80 pump and swaped it. my tcase also was making funny noises so i ordered a rebvuild kit. I REBUILT THE TCASE IN the cold rain in a puddle and it took me 7days(nites). what a epic adventure. i also rebuilt the rear axle at the same time(new beraings/seals) and also put all new brake lines on the truck amd swapped out the rear diff cuz it was making funny noises too.
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