mexico trip in a FJ62

[grime]

hi guys,
Just got a stock 88' FJ62 133k miles, was garaged some rust, none on the frame. I've had it couple of weeks and has been using it as a DD. Working out the kinks before I put any money into it. (well i had to replace the rusted out muffler ASAP to pass inspections)

My wife and I are driving the rig from Boston to Mexico about mid-may, and going to explore for most of the summer.

What sort of advice does anyone have for traveling and living out of your crusier for extended lenghts of time? Essentail mods? Tuffy box, kill switch worth it. I'd like to keep it stock... Im not big on dumping money into things that are not essential.

Also storage solutions?
The truck came with a yakima rack, which i'll keep because i'm bringing 2-3 surfboards. Fabricating a board lock with a local guy here.

I should also note I have a friend who knows a lot about crusiers giving me advice and helping out with mechanics and maintance...

but its always good to hear what other thoughts are out there what sorta routine things i should swap out giving the rigs mileage and the trip.

thanks any advice/comments would be appreciated.

 

[philos1]

welcome to the board! check the FAQs at the top of the 60 section for common mods. I'll be in San Juanico late May for my/our semi-annual surfari- I have a brown 60 that I call the Tootsie roll... hope to see ya there!, oh and check out the outfitting section too!

 

[Sotagoon]

Sandcruiser

Check out SANDCRUISER.com for a vehicle that has seen it's days on the road.

Awesome site

I have wanted to do a trip like that since I can remember.

You should set up a ....well look at the site above for ideas.

Like I said...awesome site and should help you a ton.

Cheers and keep us updated along your trip if you can!
I need someone to live vicariously through.

 

[pplkook]

Philos1

Which way you goin? North/East/South?

Hope you get some good south, let 3rd point fill up with all the hotshots, leaving old mans for some great lazy cruising. Do you know what the sand conditions are like?

-Jack

 

[High Desert]

If you are not going to upgrade to a heavy duty rack..look into some used "boxes" to put your roof top gear into, yakama, Tule, etc. Keep the boards out of site and maybe out of mind of the casual walk by.

 

[Mike S]

Do a tune up, lube everything, and go have fun. This is EXACTLY what your Landcruiser was made for.

M

Edit: it would not be a bad idea to take and extra spare tire.

 

[ballardcruiser]

You'll have a great time... I second the tune up and 2nd spare tire. You might also start thinking about upgrading the seats... you could fab up a new bracket and buy some comfier junkyard seats for not much money.

Maybe buy yourself a high lift & sand platform to throw in the back (well, tie it down securely, don't just throw it) in case you get stuck.

The kill switch sounds like a smart move, as well...

Bring a couple of extra filters (oil, air), spare cash, and you'll be good to go.

Take pics and post 'em!

 

[cruiser_guy]

For a trip into and through Mexico I would bring a set of replacement hoses and belts, fliters (air, oil AND several gas), for a gasser also the cap and rotor and maybe a set of plugs, an OEM shop manual and tools and KNOW how to use them! Some spare wheel studs and nuts might also come in handy. I wouldn't worry too much on the tires as there are tire repair places everywhere (pinchazo in Guatemala and if I remember right it's llantera in Mexico). The tire places might even set out bottles on the road to drum up business! Don't laugh I have seen it happen.

Remember that in Mexico a 'Cruiser is NOT common so any mechanical breakdown requiring parts means you'll need to have them sent to you from either the states or Guatemala/Belize.

An alarm with a starter kill is a good idea. Personally I have an alarm with TWO starter disable locations and I use two or three clubs on the steering wheel and clutch when parking on the street at night.

 

[In2cruisers]

spent alot of time south of the border, the only place you will have any possible trouble is border towns (dont know where you are going to cross), With the 62 and fuel injection I would suggest a couple inline fuel filters w/extra cartriges. also some auto parts stores sell funnels (usually for oil) that have built in screens (cheap) use these when filling up womens stockings also work in a pinch. Fuel sometimes has crap in it. ( dont be shocked if its green) Also at least one full 5gal. spare can never hurts. Sometimes it tough making it from open station to open station. Have purchased fuel more than once from a local guy pumping out oof a 50gal drum in his back yard due to closed or oob gas stations...octain booster is also a good idea if you get bad or watered down gas.

Good luck and have a great trip....lots of great surf spots

PS... pick up a surfing or surfer mag. there is a couple different styles board locks in the add section and/or you can always run a cable thru leash plug or drill hole in fin for cable..

 

[Grease Cruiser]

2nd what Cruiser Guy said. I have traveled many miles in Mexico and you can get a lot of stuff down there.
You don't need two tires unless you have a really oddball size. But, as you say it is stock, you can find a tire about anywhere.
Definitely take oil filter (2 maybe), plugs, cap, rotor, wires, and a fuel filter
If you are not running a pre-filter before your factory Toyota filter, I would. Just a cheapo in-line filter. Bring several as you may need them. If you are around Baja, the gas is sometimes really s***ty.
I have filled up before and gotten about 2 miles from the station and the truck started acting like it was out of gas. I pulled the in-line filter and blew through it. Mud came out! I let the truck sit for about a 1/2 hour after changing the filter and drove on.
Also, it is a good idea to not let your gas tank go below a 1/4 tank. Sometimes hard to do, but it lets the sludge stay at the bottom and not go through your filters.
Don't worry about bringing oil. You can buy it down there. Just make sure your wagon is in good running condition. You'll be fine. And besides, Mexicos roads are getting much better these days. You should not have a problem.
Good luck.

 

[sandcruiser]

A few essentials:
5 gal Jerry can with fuel in it. Keep it full.
Spare fuel filters. We went through one about every 2 months, maybe 3 months. So two should be plenty.
Bring some tools, but don't go crazy- if you are mostly staying on dirt roads and such you aren't that likely to damage a stock cruiser, they are pretty darn tough.
Seriously (and I mean this) consider a rooftop tent if you plan to camp a lot. They are just sooooooo easy and comfortable. If you plan to hotel it a lot, the rooftop tent doesn't make as much sense.
Shortboard storage is easy: fab up a simple rack inside the truck, up by the roof. You can use bungie cords and some ingenuity, but you might find that nylon straps last longer and dont get as waxy as bungies. It'll interfere with your vis a very little bit, but it gets the boards out of harms way and keeps them safe. Also works well for a fishing pole.
Longboards are tougher. I don't have a great solution there, but locking it to the rack is a good idea.
Bring some ding repair as shops are few and far between in Mexico.
Water: you'll be buying water in 5 gal plastic bottles (don't recall what they are called in Mex, maybe garafones?) Best way to do it is to have your own approx 6 gal container into which you can pour the 5 gal bottle. That way you don't have to completely use up your water before refilling. We carried two 5 gal cubes for water and rarely used up more than one at a time- except when camping for over a week. Even then... supply trucks make it out to the darndest places. We always carried a few spare nalgene bottles full of water, tucked away in the cruiser for just in case. cheap insurance.

storage: it is dead easy to build a very nice roller drawer for the back which will give you a ton of secure storage. The rollers themselves are spendy, I think we spent around $300 for them. But well worth it. Jim Brantley ( www.realcruiser.com ) has good designs on his website.

Lighting. I've looked all over for 12v LED xmas lights as I think that they would be awesome camp lighting. Never found 'em. REI carries candle lanterns that work really well. Not too bright, but bright enough. Easy to use.
You'll also want aux lighting front and rear on the truck. Dont' EVER DRIVE AT NIGHT! But when you do.... a set of driving lights will make you much safer. Adn the one big accident we had was me backing into a pole in the middle of a parking lot. Bright reverse lights are good to have. Cheap tractor lights are available at Kragen/Napa/Checkers and work fine.
Tint on the windows keeps your temps down and makes it harder to see in, but it also makes it harder to see out at night. I like dark tint on the large side windows, lighter tint on the rear window and the windows by the seats. Your mileage may vary.

Ok
this is too long. I've really got to put this on our website somewhere instead of retyping it every time!

Your stock cruiser will do fine. Tune everything. Make sure all suspension components are in good shape. If in doubt, change it out before you go.
Do bring extra belts/hoses. Better yet, change the belts/hoses and keep the old ones for spares. You'll want at least 50% tread on your tires. We never blew a tire in Mexico. In fact, we never blew a tire at all for 8 months. Then we blew two in a week! But repair facilities are pretty easy to find, just be sure to repair a flat IMMEDIATELY. Carry an inner tube that fits your tires so that if you do get a really bad puncture, the repair guy can always tube it.
Better than a second spare is a decent 12v air pump so that you can limp along with a leaking tire till you find a repair spot. Also, with the airpump you'll be more likely to air down when appropriate, which will keep you from breaking stuff and/or getting stuck.
A tuffy console is very good. Don't leave without it.
The glove box in your 62 is dead-easy to break into. Don't trust it for important stuff.
Get your A/C tuned up before you leave. Its hot down here.
We had a small tall-lunchbox' sized cooler behind the center console where we could keep fruit and some beverages within arm's reach. I recommend that approach. Even if it isn't icy cold, just being enclosed will keep your stuff from getting as hot and dusty. The cooler we used was a rubbermaid, I think, and could fit a 2l bottle standing up. Great size. Also makes a good stool when you are waiting around. And there is plenty of waiting around to be done.
Drive very carefully. Enjoy the trip. Mexico is wonderful.

 

[grime]

Thanks to all for offering great advice. We really appreciate it. This forum is great.

I'm going to be busy the next several of weeks getting the rig prepared. Should be fun. I'll post pics of some of the progress as it happens.


To answer some ?'s above.
I've thought of getting a yakima, thule box for the boards. A friend of mine who owns one says they are S**t, easy to pry open. I also checked out of the surflocks out there and havent been impressed. There is one solution that I did like but it only locks 1 board and the cost is $200. 2-3 boards ouch$$ I second Sandcrusier's idea of making a roof hamock for the shortboards. Remove the fins and this will work perfect. Thanks.

I'd also love to invest in the roof camper, I've have a budget and need to stick to it. I think our gear will be fine for this trip. Maybe down the line.

We are entering from the eastern side of texas (coming from boston) and traveling the gulfcoast side, cutting over and then back around the western coast, ferry to baja. back up through CA-wandering/visiting some more in the states.

Which reminds me has anyone taken the ferry from mainland mexico to baja?

thanks again...

 

[Mike S]

The ferry from the mainland goes from Guaymas (I think) to LaPaz. You will like the LaPaz area. Some good camping on the coast east of Juan des Planes, about 40 miles south of LaPaz, and all along the East Cape. All services are available in LaPaz.

 

[sandcruiser]

we tried to take the ferry to mainland from baja, but it was not running for some mystery reason.... ask around a LOT before you plan on catching it.

I saw a decent longboard solution here not long ago-- you could have one built in Mexico for cheap. The guy basically built a minimal cage on the roof rack into which he could slide the long board(s). The top was aluminum sheet which helps keep the sun off, not a bad idea. Surfwax + road grime on your roof isn't easy to get off! You don't need fort Knox up there, just something to keep the opportunist from running off with your deck.
The easiest lockable storage idea of all inside (cheapest) is to put plywood across the wheel wells, with 2x4 supports, bring it right up to the tailgate. Then put two eye-bolts into the tailgate/liftgate and slip a padlock through them. It'll look crappy outside, but it will prevent someone from getting under your platform.
Another easy approach, used by the good folks at www.balum.com (another good travel cruiser site) is to just drop a pickup bed box or two into the cargo area.
The most important part of security is to simply not leave the rig unattended. Even if you think you are way out in the middle of nowhere, opportunists exist. A kill switch or kill switches might help slow people down, and are a good idea.

Also- it is really easy to run chain from the hood, down in front of the radiator but behind the plastic grill, to the frame rail where you can lock it with a padlock. Pretty hard to defeat, but easy to open for motor access by you. If you pull the ignition wire out, then lock the hood, it'll be pretty tough to steal the truck.

I don't think that there is much reference to it anywhere, but there was a nightmare story of two young guys who got a cruiser all ready... drove to Baja (I think near Mulege) and went out on boards to go snorkel. When they got back, the truck was gone. Pretty awful.

I think you can find that story on the LCML archives at birfield.com

For security, we used the hood lock, a kill switch, a club, and an alarm (for a while, anyway, the alarm finally died. Now I also have a tranny lock, which I like better than the club (smaller, tougher, harder to beat), a kill switch, and I guess I could use the club too. Other things that work well for security are leaving the tcase in neutral (seems crazy easy to defeat, but will at least slow the thief down), pull ignition wires off, pull engine fuse, add a starter kill switch as well as an ignition kill switch, install a ballvalve in the fuel line that you can manually shut off... I'm sure that there are others as well, but the best remains: keep an eye on your rig or pay someone else to keep an eye on it.

Other good sources of info are Exiled (on mud, search for posts by him)
Jim Brantlely (has some great mods done on his 60 and 80)
www.balum.com
http://www.planetincognita.com/
http://www.twogypsies.com/
www.newcruiser.ca

all of the above are good people, three traveled in cruisers. All traveled in Mexico.

 

[SurfPonto]

For security, we used the hood lock, a kill switch, a club, and an alarm (for a while, anyway, the alarm finally died. Now I also have a tranny lock, which I like better than the club (smaller, tougher, harder to beat), a kill switch, and I guess I could use the club too. Other things that work well for security are leaving the tcase in neutral (seems crazy easy to defeat, but will at least slow the thief down), pull ignition wires off, pull engine fuse, add a starter kill switch as well as an ignition kill switch, install a ballvalve in the fuel line that you can manually shut off... I'm sure that there are others as well, but the best

Wow!

Those are some great ideas. Never though about the leaving the transfer in neutral.

I actually pull the ignition wire on my topless 40 when I park in Del Mar, CA. I have had 2 different vehicles stolen from there over the years.

May look into the tranny lock also.

Thanks SandCruiser,
Bob

 

[cruiser_guy]

The ferry is from EITHER Mazatlan or Guaymas. If you're coming north up the west coast take it from Mazatlan as the area north of Mazatlan is not that interesting. Be aware that the ferry is NOT cheap.

Like Steve (Sandcruiser) says, pay someone to watch your car. It won't be much, maybe the equivalent of $1 or so. They'll probably come looking anyways when you stop somewhere. The way it works is you pay AFTERWARDS and ONLY if they are at your car. If they are not there when you come to leave then obviously anyone could have left with the car so they don't get paid. Usually those folks watch cars on the whole block in the towns or in a parking area for tourist attractions so they will not be right beside the car but if you can get in and start off then they are not watching well.

 

[sandcruiser]

good point on the car-watcher thing.
My approach has always been to tell the kid on the way in... "Le pago si estas aqui cuando vuelva" "I'll pay you if you are here when I get back"
Then, when I get back to the car I don't hurry, but I get in and start the car up.
If they are within a few yards, I'll wait and pay. If they aren't... I leave.
Definitely do not pay in advance as they probably won't be there.

Another alternative: sometimes in the town there will be someone washing cars. Ask them to wash the outside and tell them you'll pay when you get back. They'll be there. And your car will be clean(er). Clearly, don't leave your keys.

 

[cruiser_guy]

On the "leaving the key behind" that is common when parking in some parking areas in the cities or when there is a fiesta going on. They pack the cars in TIGHT.
In any area I make sure that where I am I do not need to leave a key. It may mean I get boxed in until the parking attendant moves some other cars or the owner of the car comes back but my keys stay with ME!

When you head down the gulfcoast make sure you plan to stop in Palenque, Agua Azul, Misol Ha and other areas in Chiapas. There is some danger in Chiapas but the scenery is worth travelling there. The best thing to do if you're not comfortable is to trust your instincts. If it doesn't feel right don't bother with it.

The west coast is much more windy roads and mountainous even right out to the water.

You are aware that the summer months, May, June, July, August, September are the rainy season?

 

[grime]

progress

thanks for all the secruity suggestions. They have been super helpful in deciding how to make our rig bulletproof.

I meet with my friend who will be fabricating a top rack, came up with some great ideas for securing the surfboards, and other cargo up top. We are planning a top rack that is divided in two. the driver side will hold 2-3 surfboards strapped to the yakima rack and enclosed via expandable metal on a hinged from the center which is lockable. The passenger side of the rack will be a half basket, containing gear, jerry cans, jacks, shovels, etc. Looks like we are going with steve's drawer configuration too in the back with a slight mod that has a sliding table top under the drawer. Two posts as legs will be screwed from the bottom for support.

Kill switch has been installed, can't tell you where
Traded in a old shortboard, and wife's longboard for a sick 7'8" WRV funboard for the wife. She's stoked.
also found a good tint shop for the back windows.

I can't sleep at night, obssessing

 

[SurfPonto]

Post some pics of your setup when you have a chance.

Bob