First off, this forum has been invaluable for ideas, planning, questions/answers, and determining which-way & how-to in jumping back into a LC; thank you to everyone who contributes here & hopefully I can return in kind.
Some history: I owned my first LC, a '82 40 series, back in the early to mid '90s. I was working offshore as a construction diver to pay for my final year of college & picked it up from a dealer in Houston after a 45 day gig offshore. No inspection, just up & bought it. Ugh, mistake of a lifetime (sort-of): rusted out floorboards, never maintained, HEAVILY used offroad---it was a mess. Ended up replacing about 75% of the non-engine engine compartment components in the first year. To save $$, did most of the work myself, which really helped me learn & appreciate how seriously overbuilt these things are. Ended up selling it 3 years after graduating from college in favor of a "better" (i.e. more business suitable) daily driver. Regretted it ever since.
Now: married, 2 kids (3.5/6), 2 big dogs (Leonbergers), lots of vacation road trips to Park City, northern California & Big Bear, and most spring/summer/fall weekends at the beach or in Big Bear. I wanted a safe vehicle, that can easily hold lots of gear (I'm a serious cyclist, love to surf, and winters are family snow-play time) + be presentable enough in a business environment + be dependable. I thought I had all of that + great fuel efficiency in the 2009 MBZ GL320 I bought a couple of years ago, but with 50k on the odometer, it suddenly came down with a case of shopitis, and decided to make repeated visits to the dealership (6x in 6 weeks). That + a $4500 extended warranty cost + $1k per month depreciation from this point forward, and it was time to get rid of her in favor of something more dependable & that held its value/cost effective. I looked at the Sequioa, but it was basically the same as the Nissan Armada that I had ditched in favor the MBZ b/c it was just too big/tankish to drive. I do business down in Australia quite a bit & see LC's all over the place, and after visiting with a friend who owned two, my mind was made up.
Thirty+ days of looking here in the states + about same amount of days x 4-5 hours researching here on Mud, and I finally found one that fit my requirements in Salt Lake City: 2006 (wanted airbags for the safety factor + the added creature comforts), with <100k miles, SW vehicle. While my first color choice was charcoal, this was silver (my #2), and in retrospect it was a great choice. PO is a LC enthusiast, and owns 3 cruisers, including a VERY nice 60 all lifted & trail ready. An added benefit was the ARB front bumper from a deer accident a few years earlier. A couple of phone calls checking out the LC/owner's representations & I pulled trigger & bought site unseen for $24.5k. Wish it didn't have the factory Nav, but that is about the only negative (though the anti-AHC's out there may beg to differ).
So, now its mine & here are my plans/thoughts. I want a 10+ year rig. I want to hit 250-300k miles in this. I just did a full fluid flush/replacement, + the 90k service/timing belt/serpentine/H20 replacement. She runs like new. At 100k I'm switching to Mobil 1 & doing all the oil changes & service moving forward myself every 3k miles. I'd love to do a bio-diesel conversion at some point down the road, but that makes zero financial sense right now. I will not be doing any serious rock crawling or similar offroad---this is going to be a family expedition truckster---road trips, moderate offroad camping trips, baja surf/sea adventures,etc.
Here are the planned mods, in order:
1. White Knuckle full DOM sliders (done).
2. Strip stock 18" wheels & rattlecan graphite, along with WK sliders (done).
3. Interior: bike rack (done), full LEDs (this week), rear hatch LEDs (temp done), head rest DVDs, Sirrus/ipod integration. Front ARB recovery tabs (done) & foglights (on back order from ARB). Need to drop bumper 3/4" on advice of MUDers.
4. Overhead rack: specs just about finished. Going to be a custom local job from Diamond Raxs. It needs to be aero, be 55-60" wide (able to hold both a Thule 2100XT cargo box + either surfboard or skis or multiple bikes, or camping cargo), and reversible (like the Gamiviti). This will be powder coated to match wheels/sliders.
5. Rear bumper: custom HC from BIOR. Needs to have removeable swingouts, that also serve multiple purposes (jerry can converts to ski/snowboard holder, etc.). This will be either painted to match front, or both front & rear will be powder coated to match gray trim (I think matching the graphite would give it too much of an expo rig look for D2D use).
6. Minor Lift? (leaning towards temp Slee system which "fools" AHC & keeps truck at top setting)--don't necessarily need to clearance for my intended uses, but bigger tires = cushy ride, at least in my experience.
7. Tires (current fine for summer till fall/snow). Most likely Nitto or BFG AT going on this fall.
8. Front recovery system: winch TBD, recovery tabs (done).
9. Expedition trailer/tent system. Aussie style (custom off a M101A3 or 4 trailer)? Modified Fleetwood E1/E2?
Anyway, here is what she looked like when I got her:
Pulled off the running boards. Looked 1000x better after this simple change:
The factory 18" wheels had some curb rash/paint peeling:
Rattle can the wheels & sliders Dupli-color Mazda Graphite Gray. WK sliders went on without a hitch. REALLY like the bolt-on style diamond plate. Having them produce a 1" spacer for me to drop down the edge of the sliders for D2D use to make them more "running boardish", as they have a bit too much cantilever in them for my liking on the street:
Here she is after WK slider install with striped & rattle-canned stock wheels, and Thule Aerobars mounted on the factory roof rails (with Thule bike carrier mounted (really, really tall)). I left the sombrero portion chromed/unpainted on the wheels & kind of like it:
And with the Thule fork mount in the rear holding my 58cm Parlee:
Some history: I owned my first LC, a '82 40 series, back in the early to mid '90s. I was working offshore as a construction diver to pay for my final year of college & picked it up from a dealer in Houston after a 45 day gig offshore. No inspection, just up & bought it. Ugh, mistake of a lifetime (sort-of): rusted out floorboards, never maintained, HEAVILY used offroad---it was a mess. Ended up replacing about 75% of the non-engine engine compartment components in the first year. To save $$, did most of the work myself, which really helped me learn & appreciate how seriously overbuilt these things are. Ended up selling it 3 years after graduating from college in favor of a "better" (i.e. more business suitable) daily driver. Regretted it ever since.
Now: married, 2 kids (3.5/6), 2 big dogs (Leonbergers), lots of vacation road trips to Park City, northern California & Big Bear, and most spring/summer/fall weekends at the beach or in Big Bear. I wanted a safe vehicle, that can easily hold lots of gear (I'm a serious cyclist, love to surf, and winters are family snow-play time) + be presentable enough in a business environment + be dependable. I thought I had all of that + great fuel efficiency in the 2009 MBZ GL320 I bought a couple of years ago, but with 50k on the odometer, it suddenly came down with a case of shopitis, and decided to make repeated visits to the dealership (6x in 6 weeks). That + a $4500 extended warranty cost + $1k per month depreciation from this point forward, and it was time to get rid of her in favor of something more dependable & that held its value/cost effective. I looked at the Sequioa, but it was basically the same as the Nissan Armada that I had ditched in favor the MBZ b/c it was just too big/tankish to drive. I do business down in Australia quite a bit & see LC's all over the place, and after visiting with a friend who owned two, my mind was made up.
Thirty+ days of looking here in the states + about same amount of days x 4-5 hours researching here on Mud, and I finally found one that fit my requirements in Salt Lake City: 2006 (wanted airbags for the safety factor + the added creature comforts), with <100k miles, SW vehicle. While my first color choice was charcoal, this was silver (my #2), and in retrospect it was a great choice. PO is a LC enthusiast, and owns 3 cruisers, including a VERY nice 60 all lifted & trail ready. An added benefit was the ARB front bumper from a deer accident a few years earlier. A couple of phone calls checking out the LC/owner's representations & I pulled trigger & bought site unseen for $24.5k. Wish it didn't have the factory Nav, but that is about the only negative (though the anti-AHC's out there may beg to differ).
So, now its mine & here are my plans/thoughts. I want a 10+ year rig. I want to hit 250-300k miles in this. I just did a full fluid flush/replacement, + the 90k service/timing belt/serpentine/H20 replacement. She runs like new. At 100k I'm switching to Mobil 1 & doing all the oil changes & service moving forward myself every 3k miles. I'd love to do a bio-diesel conversion at some point down the road, but that makes zero financial sense right now. I will not be doing any serious rock crawling or similar offroad---this is going to be a family expedition truckster---road trips, moderate offroad camping trips, baja surf/sea adventures,etc.
Here are the planned mods, in order:
1. White Knuckle full DOM sliders (done).
2. Strip stock 18" wheels & rattlecan graphite, along with WK sliders (done).
3. Interior: bike rack (done), full LEDs (this week), rear hatch LEDs (temp done), head rest DVDs, Sirrus/ipod integration. Front ARB recovery tabs (done) & foglights (on back order from ARB). Need to drop bumper 3/4" on advice of MUDers.
4. Overhead rack: specs just about finished. Going to be a custom local job from Diamond Raxs. It needs to be aero, be 55-60" wide (able to hold both a Thule 2100XT cargo box + either surfboard or skis or multiple bikes, or camping cargo), and reversible (like the Gamiviti). This will be powder coated to match wheels/sliders.
5. Rear bumper: custom HC from BIOR. Needs to have removeable swingouts, that also serve multiple purposes (jerry can converts to ski/snowboard holder, etc.). This will be either painted to match front, or both front & rear will be powder coated to match gray trim (I think matching the graphite would give it too much of an expo rig look for D2D use).
6. Minor Lift? (leaning towards temp Slee system which "fools" AHC & keeps truck at top setting)--don't necessarily need to clearance for my intended uses, but bigger tires = cushy ride, at least in my experience.
7. Tires (current fine for summer till fall/snow). Most likely Nitto or BFG AT going on this fall.
8. Front recovery system: winch TBD, recovery tabs (done).
9. Expedition trailer/tent system. Aussie style (custom off a M101A3 or 4 trailer)? Modified Fleetwood E1/E2?
Anyway, here is what she looked like when I got her:
Pulled off the running boards. Looked 1000x better after this simple change:
The factory 18" wheels had some curb rash/paint peeling:
Rattle can the wheels & sliders Dupli-color Mazda Graphite Gray. WK sliders went on without a hitch. REALLY like the bolt-on style diamond plate. Having them produce a 1" spacer for me to drop down the edge of the sliders for D2D use to make them more "running boardish", as they have a bit too much cantilever in them for my liking on the street:
Here she is after WK slider install with striped & rattle-canned stock wheels, and Thule Aerobars mounted on the factory roof rails (with Thule bike carrier mounted (really, really tall)). I left the sombrero portion chromed/unpainted on the wheels & kind of like it:
And with the Thule fork mount in the rear holding my 58cm Parlee:
