My '97 LX 450 Buildup...Comments/Suggestions Welcome!

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In my case I'm going to bring the tube out slightly wider than the stock flares which will be flush to the outer edge of my tires.

Chris

Do you wheel in really tight areas? I think this is one of the silliest mods that 80 series owners do because it looks stoopid (sorry :o) - without any cross bracing a tube fender is just a damage multiplier on a hard hit.

Your girl will have sexy hips sans flares with your build - don't give her a big ole girdle. :hillbilly:
 
I hear ya...I guess we'll see how it looks against the truck...I'm planning for a full exocage, so this would be the beginning.

Chris
 
I hear ya...I guess we'll see how it looks against the truck...I'm planning for a full exocage, so this would be the beginning.

Chris

I was wondering...that's when the tube fenders obviously make sense (to me).
 
Well, when you figure I'm not going any wider than the tires, having the tube fenders and sliders at the same distance from the truck shouldn't be a big hinderance, but I'm totally speculating.

Chris
 
Hey guys,

I'll be posting some pics from our ride last night, but here's all the UTV's that were on the ride with us: Pre-Run Pics & Vids...

I'll post up the LX pics in a few minutes...I also got a little bit of video, as well.

Chris
 
Hey guys,

I headed out today to run Pritchett Canyon and all I can say is wow. We made every obstacle on the way up with no winching. On the way down I bent my tie rod dropping off one of the big rock faces. Then we managed to bend it back and get down to the last big obstacle on the way out and I had no steering. So we hooked up the winch and came down after nearly rolling it over because when I came off one of the big ledges my left front tire jerked hard to the left. I think I broke my front left axle then because when I disconnect my cdl switch my truck won't move. Plus when I do have the cdl on and the front locker on only the passenger front pulls. So, my question is do I have a broke front drivers side axle only or something else?

Also, what are the options for a beefier tie rod that I can buy? And, while I'm replacing this axle should I go with something heavier duty and if so what are my options? Thanks guys,

Chris
 
Ouch.

You can get a HD tierod from Slee.

Not sure on the axle in terms of what you may have busted. I'd replace mine in a minute with a Currie RJ high clearance D60, but that's only about a cool $5K.

Of course, it will make 3-linking much easier :D
 
So, if it's a Birf, is this what I need to buy: FJ-80 4340 CHROMOLY 4 PIECE SUPER SET - Longfield Super Axles

So, if my seals are leaking like crazy, which they are, what else do I need to buy and have the Moab shop install at the same time?

Doug, I'm not sure what all those things are on the axle, but I'm going to try to do this and figure out if it's something simple like that.

Wait till you guys see all the pics and vids from Pritchett...it's going to be awesome.

Chris
 
if you have the time, whole rebuild. New inner seal (the marlin crawler ones rock) - felts, whiper, trunnion bearings, might as well do wheel bearings while your there too.
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fi95_TsWak0

O/T..sort-of

Chris, what program'd you use to speed it up and keep the quality up? That one makes me laugh, but is still good to refer owners to.
 
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The problem is there's not a fluent Land Cruiser shop in Moab, so I'm stuck either replacing the tie rods and driving on the broke axle to Denver to get it rebuilt properly, or maybe someone on here can make a list of exactly what I'd need to rebuild it stronger entirely.

NorcalBorn, I use Adobe Premier CS4 for editing videos. Wait till you guys see the Pritchett Footage...we're heading out to Poison Spider in the RZR 4 to shoot some pics and vids of it for some magazine articles...I love that trail. Can't really do anything on my truck till Monday, so we might as well hit the trails. :)

Chris
 
Nice work. TR
 
Here's a video of running Pritchett through Rocker Knocker:

YouTube - Pritchett Canyon in Moab, UT in a '97 LX450 / Landcruiser

Let's see if you get a good laugh somewhere in the video... :)

Chris

Got the big dogs barking :hillbilly:

P.S. I'll edit the rest soon hopefully for the rest of the run up and then back down when the carnage happened.

Nice vid - Pritchett is a trail that I really want to run. That was a nice line and good spotting at the last double ledge. For those of you who are still debating 37's vs. 35's, you need to watch more video, perhaps including the next one where he grenades it :D
 
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Yeah, it's a great trail. I'd definitely recommend it. There were jeeps running it on 33's too, so my hats off to them too...not sure our heavy rigs would make it with 33's, but possibly I guess.

Chris
 
The problem is there's not a fluent Land Cruiser shop in Moab, so I'm stuck either replacing the tie rods and driving on the broke axle to Denver to get it rebuilt properly, or maybe someone on here can make a list of exactly what I'd need to rebuild it stronger entirely.

Chris

Is this not good enough to know what is is needed?

https://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/78276-front-axle-rebuild-faq.html

as far as beefing it up, other than upgraded birfields (longfields) - there isn't much to do.
 
Here's a video of running Pritchett through Rocker Knocker...

Thanks Chris, saw that, nice. :D

As for other vids, like the door lock actuator vid, see, now I gotta get some of that sort of video going for the 4Runner part of the forum. I just skipped the new parts on the two rear and made mine into manually operated. I am gonna see what I can do with some of my Mac software since it has quicktime and iMovieHD already installed. Any tips just send them to me via pm, I'll be using a Canon Elph SD750 w/ a 8gig card.
 
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