My first Toyota (1 Viewer)

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Heres a couple small posts describing this years GSMTR from my younger brothers perspective in his new 80 series build thread (https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/red-lobster-build.806450/#post-9209271)

We showed up to GSMTR this year a little late (Friday morning), but were lucky enough to run trail 22 EXACTLY when every other 80 in the world decided to run it. So it was a great time to see all the different directions I could go in with this build.



Toyota Diesel goodness...






Awesome pop up camper..


Theres some youtube videos floating around of this guy going up 22... It was so much better in person!






My brother drove most of GSMTR (including 22) since he paid the registration and wasn't able to bring his truck and I was feeling generous. So most of the photos here are ones I took. Im also learning to become a better spotter first so that I will be able to see good lines when I do begin to wheel the truck on a little more challenging terrain than I'm used to.
So this was one of Patrick's first trails with a vehicle that was locked front and rear... Those things can make anyone look like a pro haha:flipoff2:. He made it up with a lot less drama than the green beater 80, but was great to see what a mildly built 80 can do with such ease.








Kissy face for all the ladies out there.


"Patrick Walking"... and also a shot of the trucks that made it up 22 ahead of me.


Another shot of the trucks in our group as we took lunch.
Usually, we dislike big convos of people out on the trail, but this time was cool. Being able to talk to everyone about their LCs was a really cool little experience.



After finishing 22, a lot of us either split off from the big group or took a break to spend time at camp. Our friend, Asher (King Kong), my brother, and I went out and found Matthew (Jynx) and Sam Stewart and found some puddles and the wind turbines I heard Patrick talk about last year... they're really big...




another poser shot...
 
DAY 2

Saturday we didn't really have a plan. We knew we wanted to run few trails we finished last year but we also just wanted to explore the Northeastern portion of the park. So a small group of us (King Kong, Griffin, and mhslacrosse22) got together
and did our best to get lost.

Trail 16
It has some nice ledges. Probably could've made it up this first one, but the spotter said my brother was hitting one of the control arms, I think he could have made it up, but better safe then sorry.




Pictures of 16 by Will (mhslacrosse22)


Randoms of 16..




Charles (Griffin) heading up the last main ledge in his super nice 100.




Patrick's turn








Easy as pie.


Will pics..



The next trail we got pictures on was 33... That was one of the best places we had found that day. A good mixture of scenic views and steep rocky hills to keep Patrick happy.



Sam Stewart doing a little spotting








 
The last full trail we ran was 60. Our favorite of the day. Very steep declines and rocky ledges. My brother REALLY wanted to run it in reverse, but we just didn't have time.

"A" for Aidan!!!




I can't quite capture just how steep it was... but very steep.







Will's pictures





Patrick had been talking all day about a trail 15 and how cool it was... It was one of the more difficult trails at Windrock. Even truggies had been having trouble with it that day, we didn't belong there lol. But he gave it a shot anyway!





He made it pretty far. Farther than others thought he would haha. The only reason I made him stop was because when he bumped it to try and make it up that ledge right next to that passenger side tree, the roof got within inches of of it.. Trucks too new for body damage LOL!

Will's pics.





Anyway, I had a really good time at my first GSMTR and can't wait to go back next year!
 
I won't make a habit of posting all these 80 series stuff but since it is only the biggest event of the year i figured i would!

But back to Woody stuff...

Guess what got here A DAY EARLY!!!!!!!!!!!



My FJ steelies!!!!!! Id like to get them powder coated PURPLE!!!!! Just kidding, but getting them color matched body would be hella fresh boi :grinpimp:

I decided on actual 37s because of the massive availability of that size. The 345s BFGs are backordered a majority of the year so finding spares would not be fun at all. And it allows me to run a tire i actually like (kevlars). Those things performed stupendously on the slick muddy rocks at Windrock, Couldn't be any happier with them!!!!!
 
Oh yeah, here's Sam Stewart's video of me on 22...
I have many excuses for that pathetic first attempt... i was still learning front and rear lockers and thought they'd just magic me up... i didn't think that puny 8" diff could handle my awesomeness... I had like 30 people watching me so i started to get that nervous piss feeling pretty bad... Take your pick hahaha

 
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Its been a couple weeks but i got a chance to spend some time with my new set of axles! Thanks to @Fort Knox for loading them up and getting to Tennessee for me and also thank you to @tkinze for getting them back home to Georgia and sitting on them until i was ready. The Toyota community is a great one and I appreciate it immensely :cheers:

They both came out from under a certain 4bt powered 60 in North Carolina that is now sitting on 1 tons.
Huge thanks to Johnny (GLTHFJ60) who so generously gave me a price so low i thought he was joking!



The rear axle is a sprung over 80 series rear. Since i rebuilt my current 80 rear end not too long ago, ill just use this housing and swap the rebuilt stuff onto it. Ill chop a couple more brackets off it, clean it up, paint it, then bolt it on!



The front will probably not be used on Woody because the housing is a little bent, but that doesn't mean anything will go to waste. A fellow Ga Cruiser is building a 9.5" front housing for his 80 series crawler so the diff will probably be regeared and go towards that. The housing is still waiting for a purpose but i think it would go great under a 40 or mini truck.



So now I'm just waiting until i have enough money to buy some tires without bleeding the bank account dry. After that, ill actually get started doing what I've been planning for months :)
A couple days ago I started thinking (uh oh) and I was almost swayed towards 3 linking the front and 63" springs in the rear, but i don't think its necessary... Until a couple weeks after we complete the SOA :p
 
Things are happening...



more pics to come :poof:
 
WOW... So many Land Cruisers all over the world. I never knew there were so many in the USA. All other forums I have been on there are comments like "I wish Toyota brought out Land Cruisers in the US instead of only Tacomas". So are there many 75 Series tray-backs too? I so wish I had a GMC HD2500 4x4 over here in Aus. Nice rigs and great places wheeling too. Greetings!
 
nope no 75 tray backs here unfortunately. There are some 70s, 73s, and 75 trucks over here in Ga though which is awesome, I actually saw one of the bj70s today. And ill trade you a new 2500 for a VDJ76 whenever you like hahaha.

OK... so last week, my brother, Aidan, and I started cutting the brackets and perches off the axles getting them ready for beautification and the cut and turn!
I let Aidan do most of that work while i "supervised"... lol



And then over the weekend, i got some work done with the Ga Cruisers. We all usually head over to the shop every Saturday to get stuff done on anyones truck that needs fixing or more mods. Well, we chopped off the shackle reversal, welded on the new shackle perches, and lowered the rear. Woody was riding low on 35s... too low for 35s haha.









The front shackle angle isn't very good now, but I'm pretty sure that once i remove a couple leaves from the front pack, it will become much more manageable. Or well chop the hanger off and move a little farther back.



The rear angle was almost vertical when woody shrunk, even after we pulled 2 leaves from the rear pack yesterday, we'll still end up moving the shackle hanger inward a little. Im all about that perfect shackle angle now lol, Ive spent waaaay too long with this pogo stick ride...


Yesterday was the first day we real got started on our own without the guidance of other club members. All went well, but we didn't really do anything that would've been problematic. We got a little bit of a late start, so broke down rear axle, messed with the rear leaf spring packs, then stuck the SOA'd housing underneath.



The springs are still a little more arched than i would like, even with the full weight of the vehicle on them, so i may do a little more trial and error tomorrow to get them flatter so the truck sits lower.


Shiny new axle vs. SUA old axle






Today when we went over to work on the truck, we immediately started putting the wheels on to get an idea of how it would sit completed, when Charlie the barred owl swooped down and scared the s*** out of us (like usual) with his/her soulless eyeballs...

spooky


Once Charlie left us to creep out some other unsuspecting creature, we got to work and saw that woody was sitting a little too tall.


...But damn, doesn't that axle look good UNDER the springs... i can't get over that!




Just a wee bit of stink bug...





Still got a few things left to do on the rear.

-extend and retube rear driveshaft to 39" (measured from flange to flange)
-install new master cylinder and will wood proportioning valve
-paint individual leaves in spring pack (unless I'm feeling lazy)
-move the upper shock mounts inward slightly
-new brake lines on the axle routed above the springs

Can't wait to get started on the front, measuring angles and trying not to royally fxxx s*** up!!!!

Any feedback welcome.
 
Haha yep 37s are next on my list. And a rear bumper... I'm gonna pm you with my list of demands soon and see if we can't come up with something incredible :)


...via IH8MUD app
 
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Looks awesome!! That's one thing I cannot stand about the 6x and 7x series Cruisers... spring under axle. Even on my 76 series, a 2012 model, it is the same. Nice work on the 35's. I would love some 33's at least... one day.

Yeah for sure, if we could get the taxes and shipping down pretty well I would trade tomorrow.
 
^^MikeHunt.... Seriously? Smells a bit fishy. Can't wait to see what you pick for an Avatar.

On another note Woody's looking good man. Keep it up.
 
Thanks fellas! And Johnny I'm glad I finally got to get started haha.


...via IH8MUD app
 

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