New owner of a 2013 LC

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

mep1811

mep1811

10 Year 15 Year 20 Year
Joined
Jan 11, 2003
Threads
455
Messages
2,231
Location
El Paso, Texas
Website
www.badlandsexpeditions.wordpress.com
Just picked up this beautiful 2013 200 Series to replace my 1985 FJ60. The luxury and features are a bit intimidating after driving a 34 year old vehicle.

Now the build begins. My wife and I would like to go back to Alaska and go to the places we could not get to on our last trip.

You can read about it here in TCT magazine . Arctic Adventures in a Vintage Land Cruiser Parts 1-3

First up are dual batteries, roof rack, 40 gallon aux tank and OME suspension.

Your suggestions on the build are welcome.

IMG_20190928_182348898.jpg


IMG_20190928_182309826.jpg


IMG_20190928_182317638.jpg


IMG_20190928_182343720_HDR.jpg
 
Last edited:
Congrats!
 
mep1811 said:
Just picked up this beautiful 2013 200 Series to replace my 1985 FJ60. The luxury and features are a bit intimidating after driving a 34 year old vehicle.

Now the build begins. My wife and I would like to go back to Alaska and go to the places we could not get to on our last trip.

You can read about it here in TCT magazine . Arctic Adventures in a Vintage Land Cruiser Parts 1-3

First up are dual batteries, roof rack, 40 gallon aux tank and OME suspension.

Your suggestions on the build are welcome.

View attachment 2094170

View attachment 2094171

View attachment 2094172

View attachment 2094173
Click to expand...
Nice! I’ll be checking out your write up and watching this build for sure. Alaska is on my list for the next couple of years with an identical truck.

Are you going with metal bumper in front? Consider a winch necessary? AT or MT tires?
 
Yes I think I will go with the Ironman bumper. Cheaper than the ARB and I'll put a Badlands winch on it. I had a winch on my FJ60 and used it twice. Once to right my flipped M416 and once to move a fallen tree. Better to have and not to need it.

I prefer M/T tires . When it gets sloppy M/Ts are so much better than A/Ts and can make the difference between going and not going. Also the LC is not my daily driver.

Also going with White Knuckle sliders and a Wilco offroad hitch mounted tire carrier
 
Headlights are oxidized (top 20%), may want to buff and seal before it progresses.
 
Last edited:
Are you staying “on the road system”? Doing any off roading? What time of year? If you aren’t doing any hard core off roading I would keep the mods to a minimum. That way you can preserve MPG as much as possible and not need to carry as much extra fuel. I live up here in Alaska and drive all over the state, pulling a camper, off roading often (but avoid the hard core). I do it all in a ‘13LX with KO2s and 66” Yakama cross bars on the OEM rails. The only mod I have considered for my truck is an aux tank.

Up here steel bumpers are mostly pointless, winches only if you are doing serious off roading. My 0.02: do the aux tank, lower profile roof rack, 10 ply tires, hitch tray for another 10-20 gallons fuel, extra spare, bubba rope and variety of shackles, I would do a goal zero with 200w of solar above a 2nd battery, and a compressor.

Also PM me with any specific AK questions or post them up here.
 
I would skip the bumper change, rather use a hidden winch mount. Other than that I believe you have it well planned out especially since you have BTDT. Congrats on a fine vehicle. I would suggest Toyo Open Country MT's, they are 10 ply E rated
 
RET2 said:
I would skip the bumper change, rather use a hidden winch mount. Other than that I believe you have it well planned out especially since you have BTDT. Congrats on a fine vehicle. I would suggest Toyo Open Country MT's, they are 10 ply E rated
Click to expand...
Thanks.
I like the extra protection the bumper provides. I think I'm going with the Dobinsons bumper. I found out I can get a better price from my guy here. I'm not sure if the Wilco tire carrier will work I have to measure my hitch depth . Thanks for the tire recommendation. What size are you running?
 
coleAK said:
Are you staying “on the road system”? Doing any off roading? What time of year? If you aren’t doing any hard core off roading I would keep the mods to a minimum. That way you can preserve MPG as much as possible and not need to carry as much extra fuel. I live up here in Alaska and drive all over the state, pulling a camper, off roading often (but avoid the hard core). I do it all in a ‘13LX with KO2s and 66” Yakama cross bars on the OEM rails. The only mod I have considered for my truck is an aux tank.

Up here steel bumpers are mostly pointless, winches only if you are doing serious off roading. My 0.02: do the aux tank, lower profile roof rack, 10 ply tires, hitch tray for another 10-20 gallons fuel, extra spare, bubba rope and variety of shackles, I would do a goal zero with 200w of solar above a 2nd battery, and a compressor.

Also PM me with any specific AK questions or post them up here.
Click to expand...

Thanks
Yes I off road . I was in Alaska last summer with my 1985 FJ60. I wrote a three part series for TCT magazine. here is a link to the articles and would like to hear what you think since you live in AK.
Arctic Adventures in a Vintage Land Cruiser PTs 1,2,3.
 
I forgot to add that I'm going with a Rhino Rack platform rack on their backbone system. I can add a second tire if needed for a long trip as well as anything else I would need.

Big change from going from a 1985 FJ60 to this. The size is a big difference. The only thing missing is a standard transmission.
 
mep1811 said:
Thanks.
I like the extra protection the bumper provides. I think I'm going with the Dobinsons bumper. I found out I can get a better price from my guy here. I'm not sure if the Wilco tire carrier will work I have to measure my hitch depth . Thanks for the tire recommendation. What size are you running?
Click to expand...
I'm running 275-70-18 on stock rims
 
Moabbob said:
Nice truck I can't wait to get back to the southwest and start wheeling with you again.
Click to expand...
Well we are ready when you get back here. Hope all is doing well. Still have the FJ Cruiser?
 
Sold it three years ago, it wasn't doing me much good in Kansas and it was a bear to drive down the highway. Thinking on putting a Land Cruiser in the garage next year. I will let you do all of the mods first so I can see them.
 
Your truck looks very nice, what a great find and I can't wait to see your transformation. I like the build stories from totally stock. I Sure hope Toyota Engineers are watching this forum as they are designing the next Land Cruiser. This world has enough fancy luxury SUV's and I would hate to see them build this next one right out of it's heritage but so how I know they will. I don't have any suggestions for your build other than I am looking forward to seeing what wheels, tires and suspension you go with. My truck only has 26K miles on the clock so I am going to wait a minute before I switch out any suspension parts. I agree with that being one of the first things to do. Especially before you go buying wheels and tires. You need to know what is going to fit, work the best and look the best. Don't want to spend $1,200 on tires and wish you would have gone bigger now that you have the extra clearance.
Since you headed to Alaska I would like to see some Arctic Truck fender flares for your first mod!
 
What kind of market is there for the roof rails , running boards and third row seats ?

I got out for a short trip for the Texas AVID Fall Outdoor Expo. Great event. The 200 series is a joy on the highway. cruising at 80 MPH.
The OME heavy rear suspension should take care of that sag from the Smittybilt trailer.

IMG_20191001_165457255_HDR.webp


IMG_20191003_141423753.webp
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom