Hey All,
First off, so excited to be a part of this community. Everyone I have messaged with questions have been responsive an awesome with communication over the past year. This really is a unique community on the internet. Really happy to get started.
TLDR; Brother in-law-got me excited about Land Cruisers a couple years ago. I haven't ever known a ton about vehicles, but desired to learn. So I bought a Land Cruiser for my family, now here's my build thread.
Now for the LONG story... (don't feel obligated to read, more for me keeping log and asking questions moving forward.) So I grew up with a great Dad. Taught me a lot about a lot of things. However, we never got in to cars together much. He loved cars, and we owned some fun ones over the years. Volkswagen Vans, VW Rabbit (loved that one), 2 Willys, and a TJ. But I never sat in the garage with him tinkering. Just wasn't ever that interested as a kid. So here I am, 34 years old, still having never done much past changing the oil a few times, replacing a battery, and swapping headlights.
I kind of decided it was time to start learning. It's harder to get out to the river to fish when you have 2 kids under 2, and I could tell I needed some more things to do around the house besides picking toys up off the living room floor. Idle hands and all that. My brother-in-law is a big Land Cruiser guy and I loved riding in his. Over the last few years he has managed to pass his fever over to me, and the more I read on MUD, and talked with others, the more comfortable I became in making the decision. I travel to Colorado a few times a year camping and fishing, and I know you can really add to the experience with a vehicle that allows you to get in some hard to reach places, something I want for my family. So when things started to line up over the past few months, I started looking more seriously. I live in Austin, TX but ended up finding something in my wheelhouse in Idaho. I met with the seller a couple times, face-timed, talked on the phone and a lot of the things on my checklist were getting marked off. No Rust, great, a PO that cared about his vehicle, also great. 215,000 miles, about 11-12 ticks on the AHC, decent service history, 7/10 interior, etc. So bought a ticket, PO picked me up at the airport, spent time double checking things, had wonderful transaction with a good family man, (who is a poster here on MUD), and then began heading my way south.
Spent the first night in the middle of nowhere in the back of the LX. I had planned on sleeping in my Hammock and Rainfly, until I found out that the campsite had 0 trees... So that didn't work out needless to say. I got to see what it's like to sleep in the back of an LC though.
The evening I picked it up, heading to southern Idaho:
So here is where I come to you guys in all humility. The headlights were awful. However, I don't see great at night anyways. Thanks to @Luke111 I had already bought the brackets needed to upgrade the lights, knowing it would most likely be a 1 time run, and headlights are a huge upgrade for me personally. But these had to be the worst headlights I had ever been behind. Old car, yellow'd lights, *shrug*, is what it is and I will move the light upgrade up the priority list when I get back home. The next morning, it's a 12 mile drive out on washboard roads from my campsite. I wake up, and in my long johns, just decide to drive out of the campground area to get to the gas station by the highway to clean up, get dressed for the day, and brush the ole' chompers. Well as I am brushing, I walk around to the front of the vehicle, and whattya know, there are no headlights on, just running lights. So I fiddle for a sec, turn them on manual, then auto, then back to manual, ...nothing. Both headlights, nothing. (Listen, I know what you are all thinking, 2 hours of driving the night before in Idaho darkness, luckily, it was Idaho, and think I crossed paths with about 4 cars in that 2 hours).
The plan was to pick my wife up in Salt Lake City that morning. We have a 23 month old and a 5 month old, and this will be our first time spent alone in a couple years. Well she missed her flight that morning, which actually worked out because it gave me some time to troubleshoot my lights. I made it to the closest AutoZone when I got to town. Well, with BOTH lights being out, I checked the fuses, they looked fine. Then I started fearing a relay issue. Luckily the guy at AutoZone checked 1 bulb, and sure enough, both were shot. So I bought a couple cheap bulbs knowing I was replacing them soon anyways and we were good to go.
The rest of the trip went great, we spent time in Moab, saw the Arches. Spent the night outside of Durango that night. For those that have ever traveled through southeast NM or west Texas, camping area's are slim pickins so we ended up staying in a hotel in Lubbock. Also after 25 hours of driving, managed to get a flat about 30 minutes from home. All you can do at that point is laugh.
I plan on starting off small, and working my way up on projects. So my rough running list is this.
Current Checklist for the time being:
First off, so excited to be a part of this community. Everyone I have messaged with questions have been responsive an awesome with communication over the past year. This really is a unique community on the internet. Really happy to get started.
TLDR; Brother in-law-got me excited about Land Cruisers a couple years ago. I haven't ever known a ton about vehicles, but desired to learn. So I bought a Land Cruiser for my family, now here's my build thread.
Now for the LONG story... (don't feel obligated to read, more for me keeping log and asking questions moving forward.) So I grew up with a great Dad. Taught me a lot about a lot of things. However, we never got in to cars together much. He loved cars, and we owned some fun ones over the years. Volkswagen Vans, VW Rabbit (loved that one), 2 Willys, and a TJ. But I never sat in the garage with him tinkering. Just wasn't ever that interested as a kid. So here I am, 34 years old, still having never done much past changing the oil a few times, replacing a battery, and swapping headlights.
I kind of decided it was time to start learning. It's harder to get out to the river to fish when you have 2 kids under 2, and I could tell I needed some more things to do around the house besides picking toys up off the living room floor. Idle hands and all that. My brother-in-law is a big Land Cruiser guy and I loved riding in his. Over the last few years he has managed to pass his fever over to me, and the more I read on MUD, and talked with others, the more comfortable I became in making the decision. I travel to Colorado a few times a year camping and fishing, and I know you can really add to the experience with a vehicle that allows you to get in some hard to reach places, something I want for my family. So when things started to line up over the past few months, I started looking more seriously. I live in Austin, TX but ended up finding something in my wheelhouse in Idaho. I met with the seller a couple times, face-timed, talked on the phone and a lot of the things on my checklist were getting marked off. No Rust, great, a PO that cared about his vehicle, also great. 215,000 miles, about 11-12 ticks on the AHC, decent service history, 7/10 interior, etc. So bought a ticket, PO picked me up at the airport, spent time double checking things, had wonderful transaction with a good family man, (who is a poster here on MUD), and then began heading my way south.
Spent the first night in the middle of nowhere in the back of the LX. I had planned on sleeping in my Hammock and Rainfly, until I found out that the campsite had 0 trees... So that didn't work out needless to say. I got to see what it's like to sleep in the back of an LC though.
The evening I picked it up, heading to southern Idaho:
So here is where I come to you guys in all humility. The headlights were awful. However, I don't see great at night anyways. Thanks to @Luke111 I had already bought the brackets needed to upgrade the lights, knowing it would most likely be a 1 time run, and headlights are a huge upgrade for me personally. But these had to be the worst headlights I had ever been behind. Old car, yellow'd lights, *shrug*, is what it is and I will move the light upgrade up the priority list when I get back home. The next morning, it's a 12 mile drive out on washboard roads from my campsite. I wake up, and in my long johns, just decide to drive out of the campground area to get to the gas station by the highway to clean up, get dressed for the day, and brush the ole' chompers. Well as I am brushing, I walk around to the front of the vehicle, and whattya know, there are no headlights on, just running lights. So I fiddle for a sec, turn them on manual, then auto, then back to manual, ...nothing. Both headlights, nothing. (Listen, I know what you are all thinking, 2 hours of driving the night before in Idaho darkness, luckily, it was Idaho, and think I crossed paths with about 4 cars in that 2 hours).
The plan was to pick my wife up in Salt Lake City that morning. We have a 23 month old and a 5 month old, and this will be our first time spent alone in a couple years. Well she missed her flight that morning, which actually worked out because it gave me some time to troubleshoot my lights. I made it to the closest AutoZone when I got to town. Well, with BOTH lights being out, I checked the fuses, they looked fine. Then I started fearing a relay issue. Luckily the guy at AutoZone checked 1 bulb, and sure enough, both were shot. So I bought a couple cheap bulbs knowing I was replacing them soon anyways and we were good to go.
The rest of the trip went great, we spent time in Moab, saw the Arches. Spent the night outside of Durango that night. For those that have ever traveled through southeast NM or west Texas, camping area's are slim pickins so we ended up staying in a hotel in Lubbock. Also after 25 hours of driving, managed to get a flat about 30 minutes from home. All you can do at that point is laugh.
I plan on starting off small, and working my way up on projects. So my rough running list is this.
Current Checklist for the time being:
- Baseline/Finding out where she is at at on deeper level. (Waiting on my 2011 Tacoma to sell before I take it in to Land Cruiser specialists of Austin for a once-over)
Interior LED's & Reverse LEDs that PO hadn't installed.- Clean up the Servo Motor behind the glove box. Squeaks a little bit when the AC runs. Looks like a common problem. Either some debris, or lube up the bearings from what I can tell from reading on here
- HID Retrofit. Plate bought, just need to get the rest of the kit
Hood Struts ReplacedRunning Boards Off- I think some fluid flushes are up. Steering specifically
- Replacement of my T's
