New to site...Looking for advice on building my 100

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

Z

Zibs Land Cruiser

10 Year
Joined
Aug 6, 2013
Threads
2
Messages
11
Location
Southern California
Hey guys...new member here. I am "newer" to off roading and started out about 2 years ago with a 3rd gen 4Runner. I was hooked. Now I have upgraded to a 1999 LC with the factory rear locker so that the wife, kids and gear can come along.

I would like to take things to the next level and start building the truck up and am thinking lift kit, 33s, front bumper and winch for now. I have read quite a bit on the forum as a guest and have found a lot of great info especially following Schotts Roklimo cruiser...but would appreciate any advice yall would like to give.
My thoughts for build so far:
Lift of 2-3" using Kings??? Just Differentials sells that Super Deluxe kit that I have been drooling over but I have two concerns: price and potential added wear and tear of longer than stock shocks. Somebody suggested I look at Radflo as a cheaper but just as good alternative...any thoughts?
Good 33" tires:
I live in Southern Cal. and while I love the look of the KM2s I would like something that is pretty good on road too since this is our family hauler too. I was thinking the BFG ATs but heard that GY Duratracs are better in the snow I love so much...any thoughts?
Bumper: I am thinking the Blueberry bumper that Mr. Slee sells. That thing looks sweet but I am open to other suggestions too.
Winch: I have no clue yet...

Thanks in advance!

IMG_1452.webp
 
Welcome to the forum, nice looking LC you got. There is an endless amount of information on tires, winches lifts/shocks/springs on here. A lot of people have taken their own time to post on all this already. Visit the FAQ page and most of your questions you have are common and are listed there. You can search for everything else. Have fun playing with the new toy, it gets very addicting.

Here is my 2000 with 285/75/16 BFG all terrains (great in snow) OME 865 springs, bilstein shocks, and cranked torsion bars for about 1.5 inch lift.

image-1618757884.webp
 
Welcome. Theres a ton of great info here as well as guys. The Blueberry is a great bumper. If you are heading in that direction with your build and actually using it, then the first thing you need to get are sliders and tires. That's first and foremost important. Next, get a lift, but once you go the lift route, the ride is going to suffer. The way I corrected that was I added a ARB front bumper and Slee rear bumper with tire swing out. My quality is very nice, but I have the older Old Man Emu Nitrocharged shock that are softer than the newer "sport" shocks. King shocks are very nice too.
As far as tires, the sky is the limit. I think most here will agree that the Nitto terra Grapplers have the best road manors and excel offroad too. I have 30-35k miles on mine and they still have a lot of tread life. They have served me well in technical inclined terrain as eel as light mud, but don't look like a mud tire. They are an All terrain and are the best AT I have had. My next set may be the Toyo AT2's. They should perform like the Terra Grapplers, but look far more aggressive.
I have heard good things about the Duratracs, but the sidewalls tend to puncture. That's the only thing keeping me away from them. If you are wanting mud terrains, then look HARD at the Nitto Trail Grapplers. I have seen first hand what these tires can do and how well the wear. They have great road manors for a MT.
 
Welcome to mud.

I'm in SoCal too, and BFG AT's haven't disappointed so far. Considering most of us spend more than 75 percent of the time on asphalt, they are a very good mix of quite and capable. There are tons of threads on tires though and your needs may vary. Depending on how often you plan to leave the area, snow really isn't an issue here.

I'd save your money on anything King unless you're planning on racing your Landcruiser in the desert. In my opinion the OME shocks will get you through any sort of wheeling adventures a Landcruiser is ideal for.
 
Does Just Differentials still sell that kit? Looks like they revamped their website and all their Land Cruiser stuff is gone.

I'm passing on the King and Radflo shocks and holding out for the 2.5" Fox Shocks due out mid-2014. I might run the Fox 2.0's for now.

Mud Terrain tires look cool, but SoCal seems to like All Terrain tires a little more. I've had BFG, Goodyear, and Maxxis Mud Terrains. They all ended up wearing funny and get real loud on these freeways.

Blueberry bumper….YEP.

Did you see the Metal Tech sale flyer?

https://forum.ih8mud.com/general-miscellaneous/749985-july-august-2013-sales-metal-tech-4x4.html
 
Iv'e been doing a serious/stupid amount of research o tires and am about to pull the trigger on some Cooper S/T MAXX tires. You really need to look at these tires.
Iv'e driven my Cruiser off road a good bit, i.e.: mud, rock crawling and other technical terrain. My OME shock have performed flawlessly. No need to go blow a bunch of money unless you are going to wheel your truck A LOT and hard.
I'm EXTREMELY picky for on-road mannerisms and the OME shocks combined with the "D" rated Terra Grapplers makes for a very very nice ride.
 
Good to know guys...thanks for the advice! Went out wheeling today and got the itch to upgrade even more! Just Differentials does still sell the King set. I freaked out the other day too when it was not on their website, but a quick call to the company revealed that they just recently redesigned their site and the guy said not all of their products have been carried over and added to the new site yet....
Do share some more info on this King set in 2014 you mentioned. Have not heard about that!
 
I think I need to call Slee to get some more info on the OMEs...I just know that I will only get one shot at upgrading / lifting the suspension and don't want to have regrets....

I will definately check out the Coopers...Thanks again!
 
Zibs Land Cruiser said:
Do share some more info on this King set in 2014 you mentioned. Have not heard about that!
Click to expand...

They're not Kings, they're actually Fox's. All that information is in the thread "May have a new shock option soon!" IIRC. And from what I've read there, Fox is working on new 2.5" shocks that are to be released in mid 2014 and should be the best fit for a 100 series.
 
Zibs Land Cruiser said:
Okay...terrible pic, but I finished installing my Uniden CB with a 3' Firestik antenna yesterday....one small step toward finishing my build!
Click to expand...

You may find it annoying to have to reach over there to access your CB. I would suggest mounting it closer to the DS seat, just for ease of use. I'll edit and post a picture of my personal favorite location (next to what I'm going to do... in dash mount)

EDIT:

Found it!

https://forum.ih8mud.com/showpost.php?p=8270499&postcount=42
 
Last edited:
Yeah I thought about putting the cb in the console. I figured as long as the mic was accessible, I would only have to reach down there to select the channel once at the beginning of a run and then leave it, but then again I am a newbie to cbs
 
I too am a noob on CBs, but from what I understand you've constantly gotta adjust squelch (whatever that is) and maybe other things too (guys, chime in on this). That's why I would suggest mounting it somewhere easily accessible, but its location is ultimately up to you.
 
Rat Patrol said:
In dash cb installs....

Microphone not shown as its is stored in console until needed.
Click to expand...

Just ordered one of these yesterday, deciding on the head unit to match it though... Thinking Kenwood KDC-355U?
 
Does anyone know if the OME lift kits that Slee sells use regular length shocks up front or are they longer than stock? I am worried I won't have any droop after lifting 2.5 inches. I do realize that longer than stock would require new UCAs. Also does anyone have any thoughts or even run the slee branded shocks? (They are not part of the OME sets but Slees website says they make their own shocks for the 100 and have tested them out for a couple of years). They look pretty nice!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom