Hi,
I'm MtnBikeAZ1 and I've been a Jeep-Aholic for over 18 years, owning six Jeeps. On my honor, its been 22 months and 15 days since my last Jeep.
My Rubicon just wasn't working for my family of six. I started looking for something else and no way was I going to buy a Jeep Commander - what a mall vehicle! A friend had started looking at a Land Cruiser for himself and suggested I give them a look and he told me about IH8MUD. After reading IH8MUD, I decided I wanted an FJ80; however no one around me in Florida had one that I could get a look at. I started my ebay and autotrader search. That's when the obsession began. I looked everyday for three months trying to locate a LC/Lexus in good condition, with lockers that was a reasonable driving distance from my house. It was driving my
crazy because I had never spent this much time researching brand new vehicles for the family. When gas prices hit $4 a gallon last year, a lot more LCs came on the market. I found one on ebay at a Honda dealership that had spent its whole life in Mississippi, so no rust. Finally a FJ80 was mine!
After reading IH8MUD, I knew I wanted a Slee bumper, Metal Tech sliders, OME lift etc. So I had already figured out what my first mods would be as soon as I got the truck. My next big mod is bigger tires, the PO put on a new set of smaller than stock tires before he traded it in. I promised the I wouldn't replace a new set of tires before I realized they are smaller than stock (265/70R 16s) 
I just moved from Florida to Tucson Arizona and the truck did great pulling a trailer across Texas in the middle of the summer. I've been very happy with the LC in the year that I've owned it and its performed well off-road. I've learned "obsessive complusive preventative maintenance" from IH8MUD - thanks!
A couple of questions:
1. I was surprized to see that my '97 LC was actually built in Oct '97. That's really late in the model year. How long did they keep making FJ80s that came to the States?
2. Who else is in the Tucson area and where are some good places to go wheeling? I bought the LC to be a family fun vehicle and I want to take the family out for trips when it gets a little cooler.
Here's a pic of my LC when I first got it. And here's the way it looks today.
I'm MtnBikeAZ1 and I've been a Jeep-Aholic for over 18 years, owning six Jeeps. On my honor, its been 22 months and 15 days since my last Jeep.
My Rubicon just wasn't working for my family of six. I started looking for something else and no way was I going to buy a Jeep Commander - what a mall vehicle! A friend had started looking at a Land Cruiser for himself and suggested I give them a look and he told me about IH8MUD. After reading IH8MUD, I decided I wanted an FJ80; however no one around me in Florida had one that I could get a look at. I started my ebay and autotrader search. That's when the obsession began. I looked everyday for three months trying to locate a LC/Lexus in good condition, with lockers that was a reasonable driving distance from my house. It was driving my
crazy because I had never spent this much time researching brand new vehicles for the family. When gas prices hit $4 a gallon last year, a lot more LCs came on the market. I found one on ebay at a Honda dealership that had spent its whole life in Mississippi, so no rust. Finally a FJ80 was mine!After reading IH8MUD, I knew I wanted a Slee bumper, Metal Tech sliders, OME lift etc. So I had already figured out what my first mods would be as soon as I got the truck. My next big mod is bigger tires, the PO put on a new set of smaller than stock tires before he traded it in. I promised the
I wouldn't replace a new set of tires before I realized they are smaller than stock (265/70R 16s) I just moved from Florida to Tucson Arizona and the truck did great pulling a trailer across Texas in the middle of the summer. I've been very happy with the LC in the year that I've owned it and its performed well off-road. I've learned "obsessive complusive preventative maintenance" from IH8MUD - thanks!
A couple of questions:
1. I was surprized to see that my '97 LC was actually built in Oct '97. That's really late in the model year. How long did they keep making FJ80s that came to the States?
2. Who else is in the Tucson area and where are some good places to go wheeling? I bought the LC to be a family fun vehicle and I want to take the family out for trips when it gets a little cooler.
Here's a pic of my LC when I first got it. And here's the way it looks today.
