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- #121
I think this is where the bad Mercedes go after they die.
Builds Odinskind's build thread
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- Thread starter
- #122
From the states, across the Atlantic, to Belgium, and now finally Mauritania. My cruiser finally made it, and she is in one piece with nothing stolen. Now I just have to wait for registration. Should be able to drive her home early next week.
thanks for the update! Your cruiser looks great. Even better than before (if that is possible). I was reading old threads about 3 weeks ago and was wondering what ever happened. I felt like it was a "To Be Continued" TV show or comic book. I really needed to see what was gonna happen next. I'm glad everything made it OK.
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- #124
Last car picture for at least a day . She is home and plated. Tomorrow we have some dunes and beach fun planned. Oh, too damn tall to fit in my garage. So I'm having the garage door frame raised next week.
D21FJ60
#LiveLaughLove.
Now it's time for you to start getting photo's of all the cruisers around you!
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- #126
Got some terrain tamers rotors and break pads and SPC UCAs in shipment. Other plans too. Trying to get some skids and a locker diff built. I love this cruiser it is a member of the family.
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- #127
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- #128
Skate?
- Thread starter
- #130
It’s a guitar fish.
I would have called that a shovel-nosed shark? It's a big bugger at any rate.....
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- #132
Mounted my Hi-lift to my bumper and my crazy beaver shovel to the rack. Also a pic of the Terrain Tamers brakes.
- Thread starter
- #133
Wow 2 years since I last posted on here... anyway some updates. I'm no longer in Northwest Africa. We moved to Ecuador, and we love it here. My truck made it here in one piece... mostly. Africa is hard on vehicles. I'll start with this, I built this rig on very limited knowledge in preparation for my PCS to Mauritania. I was not an overlanding enthusiast at the time. I needed a tough vehicle that I could rely on in extreme desert conditions to get me and my family out and back, and safely perform an overland evacuation if needed (fortunately this never happened but was always part of my calculus).
The truck performed as one would expect, phenomenally. I never got stranded, and I rescued countless colleagues stuck in sand or stranded. The old saying you take a Land Rover to get into the bush and a Land Cruiser to get out rang true when one night I got a sat phone call to rescue a friend when he buried his range rover to the axles. We had some fantastic adventures driving north on the beach where the Sahara sands meet the Atlantic, it was almost an every weekend adventure. we drove deep into the desert and camped in the dunes. Those were the limited good times living in that part of the world.
There are definitely some lessons learned, the biggest thing I would have done differently is I would not have bought those VRP bumpers. Especially that front bumper, it looked neat, that's about it. Not the type of thing you want in the Sahara. I'd have also bought a rear bumper with the swing-outs, that was more of a financial limitation, I had a budget to work with, and was doing all the mods in a very limited window, in prep for that PCS. Finally, I'd have gone with semi gloss paint over powder coat. That powder coat look amazing but only lasted about a year before rust started to pop up under the finish. Now, I'm having the rear bumper removed, sand blasted, and repainted.
We are in Quito, Ecuador now. I have a 3 continent Land Cruiser. Quality mechanic work is abundant, and affordable here. I've recently replaced that junk VPR front bumper with a Dobinsons bar. Let me tell you that Dobinsons bar is awesome. I love it. Looks great and is a beast. I had to remove all my accessory lights to get the truck in country so I'm going to start the rewiring project next week. I'm getting the mod bug again and have a lot of ideas of future projects. Namely I need to increase carrying capacity. I'm going to be purchasing some hard cases for my roof rack, and would like to get a drawer system. There is ARB distribution down here but I have no idea what they have in stock. You do not see many 200s here. Wife wants to maintain 1 jump seat. She would prefer 2 but 1 is our compromise. I had to remove the carpet in the rear because I had a 6' shark puke up his guts on the carpet, that was fun cleaning up. There's a lot of other things I want to do, but I think gear organization and increasing carrying capacity will be most useful to begin with.
So far (before all this covid nonsense started) we had gone on couple cool trips. The coolest and most extreme was driving the land cruiser up to 16,000ft elevation. the base camp of the volcano Cotopaxi. She was starving for oxygen for sure, but slugged her way up the side of that mountain. We've also visited a small town in the rain forest. Anyway that's my update I'll be posting more often for the time being.
The truck performed as one would expect, phenomenally. I never got stranded, and I rescued countless colleagues stuck in sand or stranded. The old saying you take a Land Rover to get into the bush and a Land Cruiser to get out rang true when one night I got a sat phone call to rescue a friend when he buried his range rover to the axles. We had some fantastic adventures driving north on the beach where the Sahara sands meet the Atlantic, it was almost an every weekend adventure. we drove deep into the desert and camped in the dunes. Those were the limited good times living in that part of the world.
There are definitely some lessons learned, the biggest thing I would have done differently is I would not have bought those VRP bumpers. Especially that front bumper, it looked neat, that's about it. Not the type of thing you want in the Sahara. I'd have also bought a rear bumper with the swing-outs, that was more of a financial limitation, I had a budget to work with, and was doing all the mods in a very limited window, in prep for that PCS. Finally, I'd have gone with semi gloss paint over powder coat. That powder coat look amazing but only lasted about a year before rust started to pop up under the finish. Now, I'm having the rear bumper removed, sand blasted, and repainted.
We are in Quito, Ecuador now. I have a 3 continent Land Cruiser. Quality mechanic work is abundant, and affordable here. I've recently replaced that junk VPR front bumper with a Dobinsons bar. Let me tell you that Dobinsons bar is awesome. I love it. Looks great and is a beast. I had to remove all my accessory lights to get the truck in country so I'm going to start the rewiring project next week. I'm getting the mod bug again and have a lot of ideas of future projects. Namely I need to increase carrying capacity. I'm going to be purchasing some hard cases for my roof rack, and would like to get a drawer system. There is ARB distribution down here but I have no idea what they have in stock. You do not see many 200s here. Wife wants to maintain 1 jump seat. She would prefer 2 but 1 is our compromise. I had to remove the carpet in the rear because I had a 6' shark puke up his guts on the carpet, that was fun cleaning up. There's a lot of other things I want to do, but I think gear organization and increasing carrying capacity will be most useful to begin with.
So far (before all this covid nonsense started) we had gone on couple cool trips. The coolest and most extreme was driving the land cruiser up to 16,000ft elevation. the base camp of the volcano Cotopaxi. She was starving for oxygen for sure, but slugged her way up the side of that mountain. We've also visited a small town in the rain forest. Anyway that's my update I'll be posting more often for the time being.
- Thread starter
- #134
Just got “Burtha” back from Ironman 4x4 here in Quito. They did Under coat, repainted my rear bumper, sliders, and skids. They reinforced my front bumper frame mounts. Carpeted the cargo area (that shark pictured above puked his guts out in the rear so I had to rip out the carpet. They also installed Mylar security film on all the windows.
I have quite a bit of stuff in shipment. Nitro 4.88 gears, Harrop rear elocker, spidertrax spacers, custom raingler attic and cargo net and head rest handles. Ironman fridge slider for my yeti. All new wires, relays etc for my lights.
Next week the shop will be fabricating me a custom ladder, remounting my 40” light bar to be flush with the front of the roof rack, and installing an awning.
I have quite a bit of stuff in shipment. Nitro 4.88 gears, Harrop rear elocker, spidertrax spacers, custom raingler attic and cargo net and head rest handles. Ironman fridge slider for my yeti. All new wires, relays etc for my lights.
Next week the shop will be fabricating me a custom ladder, remounting my 40” light bar to be flush with the front of the roof rack, and installing an awning.
Nice build and great adventures! I'm officially jealous. Keep up with the updates.
- Thread starter
- #136
Some goodies finally arrived. Still waiting on a lot more and the gears are here but not the locker.
- Thread starter
- #137
Custom fabricated ladder went on today It’s being painted now. Super happy with how it turned out. They also finished making my new splash guards (I had a couple fall off). The awning is being mounted too. I’ll pick up the truck tomorrow. And post some more pics:
- Thread starter
- #138
I had them remount my light bar but the surrounding aluminum is pretty thin after being cut down. We are putting on a rubber gasket and I’ll cruise around and see how it works out. Otherwise I’m going to have them make me a new one.
- Thread starter
- #139
Front
- Thread starter
- #140
Picked her up today from Ironman 4x4 here in Quito. They have done a great job.
List of what has been done so far:
1) undercoating
2) skids repainted
3) sliders repainted
4) rear bumper stripped and painted
5) new carpet installed in the rear
6) custom splash guards made
7) custom ladder installed
8) front led bar flushed with the roof rack wind deflector (Probably will have this redone)
9) side leds installed on roof rack
10) spacers installed
11) alignment
12) new bull bar frame brackets installed
13) shatter proof security film on windows
Next up:
1) 4.88 Nitro gears
2) Harrop rear locker (still in shipping)
3) escape gear seat covers
4) raingler attic, cargo net, headrest handles
5) fridge slider
6) replacement bolts for rusted prinsu bolts
7) all new wiring for leds
8) Ironman awning
9) prinsu load panels
Later:
1) king suspension
2) 400 watt solar battery setup
List of what has been done so far:
1) undercoating
2) skids repainted
3) sliders repainted
4) rear bumper stripped and painted
5) new carpet installed in the rear
6) custom splash guards made
7) custom ladder installed
8) front led bar flushed with the roof rack wind deflector (Probably will have this redone)
9) side leds installed on roof rack
10) spacers installed
11) alignment
12) new bull bar frame brackets installed
13) shatter proof security film on windows
Next up:
1) 4.88 Nitro gears
2) Harrop rear locker (still in shipping)
3) escape gear seat covers
4) raingler attic, cargo net, headrest handles
5) fridge slider
6) replacement bolts for rusted prinsu bolts
7) all new wiring for leds
8) Ironman awning
9) prinsu load panels
Later:
1) king suspension
2) 400 watt solar battery setup
