Builds Orange's Neverending Scrap 80 Build (the s is silent) (3 Viewers)

[AgentOrange]

At this point, I finally realize that the KO2s aren’t giving me what I’m looking for. I really wasn’t sure what I wanted next and talked to a great mom and pop tire store I worked near to. One of their employees had a twin sticked sas pickup ran Cooper STT Pros and I was convinced. A set in 35s was put on. Also not pictured I installed gears and lockers. 4.88 Nitro gears, Detroit locker in the front and a LockRite in the rear. A Tom Woods drive shaft that is a bit thicker walled rounded this all off. Yes, in the photo of the driveshaft, I know it was backwards. That got fixed quickly

 

[AgentOrange]

The time had come to add some sliders to protect the actually decent rockers and door sills. YotaMasters wasn’t too far from me at the time and they had some open box universal sliders in the correct length and the box of scab plates for a price I couldn’t pass up. A quick trip to them and I had sliders that have really held up well

 

[AgentOrange]

Around this time, my trips got both longer and more gear with me that I wanted to be controlled, and any name brand drawer systems seemed ridiculously priced to me, and with some assistance from my buddy James and a trip to Home Depot, I had my own, albeit heavy, drawers that let me organize recovery gear, spare parts, cooking and camping gear and tools

 

[AgentOrange]

Now here’s where things take a big turn. Up to this point, I had wanted my rig to be a big capable overland/desert explorer vehicle. It had rescued many rigs stuck in deep silt out near Afton Canyon when doing a lot of astrophotography out there and many more up Lytle Creek in the San Gabriel mountains every time it snowed. A trip my family and I were going to take would change the course of many things, not just my Land Cruiser…

 

[AgentOrange]

In early 2022, I signed up for what I thought would be just another wheeling adventure but with some more rocks. My Land Cruiser had no sway bars, decent ground clearance and pretty flexible suspension, so I figured it would be no sweat. I joined in for the TLCA Rubithon on the Wagon Run led by @Firemedic831 I'm pretty sure I had him questioning his and my life choices on that first day

 

[AgentOrange]

I couldn’t have been both more wrong and more right about this trip. My rig was too top heavy, I had too much stuff with me, and with no rear sway bar and so many off camber areas, it wasn’t a ton of fun. By the time we made Buck Island and our 2 boys had fallen asleep, my wife and I talked of never coming back. I had bitten off way more than I had anticipated. Then we ran down Big Sluice and got to enjoy Rubicon Springs for a few days and then climb up Cadillac Hill. Although I was being spotted along most of it, I had a blast pushing my Land Cruiser and myself. By the time we had made it out to South Lake Tahoe to spend some time to replace my radiator that got destroyed, I had a list of things to do to the Cruiser to come back the next year.
But also this trip made something else clear to us. We needed a change. Southern California had become a place we didn’t fit anymore and our boys needed a place to be outdoors more and a slower pace of life. Less stress all around. My wife was born in Oregon and Southern Oregon seemed to be the place for us, in November of 2022 we moved to Grants Pass

 

[AgentOrange]

With the move out of the way and my tools finally all in one place again, I can get back to the Cruiser. Best part is neighbors are just far enough away from me that welding at night or running the plasma cutter with some music doesn’t disturb anyone unless I’m being obnoxious.
After my first Rubicon run, I wanted a bigger footprint but also a little more clearance under the diffs. I really liked the way the STT Pros performed everywhere I took them, so I got another set, this time in 37 13.5 17s. Some cheap Pro Comp steel wheels would get me a 17 inch wheel to get me by for a while

 

[AgentOrange]

With the larger tires, I wanted to have a little more gearing in low range, so some 3.11 reduction gears were on the way and the case came apart again to install them. This meant more tools to buy to split bearings and press them back again, but it was well worth it. Also not pictured that went in at this time is a Whiteline rear sway bar and @LandCruiserPhil heavy duty sway bar links and mounts to control the rear a bit better.

 

[AgentOrange]

There were some smaller changes to the Cruiser that I don’t even always remember. Plenty of trimming happened. The front inner fenders were cut away and some other places that were either rubbing or too close for comfort. An IceCo VL45 fridge was added so the giant cooler with 40 pounds of ice that would still disappear after a couple days and give me soggy food was gone. And a lot of gear and tools was left out of being packed. Lots of little things. And a second Rubithon was in the books in September of 2023. The Land Cruiser performed much better and I felt more confident in my own ability. And we had a new addition with us in the Cruiser on this trip

 

[AgentOrange]

Somewhere along the line, I had installed MetalTech upper arms in the rear of the Cruiser and SPC lower arms with Flexy joints. The uppers from MetalTech I have been very happy with. The lowers are ok until flexing as much as I was finally cooked the bushings on the non flexy joint side. Unfortunately they don’t take oem bushings. But I still had my factory arms and some new oem bushings in the garage. So I cut the ends off one of the factory lower arms and welded them in place of the rubber bushing end of the SPC arms

 

[AgentOrange]

Something that got really old when wheeling was trying to turn the steering wheel when in rocks and locked. Decided to add hydro assist from WestTexasOffRoad with their Redneck Ram. About the same time as I was collecting parts, @Outsane started offering some brackets that made adding a hydro ram in the correct place a lot easier along with a guide for where to drill and tap my steering box. Combine that with some longer lines from Hydraulics Direct and a fluid reservoir from Chase Bays, and I had hydro assist steering that has really made a big difference for me

 

[AgentOrange]

Spending so much time under the front of the Cruiser made it pretty clear that although this Trail Gear bumper was pretty good, it was like driving around with a balcony hanging off the front end. So I pulled it off, trimmed it a bit, cut the lower grill out where the winch would sit, and cut the frame back. This allowed me to set this bumper further back on the Cruiser and gain some approach angle back

 

[AgentOrange]

By this time, I’ve gone too far. I can’t go back. I’m beginning to see a clearer picture of what I want this Cruiser to be for me. I was tired of cooking radius arm bushings every year just about. They aren’t cheap and the front end would never flex the way I want it to like that. So I made the decision to 3 link the front end. I considered just leaving the Dobinsons coil springs with the links as it would definitely be freed up more to flex, but if I was going to go that far, I might as well do what I really wanted. So parts collection began.
Fox 14” 2.0 remote reservoir coilovers from Accutuned was the biggest expense, and I’m glad I did it. They were amazing to deal with. Calling and emailing to verify the weight of the Land Cruiser on each axle, how I was mounting them, what I was planning on doing with the Cruiser, how much down travel and up travel I wanted and the ride height I was looking for. I really can’t say how great my experience with them was.
Taller upper shock mounts and lover mounts for the coilovers, all the link mounts, dom tubing for the upper link and bent dom tubing for my lower links to clear the behind the axle steering and heims all came from RuffStuff. Nothing bad to say about them at all. Really clean good material they produce. And after a long weekend, I had a working 3 link set up that I was very happy with considering I did it in my driveway with a tape measure, plumb bob and angle finder and some pictures of what others have done in the past.

 

[AgentOrange]

Rubithon 2024 was fast approaching and I wanted the rear to be a bit more controlled now that the front was about as good as it was going to get before summer came. I ordered a set of Dobinsons long travel IMS shocks that had an extended length of 31”. Sadly, I mounted them just a little bit funny and with the upper stem being cast, I snapped the top off of one two weeks before I’m supposed to go, so some cheap 12” travel Pro Comp shocks for a Ram 1500 went in the rear just in time. Still wish I was able to make the IMS shocks work but it just didn’t happen

 

[AgentOrange]

Rubithon this year was great. My buddy James that had helped me with the drawers and double checking measurements on my 3 link as I went came with me and got to see why I work so hard making my Cruiser better every time I get back from taking it out wheeling and why the Rubicon is so special. Also, the 3 link performed great, the hydro assist allowed me to steer wherever I wanted, and the cheap rear shocks held up. A bit bouncier in the rear than I would have preferred, but still stable. I only had 5 weeks to make any adjustments after Rubithon before I needed it to wheel again

 

[AgentOrange]

So first week of August I met some good friends I’ve made wheeling Rubithon to play on the Rubicon and then run Fordyce ahead of Sierra Trek. This was an interesting week. I worked all day Saturday, got home and jumped in the Cruiser with just my wife and dog Shadow to drive to Meadow Lake to set up a base camp. Several wrong turns later and I was in the correct path, only to hit a tree in the dark. What I thought was only a munched fender, broken marker light, and a cracked headlight turned out to be a bit more serious. I had sheared an ARP stud in the knuckle and bent the other three. Spent the morning I was supposed to be wheeling down to Winch Hill 5 and playing a little and driving down to Loon Lake to be ready to start the Rubicon slowly chiseling out the sheared stud and replacing all of them. This unfortunate event turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The large group I was meeting with was split with just those I’m closest with and more competent wheelers staying back with me while the slower, and larger portion of the group left to go to Loon to start the Rubicon on Monday morning. I got the studs replaced, cleaned up and the rest of us went into Truckee to have a burger and fries and have a relaxing day. We would start Rubicon the next day around 9:30 or so from the Tahoma side. We made great progress, and even with over 30 minutes spent at Observation Point waiting for rigs to come up Cadillac and approximately 5 hours spent in the Springs to replace Dana 44 wheel bearings on a 3rd gen 4Runner with us, and waiting for a group of Jeeps get out of the way coming out of Buck, we made it to Buck Island ahead of the other part of the group that started from Loon even earlier than us. The next morning we took out time getting going and ran back to the Springs at a decent pace taking fun lines along the way. A relaxing day at Rubicon Springs was ok with me. At this point I realized that when I hit the tree, I bent the front axle housing a bit. It was already slightly bent before but this didn’t help. The next morning we were on Cadillac Hill early and out back to Truckee to resupply for the few of us to run Fordyce.

 

[Ditcherman]

Awesome man, thanks for the write up.
I’ve never been seriously wheeling at all but like you started out more with an overlanding mindset with my Tundra.

As I build my rig and read things like this I can feel myself catching a bug…

 

[Firemedic831]

2025 here we come
The progressions over the years are what its all about . Fun times ahead

 

[Outsane]

Fordyce is in my hit list, nice work

 

[Broski]

Fordyce is in my hit list, nice work

Lets go