Builds Patch's Build Thread (3 Viewers)

[cruiserpatch]

Here are some before photos- right after the roll. Shattered the rear quarter window and driver's door window (it was rolled down and shattered inside the door frame). The roof also got punched in by a rock that prevented the truck from rolling on its top. I'm lucky for that rock.

B-pillar was crunched in so far it was touching my seat. Not pretty.

 

[cruiserpatch]

Chip Rosenberger from BudBuilt rescheduled his week, drove an hour north and pulled two doors off a cooler-matched 1999 LX in Charlotte, North Carolina. He then packed his 100 series Land Cruiser (does this mean we're getting BudBuilt products???? ) with a few orders to go to @ACC Toyota in Atlanta and brought me the doors...what an amazing guy.

With the new door on you can really see how far the b-pillar got punched in. I used a ratchet strap to hold the new door shut for about a week. Had to dukes-of-hazard it for a while lol.

Used a local tree and some redneck creativity to pull the roof rack back out to a reasonable position. It still needs to come up a little so that tree might get another visit from me soon.

 

[cruiserpatch]

Alex Skumatov, a Toyota body guy out of Greenville, SC bailed me out this time. I owe him my truck's new life and made a pact with him that this was a one-time deal. No more second chances. Now it's my responsibility to look after this truck- and I'm inclined to keep it for life (already was, but now it's even more personal).

It's important for me to continue to remember that I walked away from this without so much as a scratch. All the busted glass fell out of the truck. The windshield and sunroof stayed together. It could've been really really bad if a few things were different. I'm grateful to my friends who have counseled me through the whole ordeal. @ga12r1 kept a calm head when we had to recover the truck- even though he ran out of gas on the trail (I wound up towing him downhill in my busted LX). All this to say, I've learned a lot since September.

 

[cruiserpatch]

Post-Alex, the truck looks like nothing ever happened. A little crinkle in the quarter panel but I swear it looks better than it did before the rollover.

I added the ARB safari bars to protect Alex's work on my fenders. They're welded to the sliders and to the Ironman front bumper so pulling all that off will be fun one day. The good news is that the bumper is stronger/braced better than before.

I managed to bust a wheel completely in half about 30 yards up the trail from where I rolled it. Trail 35 can go suck a

Lots of fun can be had with lockers. Maybe I didn't learn my lesson after all...

 

[LDowney]

Congratulations on the exceptional results.

Trail 35 can go suck a
Is this a play on the famous line from the movie Thunderbolt and Lightfoot? If so, you continue to surprise since this movie seriously predates you where I would not expect that you would know the line to make a play on it.

 

[cruiserpatch]

Congratulations on the exceptional results.

Trail 35 can go suck a
Is this a play on the famous line from the movie Thunderbolt and Lightfoot? If so, you continue to surprise since this movie seriously predates you where I would not expect that you would know the line to make a play on it.

Truth be told I'm not familiar with the origin of the phrase. I say it because I've heard others say it- and it's entertaining. I'll add the film to my watchlist. Gary Busey's too good to pass up

 

[LDowney]

Truth be told I'm not familiar with the origin of the phrase. I say it because I've heard others say it- and it's entertaining. I'll add the film to my watchlist. Gary Busey's too good to pass up

Gary Busey is minor in Thunderbolt and Lightfoot. I will need to re-watch it because I do not even recall his character.
Clint Eastwood, Jeff Bridges, George Kennedy have the prime lines.

The 'Go -f- a duck kid' was a Jeff Bridges line

I hate to ask, but what other classic movies have you seen? i.e., an indicator of what you have missed out on. If you are like my kids, it is a very long list.

 

[cruiserpatch]

Gary Busey is minor in Thunderbolt and Lightfoot. I will need to re-watch it because I do not even recall his character.
Clint Eastwood, Jeff Bridges, George Kennedy have the prime lines.

The 'Go -f- a duck kid' was a Jeff Bridges line

I hate to ask, but what other classic movies have you seen? i.e., an indicator of what you have missed out on. If you are like my kids, it is a very long list.

Man…i honestly don’t watch enough movies at all. As a 24-yo, my definition of "classic" may differ from some of the more, uh, seasoned members on this platform...

North by Northwest
Buster Keaton (lots of it)
Rope
Casablanca
It’s a wonderful Life
Citizen Kane
F for Fake
Throne of Blood
The Searchers
La Pointe Courte
Rear Window
Breathless
Yojimbo
Dr. Strangelove
Sound of Music
Mary Poppins
Cleo de 5 a 7
Batman (Adam West)
Le Samourai
Planet of the Apes
2001: A Space Odyssey
Once upon a time in the West
Godfather (parts 1,2,3)
Blazing Saddles
Chinatown
Monty Python & the holy grail
Jaws
Taxi Driver
All the President's Men
Carrie
Rocky
Suspiria
Slap Shot
The Driver
Halloween (unfortunately)
Apocalypse Now
The Brood (weird)
Alien
Castle of Cagliostro
The Shining
Raging Bull
Blade Runner
Scarface (original and 1980s)
The Natural
Field of Dreams
Back to the Future
Ghost Busters
Hannah and Her Sisters
Top Gun
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Platoon
Raising Arizona
Lethal Weapon (better xmas movie than Die Hard imo)
Full Metal Jacket
Castle in the Sky
Good Morning Vietnam
Planes, Trains, & Automobiles
Heathers
Do the Right Things
Dead Poets Society
Nat'l Lampoon's Xmas Vacation
...
to name a few

 

[cruiserpatch]

Welp. Busted a Foam Cell Pro into two pieces (oops). Alignment numbers are after swapping in some OEM control arms in place of the Total Chaos uniball UCAs

Also added Vessel Tool JIS screwdrivers to the website: VESSEL Tools JIS Screwdrivers for Toyota cross-point heads - https://www.cruiserpatch.com/products/vessel-tools-jis-screwdrivers-for-toyota-cross-point-heads

 

[cruiserpatch]

this is a little bit of a brain dump, but I just called Nitro gear to ask them about their upper control arms. Some of you may know that I recently sold my total chaos, upper control arms mainly because I don’t want to replace the ball and bushings every six months.

Total chaos claims on their website that the coil over lift for 100 series allows for an additional 1 inch of down travel and 3° positive caster, which is obviously a copy and paste from some other suspension

Nitro gear designed and outsourced the manufacture of the LC, 100 upper control arms, but they did not pay the extra money to have exclusive production rights and the company manufactures the arms sells the same design to Dobinson

Nitro claims + 6° of castor correction with high durability rubberized bushings and the upper ball joint cup is designed to fit a 2007+ Toyota tundra so you can use OEM tundra upper ball joints in a 100 series upper control arm

Nitro gear is also out of stock until January so I’m eager to get my hands on a set and I might buy a pair of Dobinson to compare them

 

[hoser]

Nitro Gear didn't design it....

UCA upgrade suggestions

I'm at the point where I'm ready to replace the UCAs on my LX470. I'm looking at the SPCs, Total Chaos, and Nitro UCAs, and I'm wondering what people think of the SPCs. I've read a few threads about the TCs and the Nitros, but I can get the SPCs for about $100 cheaper than the Nitros. Has...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[cruiserpatch]

Nitro Gear didn't design it....

UCA upgrade suggestions

I'm at the point where I'm ready to replace the UCAs on my LX470. I'm looking at the SPCs, Total Chaos, and Nitro UCAs, and I'm wondering what people think of the SPCs. I've read a few threads about the TCs and the Nitros, but I can get the SPCs for about $100 cheaper than the Nitros. Has...

forum.ih8mud.com

Interesting. I don’t know how you wheel with the SPC UCAs I had to torque the camber nuts to 300 ft-lbs and they still loved everytime I went off pavement.

I guess Nitro Gear is straight up lying about designing it then.

Regardless, i’ll be interested to see how they perform compared to stock, TC, and SPC

 

[hoser]

They did lie. I think they even claimed their arms were from Australia.

For the SPC's, I would just remove all the powder coating from where ever the balljoint and UCA make contact and torque it down. You could maybe just tack weld the washer in place too.

ARB/OME also has a UCA that might be looking in to.... a newcomer, relatively speaking.

 

[FamilyCamper]

Be careful with nitro gear, I placed an order of UCAs early this year and they didnt come for 6 months. Every time I got in contact they would tell me they were delayed and didnt know when the shipment was coming out. Lots of other issues with them if you search the issues in the forums. I ended up getting them to refund my order and I got dobinsons.

 

[cruiserpatch]

Be careful with nitro gear, I placed an order of UCAs early this year and they didnt come for 6 months. Every time I got in contact they would tell me they were delayed and didnt know when the shipment was coming out. Lots of other issues with them if you search the issues in the forums. I ended up getting them to refund my order and I got dobinsons.

I may have to cancel my order because i had to call six people before anyone would tell me the truth about the back order.

I can’t wait six months.

Maybe i’ll try dobinson and arb/ome

 

[ClassyJalopy]

Having run 2" plus lift on OEM UCAs, I am convinced that aftermarket UCAs are not necessary!

 

[abuck99]

this is a little bit of a brain dump, but I just called Nitro gear to ask them about their upper control arms. Some of you may know that I recently sold my total chaos, upper control arms mainly because I don’t want to replace the ball and bushings every six months.

Total chaos claims on their website that the coil over lift for 100 series allows for an additional 1 inch of down travel and 3° positive caster, which is obviously a copy and paste from some other suspension

Nitro gear designed and outsourced the manufacture of the LC, 100 upper control arms, but they did not pay the extra money to have exclusive production rights and the company manufactures the arms sells the same design to Dobinson

Nitro claims + 6° of castor correction with high durability rubberized bushings and the upper ball joint cup is designed to fit a 2007+ Toyota tundra so you can use OEM tundra upper ball joints in a 100 series upper control arm

Nitro gear is also out of stock until January so I’m eager to get my hands on a set and I might buy a pair of Dobinson to compare them

Fwiw Nitro Gear as a company sold to a larger aftermarket parts group a few years ago- it’s not even close to the same company it once was when Carl owned it and focused his product development and passion to the community here- as such you might be disappointed by the support, fulfillment and product end use.

The only UCA that I am aware of that can get you up to or beyond 3.0-to 4 degrees caster after a 2” lift is the SPC adjustable.

Knowing your dissatisfaction with SPC, if you can accept driving with slightly lower caster values to overcome the downsides of the adjustable type, of the fixed angle UCAs available I might give the ARB a try. Generally ARB had quite good engineering, product development and established brand with domestic support. I like the looks of their bushing design. If I ever have to replace my SPC- I would prob give the ARB the nod.

Fwiw- I’ve never had my SPC UCA ball joint adjuster come loose- granted I don’t wheel and push to the limits as hard as you guys do.

 

[cruiserpatch]

Having run 2" plus lift on OEM UCAs, I am convinced that aftermarket UCAs are not necessary!

i’m currently on OEM ucas with 1.75” front lift and would like a bit more caster for steering. otherwise i agree

 

[ClassyJalopy]

FWIW, I was able to get 2.6 deg caster that made her pretty steady on the highway speeds.

 

[Live to Ski]

Having run 2" plus lift on OEM UCAs, I am convinced that aftermarket UCAs are not necessary!

Ditto here.