Builds Project LXXIV - 1988 BJ74 Land Cruiser Build

[cruiseroutfit]

Where to begin? Our build night was an absolute success. While I had planned to be working through Wednesday night and into Thursday morning, we took it for a post build voyage just after 11PM with 6 gents crammed into the rig.

I'll try and document each major component of the build, the truth is I was literally just bouncing back and forth finding nuts/bolts and looking up torque specs while my crew did the grunt of the work

Step one was the front suspension. We quickly broke the lug nuts free and had the front end on jack-stands while the front bumper crew started test fitting the bumper and sourcing hardware for the bumper brackets. James at ExpeditionOne literally built this bumper in a two-week period and it is still a working prototype they don't have instructions or hardware kits set up quite yet, no biggie we had it covered.

Bumper getting test fitted by committee

ExpeditionOne Bumper ready for install

While they were working out the brackets, the suspension was getting installed. Full OME package in the front, Emu Dakar leafs, Nitrocharger Sport Shock, anti-inversion greasable shackles and pins, u-bolts and the steering damper.

Old Man Emu suspension complete, new tires and wheels installed

All finished with the front for the night

Matt inspecting the finished product, QC.

 

[theferg]

Man I wish Land Cruisers Direct had one with all these same options (minus the built stuff) in stock...it meets all my requirements....

BTW, still waiting for my $30 bucks from that build night...

 

[OGBeno]

Connors is looking pretty serious as always.

 

[yeti in ga]

I really like that bumper !! both ...

 

[boozewz]

Cool rig.

Looking forward to seeing how this will turn out!

 

[NGray]

That bumper looks great.

 

[LS1FJ40]

That bumper looks sweet! Tell them to get that puppy in production!

 

[cruiseroutfit]

It's not over until it's over.

Knocking items off the To-Do list

While the crew was working on the front suspension and bumper, a second team was starting the assembly of the dual carrier rear bumper. Step one was to clean and wax the rear doors, particularly the areas that would be covered by the swing's door mount.

Ferg goes to town polishing and waxxing the back doors.

Rear bumper ready for assembly & install

I was still a little leery about future corrosion issues between the rear bumper door mounts and the doors themselves so we applied 3M trim tape between the two, keeping the contact patches to a minimum while retaining the strength needed for the door mounts.

Bryce applying the trim tape to the door mounts

Door mounts installed & test fitting the rear bumper

Making good progress on our To-Do List!

With the front bumper and suspension complete we moved to the rear suspension. Once again we broke the lugs, supported the frame and pulled the stock components off. Toyota had to have originally assembled the rear suspension before installing the fuel tank as the rear shackles simply cannot be removed without pulling the tank... If you want to keep them in one piece that is. Seeing as we were installing a full OME setup on the rear including new anti-inversion greaseable shackles, we opted to make a few quick guts with the cut-off wheel and get back to business. When gaps were available with the suspension work, rear bumper work was underway. We had to do some test fitting both on the truck and on the workbench to verify we had the assembly figured out for the bumper, swings and linkage but it was fairly intuitive and James had give us some great pictures during the design and fab stages that we were able to use to verify the assembly.

Rear suspension complete, time for tire installation at the hands of Mike & Chris

Adjusting the linkage on the rear swing

The prototype rear bumper turned out really slick. Again James and his team @ ExpeditionOne pulled off a neat bumper. When they hit us up about borrowing a 70 Series for prototyping I didn't think we would be running one on this rig in fact I figured it would be 3-4 months before they had a workable product. As our planned Kaymar got hung up in shipping (we'll be using it soon enough on an Aussie Outback style build ) it was quite serendipitous the Exp-One got this one done in just a few weeks. We chatted with James quite a bit during the design and build and I feel he not only was willing to take suggestions but he pretty much covered ever item we had discussed wanting out of a rear bumper for these rigs.

Bumper & Swings Installed

Meanwhile, some people were working harder than others

Next up winch, jerry can holder and license plate mount on the rear.

 

[cruiserdan]

What about frame/body flex and the doors being attached to the rear bumper?

 

[cruiseroutfit]

What about frame/body flex and the doors being attached to the rear bumper?

There is a dual heim joint on the linkage that allows flex in multiple directions but is under tension to keep the swing closed so I see the concern, during that tension any flex will force the bump stops to compress further which may resolve any issues. This same setup has been used on JK, FJC, etc bumper by a handful of different manufactures (Exp-One, Teraflex, etc) for a number of years with no issues that I am aware of. Ultimately time will tell and that is something we will be keeping a close eye on as we put this rig through the paces.

 

[Behemoth60]

I'll have both of my 74's down there too! Plan on hanging out Friday night after the raffle for our 'JDM Hangout'

Oh, can I come too?!!?? Ziplock hit the trails today!

Cresting potato Salad hill.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Oh, can I come too?!!?? Ziplock hit the trails today!

Cresting potato Salad hill.View attachment 889554

Absolutely, the more the merrier and everyone is invited to stop by and say hello. If you have a JDM rig we'd love to have you park right at the camp sites, everyone else... walk on over.

 

[roscoFJ73]

Thanks!



Let's do it

I'll have both of my 74's down there too! Plan on hanging out Friday night after the raffle for our 'JDM Hangout'

Is it cool to take 7* series there now? I remember maybe 10 years ago owners of 7* series being told by organisers they weren't real landcruisers or were weird things or something to that effect.

 

[BDA130]

Looks great man! Can you please post the the suspension part numbers or kit #?

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Is it cool to take 7* series there now? I remember maybe 10 years ago owners of 7* series being told by organisers they weren't real landcruisers or were weird things or something to that effect.

Interesting, I've never caught wind of that in my years participating at CM. CM is put on by a club and committee members come and go so it's possible that someone along the path wasn't a fan. Fwiw the head honcho now (Jeff Zepp) is a past 70 Series owner and has nothing but appreciation for them. I'd be curious who/when thought they weren't real Land Cruisers lol.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Looks great man! Can you please post the the suspension part numbers or kit #?

You bet, ED70ULM:
http://cruiseroutfitters.com/sus_70series_dakar.html

We ran the full CS006F front springs as the bumper and winch were in the immediate future (installed) and the CS017RA/B rear springs. Stance is great, we'll see how it looks when it settles up but I'm thinking it will be perfect.

 

[gifu]

Looking good. Wish I was taking my HZJ74 to CM. Next year...

Did I miss something about sliders? Which ones are you installing? Is there room for 3" exhaust where the mount to the frame? I ran 3" on my old 13BT before I swapped to a 1HZ+t and noticed an improvement on turbo lag and EGT.


...via IH8MUD app

 

[BJ74Guy]

This is a really good write up. Im in the process of buying a 74 and this is some good stuff. What about low range transfer case gears, and or a Toybox addition?

 

[rick_d]

bj74 guy, the marks gears are very loud for the first 10,000 miles then are 1/3-1/2 as loud for the next 45,000 miles.

Kurt, great write up. We still need to find a rear bumper that uses the newer arb tj/yj style pivot to not block the rear lights on a 70 series. Front bumper is impressive- price range???

 

[BJ74Guy]

I checked the Kaymar site and they dont show a rear bumper for a 74 series truck thats made anymore!!!