ROTW - davegonz

[davegonz]

Hard to follow Neowolf's bad ass rig, but here goes..

It all started with a bang..

I owned a 1996 Isuzu Trooper that was really reliable and had a ton of space to haul stuff in its tall and boxy cargo area. It was four wheel drive (part time) and had great ground clearance. The damn thing never let us down. It wasn’t until a lady rear ended me while I was making a left turn that I had the chance to use the insurance money (the truck was totaled) to buy something I really wanted. By this time, a low miles (under 100k) 80 series was within reach price wise (around $10k and under) and the 100 series with their big V8’s were now common place. So I bought my first cruiser with 175k miles on her for $6750. Not bad, but it had tons of body dings and was not in the best of shape. It also didn’t have lockers. I bought this truck before I had any experience with IH8MUD. Man how much did I learn from this site!! So after spending some money trying to get my first cruiser up to shape, I realized that I could just take my time and find one in better condition and with lockers.

 

[davegonz]

I found my present Emerald Pearl 1993 Land Cruiser from an ex-anthropology professor in San Marcos, TX. He was full of stories about trapping monkeys in Africa and driving around in the bush with LC’s and Range Rovers. I probably spent 5 hours listening to his stories and haggling. My new-to-me cruiser had 97k miles and was well taken care of. The list of goodies included: lockers, cloth interior (rare for a emerald green LC), and the infamous factory roof rack (no longer installed). My upgrades in chronological order are:
1) Alpine CDA-9833 head unit
2) Custom laptop mount for my Dell Latitude LS (GPS, MP3, DIVX)
3) Nitto Terra-Grapplers 285/75/16’s
4) OME Heavy Lift (850/863)-Pieced together from various trades and transactions (thanks CruiserDAN and HICKOCK)
5) Slee stainless steel extended brake lines.
6) J-Moose type roof rack with Yakima mounts (almost complete).

Future upgrades include:
1) Sliders (maybe home fabbed)
2) ARB or Slee front bumper
3) Medium duty rear bumper (more for expedition type activities)
4) ARB fridge/freezer
5) Ipod

 

[davegonz]

Some pics of my laptop mount...

 

[Iakopa]

Great lookin Cruiser looks alot like mine.

 

[Dr Gonzo]

Great looking rig.

 

[PKP80]

interesting twist on your J-moose mounting method

 

[davegonz]

Thanks guys...

The rack is a Harbor Freight special..I think I paid under 80 bucks for the ATV ramp. It's a try fold that has been bolted together. The crossbars are 1"x2" tubing. I plan on replacing the Yak mounts with Con-Ferr bulldogs pretty soon. I also need to paint it..

 

[Romer]

Nice looking rig and great write-up. "Triple Diff Locks", does that mean you have Front and Rear and are calling the 4WD as the third? Never heard it put that way before.

 

[davegonz]

Hmm...Front, Center, Rear diffs...

 

[lt403]

nice rig... can you tell us more about the laptop mount?

 

[HeavyD]

Looks like it was well worth the wait. Nice.

 

[LabRat11]

Worth the wait - eh?? Don't resist the obsession..


Totally off topic - where's that bridge in photo #2? I know I've been there - just cant remember where it is - brain fart.

 

[davegonz]

It's in the west side of town on 360. The formal name is the Pennybacker Bridge, but more commonly called the Loop 360 bridge.

 

[davegonz]

Laptop mount info:

Here goes...All from Home Depot.

1 X 8" Galvanized steel pipe with threaded ends on each side
2 X Flange adapters
1 X Longer than the stock M8 Bolt for attaching to center console
1 X 8"X16" (I think) sheet of 16 gage sheetmetal
1/4" nuts and bolts
Velcro

I cut one of the flanges to fit inside the cup holder area...basically line up the little carpet rectangle and use it to mark the cuts for the flange.

 

[NorCalSam]

nice NAV system and mount

But where are you going to mount the 50 cal.?

 

[parabola]

Nice, Dave!

 

[apcoleman]

Nice rig!!!!! I really like that laptop mount

 

[reffug]

Good lookin truck dude.................

 

[mot]

Looks really good Dave!

Mot

 

[davegonz]

Thanks guys..it's just a bit intimidating posting an almost stock truck after all of the great rigs posted before.