Builds ROTW - smittycrusher (1 Viewer)

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smittycrusher

"Hey big guy, you a golfer" - Roger Dorn
SILVER Star
Joined
Aug 10, 2005
Threads
157
Messages
1,941
Location
ATL
Website
www.morganstanleyfa.com
FIRST MUCHO THANKS TO WOODY FOR THIS AWESOME BOARD THAT HAS PROVIDED ME WITH A GREAT NEW HOBBY AND ENABLED ME TO MEET SOME AWESOME PEOPLE. THANKS TO DAN FOR LETTING ME SAVE A LOT OF MONEY AND FEED HIS DOGS AT THE SAME TIME. THANKS TO ALL MY SOCAL 80’S BUDDIES WHO HAVE HELD MY HAND MANY TIMES TO TEACH ME HOW TO WHEEL AND REPAIR/MAINTAIN MY RIG. SPECIAL THANKS TO SLOMO WHO HAS BEEN VERY PATIENT IN MY QUEST TOWARDS EARNING :banana:s. RAYJON FOR DONATING AN ENTIRE SATURDAY TO GET ME THROUGH MY 1ST BIRF JOB. SOCALFJ HIS HELP AND INSPIRATION/EXITEMENT ABOUT THIS MADNESS. THERE ARE MANY OTHERS OF YOU WHO HAVE MADE THIS SUCH A FUN JOURNEY AND I THANK YOU TOO (IF YOU ARE READING THIS, THEN THAT MEANS YOU!)

Back in 2002 I bought my first Toyota Truck (2000 TRD 2WD Tacoma). At that time I was in Atlanta and always wanted a Toyota truck. This truck was equipped with a rear e-locker (I learned what a locker was :confused:a year after I sold the truck when I joined this board:idea:). My first Land Cruiser experience was back in 1996 when I got sick:crybaby: at a team basketball camp and had to be driven home 5 hrs. in this big black tank like SUV that my friend’s dad drove:grinpimp:. As sick as I was, I could not get over how much I liked this tank. I actually felt proud to be in the front seat as we drove...kind of looking down on all the other “peasant rides” on the freeway.
Fast forward to August of 2005 when I needed a new ride after moving to California since I had sold my truck and the 4Runner that followed the truck. Obviously I am a Toyota guy, so I was looking for a 4 door Tacoma/Tundra. I then saw a white 80 on the road and decided to see how much they were going for since they were not new anymore. I could not afford nor did I have time for a rig that needed a lot of attention. I found a very clean 94’ with 85K at a local car lot and started to negotiate. After about a month of negotiations, I was set to buy it. I was about to leave my house to go and agree to buy it and put a down payment down when I decided to check ebay one last time. There she was newly listed and in Long Beach (where I was living at the time) a white 93’ with 84K miles:bounce::bounce2:. I carfaxed the VIN and all was good….a born and raised Cali rig. I went right over to the dealership and drove it and checked it really good (thanks to all the research I was doing here at the time!) I asked him what the Buy it Now price was and it was a good $4K lower than the 94 I was about to go buy….SCORE! I told him I would take it and I immediately put down some coin.
Well my wife stole it from me from day one (I had a longer commute and her Mustang got much better gas mileage)! She fell in love with it and really didn’t want her car anymore. We decided to sell her Mustang and look into another 80 OR a Land Rover Discovery :confused::cool:(we both really like the Land Rover styling). Back to researching as I did not know much about the Rovers. It became pretty obvious, pretty quickly that the Rovers can very expensive to maintain and have had their reliability issues. I had since found a locked black 97 LX 450 with 85K that was loaded to the max (including the bling) for a mere $18,900 at a small used car lot in Santa Ana. I ran the Carfax and found that the LX had been on the lot for 8 months! I knew it was time to start some serious negotiations. After about a month of 2-3 visits/week, I drove off the lot in Dec 05’ with the black LX after talking them down $4,400. It was still more than I wanted to pay but the rig was so well maintained, low mileage and locked. I really did not want a black rig but it was too nice to pass up. I was super happy and my wife had a new 80 to drive (the :princess: always get the newest one right?) I had to play catch up with the white 80 as far as baselining the fluids goes. I did both PHH’s in back to back days at a time when I had zero confidence in maintenance……I can follow directions though and this board got me through it. The second one I did was in the pouring rain! Before this board and my Land Cruiser, I had never done a single thing mechanically to a vehicle except change my starter in my Taco. With the help of all the contributors here (especially my SoCal 80 brotheren), I have really learned to do a lot and save a lot of $ (which I then spend and then some on the rig so my wife still does not like you guys (and gals);):D).
My wife did have a lot of fun at Surf-n-Turf last year. She went even though she was pregnant and she had a blast. She had so much fun in the dunes in boydmick's FW80 :rolleyes: that she gave me permission to lift it even though it was her DD at the time and she was pregnant :eek: (Boyd says she had so much b/c his has a SC in it :rolleyes:)


-pic of the white 80 on its only off-pavement trip under my command
-pic of the LX the day I brought it home
-pic of my pregnant wife and I @ SNT last year making her famous guacamole.
white 80 big bear.jpg
lx450 combo 1.jpg
Candice and me at SNT.jpg
 
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In January of this year, we decided that we needed to sell the white 80 and get a more fuel efficient sedan with the Latch system (since we were expecting our first child). I had an extremely pleasant experience selling the white one to a board member here who can identify himself if he so chooses. I will say that he has done a wonderful job improving it and I am happy that it is in great hands (and climate).

Over Labor Day weekend I drove across country and moved back to Atlanta. I am really going to miss the friends I made in SoCal (95% of my friends in California are from Mud). I have all my hometown friends and family in Atlanta and now I need to convince a few to start wheeling (which is going pretty well right now). I know that I will have to change the strategy of my build to accommodate the more muddy/aggressive terrain here in the south. Mud Terrains will have to be the next choice of tire and I am afraid that there will need to be a lot more heavy duty parts than I intended when I got hooked on this Cruiser thing.

The good thing about selling my first cruiser was that I got the black one to be all mine…..with all of its goodies. The build up has been very budget oriented. I have been very fortunate to have very generous people around me who have thought of me as they were upgrading their own rigs and needed to get rid of some used stuff. Starting my own family and restaurant business had me thinking that I would never get a lift or half the goodies that I have on her right now. I have seriously benefited tremendously from used hand me downs from various board members. The following is the list of mods/upgrades/maint. that has been done to the LX:

Armor (in order completed)
· ARB Deluxe Bull Bar
· Slee T-case Skid
· Hanna Rock Sliders (SoCal 80’s group buy – Thanks Boyd)

Susp[/I]ension, Wheels, Tires
· 315/75/16 Maxxis Bighorns - Replaced with 315 Mickey Thompson Baja MTZ
· OME Heavies all around (Hand me down from Slomo) - Replaced with Ironman 4" coil and foam cell shocks up front.
· OME Shocks (Dirty Parts)
· OME caster bushings (Hand me down from Slomo) - Replaced with Slee Gen 1.5 front control arms
· OME 1” spacer up front (Hand me down from Slomo)
· Slee Speedo Gear Correction (Hand me down from Slomo)

Other Mods
- Warn Series 12 Industrial 12,000lb. winch (write-up here)
· Garmin 2820 GPS (I have a great wife!)
· Slomo Aux fuse block
· Safari Snorkel - best b-day present ever - awesome wife (Thanks SOCALFJ for install help)
· Cobra CB with foldable Wilson Fiberglass antenna
- Scanguage II.
· Extreme Aire Compressor (Thanks Slomo)
· Cargo box (Hand me down from silvercruiser)
· High-Lift (Hand me down from silvercruiser)
· CDL switch (cruiserdan)
· OEM cup holder (cruiserdan)
· 2 NATO fuel cans and siphon
· Expedition Exchange recovery points mounted to ARB
· Custom Slomo Hand made Flare adapters
· Optima Blue Battery (Sears)
· Two 12V outets in Cargo area (Orvac)
· Lexus Trail Team Sticker (ToolsRus)

Future Mods (In Hand/Not Installed)
· Slee Generation 1 Front Control Arms for when I go taller (Thanks Taz)
· New Caliper bolts – going on with locktite! (cruiserdan)
· Custom Bumpstop/Sway drop blocks (Slomo)
· Rear Rotors (cruiserdan)

Future Mods (Not in Hand, only in Head)
· Heavy Duty Tie Rod, TREs and drag link
· 4’’ of lift (FOR or Slee)
· Rear bumper with tire carrier (No clue which one, maybe even one not designed yet……it will be a while so who knows)
· ARB/Engel fridge
· Bilsteins
· Remove flares / durabak a lot of the truck
· HIDs up front
· Maybe an INTI or Hannibal roof rack (depends on what kind a wheeling I get into here in the South)
· 2nd Battery
· Big Winch
· Upgraded axle shafts and birfs
· DC Drive shaft
. 4.88s


Key Maintenance Completed since I bought it
· PHH
· Blue fan Clutch (cruiserdan)
· Full Front end rebuild (cruiserdan)
· 100 series pads up front (cruiserdan)
· O2 Sensors (cruiserdan)
· EGR Vacuum Assembly (cruiserdan)
· Replace Antenna and Mast (cruiserdan)
· Allen Head Diff Fill and Drain Plugs (cruiserdan)
· Mobil 1 Truck & SUV 5W30 oil (Sam Walton)
· Mobil 1 in T-Case and Front Diff (Sam Walton)
· Redline in Rear Diff (Dirty Parts)

-pic of the white 80 as it sits today
-trip to Big Bear in March of 2006 when it snowed a lot..1st time driving in snow....I loved it!
-pic in Dec 06...my first time out lifted
travis.jpg
big bear snow jackson.jpg
cleghorn.jpg
 
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Pics from Anza Borrengo

Gotta love the mud salute while camping :flipoff2:
anza water.jpg
anza.jpg
anza mud salute.jpg
 
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First 2 - Big Bear in January 07' whith SocalFJ
Last one - Wildomar OHV - screwing around one day with SLOMO.
big bear socal FJ.jpg
big bear 07.jpg
wildomar OHV Mo.jpg
 
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I am looking forward to getting to know you cruiserheads in the the Atlanta/Southeast area. I am going to need to learn as much as possible from you since this style will be a little different than Cali. I will not be wheeling very much in the near future as this huge transition (change of careers, 4 month old, budgeting, etc.) will keep me from being as active now but will allow more action in the future.

More to come as I get a chance to take some interior pics tomorrow. Last one for now.

- As she sits today with the Snorkel installed (thanks to SOCALFJ as he is running an empire on snorkel installs in SoCal!)
snorkel install.jpg
 
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nice write up and rig! i like the color scheme your rig has. love those wheeling pics in the snow. :D i missed rig of the week!!! thanks for contributing :cheers:
 
Nice write-up and thanks for contributing. It's been sparse with contributors lately.
 
Woo-Hoo,
I have pics of my FZJ-80 in the ROTW!! Of course it's no where near as cool as yours (yet) Smitty. I really like your mod list, and how you kept it smart/inexpensive.
Dealing with you on the white Cruiser was an absolute dream. It could have gone bad in so many ways, but you helped make the shipment go as smooth as possible. I wish the best to you and your family (and LX).

Travis

P.S. Let me know when you want to let go of your OME lift! Dibs are mine.;)
 
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nice write up and rig! i like the color scheme your rig has. love those wheeling pics in the snow. :D i missed rig of the week!!! thanks for contributing :cheers:

Yeah...Black LX450 has the best color combi..
 
Hey Smitty! Nice write up!



now send back all those SoCal parts to where they belong!

good luck in Hotlanta! Hope to see pics of your boy in the rig soon!
 
Welcome back east!! Im sure youll find more than a few of us eager to get out and hit some trails w/ you here when you got the time. The rig is lookin real good and looks like you took advantage of the concentration of used parts out west:D again nice build you got goin.
 
Nice write up.

As always thanks for contributing.

Welcome back to the east. Just watch out for the tree's.
 
Nice write up! Buy a house in my neighborhood! :)
 
We :flipoff2: miss :flipoff2: you :flipoff2: already :flipoff2: :D

Enjoy the Hotlanta Georgia mud Smitty!
 
Thanks for all the replies.

Here are some more pics:

-Picture of my center dash with GPS.
-Close of of mounting disk and wiring for the GPS. Power cable and mic cord come out from the clock molding.
-Bluetooth mic on the drivers pillar.
GPS center console.jpg
GPS mount.jpg
GPS bluetoote mic.jpg
 
more pics...

-CB connection on the side of the center console. I love this CB since it is out of the way when not in use.
-CB connected
-on/off switch for the Extreme Aire
CB hole.jpg
CB attached.jpg
compressor switch.jpg
 
more.....

-Slomo custom flaps to work with the Hannas.
-Maglight mounter in front of Driver's seat.
-Driver seat showing decent durability. I use Mother's Gold Series leather cleaner/conditioner and am very happy with the results. This is my DD for now
slomo custom flaps.jpg
flashlight mount.jpg
Driver seat.jpg
 
last one for now...i promise.

This is her outside today. I really like the tow hitch for the bike rack. I need to make sure my new rear bumper in the future will accomodate the rack.
Today side shot.jpg
 
Very Nice! And well though out too.

Thanks for contributing, always nice to see another ROTW.
 

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