Smogcity’s 2006 Land Cruiser build thread

[Smogcity]

My brother in law turned me on to IH8Mud and I’ve been lurking here studying up pre and post purchase. After driving a mildly lifted and locked 1998 Land Rover Discovery for the last decade (95% work/clients/family/daily driver & 5% mountain trail offroading), I finally got a new (to me) 2006 Land Cruiser with AHC, navigation, and 65,000 miles on it.

Not knowing much about the AHC and A-trac, I had planned to do a mild lift and put an ARB rear locker in whatever I purchased. I read the genius thread in the FAQ about how to correctly use the A-trac before coming up to the Big Bear mountains for a week of vacation and mild wheeling. I broke in the LC on the same trails I’ve done a lot of 4x4 and dual sport motorcycling and have found this truck is AMAZING stock. The freeway ride is pure heaven, the “lift on demand” with the AHC works perfectly for my intended uses, and the A-trac will get me through everything I needed the ARB on the Land Rover for…Scratch the lift and locker

Cut to the pics!
[URL="http://mattlittell.smugmug.com/Other/IH8MUD/i-P7mVKvF/0/XL/Truck-Tree-XL.jpg"] [/URL]

Teaching my daughter to drive!
[URL="http://mattlittell.smugmug.com/Other/IH8MUD/i-4c6mqm2/0/L/Matt-Cam-L.jpg"] [/URL]

Wife and son enjoying the ride!
[URL="http://mattlittell.smugmug.com/Other/IH8MUD/i-8KGDLG7/0/L/Deb-Mason-L.jpg"] [/URL]
Build plans so far:
>ARB front bumper with Warn winch
>I want a jumper cable quick disconnect mounted on the bumper
>Slee step sliders
>Tow hitch
>On board air in engine compartment (I’ve grown to love the ability to air up tires, pool toys, etc with the rover’s ARB air compressor)
>possibly a 2 meter ham radio if I can do a low profile install

Lots of questions to come!!

 

[paulbgardner]

Maybe it's my phone but your post is showing up as yellow text on white background. Impossible to read.

 

[petrotk40]

welcome! I envy you guys out west...

 

[tabraha]

Congrats! Nice looking ride and family also.

 

[Softride62]

Great color, and fun looking bunch...enjoy!

 

[2000UZJ]

and welcome! Great looking rig.

 

[smm3]

Congrats on the purchase. Looks great.

 

[r2m]

If you think it drives great on the trails now, add just about 2.5" and a front locker, and you'll be just about unstoppable!
And the best thing about it is that if you take care of it, it'll never leave you stranded, unlike other unnamed vehicles...

Nice rig!

Small piece of advice, if you do nothing else ever to your Hundy, at least lose the running boards and invest in rock sliders.
These are a couple of pic's of my wife's factory aluminum "rock sliders" after a few trails.

 

[Smogcity]

Thanks for the welsocme all!

Questions so far:

1) I was going to swap out the battery thinking it should be about shot by now, but after reading mud I see that the Panasonic OEM battery is the best thing since sliced bread and should last 10 years or so. Other that the obvious "car won't start", is there any way to know when it's time to replace?

2) The Slee sliders and rear tow hitch look like a one jobs that me and the brother and law can do with a few jacks and a craftsman set 'o tools. What about the Arb front bumper and winch? (I have close to zero mechanic skills, the brother in law is pretty handy)

3) I'm in the Pasadena area, where's the best shop to get this serviced other than the closest dealer (Bob Smith Toyota)?

4) I'm close to TLC in North Hollywood, how's folks experience with them for mods and service?

5) Just looking around the engine compartment (I've got AHC), I'm not seeing where one would place an on board air compressor or how one could fit in a second battery.

6) I'm digging everyting about the stock ride so far. I need the truck to be a bit of a chameleon with the ability to go back and forth between buisness/clients and mountain/offroad fun; I'm going to swap out the street tires with BFG AT's at the stock size or is there a slightly larger size that will not look excessive (and fit in the spare well)

7) By the spare, there's what I assume is a tow electrical hook up. Is that all I need when I get a hitch to plug in?

 

[Smogcity]

If you think it drives great on the trails now, add just about 2.5" and a front locker, and you'll be just about unstoppable!
And the best thing about it is that if you take care of it, it'll never leave you stranded, unlike other unnamed vehicles...

Nice rig!

Small piece of advice, if you do nothing else ever to your Hundy, at least lose the running boards and invest in rock sliders.
These are a couple of pic's of my wife's factory aluminum "rock sliders" after a few trails.

Yup, I see that they are the weak point! Slee step sliders are most likely the first mod and will be ordered next week.

 

[Smogcity]

Here's the Land Rover it's replacing

On the left is the '98 Land Rover Discovery my new truck is replacing.

It's at Huntington Service (again ) getting patched up and will become the wife's daily driver/possibly the daughter's first car when she get's her licsense. It's replacing the wife's '95 Volvo (I bought it used in '97)...We like to get our moneys worth out of cars at the smogcity household.

God willing, I'll still be driving this Land Cruiser 20 years from now!

 

[r2m]

5) Just looking around the engine compartment (I've got AHC), I'm not seeing where one would place an on board air compressor or how one could fit in a second battery.

Look into the Odyssey Batteries. I've used them in every vehicle I've had in the last 15 years, including my motorcycles. In my last expo rig, a F350 CrewCab, I use two of the smaller Odyssey batteries and they both fit in the same tray as the single factory battery and had more cranking amps too! You might be able to get two of the smaller Odyssey's in the same way in your rig too. That is my plan when I get to doing that early next year on my rig and maybe someday on my wife's.

6) I'm digging everyting about the stock ride so far. I need the truck to be a bit of a chameleon with the ability to go back and forth between buisness/clients and mountain/offroad fun; I'm going to swap out the street tires with BFG AT's at the stock size or is there a slightly larger size that will not look excessive (and fit in the spare well)

YES you can go bigger! You can go easily with 275's without any mod's whatsoever. My wife's currently stock with 295's BFG A/T's and she does not rub on the road at lock-to-lock, but she hasn't gone wheeling yet with these tires. They are still kind of new. I have 35" tires on mine, but its also lifted 2.5" and I still have a little rubbing with them. Refer to my thread: https://forum.ih8mud.com/100-series-cruisers/602448-venturing-into-rarefied-air-2-body-lift.html

 

[Smogcity]

YES you can go bigger! You can go easily with 275's without any mod's whatsoever.

Thanks! Will the 275's fir in the spare well also?

 

[2000UZJ]

Thanks! Will the 275's fir in the spare well also?

Yes it will. Anything but a 35"+

 

[r2m]

Yes it will. Anything but a 35"+

I concur, when I bought my rig, it had 20" wheels on it and a full size 20" and tire spare tucked up under. Albeit, I don't have a hitch. I've been told if you have a hitch, that might limit the size tire one can have under there.

 

[Sverige]

I too switched from Land Rover to Land Cruiser - wow! What a difference. All that money can go to mods instead of repairs. I think I was dropping about $8k per year do keep my Defender 90 in top shape and about $6k per year for my Range Rover Classic. With my Land Cruiser, it has needed absolutely nothing. With such minimal operating costs I didn't feel bad doing the 90k service at 70k.

 

[FullyLitLED]

Thanks for the welsocme all!

7) By the spare, there's what I assume is a tow electrical hook up. Is that all I need when I get a hitch to plug in?

yes, but if you are towing a heavier trailer with brakes, you might want to add a trailer brake controller

 

[Smogcity]

Thanks for the advice all!

Got back out today with the boy and dog

 

[ssichler]

Welcome. I'm a recovering former Land Rover owner also.

Looks like fun. Where did you go?

 

[Smogcity]

Welcome. I'm a recovering former Land Rover owner also.

Looks like fun. Where did you go?

Mostly 2N13 from Green Valley Lake to Fawnskin and a few of the more difficult branch offs (with out getting over my head). Just trying to get a feel for it. So far I keep making it home