“Steve” 1998 UZJ100: a daily driver with stock needs but overland dreams (1 Viewer)

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Keep it a stock DD- looks like a good one- Put the $$ into good baselining - OEM parts and fuel and drive it for another 100k then mod it
 
Steve has been running great! Put some miles on him last weekend. Ran out to the harbor and went crabbing. Turn around and drove up to a friends cabin and brought crab with us.

Wanted to drive across the river but didn’t try.

Added a 200w mobile solar set-up to move between the boat and different trucks when camping.

Next up Group 49 AGM so I don’t kill the tiny 24F flooded any more. It doesn’t have the capacity to keep the fridge going with the length of my commute. Maybe if it was an AGM or larger output alt and I had a longer commute?


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A few random no starts and I think the starter is in the way out.

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Toyota Reman was sourced. Also took the time to replace the intake manifold gaskets.

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Cover your intake holes people. Don’t ask me how I know.

I braced the intake in that position with a pry bar. And did the rest of the job with it in that location.

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Laid on a combination of stacks of HF foam mats to lay on the motor and front core support.

Hardest part was not loosing bolts and sockets, electrical tap helped both those problems. It was also a bit difficult to pul the intake off the heads. I was sitting in side the engine bay feet to the side coil tower.

Took 3 hours. One banana job but 3 bananas for awkwardness. Would hate to do that on the trail or in a parking lot.
 
Order from your local Toyota dealership. I'd ask them to cut the key to the same vin code.

Remote Key incl. Transmitter:
1998.01 – 2002.08 = 89070-60090
2002.08 – 2005.05 = 89070-60750

Pulled from this source:


I will say that getting the new key programmed is a 2 step process. One to program in the new immobilizer, the second is to get the remote locks to work.
 
Quick trip out this weekend. Way short. Saturday afternoon to Sunday morning short. Much needed and made me more excited about fun adventures with Steve.

 
Picked up a CVT MT. Hood.

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Lowered it with a winch and watched the truck sag down an inch. 😂

Time to start saving for a new suspension. Might see if I can piece something together in the short term.

Happy to say starting issues were resolved with the new reman starter.

With the RTT up top the driving experience is much different. Getting used to it but much more too heavy. Wonder how much a new suspension would help with that vs currently.

Need to firm up a tent mounting solution for the top.

Currently have some Yakima bars mounted to the factory roof rails and then the tent mounted to WEW brackets (which are really nice).

Ultimately would like to have a ARB Base Rack but cost is keeping me from jumping in on that. I have other Cruiser mouths to feed that haven’t have been fed in a while.

Part of me wants to remove the stock rack and make mounts then add extruded bars across it. But right now everything is reversible to stock and that would add a more permanent aspect to it.
 
Please post if you end up with the ARB base rack as this is what I have been looking into getting (and wouldnt mind checking it out first). I havent come across anyone with it yet. It reminds me a bit of the Front runner roof rack but lower profile and I like the mounting rail around the perimeter. My wife daily's ours and her one criteria is that it be able to fit through the Brown Bear carwash on Broadway......its currently getting close to not fitting on 33's with a lift lol
 
Please post if you end up with the ARB base rack as this is what I have been looking into getting (and wouldnt mind checking it out first). I havent come across anyone with it yet. It reminds me a bit of the Front runner roof rack but lower profile and I like the mounting rail around the perimeter. My wife daily's ours and her one criteria is that it be able to fit through the Brown Bear carwash on Broadway......its currently getting close to not fitting on 33's with a lift lol

Should be lower and much lighter. The front runners are heavy putting on top a lifted truck. A buddy and I put one on his 60 with 33’s and a lift and it was a bit of work.

I’ll let you know if I go that route.
 
Picked up a CVT MT. Hood.

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Lowered it with a winch and watched the truck sag down an inch. 😂

Time to start saving for a new suspension. Might see if I can piece something together in the short term.

Happy to say starting issues were resolved with the new reman starter.

With the RTT up top the driving experience is much different. Getting used to it but much more too heavy. Wonder how much a new suspension would help with that vs currently.

Need to firm up a tent mounting solution for the top.

Currently have some Yakima bars mounted to the factory roof rails and then the tent mounted to WEW brackets (which are really nice).

Ultimately would like to have a ARB Base Rack but cost is keeping me from jumping in on that. I have other Cruiser mouths to feed that haven’t have been fed in a while.

Part of me wants to remove the stock rack and make mounts then add extruded bars across it. But right now everything is reversible to stock and that would add a more permanent aspect to it.
OME 865 coils to help with the extra weight. ~$200 helps a ton.
 
Picked up a CVT MT. Hood.

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View attachment 3135520

Lowered it with a winch and watched the truck sag down an inch. 😂

Time to start saving for a new suspension. Might see if I can piece something together in the short term.

Happy to say starting issues were resolved with the new reman starter.

With the RTT up top the driving experience is much different. Getting used to it but much more too heavy. Wonder how much a new suspension would help with that vs currently.

Need to firm up a tent mounting solution for the top.

Currently have some Yakima bars mounted to the factory roof rails and then the tent mounted to WEW brackets (which are really nice).

Ultimately would like to have a ARB Base Rack but cost is keeping me from jumping in on that. I have other Cruiser mouths to feed that haven’t have been fed in a while.

Part of me wants to remove the stock rack and make mounts then add extruded bars across it. But right now everything is reversible to stock and that would add a more permanent aspect to it.

Crank the torsion bars and add some spacers in the rear for a temporary fix. It look
Me about 6 or 7 turns after adding an ARB and winch to my LC.
 
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Covered some miles today to get a taste of Baveria.

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If you are in around Seattle. You should check out Leavenworth WA. Cascade mountain town with a Baverian theme throughout.

Enjoyed some Bratwurst and Marzan Oktoberfest and enjoyed the cool temps and fall vibes.
 
Before

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After

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Take a look at Steve! Spent a couple hours playing with the suspension to gain back some height from the RTT and drawers. It’s like he has been hanging out with the Bang Energy crew at the gym for leg day!

This is a “left over lift”, just like taking chili cooked yesterday and has been building flavor over night, some things are best the second time around.

Steve got hooked up with a set of 3” lift 80 series progressive Dobinson rear springs! (C59-613V)

These had been run in a buddies truck for a while and he ended up swapping them out for another set of springs for his 80 series.

To level out the front we added a little extra twist on the torsion bars. We marked (starting position on the Mount, nut and socket) and cranked the OEM Torsion bars 5 full rotations on both sides. This ended up netting out to a 3 in lift in the rear and 2 in in the front.

We use the RTT as a point to measure along front and rear on the to ensure we were even on an iPhone level app. If you didn’t have that, you can use the top line of body cladding on the side to help check. Starting measurements from the ground to the fenders are also great starting reference points. Some considerations for torsion bars: over cranking them will limit down travel, you may need to re-align the truck after modifications to the torsion bars.

I can say that so far the new(er to me) springs ride just as well as the tired OEM ones. The shocks had been replaced with Bilsteins at some point and I’ll rock those for a bit longer, they have life left in them. I picked up a set of remote resi Icons I need to look over and clean up and see if they need to be sent out for a rebuild.

ARB base rack moves: I have a plan to use the mounting kit for the base rack and extrusions cross bars for the CVT. It should be much more secure than the system I’m using now, and lower the tent about an inch. I think that I can use the ARB base rack wind deflector to even mount to the bottom of the CVT to further cut down on wind noise.

Going to be excited when I can get that set-up.

Wheels and tires and the rack dialed in, throw in a bit more service items for good measure and I can throw money at some of the other cruisers for awhile.

✌️😎
 
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Before:


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After:


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Take a look at Steve! Spent a couple hours playing with the suspension to gain back some height from the RTT and drawers. It’s like he has been hanging out with the Bang Energy crew at the gym for leg day!

This is a “left over lift”, just like taking chili cooked yesterday and has been building flavor over night, some things are best the second time around.
Steve got hooked up with a set of 3” lift 80 series progressive Dobinson rear springs! These had been run in a buddies truck for a while and he ended up swapping them out for another set of springs for his 80 series.

To level out the front we added a little extra twist on the torsion bars. We marked (starting position on the Mount, nut and socket) and cranked the OEM Torsion bars 5 full rotations on both sides. This ended up netting out to a 3 in lift in the rear and 2 in in the front.

We used the RTT as a point to measure along front and rear on the top ensure we were even on an iPhone level app. If you didn’t have that, you can use the top line of body cladding on the side to help check. Starting measurements from the ground to the fenders are also great starting reference points. Some considerations for torsion bars: over cranking them will limit down travel, you may need to re-align the truck after modifications to the torsion bars.

Before:
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After


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Wasn’t the biggest fan of the 18 wheels from a tire and sidewall perspective. But the deal for KO2’s and 18” LC wheels was to good to pass up and they do look much better.
 
Before:


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After:


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Take a look at Steve! Spent a couple hours playing with the suspension to gain back some height from the RTT and drawers. It’s like he has been hanging out with the Bang Energy crew at the gym for leg day!

This is a “left over lift”, just like taking chili cooked yesterday and has been building flavor over night, some things are best the second time around.
Steve got hooked up with a set of 3” lift 80 series progressive Dobinson rear springs! These had been run in a buddies truck for a while and he ended up swapping them out for another set of springs for his 80 series.

To level out the front we added a little extra twist on the torsion bars. We marked (starting position on the Mount, nut and socket) and cranked the OEM Torsion bars 5 full rotations on both sides. This ended up netting out to a 3 in lift in the rear and 2 in in the front.

We used the RTT as a point to measure along front and rear on the top ensure we were even on an iPhone level app. If you didn’t have that, you can use the top line of body cladding on the side to help check. Starting measurements from the ground to the fenders are also great starting reference points. Some considerations for torsion bars: over cranking them will limit down travel, you may need to re-align the truck after modifications to the torsion bars.

Before:
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After


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Wasn’t the biggest fan of the 18 wheels from a tire and sidewall perspective. But the deal for KO2’s and 18” LC wheels was to good to pass up and they do look much better.
Looks much better with those wheels. When I got my 100 I was kinda bummed at the wheel selection. With the 5 lug there just isnt a very good 17" wheel selection.
 
Have organized a Seattle Cruiserheads Christmas Tree Run for the last 6 years.

We had a good turn out this year with trucks ranging from a 40 (with 4 adults and a dog) to a late model 200.

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