Hey MUD, figured it's about time I posted an intro, so here goes! It all started back in 2019 when the wife and I rented an overland rig for a week out in Rocky Mountain National Park. I had no idea that the missing link to getting her into camping was sleeping on top of a truck. ("the bears can't get us up here!" hah...). Welp ,whatever she wants to think
After that trip the seed was planted and I knew one day I wanted to build out a rig back home in the north east.
Originally we considered building out my wife's JK but I wanted something that was going to last and be reliable. I've always had good luck with japanese cars so why not a truck. Fast forward to 2021 when I and everyone else wanted to buy a Land Cruiser. I eventually found a 2005 LX 470 with 102k on market place and I thought I was going to keep it forever.
I immediately did the timing belt and started baselining some fluids. Unfortunately I quickly learned that mileage is not the only indicator of wear and tear in the north east and there was a lot hiding underneath that "fancy" professional undercoating the previous owner had applied... Long story short I learned a bunch of valuable lessons with that first rig and got to do a dry run of my first build. After 3+ great years and a few too many thousands invested it was time to part ways and start with a better a base... here are a few shots just before I sold it.
Originally we considered building out my wife's JK but I wanted something that was going to last and be reliable. I've always had good luck with japanese cars so why not a truck. Fast forward to 2021 when I and everyone else wanted to buy a Land Cruiser. I eventually found a 2005 LX 470 with 102k on market place and I thought I was going to keep it forever.
I immediately did the timing belt and started baselining some fluids. Unfortunately I quickly learned that mileage is not the only indicator of wear and tear in the north east and there was a lot hiding underneath that "fancy" professional undercoating the previous owner had applied... Long story short I learned a bunch of valuable lessons with that first rig and got to do a dry run of my first build. After 3+ great years and a few too many thousands invested it was time to part ways and start with a better a base... here are a few shots just before I sold it.
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