Build The Bedouin - A 75 Series Rock Whomper

[wngrog]

I poked around a little a few months back to see if anyone had and good 70/73/75 crawler ideas.

Thread '75 Rock Crawlers?'

Feb 9, 2026

I just finished watching king of the hammers all week and there were a ton of videos of clowns at night rock crawling the trails and there are so many mini trucks still out there schooling the rocks it's crazy.

One of the most frustrating things from back in my rock days was when a $15,000 mini truck walked right up something that my $100,000 buggy struggled on.

Obviously there are very few 75 Rock crawlers here in the US because we don't have many 75s.

But what would be cooler than a 75 on one tons with working AC and heat and maybe a flatbed.

Anyone have any pictures of some...

• wngrog
• Replies: 95
• Forum: 70-Series Tech

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I have been collecting parts and finally the day came and @Ozark cruiser picked it up and now it’s game on.

 

[wardharris]

Well, now, that made my day

 

[wngrog]

I asked @Box Rocket to draw it up as I described it.

We can circle back to this and see how close we get

 

[wngrog]

When I lived in Texas and had some of the best trails in the US within a days drive I went hard into the paint on a modified FJ40 and then a couple of world class buggies.

I went all over the west running and cutting some of the hardest trails in the US

Then I moved to Mississippi where everything is a rock crawling park that is close. Alabama. Arkansas. East Texas. The park scene is not my vibe and I sold out and went back to my passion. Land Cruisers.

 

[wngrog]

So, why a FZJ75?

As most of you know, I import Saudi trucks with @Meshal

We’ve done 35 or so now and the easiest truck for him to source there is the 75. They are everywhere and now that the 79 is importable the prices on these are down as well.

Also, there are literally thousands of these bodies all over the Middle East. Take off bodies for military and .gov projects. If I smash it up, who cares? It’s probably the easiest body to replace there is.

Wheelbase.

Perfect. Longer the better for what I want to do.

Bed.

This truck is not a park truck. Not being built to hang with the buggies. I want to load it full of gear and taking it for 3 days in the Rubicon. Dusy. Fordyce.

Holy Cross. Hole in the Rock.

Harder trails but “overlanding and camping”

Again the 75 is perfect.

AC and heat were a must. I want to be able to go rain, sleet snow or shine.

 

[clrussell]

In on this.

Also going to have to stop by Jason’s more often in the coming weeks.

 

[matzell]

Looking forward to this.

 

[Climbingnut]

Following. I was cutting my teeth in the rock scene in AZ in a 79 Scout Traveller that Randy Ellis did a SPOA on. Your rock crawling story and this build are gonna make for an interesting combo. I’m excited to see where it goes!

 

[TRDdrew]

this is the stuff that gets me excited, following

 

[wngrog]

Following. I was cutting my teeth in the rock scene in AZ in a 79 Scout Traveller that Randy Ellis did a SPOA on. Your rock crawling story and this build are gonna make for an interesting combo. I’m excited to see where it goes!

I was big into it for many years. At the time I made it around to all of the best trails in the US. This one will be a bit different. Had I wanted to go back to the buggy world I could have purchased so many great used buggys for what I’ll have in this thing.

 

[wngrog]

So why this 75?

My instructions to Meshal were:

Low ish KMs
Usable body
AC has to work

Normally I get all the weatherstripping done at least but he shipped it as he found it.

This is what most of them I see on line look like. Rough. Meshal would never sell something like this unless a customer specifically wanted some cheap s***.

 

[wngrog]

What the driveline going to be you ask?

A few months ago I got a killer deal on a set of DS Trac axles. These are Dynatrac copies made in Brazil.

Big heavy ass axles with 35 and 40 spline axles and air lockers. 5.38 gears.

I’ll be running 40s but these knuckle draggers will be equivalent to running 38s on a normal size axle.

That said I’m not chasing pounds on this truck. Durability is the goal versus light.

Axles

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[wngrog]

So why Bedouin?

Funny story.

I took Meshal to Windrock two years ago for the 70 event.

We see some peckerwood redneck on a Banshee 4 wheeler and Meshal said “hahah look at that Bedouin “

I realized that’s the Saudi word for redneck.

Seemed fitting.