The Riggs Dream Machine

[BigRiggs]

Seven years ago my new wife and I honeymooned in Colorado where I saw several FJ60s and I fell in love. After focusing all our time and money since then on a first home and starting family, I am finally in a position to join the club. On Monday my dad and I flew to SLC Utah and on Tuesday drove 1,100 miles back to Blue Springs, Missouri. We were prepared for anything to go wrong, but everything went smooth and the only obstacle was the distance. I am now the proud owner of a mostly original, rust free 1987 beige/tan LC with 195,000 miles.

I’ve got a lot of parts and plans for this LC that I will post soon, but as of right now I need lift advice. The previous owner installed a 2.5 OME Dakar lift, and it is barely too tall for my garage by about 1-.5” all because of the connecting elbow bracket that hangs down between the garage door and opener trolley when the garage door is open.

While the truck looks awesome and I can fabricate another bracket that would allow the cruiser to clear, I wouldn’t mind it being a little lower and neither would my wife. My question is this: The LC has the greasable shackles, springs and shocks from OME Dakar kit, can I buy stock springs or springs with a more mild lift than the OME, in the 1-1.5” lift range that will fit the other OME components that don’t lift the truck? Has anyone ever done such a weird thing as LOWER a Land Cruiser?

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[mp_cude]

OME does have stock height Dakar springs. Make sure you measure everything prior as all 60s may lean or may not. The lean needs to be addressed otherwise new springs will make it more pronounced. Just got mine sorted . Nice rig, my favorite color next to freeborn red!

 

[EyeCruzr]

figure out which OME front/rear set you have, you may be able to remove a leafs or two to lower it a bit.

T

 

[klinetime574]

Great story! Take it off road, you'll change your mind about the lift kit

Those look like 31" tires. If you want less lift, removing a few leafs from the spring packs is a good idea if the springs allow. People typically install the OME lift to clear 33" tires. This is what I have and I still fit in parking garages marked 7 foot clearance, heck I even fit in the one at work which is marked 6'2" lol (must be way wrong)

 

[collk22]

Welcome to the madness!

 

[JayDoc]

Nice find!
Hey, for the sake of those still looking for the perfect 60, do you mind giving us a ballpark of what you paid for it?

 

[cwwfj60]

Great looking truck! Sounds like you found a good one!

Leave the leafs like they are, accept your garage's rejection, and park that beautiful piece of Japanese awesomeness outside where it belongs!

That's what I do.....

 

[90FJ]

figure out which OME front/rear set you have, you may be able to remove a leafs or two to lower it a bit.

T

^this. Or get shorter shackles for the rear they look pretty vertical, will probably soften the ride as well.

 

[hj 60]

You cannot down a Landcruiser because there is no howto, instruction or help.
Chuck Norris tried it and woke up in a Toyota megacruiser.

 

[cruiserpilot]

Buy a bigger house. Once you buy a 60 everything is too small! HaHa! Beautiful rig, you are going to have fun!

 

[lovetoski]

Welcome. Great looking truck. You can remove a leaf, that will lower it. Another option is to experiment with how much weight you'd need to get it to fit. Use sandbags, or whatever, and see what's needed. You might not need much weight to lower the truck a bit. That would be a fast and easy solution. If you are going to use it for camping/wheeling, you'll probably add a bunch of stuff that makes it heavier anyway.

 

[cwwfj60]

ya do all of this leaf removing crap and then you get it to fit in the garage, great! til one day you come home with a 5 more psi in your tires, an empty tank, fresh shocks, and a little extra pep in your entry and whamo!!! good news is the cruiser fits now!

Sorry i'm just opposed to lowering it obviously. Happy Cruisin!

 

[rrv333]

Get some sliders and that should solve the stepping into the 60 issue. Great looking rig and congratulations on being able to spend time with your Dad on such a unique trip.

 

[nplasson]

You could start by measuring some stock tires to see if a simple tire swap will give you enough. That cruiser has stock wheels.

 

[BigRiggs]

Thank you everyone for the input. I'm amazed at what an awesome community and resource MUD is.

At first I was a little adverse to removing a leaf like most recommended, but after some digging it seems that I can make my OME springs that are Medium/Heavy into Light/Medium by removing the third leaf down from the top, part #D2XL. I believe this would make the current springs which are CS004F front, CS004RB rear passenger and CS004RA rear driver side, into CS003F front, CS017A/B rear. Does this sound right to everyone? I haven't found much information on removing a leaf, I don't think it will be too difficult though. I will also probably change the shocks to the ones that would come with the Light/Medium kit.

In the meantime, I found a way to get in the garage!

As you can see, it's close. But at least it's inside!

 

[62LostInMn]

Perfect... Another great example of Cruiserginuity!

 

[LakeNorman_FJ40]

Great looking 60! We have twin trucks.

Hint: steel wool will clean any rust and shine up the chrome wheels like new.

 

[Haggis]

Great rig! Leave that lift alone. Looks perfect.

 

[Bear Lake Cruiser]

Amazingly little rust for a utah vehicle

 

[BigRiggs]

Get some sliders and that should solve the stepping into the 60 issue. Great looking rig and congratulations on being able to spend time with your Dad on such a unique trip.

Yes, rrv333, it was awesome taking this trip with my dad. Even though it was rough driving that far and that slow in one day, he did it without any complaints at all. My dad has forgotten more than I know about gas engines, and there is no one else around I would want to be stranded on the side of the road with. Aside from the comfort of having him along I had the confidence that if anything went wrong we’d figure it out, we’d find a way through.

It means a lot to pass the knowledge on of how things work. I try to do that every day when I teach; how things work and how to find the answers if you don’t know.