Build TRDdrew's build thread: lets build this one to keep

[TRDdrew]

Hey guys and gals, after almost 4 years of ownership i figured it's finally time to start a build thread on it.

My wife and I decided that we wanted a capable SUV to keep relatively stock (we all know how that goes...) for family duties and light wheeling and camping trips, so hence the title suggests the search began, as we had settled on the 100 series platform. We had been in the market for about 4-5 months when @BlueCruiser84 posted this one on MUD. We drove down to see it and needless to say it followed us home and we couldn't have found a nicer guy to sell it to us.

So its a 98 land cruiser finished in Imperial Jade Mica. Very well sorted truck with 171k and lots of service history a few minor problems to address including a cracked windshield but nothing too major. Few things had been done to it such as Front bumper had been rhino lined and fog lights deleted, GROM bluetooth, safari snorkel and some 33 KO2's, but otherwise stock.

I will be documenting as much of the build as i possibly can from the past 4 years and then adding to it as time goes on, feel free to ask any questions and i appreciate you taking to time to read through thread

this was the day we picked it up

 

[TRDdrew]

I had and Rhino roof rack in the garage from another vehicle and the cruiser already had gamviti feet with thule load bars, so i unbolt the load bars and attached the platform right to the feet

 

[TRDdrew]

next on the list was at some point in its life some rust in the hatch had been repaired and painted. Well that repair was starting to fail when i bought the truck. I actually work for a body shop and have been in the auto body industry for about 15 years now but i decide best course of action would be to source a rust free upper hatch. It was a miracle but i found one at a local junkyard for 40 bucks i got right to work getting it stripped down and ready for paint.

 

[TRDdrew]

Well this is where the fun ends, remember the cracked windshield? Next on the list was to get that taken care of, I’ve heard, read about, and even fixed the horrible windshield stories on these trucks, so I wanted to do my research. I found a company that the local Toyota dealer recommended. Gave them a call and spoke with the owner, he assure me that he knew these trucks and had been doing windshields on them since new. The company had good reviews online so I set the appointment and dropped the truck off about a week later. The owner drove me into work and told me he should have it done early in the afternoon. Hadn’t heard anything around 3 pm so I gave him a call. He called me back said it would be just a bit longer they had a busy day. It was about that time I became uneasy about the whole situation because he seemed to be stalling me, I decide to walk over to the shop it was fairly close to my work. What I found made me want to throw up. He had given my truck to the “new guy” who drilled out the molding rivets with a 1/2 drill bit and went right through the A pillar ! And they where trying to devise a plan on how to cover it up when I came in

Anyway somehow I removed my truck from the situation without causing physical harm to anyone, and the owner told me to get an estimate to have everything corrected. This whole experience furthered my want to ever have someone other than myself working on my vehicles.

No sense crying over it, just get it fixed. I provided him an estimate in which he provided to his insurance due to the amount. They paid the bill with no question.

Warning the images you are about to see are disturbing, viewer discretion is advised

 

[TRDdrew]

Onto the repairs luckily as a said I work at a body shop and could take as long as I want to make everything right. I got to work right away.

 

[TRDdrew]

Onto the actual body work I corrected the massive holes they had drilled by using rivnuts, now I can unbolt my moldings in the future instead of dealing with rivets

 

[TRDdrew]

Some new paint was next whole front end and the new hatch

 

[TRDdrew]

That whole fiasco happened around March of 2019 and with that nightmare behind me we could start enjoying the truck. My wife was excited about all the new goodies that had started to come in

 

[TRDdrew]

We decided the rhino lined bumper had to go and went with the Ironman, price was right and came with all the lights. I originally wanted a Slee bumper but I’m over here trying to ball on budget lol

 

[TRDdrew]

Slee diff drop and OME 2.5” lift, with the 860 rear springs, the factory suspension was tired the truck rode so much better. Found some rock warrior wheels and wrapped them in falken AT3’s in the 34” variety. I was working pretty fast these photos were around October 2019.

 

[TRDdrew]

A quick Christmas wheeling trip, nothing difficult just went exploring around George Washington National Forest

 

[TRDdrew]

@TRAIL TAILOR creeper skid and extended sway bar end links. I will say I’m impressed with both of these products. They will take some abuse.

 

[TRDdrew]

Ended up scoring a lightly used national Luna dual battery kit, figure while I was at it I’d replace the start battery, 2 new interstates. Did run cable to the back in anticipation for the fridge in the future

 

[TRDdrew]

My Wife started to notice a trend, the vehicle that was supposed to stay relatively stock, isn't so stock anymore . I had been wheeling my 3rd gen 4runner for about the past 5 years, but after owning the 100 i found that i enjoyed it more in almost every aspect except size. That 3rd gen would just fit in some tight areas, but the time had come and at that point in my life I couldn't justify having 2 offroad rigs. The 4runner went for sale in July of 2020 and was bought by a gentleman out of NJ and i haven't seen it since ( probably a good thing because i regret selling it ) but with it sold and a good chunk of change in the bank i could continue to build out the 100.

 

[TRDdrew]

Getting ready for our annual club event, FALL CRAWL, I got hooked up with @crikeymike at exit off road and purchased the dobinson rear bumper, i ended up having the diamond plate step line-x'd . Found a set of used White knuckle off road sliders and KISS drawers off another MUD member.

 

[TRDdrew]

Getting it out doing some wheeling Fall Crawl 2020 with Capital Land Cruiser Club

 

[Pancho74]

Hey guys and gals, after almost 4 years of ownership i figured it's finally time to start a build thread on it. For those that know me im a "everything has its price" kinda guy. I'll sell anything and I have a horrible obsession's with FB marketplace, craigslist, ect..... I'm constantly buying old toyotas and cruisers to fixed them up and give them another chance at life. So needless to say the fleet of vehicles at the house is always changing, but the ones to keep have always been my built 99 4runner, 08 tundra (trailer pulling work horse) and my wifes 16' Corolla and now this 98 LC.

My wife and I decided that we wanted a capable SUV to keep relatively stock (we all know how that goes...) for family duties and light wheeling and camping trips, so hence the title suggests the search began, as we had settled on the 100 series platform. We had been in the market for about 4-5 months when @BlueCruiser84 posted this one on MUD. We drove down to see it and needless to say it followed us home and we couldn't have found a nicer guy to sell it to us.

So its a 98 land cruiser finished in Imperial Jade Mica. Very well sorted truck with 171k and lots of service history a few minor problems to address including a cracked windshield but nothing too major. Few things had been done to it such as Front bumper had been rhino lined and fog lights deleted, GROM bluetooth, safari snorkel and some 33 KO2's, but otherwise stock.

I will be documenting as much of the build as i possibly can from the past 4 years and then adding to it as time goes on, feel free to ask any questions and i appreciate you taking to time to read through thread

this was the day we picked it up

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Great post! I enjoyed reading all the fun and not so fun stuff!

 

[TRDdrew]

After FC 20’ I decided the last the rear 860 spring weren’t happy anymore with the added weight of the rear bumper, drawers and fridge. On the road they felt great but once wheeling I found them to be on the bump-stops quite often. Quick swap to OME 863’s and good to go

 

[TRDdrew]

Great post! I enjoyed reading all the fun and not so fun stuff!

Appreciate it bud

 

[TRDdrew]

3.1:1 low range gears - I don’t know why I waited so long to do this, the difference is night and day. Picked up a used TCase so the truck wasn’t down while I was working on getting everything installed. OTRAMM had opened his shop up to the club for a tech day so I took advantage of the lift. Ryan is the man and if you are in the DMV that is the only other person than myself I would allow to work on my truck, his work and attention to detail is too notch.