Build What did you do to your Land Cruiser/Toyota/Lexus 4X4 this week?
- Thread starter murf
- Start date
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
What I always liked about the 40 series. Unlike the 50, 60, 70 series and possibly others no extention was required to add a factory winch. Especially on the 70 series it drastically changes the approach angle.
Wearing out he pooches in Greer. Black dog is toast, the other is snoozing in the tent with the wife.
The fishing sucks, but the weather is glorious.
The fishing sucks, but the weather is glorious.
Took an almost two week trip to Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Parks. I drove the cruiser up to Bryce Canyon on July 25th, then drove to Gros Ventre campground on July 26th. My wife and son flew into Jackson, Wyoming on July 27th. We camped at Colter Bay, Grant Village, stayed in cabins for two nights at Old Faithful, camped at Canyon campground, stayed in cabins for two nights in Mammoth Springs, then camped our last night at Bridge Bay near Yellowstone Lake. We had a blast and really got to see a fair amount of the park moving around as much as we did. My wife and son flew out on August 5th, and I made it home on August 6th. Long days of driving. Would've been nice to have a little more time to break up my drive and see more stuff. Out of 12 nights, I only spent 4 in the cabins. Still pretty happy with the Alu-cab RTT. Looking forward to another visit in a few years.
Last edited:
- Thread starter
- #5,225
Got some new wheels .
Looks really good @murf
Well, spent last week in the San Juans on a fun trip with friends in a slew of different vehicles and all was going well until we made it a few hundred yards before the infamous "Steps" of Black Bear Pass.
My front driver sway bar mount ended up breaking and the nut of the busted mount ended up crushing a fixed hard brake line and I lost all brakes on a switch back. Getting the cruiser to stop (despite 4lo / 1st gear) required me pulling the parking brake as hard as I could, breaking that in the process.
So here I am, on Black Bear with no brakes whatsover, pulled over at a pullout point along one of the switch backs descending towards the difficult part of the trail. This is a Saturday and of course Telluride lacks any automotive part stores and all shops were closed for the weekend I was starting panic a little bit.
Thankfully, I have an uncle who was up in Grand Junction about to leave and head home to the Durango area that I called up and he was able to get to an O'Reilly's and get everything we needed for a brake line fix (3' 3/16 hard line, flaring tool, bender, pipe cutter, lots of fluid, etc.) and he said he'd be able to meet me in Telluride if we can get down the mountain in the other vehicles.
This was about as good an offer as we could imagine. I ended up in the driver's seat of my friends 5th Gen 4Runner because she did not want to drive down (despite us pleading with her that she did not need to do this trail). So the two of us, my friend in his built 2nd Gen Tacoma, and our friends in their built JK Rubicon made our way down the mountain without issue (just lots of puckering and deep breathing), met my uncle at the Gas Station outside of town, drove around to Ouray and found camp for the girls so the 4 of us guys could drive back up to the trail head, get to the cruiser, fix the brake line, and come back on the Ouray side of the mountain.
All went well, we got the Cruiser fixed and back to camp by about 3:00am, slept in, and drove home on Sunday. Quite a terrifying experience, but I am extremely thankful the break happened where it did, because if it survived a little bit longer and broke anywhere else... you know what would have happened.
The Cruiser's brakes are working great at this time, but I will be sourcing the OEM line to replace the trail fix.
My front driver sway bar mount ended up breaking and the nut of the busted mount ended up crushing a fixed hard brake line and I lost all brakes on a switch back. Getting the cruiser to stop (despite 4lo / 1st gear) required me pulling the parking brake as hard as I could, breaking that in the process.
So here I am, on Black Bear with no brakes whatsover, pulled over at a pullout point along one of the switch backs descending towards the difficult part of the trail. This is a Saturday and of course Telluride lacks any automotive part stores and all shops were closed for the weekend I was starting panic a little bit.
Thankfully, I have an uncle who was up in Grand Junction about to leave and head home to the Durango area that I called up and he was able to get to an O'Reilly's and get everything we needed for a brake line fix (3' 3/16 hard line, flaring tool, bender, pipe cutter, lots of fluid, etc.) and he said he'd be able to meet me in Telluride if we can get down the mountain in the other vehicles.
This was about as good an offer as we could imagine. I ended up in the driver's seat of my friends 5th Gen 4Runner because she did not want to drive down (despite us pleading with her that she did not need to do this trail). So the two of us, my friend in his built 2nd Gen Tacoma, and our friends in their built JK Rubicon made our way down the mountain without issue (just lots of puckering and deep breathing), met my uncle at the Gas Station outside of town, drove around to Ouray and found camp for the girls so the 4 of us guys could drive back up to the trail head, get to the cruiser, fix the brake line, and come back on the Ouray side of the mountain.
All went well, we got the Cruiser fixed and back to camp by about 3:00am, slept in, and drove home on Sunday. Quite a terrifying experience, but I am extremely thankful the break happened where it did, because if it survived a little bit longer and broke anywhere else... you know what would have happened.
The Cruiser's brakes are working great at this time, but I will be sourcing the OEM line to replace the trail fix.
Aside from that, it was a great trip!
Murf, you made my butt pucker with that story. Once everyone gets through the PTSD symptoms you all can
laugh about it, somewhat, nervously.
laugh about it, somewhat, nervously.
- Thread starter
- #5,230
'twas a great story but from the "other" maroon cruiser owner lol
It was inconveniently convenient, to say the least. We've been able laugh about it at least since we made it off the mountain at least.
So, you did not tell us how much the medical bills were... You know - from when they had to surgically remove the seat from your rear end!
I was able to avoid those bills because I had unbuckled and was ready to jump if that parking brake wasn't able to stop me! Thankfully it worked long enough to stop and throw it in park before totally breaking. I'm gonna have to get into the shoes and see what dislodged / snapped.
Cleaned up the leather seats in the 4Runner.
Then installed cloth covers.
Last three Toyotas covered the leather. Between dogs and the Arizona sun perfer cloth. The front covers from the 100 series while they don't fit are covering the seats in the FJ62. Best fitted seat covers I could find for the FJ62 not greatest quality and the one for 100 series are so much nicer. Only reason cover the FJ62 seats is to protect the original seats that are still in shape.
Then installed cloth covers.
Last three Toyotas covered the leather. Between dogs and the Arizona sun perfer cloth. The front covers from the 100 series while they don't fit are covering the seats in the FJ62. Best fitted seat covers I could find for the FJ62 not greatest quality and the one for 100 series are so much nicer. Only reason cover the FJ62 seats is to protect the original seats that are still in shape.
Went to Turkey Creek yesterday. Pretty un eventful. Drier then I had hoped but still green. Obligatory poser pics and a flat tire later on
Went out to Table Mesa this morning exploring with the family
Took a drive on 4-peaks trail today. Almost no traffic
very nice trip!