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Somewhat Heroic
Oct 11, 2007

(Insert Mad Max related text)



How did I get here? I have never had an off road vehicle before. After lusting over Kaker Mixes thread of all the sweet juicy JDM cars I decided that a Kei class car was for me. I told my boss what I planned on doing and he thought that importing some Glorious Nippon Steel was a good idea too. Having recently picked up a 40 series Land Cruiser he was all on board for more Land Cruisers. In just a few weeks time he had bid on and won an HJ61 Turbo Diesel. (pictured here) His process for importing had begun while nothing seemed to pop up that I was truly wanting badly.

Impatience and brain worms of Land Cruisers infected me whole. I started considering what was available locally that was four wheel drive and off roady. I also wanted something to handle winter duties of Salt Lake while my M3 was stored and occasional family hauling should our Flex be out of commission.

80 series Land Cruisers, while extremely handsome and full of cool guy cred with a solid front axle and boxy looks just all have about a billion miles on them. You can find them rusty, clapped out and full of questionable mods. Good ones exist, but you will pay a fortune for them. I wanted this to be a reasonable "beater".

100 series (chassis code UZJ100) Land Cruisers seemed to be the antidote I needed. Built from 1998-2007 with various changes throughout the model years you can find early model years for a very reasonable price. Late model years particularly those with low miles command a premium that I still don't understand. Locally I found the Toyota Land Cruiser variant to generally be overpriced and usually more beat than the Lexus badged LX 470. I test drove a couple of cars to get an idea of how they were. I then found a 1999 LX 470 about 40 miles away from my locale and messaged the guy for more details and photos, including the interior which was not on the classified posting.




Thing was mint
Turns out he works just 1/4 mile down the same road I work and we agreed to meet on Monday. I walked around the car, looked under it and found it to be super clean and commented as much, to which the dude put his hands on the hood and said "This has been my baby for almost 15 years". I drove it around for a little bit and tested all the bits to make sure it was good. It drove much better than you would expect a 20 year old truck with ~188K miles on it to drive. It was slow because these are just slow pigs. It was quiet, comfortable, and tall. It was not cosmetically perfect which I appreciated because with my plans it will definitely have some character added to it. I decided I really liked it and when taking the truck back to him got down to what he wanted out of it. One other person, who had driven the truck before me but texted the dude after my first contact said he offered $9500, and that was what he wanted out of it. I said "Are you okay with me ripping this apart and making it an off roader?" He exhaled, looked at the truck and said "Yeah".

I brought him the cashiers check the next day and exchanged money/title.

Here are the photos from the ad:





and two pics from when I brought it home:


This is where it sat for about two weeks. Maintenance was required immediately for a critical component to be covered in the next installment with the working title of: "Well it was running fine so I never bothered"

Edits as of January 15, 2020 - Laney met an unfortunate end at my own hands in early December 2019.

RIP In piece. You can see the relevant posts about that here and here and here.

After searching for a replacement I found Lucy the Cream Machine at a third string dealer for a song.
First photos can be seen here.


Current Lucy status as of summer 2020:

:siren:Lucy is SOLD in January 2023:siren:
and my kids say their good-byes


Lucy gets a partner in Rowan the Bean in April of 2021

Relevant info RE: the Bean begins at this point in this thread

Offroading for Weeaboos begins
The thread has comes full circle and my slow descent into madness transfigures itself in the form of babby's first import:

My first vehicle won at auction; a 1996 Land Cruiser Prado with ~213,000kms and extremely dope yellow foglights. Arrival date: ????

Posting first here
This Prado ended up being purchased by local to me goon SapientCorvid and he and his family are enjoying it!

and because I can't leave well enough alone and continue to troll auctions I find a 1994 turbodiesel Hilux Surf with 108,000kms and sweet decals that will probably be on the same boat as the green thing above. Arrival date: ????

Relevant posting here
I drove it for a good ~7 month and sold it in July of 2022

The day I sold it.

It was a good car and photographed so nicely.

Ella the Elephant has entered the chat (January 2023)
A new relevant Thread Title and tag! In my quest to off road more and reduce any kind of friction it takes to get my family to join in on the adventure and make it more enjoyable I finally got to a spot to buy a 200 series.

A 2013 LX 570 with ~130K miles. Picked up from a local private seller.

Relevant posting begins here on page 21

Somewhat Heroic fucked around with this message at 23:38 on Feb 16, 2023

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Ether Frenzy
Dec 22, 2006




Nap Ghost
Sweet. This man buys good cars, looking forward to this.

Slow is Fast
Dec 25, 2006

River Rock Green Mica Gang.



Mines a 1999 with the last year of factory locking diff. I paid a lot less but it's a rust bucket that I've been spending too much time base lining. Should have got a clean one like yours. Slowly going through it and hope to be back on the road in August.

There is something about these trucks that really is special.

Let me know if you have mod questions. Do you plan to keep the AHC?

Somewhat Heroic
Oct 11, 2007

(Insert Mad Max related text)



Slow is Fast posted:

River Rock Green Mica Gang.



Mines a 1999 with the last year of factory locking diff. I paid a lot less but it's a rust bucket that I've been spending too much time base lining. Should have got a clean one like yours. Slowly going through it and hope to be back on the road in August.

There is something about these trucks that really is special.

Let me know if you have mod questions. Do you plan to keep the AHC?

:respek: I’m not one for grey cars but this is a nice color and pairs well with the interior.

In my research I’ve read the 98-99 LX 470s have LSD rear diffs plus the standard center diff lock.

I currently have the AHC which is in proper working order but will likely change it out within the next year unless it fails before then. This is the beginning of picking it up about four months ago so I’ve done a bit of transforming and maintenance since.

I’m just noticing my poo poo Post tag. Dammit :argh: I’ll need to PM adiabetic.

Somewhat Heroic
Oct 11, 2007

(Insert Mad Max related text)



If it ain't broke don't fix it? :shrug:

As mentioned before the PO had owned the truck about 15 years and prided himself on doing all fluid changes, following the FSM and even had some special service tools to do the job. All the fluids were clean and fresh, and the condition showed how much it was loved. When asked about the timing belt keeping the 2UZ-FE from ingesting itself he said "well I never changed that because it has been running good and I didn't see the reason to change it"

Twenty years and 188K miles means that belt has been slung around millions? of times. I felt like I had put enough good karma into the universe that the truck should be fine to get home Still paranoid I promptly went home and parked the truck and refused to drive it. I ordered the often endorsed AISIN timing belt/water pump kit for about $180. It took a week for delivery. It came with a lot of good stuff to replace

A new Toyota thermostat and gasket was also added along with fresh red Toyota coolant.

After reviewing the DIY I could probably do it but didn't really want to. I called a couple shops as well as the Lexus dealership. Surprisingly the dealership came in with the lowest labor costs at $650 they were able to get the job done in like two days after I dropped it off. I requested to see the original timing belt for scientific reasons:




Surprisingly not terrible and is probably more a testament to the truck living an easy life. Finally not being a pansy and wanting to drive it I took it out to an RC driving event with some friends at the Little Sahara sand dunes. https://youtu.be/MGWa4Lyfjc8
There is a very cool old service station in the blink town of Elberta that is a popular stop to take photos.

For full hardpark cred I did put the suspension in "HIGH" mode for this photo. I will eventually post more details about the AHC suspension at a later time.

On my drive home through a spot of public BLM land next to Utah Lake I saw a hill with some off road trails heading up Google Maps street view It looked pretty tame from far away. As I started going up the trail was quite steep and the rocks were extremely jagged. I dropped into Low on the transfer case and scooted right up.


That officially was my first off roading experience I have ever had and left me like this :iia:

I wanted to take my truck cool places and get cool photos but the wheels are so chrome and the tires were uninspiring and a bit dry rotted and undersized. I wanted to go on more adventures and better shoes were needed. Working title for the next installment: "Who are you kidding, you are basic as hell"

meatpimp
May 15, 2004

Psst -- Wanna buy

:) EVERYWHERE :)
some high-quality thread's DESTROYED!

:kheldragar:

Definitely not a poo poo post.

Adiabatic
Nov 18, 2007

What have you assholes done now?

meatpimp posted:

Definitely not a poo poo post.

Ok meatpimp pick the new tag for our intrepid young OP.

wilfredmerriweathr
Jul 11, 2005
Utah is great because pretty much anything cool that you see whilst driving across the state can be driven on, explored, mountain biked across or ski toured on, etc.

Very jealous of your 100, that's a killer deal!

meatpimp
May 15, 2004

Psst -- Wanna buy

:) EVERYWHERE :)
some high-quality thread's DESTROYED!

:kheldragar:

Adiabatic posted:

Ok meatpimp pick the new tag for our intrepid young OP.

While I'd like to say , I'll take the more respectful route and say

I was giggling quietly to myself and my wife asked what I was laughing at. I described the conundrum I was facing and she started screaming at me that I'm like a 12 year old. So... yeah.

Edit: :giggle:

meatpimp fucked around with this message at 02:16 on Jul 11, 2019

Dagen H
Mar 19, 2009

Hogertrafikomlaggningen


Why the hell don't we have the falconry tag?

Somewhat Heroic
Oct 11, 2007

(Insert Mad Max related text)



wilfredmerriweathr posted:

Utah is great because pretty much anything cool that you see whilst driving across the state can be driven on, explored, mountain biked across or ski toured on, etc.

Very jealous of your 100, that's a killer deal!

Utah is rad and I have a lot of great stuff to post. In just a few months of owning the LX I’ve done way more exploring than I expected. You’ll love it when you finally get your exploringmobile.

meatpimp posted:

While I'd like to say , I'll take the more respectful route and say

I was giggling quietly to myself and my wife asked what I was laughing at. I described the conundrum I was facing and she started screaming at me that I'm like a 12 year old. So... yeah.

:piss: help me meat pimp kanobi. You’re my only hope.

KYOON GRIFFEY JR
Apr 12, 2010



Runner-up, TRP Sack Race 2021/22
come on:

Boaz MacPhereson
Jul 11, 2006

Day 12045 Ht10hands 180lbs
No Name
No lumps No Bumps Full life Clean
Two good eyes No Busted Limbs
Piss OK Genitals intact
Multiple scars Heals fast
O NEGATIVE HI OCTANE
UNIVERSAL DONOR
Lone Road Warrior Rundown
on the Powder Lakes V8
No guzzoline No supplies
ISOLATE PSYCHOTIC
Keep muzzled...

Second

everdave
Nov 14, 2005
Great truck and great price on getting the belt done!

wilfredmerriweathr
Jul 11, 2005
A coworker has a 99 4runner with 270k on the original timing belt.

When I recommend he change it asap, he laughs and says it'll be fine.

sanchez
Feb 26, 2003
Nice truck and you live in an amazing state to own one. I lived in Emery county for a while, 4000 sq miles inhabited by only 10000 people and a ton of cool poo poo on public land accessible by 4WD.

Tremek
Jun 10, 2005

River Rock Green Mica is the best drat color on those trucks and you got a creampuff. What a great find.

Ferremit
Sep 14, 2007
if I haven't posted about MY LANDCRUISER yet, check my bullbars for kangaroo prints

If you go completely rabid mad, the 4.2TD motor from a HDJ100 drops into that chassis. There’s a little wiring dickery but it’s definitely doable.

I got a white landcruiser 100 because it was absolutely MINT when I got it and almost totally stock. Sometimes I wish I got a different colour though. If I ever write off the body on mine, plan is to drop all my mods, accessories and powertrain into a nice 06-07 LX



They’re awesome trucks. I bought mine 11 years ago with 106K on the clock and nothing more than an alloy bullbar, spotlights and some rear tow coils and now it’s got almost the entire ARB catalogue (just missing side steps and scrub rails), a laundry list of performance mods, 217L(57 gallons) of fuel capacity and 370K kms on the clock!

Tremek
Jun 10, 2005

The only cost effective swap for a 100 series is a 200 series, but that’s a very personal decision.

Real talk, if the 3UR-FE and 6 speed Aisin could be grafted into a 100 with a commercially supported swap kit I’d call that the best of both worlds.

Ferremit
Sep 14, 2007
if I haven't posted about MY LANDCRUISER yet, check my bullbars for kangaroo prints

Your right, its a really personal decision- I know of a fair few people who sold their 100's to jump into 200's, then wound up back in the 100's again after a few years, but that is with the diesels, and the 1HD-FTE is a much, much better engine than the 1VD-FTV V8. Especially the early ones, toyota didnt really build them that well.

Also the early (and therefore affordable) 200's had some pretty mediocre styling. The newest versions look sharp as hell outside but the inside it completely impractical for a bush tourer.

Somewhat Heroic
Oct 11, 2007

(Insert Mad Max related text)



sanchez posted:

Nice truck and you live in an amazing state to own one. I lived in Emery county for a while, 4000 sq miles inhabited by only 10000 people and a ton of cool poo poo on public land accessible by 4WD.

Thanks! My wife is from Sanpete county, just on the west side of the mountains where you were. There is SO MUCH space to explore in Utah. It is nuts!


Me likey.

Tremek posted:

The only cost effective swap for a 100 series is a 200 series, but that’s a very personal decision.

Totally. The 200 series is :eyepoop: costs compared to this. I am not yet that flush with cash to feel good about bashing around in such brazen fashion as I am with the hundy. I would totally buy one though.

Anyhow back to our normal schedule program:
Talkin' bout where the rubber meets the road #dadjokes

Okay where were we? Right, we were looking for a palate cleanser to wash the gross memories of the two-thousand aughts, with its egregious amounts of chrome. In particular the 18" round things the PO found to be a tasteful addition to an otherwise perfectly handsome car. The wheels fitted were Lexus OEM but from a later model LX so chrome you could actually hear the sound of impending financial collapse. They were the grossest thing about the car. Am I being dramatic? YES! :barf:

If I had the OEM 17" wheels I would have been perfectly happy and likely would have had them powdercoated some cool color. After perusing the local classified and finding nothing good I turned to another automotive forum that is not a cesspool of terrible, iH8Mud to get ideas of wheels and tire choices of other 100 series enthusiasts. I also found a Facebook group with some decent photos as well. I learned that the 5x150 bolt pattern is the same as what is on the Toyota Tundra. The back spacing is slightly different and the UJZ100 use yuuuuuge size hub bearings so that the center caps cannot typically be used. That is solved however by using wheel spacer. I know that the automotive community at large is very split on them. I have personally never used them before but I did research and found that the Spidertraxx off road spacers are the highest quality you can get.

Like chrome to boomers, bad wheels and low profile tires are the siren song of Bros and their trucks. This means a multitude of take off wheels can be had for cheap. I found a brand new set of 5 wheels with no tires and lug nuts from a Tundra TRD for $525.

A little dusty but no worry!

A E S T H E T I C S are important to me and a center cap had to be used on my wheels so I went with the aforementioned Spidertraxx spacers from Slee Offroad. Shipped they were about $322 for the set of four. I was immediately impressed with how well they were packaged and the finish. They use a high quality stud and the coating was flawless.
Rears went on easy enough

Fresh discs and new pads were a nice sight to see.

Spidertraxx included some read thread lock for the centric locking nuts. I applied that to the factory studs and torqued to the (I believe) 120 lb-ft specification.

Fronts were slightly different and require that you make sure the nubs of the hub are lined up correctly to the spacer


Threadlocked and torqued as per instructions.

They are 1.25" spacers. What is nice is that the factory studs are completely covered so no concerns about wheel interference and you get a nice flat solid surface to mount.

Have y'all heard about analysis paralysis? Try looking at tires for your first off roader and you will be inundated with choices and opinions and reviews. It will keep you up at night. Don't even talk about sizes! I could say a lot of flowery words but getting down to it (which was the basis of the title for this post) I chose the BF Goodrich KO2's because they are simply the best and to think otherwise would make you a proper :dong:. I have a few thousand miles on them at this point and couldn't be happier. I went with a 275/70/R18 size. One thing that sold me fore sure on them is the profile, the blocked sidewall leading to a somewhat narrow width meant that I would not have any concerns with tire rub - a real concern with using the spacers. The increased tire size means that my speedometer is off ~8% based on rough napkin math and a GPS app on my phone. Not worried about speeding with this slug anyhow.

Costco had a $75 rebate on the tires and as usual mounting/balancing etc. All in for tires I was just under $1100 for four of them. I have not mounted up the spare because I didn't know if that tire size would fit in the normal spot and having decided on a rear bumper/tire mount yet but that is a conversation for Future Somewhat Heroic!

The pictures! Driveway parked and in "high" mode.

Nice. They completely transform the truck into a whole new decade. Current running total of Laney (did I mention she was named at this point?): ~$12,275

That very day I found myself with the older kids on an adventure with my boss. We ended up driving a fair distance over the Pony Express trail with some neat little Historical Markers on our way to the Dugway Utah Geode Beds to do some rock hounding. All in I put a couple hundred miles on the new tires and wheels, with something like half of that on dirt roads.



Good times were had!

Working title for the next installment: "Hey, I have seen that on my license plate before"

IOwnCalculus
Apr 2, 2003





When you consider that most wheel spacers look like this, I get the hate:



The style you have, I ran for a long time on my WJ, and am running now on my TJ. They're fine.

Ferremit
Sep 14, 2007
if I haven't posted about MY LANDCRUISER yet, check my bullbars for kangaroo prints

The only thing I would say bout that is keep an eye on your front wheel bearings- over here people run the rims off the solid axle 105 series on their 100’s, which go from a -60 to 0 offset and it can cause your front wheel bearings to get hammered by the leverage forces moving the tyre outwards.

Just pray you never have to do a rear wheel bearing. It took a 35T press to replace mine because the 12T maxed out without even moving it off the axle!

bird with big dick
Oct 21, 2015

Why didn't you get the one with the solid axles

Somewhat Heroic
Oct 11, 2007

(Insert Mad Max related text)



bird with big dick posted:

Why didn't you get the one with the solid axles

If you’re referring to this generation in the US we did not get the solid front axle. That’s the 105 series trucks.

If you’re referring to the 80 series then I answered why not in my first post. Mainly availability, cost, condition. Early 100 series trucks are easily the best value for Land Cruisers unless you count the Lexus GX models (Land Cruiser Prados) but they are not as built as the 100s go.

BlackMK4
Aug 23, 2006

wat.
Megamarm
You're close to Slee Offroad, you can get it upgraded to a 105 pretty easy :v:

Nice pick-up. I loved my 80 series and I loved my friend's 100 series. Can't beat the drat things -- nice interior, bullet proof, and capable. I thought the v8 sounded pretty cool too.

Slow is Fast
Dec 25, 2006

Those Tundra TRD Pro wheels defeinitely bring the truck into modern times and I'm looking for a set for mine for DD duty. Yours has the more modern tails and I'm looking to grab a set to get rid of the orange. Cant wait to see where this goes and curious what rear bumper you end up with. I'm currently working on a DIY labs rear for mine.

Ferremit
Sep 14, 2007
if I haven't posted about MY LANDCRUISER yet, check my bullbars for kangaroo prints

BlackMK4 posted:

You're close to Slee Offroad, you can get it upgraded to a 105 pretty easy :v:

Nice pick-up. I loved my 80 series and I loved my friend's 100 series. Can't beat the drat things -- nice interior, bullet proof, and capable. I thought the v8 sounded pretty cool too.

Not really. The chassis on the 100 is SO, SO, SO different between to the 80/105 chassis- the IFS setup is an enormous slab of steel on the chassis where the solid axle would go. To fit a solid axle, you really need to fit a 6+ inch lift to the truck to get axle clearance, but then it makes them really top heavy and wobbly.

Its no poo poo easier to lift the body off a 100 and drop it onto a FZJ80 chassis.

wilfredmerriweathr
Jul 11, 2005

Ferremit posted:

Its no poo poo easier to lift the body off a 100 and drop it onto a FZJ80 chassis.

This seems like it would be loving awesome.

Ferremit
Sep 14, 2007
if I haven't posted about MY LANDCRUISER yet, check my bullbars for kangaroo prints

Guys do it here all the time with the 100/105's to build Sahara grade HDJ105 series trucks. Full swanky interior package of the Sahara, awesome power train of the 1HD-FTE turbo diesel and the offroad ability of the 105 series solid axles. They literally bolt on with the 105 series chassis, you have to do some work with body mounts if your using an 80 series one.

Tho take the front swaybar out of the 100, fit decent long travel suspension and twin lock the 100 and it will go 99% of the places a 105 series with solid axles will go. You'll showboat a hell of a lot more with wheel lift, but that 1% you cant do will involve panel damage anyway, and the IFS setup is SO much nicer to live with day to day. Things like being able to swing into a carpark in one go, its abilities on high speed lovely gravel roads. It makes them a very nice daily driver truck

Terrible Robot
Jul 2, 2010

FRIED CHICKEN
Slippery Tilde
Because I was bored I did some (extremely rough) napkin math to come up with a rough estimate of how many revolutions that t-belt/engine had done before the change. My number is probably a little high since I was assuming 60 days of total driving time per year (maybe dude had a long commute who knows) and a 2500rpm average engine speed, but the number of revolutions done on the factory belt is

2,958,750,000

Nearly 3 billion revs. Not bad.

Tremek
Jun 10, 2005

For reals though, sub-$20k 200s are all over the place now:

https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/detail/777401381/overview/

Haven’t ever seen that blue before but that’s also awesome. Anyway 200s have come way down and aren’t as expensive since as you might think anymore, and when I see someone else contemplating spending the same money on a late series 100 I’m baffled.

Nevertheless Somewhat Heroic your truck is dope and I stumbled across a similar one in a parking lot the other night and made a point to take a picture of it to show that you’re clearly a tastemaker:

meatpimp
May 15, 2004

Psst -- Wanna buy

:) EVERYWHERE :)
some high-quality thread's DESTROYED!

:kheldragar:

I hate you guys. You make me look at doing bad things.

GX/Prado near me: https://columbus.craigslist.org/cto/d/columbus-lexus-gx470/6920612827.html

Old cheap beat LX near me: https://columbus.craigslist.org/cto/d/westerville-2000-lexus-lx470/6923647228.html

Solid axle, probably a project: https://dayton.craigslist.org/wto/d/conover-97-lexus-lx450-solid-axle/6906227267.html

:mad:

Somewhat Heroic
Oct 11, 2007

(Insert Mad Max related text)



A 100 series bod on an 80 chassis sounds awesome.

Slow is Fast, there was no end to TRD wheels available locally. I liked this set because there was 5 and I didn’t have to feel bad about scrapping essentially brand new tires.

I didn’t realize early 200 series cruisers were down that low. I’ve only looked locally but :lol: at a lot of those trucks already doing 1/4 million miles. People drive the crap out of these things. I wanted a cheaper beater but this truck has a 200 series at the top of future replacement of the Flex for family duty. My wife wants something sportier once we’re through the car seat phase. She really wants an X5 or G series :getin:

Mestpimp all of those would be great ideas. Get them all.

Also:

Terrible Robot posted:

2,958,750,000

Nearly 3 billion revs. Not bad.

:allbuttons: even if that number was +/-20% wowsers

Somewhat Heroic
Oct 11, 2007

(Insert Mad Max related text)



An old man almost died and all I got was this crummy picture of the top of my kids head

(photo added for relevance)

MOAB. A place that you could visit and believe you are on another planet. A place where at any given moment where the population is more visitors than permanent residents. It is a place where Jeeps flex on the rocks and manufacturers of all sorts film their advertisements with the promise that you too can be extremely sexy and fun by driving their new side by side. It is the gateway of two different national parks that combined saw over 2 million visitors last year.

That place is just over 200 miles from where I live. I took the family there to get away for a few days from work. We stayed in a hotel right at the north end of Moab before you hit the heart of main street. The weather was beautiful compared to the cold rainy stuff we were seeing back home. It was the first time loading up the family and setting off for a long distance. Things I discovered:
  • Fuel mileage sucks no matter the speed. I think I may have gotten ~14 at one point but really averaged about 13 with the 80 MPH freeway limits and frequent passing.
  • This thing has incredible air con. It has a separate system for the rear. We can turn it into a straight ice box. Off roading in the sun but being totally cool is a luxury I like.
  • I was looking forward to step sliders/rock sliders but after seeing my smaller kids use the side steps to climb in and out they are too convenient. They also didn't rub or scrape at all on the trails I drove. I don't see myself doing anything more wild than what I did so they will stay
  • It devours miles as easily as it drinks fuel. What a highway machine!
  • I could have spent a TON more on a newer 100 series (with a 5 speed, VVT, upgraded front diff) but it would not have been worth it. For the kind of off roading/adventuring this is perfect

Moab was sweet. We were in town the weekend of a massive car show that takes place after the annual Jeep Safari. The hotel attendant said there were over 400 cars registered to be there. I saw all sorts of very cool things, including an absurd amount of air cooled VW microbuses/Westies etc. There were hot rods, rat rods, muscle cars, imports, classic imports, and a gang of Honda Trail 70's. They dragged main street every night for the entire weekend. Rolling burnouts...it was lawlessness in the coolest way. People everywhere just eating on sidewalks and watching the cars.








On our final day out we drove to the Sand Flats recreation area where some of the gnarliest off roading takes place with such trails as Hells Revenge or the more beginner (me) friendly Fins N Things trail. Seriously just look up Hells Revenge on YouTube and you will be down a clickhole for hours.

Fins N Things was more the kind of stuff I was looking for. My first off road experience. It ruled and I got to see one of the most amazing places Utah has to offer.




Here is a few clips from :siren:MY WIFE:siren: holding the GoPro, including her completely regretting the decision to go along with my antics. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iir5hoFJV_w

I am torn between the working title of my next segment:

"Nice rack! :pervert:"
or
":thunk:"

everdave
Nov 14, 2005
Subscribed!

meatpimp
May 15, 2004

Psst -- Wanna buy

:) EVERYWHERE :)
some high-quality thread's DESTROYED!

:kheldragar:

Guys? (Edit: Nevermind, the closer I look, the more rough it is... failed clearcoat, rust-through on the fender, writing on the windshield, probably a quick auction buy-and-dump. I am looking, but I don't need a basket case)

https://columbus.craigslist.org/cto/d/columbus-2004-lexus-lx470-4wd/6935934956.html

meatpimp fucked around with this message at 11:35 on Jul 18, 2019

Ferremit
Sep 14, 2007
if I haven't posted about MY LANDCRUISER yet, check my bullbars for kangaroo prints

Somewhat Heroic posted:

Things I discovered:
  • Fuel mileage sucks no matter the speed. I think I may have gotten ~14 at one point but really averaged about 13 with the 80 MPH freeway limits and frequent passing.
  • This thing has incredible air con. It has a separate system for the rear. We can turn it into a straight ice box. Off roading in the sun but being totally cool is a luxury I like.
  • I was looking forward to step sliders/rock sliders but after seeing my smaller kids use the side steps to climb in and out they are too convenient. They also didn't rub or scrape at all on the trails I drove. I don't see myself doing anything more wild than what I did so they will stay
  • It devours miles as easily as it drinks fuel. What a highway machine!
  • I could have spent a TON more on a newer 100 series (with a 5 speed, VVT, upgraded front diff) but it would not have been worth it. For the kind of off roading/adventuring this is perfect

1) Yep, They're a 3 tonne brick powered by a V8. You rarely hear of guys here averaging below 16-18L/100 in the UZJ100's/LX470's, and if you tow with it, expect up around 25-40L/100! Theres a really good reason the Turbo Diesels are legitimately $20K more for the same vehicle than the V8's, they're way more desirable for touring, especially when your in the outback and fuel is $1.80/L for both diesel and petrol. For comparison, the turbo diesels sit at 12-13/100 and around 18-20 towing

2) Even your average 100 series has awesome AC, Its one thing toyota just got right.

3) ARB has you covered there!
https://www.arb.com.au/toyota-landcruiser-100-105-series-1997-2002/side-rails-and-side-steps/

4) Yep, its why its called a landcruiser. I can get out of my cruiser after driving it for 10hrs in the day and still be able to walk. I just about fall out of the mitsubishi ute at work after 2hrs and need to be carted off in a wheelbarrow

5) If it does what you want, then its perfect. I was after a 20+yr vehicle so I spent the extra coin ($50K AU!) for a 5yr old, 106K vehicle because I wanted the updated dash and to keep it for ages. Mate picked up a 2001 HDJ100 for $26K that was basically turn key and go touring, but hes happy with the older dash and older vehicle

wilfredmerriweathr
Jul 11, 2005
Make sure you check out the La sal mountains outside of moab too, there is a nice campground up there and lot of beautiful alpine terrain with views of the Utah red rock below (much like up on Boulder mountain looking out over capitol reef).

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Mcqueen
Feb 26, 2007

'HEY MOM, I'M DONE WITH MY SEGMENT!'


Soiled Meat
Following this thread closely after buying a GX470 on a whim and for a song from an Aussie who had to leave within the week back to his motherland. Loving every second of it but thanking god every day that someone else is paying for my gas. Bought a lift, winch, bumper, sliders, etc. Finishing a house remodel, then I'll throw begin work on it. Loving this thread, thanks for making it.

Really fun getting back into mild off roading and car camping.

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