Adventure Tool Company's 1987 FJ60 "Rhino Ride" - Part 2 (2023)

BritKLR

Kapitis Indagatoris
I picked up the Rhino Ride (RR) around 2003 when I was wanting to build up a truck to do some traveling and camping with my son. Originally I was looking for Defender 110, but trying to find one in the Midwest was impossible and I had history with Toyota 4wd Trucks so it was an easy purchase. The RR was originally silver with a green inlay, 190k and bone stock when I got it from the second owner. He (RR) had an interesting pedigree. He started as a ranch truck in California, then went to UCLA for college, (found a cool UCLA parking token under the carpet and made it my keyring) then up to Washington state for work and then to St. Joseph, Missouri for work and I found him in Smithville, Mo.
Unfortunately, I didn't take many photos in the early days, but after I started working on him I took more pictures.
After some fresh paint and new shoes my son and I took the RR on a spring break road trip and had a blast! There is really the "worlds largest ball of twine" in Kansas! Heck, if you call the city hall the "twine lady" will even let you add some twine to the ball!
After that trip, the build-up bug bite hard and we starting really building the RR up.

(Cont.)image.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpg
 
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BritKLR

Kapitis Indagatoris
RR cont....

One of the first things we did after repainting him was add a new ARB non-winch bumper, new carpet, new headliner and pulled the old door and rear panels and cut new ABS plastics panels to replace them. I also added a rear marine hatch where the jack is stored and ultimately ran 12 volt power and a inverter into the hatch. One of the craziest things was as we pulled the panels all the sills ( doors and quarter panels) were filled with sand and above the old headliner was bird feathers!

Cont...image.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpg
 
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BritKLR

Kapitis Indagatoris
Rhino ride cont....

After a few trips and learning more about the old school Land Cruisers I really liked the OEM "steelies" with the hub caps, so I ordered the steelies and caps from the local dealership. I sold the Alco wheels and BFG MT's and went with a new set of BFG AT's. Love the look and the ride! I added the Safari snorkel at the same time, but it took me another year before I had it hooked up.

Cont...image.jpgPicture 002.jpgPicture 005.jpgPicture 003.jpg
 
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BritKLR

Kapitis Indagatoris
ATC Rhino Ride

So, the Overlanding/Expo bug had completely taken over my life at this point. We were taking a couple of trips a year to Colorado, Utah and the Ozarks in the RR. After ground tent camping, I thought I'd give a rooftop tent a shot. I built the RR for the tent, along with the receivers that allowed the awning to be added and removed like a receiver hitch. My wife loved it! It killed my gas mileage, but it was very comfy. I also designed a rear bumper and had it built by the legendary SROR out of Castle Rock to carry the spare and an innovative ladder that was also a fuel can carrier.image.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpg
 
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BritKLR

Kapitis Indagatoris
ATC Rhino Ride Cont...

Here's several shots of the non-winch ARB bumper with the addition of a Highlift, recovery points and lights. It was a great bumper, it did its job when a pesky mini van jumped out in front of us...Tow Points 007.jpg2008 Colorado Trip 038.jpg2008 Colorado Trip 108.jpg
 
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BritKLR

Kapitis Indagatoris
Rhino Ride Cont...

The sliders and bumper were built by SROR out of Castle Rock, Colorado. The sliders bolted onto the frame and have performed wonderfully. The rear bumper took a little surgical removal of the rear cross member to install. The rear quarter guards bolted to the rear frame. It's so solid that it supports the entire weight of the 60!P1050029.JPGP1050028.JPGP1060034.JPGP1060033.JPGMoab 2010 285.jpg
 
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zimm

Expedition Leader
thats a sharp truck. i had a silver 60 also, and wanted to two tone it. i never thought of that color. it looks good.

my personal experience with the h55f, is it not being overly useful with 33's and a 2f and a full load. the low gear is nice, but its not that stellar either. its not deep enough to justify 2000 plus labor in my opinion. looking back id see if there was a ranger underdrive, or, i used to have a 40 i put an sm465 in, and that was best gearing, but loud. if you like the sound of old truck gears though, its music. \

if you go h55f, try to get a takeout from a BJ, as it will have the 2.3 tcase instead of the 1.95. the gears are mucho dinero for the marks 3.0.
 

BritKLR

Kapitis Indagatoris
Snorkel - ARB Lockers install

I decided to add a Safari Snorkel to the RR, but I also wanted to keep all my emissions equipment on the 2F....It took some time researching, but I finally ended up getting a air cleaner canister from a diesel 60 out of Canada to hook up to the Snorkel. I then cut up my old 60 air cleaner assembly to keep all the emission and air pump ports, but routed the main air intake to the new air cleaner. The flexible hose between the air cleaner and the intake is from Isuzu! While I was at it, I installed a ARB air compressor on a homemade mount to run the Front and Rear ARB Lockers. The compressor mount took advantage of existing frame hole just under the charcoal canister. I ran all the airline through the frame to the rear locker and just dropped the other one to the front locker.
The lockers were installed at the same time I had 4.56 gears installed.March 2010 004 (2).jpgMarch 2010 005.jpgMarch 2010 010.jpgMarch 2010 015.jpgARB bracket 002.jpgARB bracket 005 (2).jpgARB bracket 008.jpg
 
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BritKLR

Kapitis Indagatoris
Next came the 4.56 gears, ARB lockers front and rear, completely rebuild the front axle, rear axle, ran all new brake lines and put in new hoses and a new radiator. The H42 tranny was running fine, but the funny thing about living in KCMO was that Toyota had a parts distribution center about 5 miles from my house with a H55 sitting on the shelf at the time...well it didn't take much to go ahead and order it and it was sitting in my garage by the end of the day! I also put in a new OEM clutch, T/O bearing and resurfaced flywheel and rebuilt the transfer case. Had the drive shafts balance and new joints pressed in.June 2009 ATV riding fj60 010.jpgJune 2009 ATV riding fj60 012.jpgJune 2009 ATV riding fj60 016.jpgJune 2009 ATV riding fj60 068.jpgJune 2009 ATV riding fj60 066.jpg
 
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