BretEdge
Adventurer
A couple months ago I bought my wife a 2014 Land Cruiser that I found in the ExPo classifieds in Asheville, NC. It was impeccably maintained and lightly modified with OME BP-51 suspension, SPC UCA's, EVO Corse wheels and Falken Wildpeak tires. I drove it home to Moab over a period of five days and when I arrived, I handed her the keys and issued a warning: I'm buying a Land Cruiser for me. She laughed. I started looking for one that night.
I've always admired LC's from afar, but never owned one. I bought my first Toyota in 2001, a brand new Tacoma. In 2007 I made a mistake and traded it in on an FJ Cruiser. Nothing against the FJ...it just wasn't the Tacoma. In 2010 I bought my wife a new 4Runner and then in 2018, I bought a 2007 Tundra. I'm no stranger to Toyotas. I love them. I love their ridiculous reliability, natural off-road capabilities and ability to retain value. I sold the Tundra in 2019 and bought...a used F150. We bought a FWC Raven and used this vehicle as a "proof of concept" to decide if we liked that style of travel/camping. We did...we just needed more room. A lot. More. Room. So, in 2021 I bought an F250, threw a flatbed on it and an FWC Hawk UTE. It sits on Carli suspension and 37's, and we've taken it places it had no business going but it went anyway, with zero complaints. But, as a daily driver, commuter and general off-road rig around the Moab area, it's less than ideal.
It didn't take long to find my LC. Here on ExPo (again) I found a 2013 in southern California with a thick stack of maintenance records, a super clean body and interior and, to my delight, OME BP-51 suspension, Nolathane UCA's, EVO Corse wheels and Toyo ATIII's. All of the upgrades had been done within the last few months and they only had 10,000 miles on them. Having driven my wife's LC w/ the OME suspension, I knew I wanted it on mine. Luck favors the dumb, or something like that, and I'd found my rig. Again, luck stepped in. I was flying to southern California for work in about three weeks, which gave me enough time to get all the financing worked out before I would arrive to pick it up. The seller, a super cool ExPo member, was awesome to work with and included a windshield shade, very nice car cover, a couple extra air and oil filters, and all of the original Toyota wheels (I'm selling them, if anyone's interested) AND he picked me up at John Wayne airport so we could do the deal before I drove off into the sunset - literally. I drove down to San Diego as the sun was setting and then drove it home a few days later when I'd finished work in California. Just like my wife's LC, it drove like a dream.
Once home, I took it out on a local road I half-jokingly call Shakedown Street because since 2006, every new off-road rig I've bought has gone down that road so I could get a feeling for the handling, capabilities, etc. without too much commitment. Then, I spent about 10 hours over two days detailing it inside and out. Not because it was dirty; it wasn't. I'm just extremely OCD about keeping my vehicles clean and I wanted a fresh start. If you've read this far, I'm sorry. It was a long story but here we are, at the end - and the beginning. Now, I get to start planning the build.
First things first: I replaced the worn out shift knob with a new one, bought a drop-in tray for the center console and ordered a cupholder insert since whoever designed Land Cruisers has obviously never used their truly horrific and mostly worthless cup holders. Next up: I'm baselining it. Again, a fresh start.
After that, the fun stuff, in order:
- Husky liners, front, middle and back
- Velocirax 4 bike rack
- Rock sliders, most likely either SDHQ or Rocky Road Outfitters
- Rear bumper, probably Victory 4X4 (No swingouts, just the bumper)
- Red ARB recovery hooks because...they're red, and look cool
The above are definites. Below are the most likelys:
- Front bumper, probably Victory 4X4
- KC HiLiTEs in the bumper
- Full skid plates, either Victory 4X4 or ARB
- HD rear lower arms, either SPC or Total Chaos
- Method wheels, black (nothing wrong with the EVO Corse, but the LC is silver and the wheels are gray - just not my favorite combo)
And finally, the maybe some day:
- Winch
- EC Offroad 10" head unit
- ????
Right now, it sits on 285/70/17 Toyo ATIII's. It'll be a long while before those need to be replaced but when that time does come, I will most likely do either 295/70/17's or 285/75/17's, from Toyo. Anything bigger than that and I'd have to carry the spare on a swing out and it would make the rig less viable as a commuter. Highly unlikely that I'll ever do drawers, or an expedition rack and RTT, ditch lights, etc. This is intended to be somewhat of a sleeper build. One thing is for sure; it will be a sloooow build.
Ok, that's enough jabbering. Below are a few photos from the quick run on Shakedown Street. I'll post photos of the LC out in its natural environment from time to time, and any time mods are done.
I've always admired LC's from afar, but never owned one. I bought my first Toyota in 2001, a brand new Tacoma. In 2007 I made a mistake and traded it in on an FJ Cruiser. Nothing against the FJ...it just wasn't the Tacoma. In 2010 I bought my wife a new 4Runner and then in 2018, I bought a 2007 Tundra. I'm no stranger to Toyotas. I love them. I love their ridiculous reliability, natural off-road capabilities and ability to retain value. I sold the Tundra in 2019 and bought...a used F150. We bought a FWC Raven and used this vehicle as a "proof of concept" to decide if we liked that style of travel/camping. We did...we just needed more room. A lot. More. Room. So, in 2021 I bought an F250, threw a flatbed on it and an FWC Hawk UTE. It sits on Carli suspension and 37's, and we've taken it places it had no business going but it went anyway, with zero complaints. But, as a daily driver, commuter and general off-road rig around the Moab area, it's less than ideal.
It didn't take long to find my LC. Here on ExPo (again) I found a 2013 in southern California with a thick stack of maintenance records, a super clean body and interior and, to my delight, OME BP-51 suspension, Nolathane UCA's, EVO Corse wheels and Toyo ATIII's. All of the upgrades had been done within the last few months and they only had 10,000 miles on them. Having driven my wife's LC w/ the OME suspension, I knew I wanted it on mine. Luck favors the dumb, or something like that, and I'd found my rig. Again, luck stepped in. I was flying to southern California for work in about three weeks, which gave me enough time to get all the financing worked out before I would arrive to pick it up. The seller, a super cool ExPo member, was awesome to work with and included a windshield shade, very nice car cover, a couple extra air and oil filters, and all of the original Toyota wheels (I'm selling them, if anyone's interested) AND he picked me up at John Wayne airport so we could do the deal before I drove off into the sunset - literally. I drove down to San Diego as the sun was setting and then drove it home a few days later when I'd finished work in California. Just like my wife's LC, it drove like a dream.
Once home, I took it out on a local road I half-jokingly call Shakedown Street because since 2006, every new off-road rig I've bought has gone down that road so I could get a feeling for the handling, capabilities, etc. without too much commitment. Then, I spent about 10 hours over two days detailing it inside and out. Not because it was dirty; it wasn't. I'm just extremely OCD about keeping my vehicles clean and I wanted a fresh start. If you've read this far, I'm sorry. It was a long story but here we are, at the end - and the beginning. Now, I get to start planning the build.
First things first: I replaced the worn out shift knob with a new one, bought a drop-in tray for the center console and ordered a cupholder insert since whoever designed Land Cruisers has obviously never used their truly horrific and mostly worthless cup holders. Next up: I'm baselining it. Again, a fresh start.
After that, the fun stuff, in order:
- Husky liners, front, middle and back
- Velocirax 4 bike rack
- Rock sliders, most likely either SDHQ or Rocky Road Outfitters
- Rear bumper, probably Victory 4X4 (No swingouts, just the bumper)
- Red ARB recovery hooks because...they're red, and look cool
The above are definites. Below are the most likelys:
- Front bumper, probably Victory 4X4
- KC HiLiTEs in the bumper
- Full skid plates, either Victory 4X4 or ARB
- HD rear lower arms, either SPC or Total Chaos
- Method wheels, black (nothing wrong with the EVO Corse, but the LC is silver and the wheels are gray - just not my favorite combo)
And finally, the maybe some day:
- Winch
- EC Offroad 10" head unit
- ????
Right now, it sits on 285/70/17 Toyo ATIII's. It'll be a long while before those need to be replaced but when that time does come, I will most likely do either 295/70/17's or 285/75/17's, from Toyo. Anything bigger than that and I'd have to carry the spare on a swing out and it would make the rig less viable as a commuter. Highly unlikely that I'll ever do drawers, or an expedition rack and RTT, ditch lights, etc. This is intended to be somewhat of a sleeper build. One thing is for sure; it will be a sloooow build.
Ok, that's enough jabbering. Below are a few photos from the quick run on Shakedown Street. I'll post photos of the LC out in its natural environment from time to time, and any time mods are done.
Attachments
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Land Cruiser Flexing on Ledges on Willow Springs Road.jpg -
Land Cruiser and Rabbitbrush on Willow Springs Road.jpg -
Land Cruiser Flexing on Ledges on Willow Springs Road-4.jpg -
Land Cruiser and La Sal Mountains.jpg -
Land Cruiser Flexing on Ledges on Willow Springs Road-3.jpg -
Land Cruiser Flexing on Ledges on Willow Springs Road-2.jpg -
Land Cruiser Hero Shot.jpg
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