80 Series build - The Land Yacht
- Thread starter VuickB6
- Start date
VuickB6
What is this I don't even
Me and my wife would LOVE to live in Flagstaff. I'm still trying to figure out how we could because I wouldn't hesitate to move.
Man,I'm LOVING your rig,as well enjoying reading about the great adventures you've been having-just awesome,brother
Thanks guys :beer:
I remember seeing that place on my phone when we were looking. Not too far away from NiMarco's if I remember right. I'll add that to the list for next time.
DetroitDiesel
Adventurer
Wow nice truck. That thing looks nasty on those 37s. I was going to ask you but now you have mentioned how tall are you. My question is you said you went from the 2nd gen 4runner to the 80 because you have kids,wife and long trips. Do you feel like you made the right choice? Or did you just need more room so you can haul more "things" not necessarily actual physical room. You didn't get any taller or anything so is it more on cargo room needed or like were you uncomfortable driving the 4runner for long distances? I am 6'2 and no kids just a dog and am looking for my backcountry suv. I am looking for something that I only need to buy once. I just want to make sure you upgraded because of space not because seat time was killing you. If a 92-02 4runner is all I need thats what I want to buy but if that will get uncomfortable for long drives and the space is not there and Ill soon be wanting to upgrade then I will get the 80 or 60 as a base. Thank you and thanks for sharing some of those pictures in AZ. Motivation!
VuickB6
What is this I don't even
Sorry for the late reply!
100% made the right choice. The 4Runner was fine for the shorter trips here in Texas but it wouldn't have been comfortable for all of us on a trip like we did to Moab. So we did it because we wanted more comfort and room for us inside but also for cargo carrying capacity. If it was just me and a dog, I would totally go for a 3rd gen 4Runner. We could probably have gotten away with a 3rd gen but I like the extra room in the 80 and my wife really appreciates not being in such a tippy vehicle.
T4R@DNA
Observer
One BEAUTIFUL RIG YOU GOT. I have both the 3rd Gen 4Runner and '97 LX450, Definitely like to drive the LX450. Btw, Did you have to upgrade your differential since you using 37?
VuickB6
What is this I don't even
Thanks man!
I wheeled it for almost a year before I bought the upgraded diffs and it did just fine. It didn't feel that much slower going from stock tires to the 37s except when going up hills then you could really tell the difference.
VuickB6
What is this I don't even
Finally have the time to post more pictures. I've been busy lately with work and we also just got back last night from 4 days of wheeling at the Southern Cruiser Crawl in Arkansas. :sombrero:
After leaving Flagstaff we headed to Moab, finally getting to the good stuff! We drove through a lot of the Navajo Nation which was pretty damn cool. Don't have any pictures but we did stop on the side of the road to look at a bunch of dinosaur tracks and then continued on to Utah.
Stopped off to take pictures at Wilson Arch. We wanted to climb to the top but it was getting late in the day and didn't want to be setting up camp in the dark.
Stopped for a quick meal at Moab Brewery which was our favorite restaurant by far, we ate there 5 nights in a row and twice for lunch. The jalapeno beer fries was our favorite appetizer, and the fish and chips along with the chile verde burrito were surprisingly good.
The beer of course was what I really wanted and they didn't disappoint. I'm a huge craft beer fan so I always look for breweries. :beer: The Squeaky Bike Nut Brown Ale, Rocket Bike Lager, and Derailleur Red were my favorites.
The first night we stayed at Canyonlands Campground which was much nicer than we were expecting. They had clean showers and restrooms, a place to wash your dishes, and even a pool. Unfortunately my kids are still pretty young and getting them to bed is a headache and with our neighbors as close as they are I didn't want to bother them much so the next day we drove around looking for a better campground. We looked at all the campgrounds along highway 128 and 279 and found some decent spots but didn't like how close they were to the Colorado. We looked online and saw there were campgrounds in the Sand Flats Recreation Area so we headed that way and found a really nice spot. It was more primitive than we cared for but we could be as noisy as we wanted and the vault toilet they had out there was cleaner than 95% of public restrooms!
The Colorado along highway 128 near Big Bend Campground. There were 2 good spots here but much too close to the river.
Looking down on Moab from Sand Flats Road.
After setting up camp we took Sand Flats Road all the way up to the Manti-La Sal National Forest and poked around for a while.
We made our way back down on La Sal Loop Road which dumped us on to highway 128. Dome Plateau wasn't too far away and decided to head that way. We got a little lost after a while and forgot to take pictures. Luckily we ran in to a guy on a KTM who confirmed we were going in the right direction. We finally ended up finding our way to 128 on Owl Draw Road.
After leaving Flagstaff we headed to Moab, finally getting to the good stuff! We drove through a lot of the Navajo Nation which was pretty damn cool. Don't have any pictures but we did stop on the side of the road to look at a bunch of dinosaur tracks and then continued on to Utah.
Stopped off to take pictures at Wilson Arch. We wanted to climb to the top but it was getting late in the day and didn't want to be setting up camp in the dark.
Stopped for a quick meal at Moab Brewery which was our favorite restaurant by far, we ate there 5 nights in a row and twice for lunch. The jalapeno beer fries was our favorite appetizer, and the fish and chips along with the chile verde burrito were surprisingly good.
The beer of course was what I really wanted and they didn't disappoint. I'm a huge craft beer fan so I always look for breweries. :beer: The Squeaky Bike Nut Brown Ale, Rocket Bike Lager, and Derailleur Red were my favorites.
The first night we stayed at Canyonlands Campground which was much nicer than we were expecting. They had clean showers and restrooms, a place to wash your dishes, and even a pool. Unfortunately my kids are still pretty young and getting them to bed is a headache and with our neighbors as close as they are I didn't want to bother them much so the next day we drove around looking for a better campground. We looked at all the campgrounds along highway 128 and 279 and found some decent spots but didn't like how close they were to the Colorado. We looked online and saw there were campgrounds in the Sand Flats Recreation Area so we headed that way and found a really nice spot. It was more primitive than we cared for but we could be as noisy as we wanted and the vault toilet they had out there was cleaner than 95% of public restrooms!
The Colorado along highway 128 near Big Bend Campground. There were 2 good spots here but much too close to the river.
Looking down on Moab from Sand Flats Road.
After setting up camp we took Sand Flats Road all the way up to the Manti-La Sal National Forest and poked around for a while.
We made our way back down on La Sal Loop Road which dumped us on to highway 128. Dome Plateau wasn't too far away and decided to head that way. We got a little lost after a while and forgot to take pictures. Luckily we ran in to a guy on a KTM who confirmed we were going in the right direction. We finally ended up finding our way to 128 on Owl Draw Road.
Last edited:
Aaron Schubert
New member
Great photos and vehicle mate; tough as. It's incredibly rare to see a 4WD with 37's on over here; 33's are common and 35's every now and again!
Aaron
Aaron
VuickB6
What is this I don't even
:beer::beer::beer:
When I first got in to this a few years back we pretty much just did the parks they have in Texas since there isn't much for public land here. Rock crawling is the thing to do here and big tires with lots of flex was much needed which is where the 4Runner was going to end up. I still have a complete 1985 front axle in the garage that I was going to swap in along with a 3 link kit. I got the Land Cruiser since it already has a solid axle and was much more comfortable on the trips to and from the trail. The couple we off-road with has a 2008 Rubicon on 37s and I wanted to be able to keep up with him. Unfortunately they don't really take it out much any longer so we switched up our style of off-roading and now it's more towards overlanding instead of rock crawling. But I really like the way these look with bigger tires so I decided to keep them. Plus they help out when we do go to the parks every now and then. It's still a very comfortable ride and is much more pleasant to ride in than the 4Runner ever was. :sombrero:
When I first got in to this a few years back we pretty much just did the parks they have in Texas since there isn't much for public land here. Rock crawling is the thing to do here and big tires with lots of flex was much needed which is where the 4Runner was going to end up. I still have a complete 1985 front axle in the garage that I was going to swap in along with a 3 link kit. I got the Land Cruiser since it already has a solid axle and was much more comfortable on the trips to and from the trail. The couple we off-road with has a 2008 Rubicon on 37s and I wanted to be able to keep up with him. Unfortunately they don't really take it out much any longer so we switched up our style of off-roading and now it's more towards overlanding instead of rock crawling. But I really like the way these look with bigger tires so I decided to keep them. Plus they help out when we do go to the parks every now and then. It's still a very comfortable ride and is much more pleasant to ride in than the 4Runner ever was. :sombrero:
VuickB6
What is this I don't even
No problemo, and thanks for compliment!
