Expeditions West: FZJ80 Land Cruiser

[rain76king]

Really looking forward to seeing this thing tomorrow. Especially after we load the KTM on the back.

Nothing beats seeing two awesome overlanding vehicles hanging out with each other. Other than actually using both of them!

Quick question- What type of OME spring are you running? Reason I ask is that Kaymar is a heavy quality bumper, add the weight of fuel/water tanks.You have now added the fridge/drawer to the back. Add in some recovery gear,tools,spare parts it gets heavy quick. Also the weight of a full aux. tank and now a KTM? You may want to look into upgrading!
I have OME J springs,heavy duty rear bumper,dual swingouts,a norcold 60,a mt45 plus gear and the weight of my trailer and it barely sits level. I have the frontrunner Aux tank from Campinglabs on my workbench at home.
With the added weight of that I have been seriously looking into airbags for those trips when I'm fully loaded with fuel,food and beer!
Interested in your thoughts/plans.

 

[Christian P.]

I look forward to this build, I'm quite excited.

Bob

There will not be much more for the build. I am leaving for London next Monday then back on the 16th of Dec, and then we're off!

 

[Scott Brady]

I still think we should do phase two with Hernando in Colombia

 

[hoser]

Time for the fuel tank quiz. Scott and I are still trying to confirm which tanks are these.

We think that the back (auxiliary) one is Man-A-Fre - can someone confirm this?

This is the main one - a replacement for the OEM.

We flipped the LandCruiser around to take a better look.

(Notice the absolute lack of rust btw...)

Long Ranger? If so, what capacity?

I think both tanks are from Long Range Automotive (LRA). MAF carries the aux tank but no longer carries the replacement main tank.

 

[adventureduo]

Yep, Long Range auto... or at least they appear to be. The rear looks the same as our LRA 24 gallon. There should be a metal welded on tab on the drivers side of the tank. Peak inside the wheel well to see it. As far as the stock replacement, that looks like the larger one as well from LRA. Good combo to have instead of a stocker and a 44 gallon out back to bang on rocks.

On the Fridge location you may notice you might have to step on your tippy toes to see inside. Also, the door may hit the hatch when you open it. Just something we've noticed with ours on the AO drawers. If the budget allows, you could mount a tembotusk pull down slide.

Like Gavin said.. trim packers.. to level out the ride height. They may have put the left coil on the right and the right on the left. Usually you don't need a trim packer to level the rig.. but there's always exceptions to the rule.

If you're going to mount a KTM on the back i'd make sure of the springs being part # 864 or 866's.

Oh and 14 mpg is good, we get 11.

 

[Christian P.]

Quick question- What type of OME spring are you running? Reason I ask is that Kaymar is a heavy quality bumper, add the weight of fuel/water tanks.You have now added the fridge/drawer to the back. Add in some recovery gear,tools,spare parts it gets heavy quick. Also the weight of a full aux. tank and now a KTM? You may want to look into upgrading!
I have OME J springs,heavy duty rear bumper,dual swingouts,a norcold 60,a mt45 plus gear and the weight of my trailer and it barely sits level. I have the frontrunner Aux tank from Campinglabs on my workbench at home.
With the added weight of that I have been seriously looking into airbags for those trips when I'm fully loaded with fuel,food and beer!
Interested in your thoughts/plans.

Sorry I don't know, they were already installed. Is there a stamped on them somewhere?

We are testing with the KTM today....

 

[Christian P.]

Yep, Long Range auto... or at least they appear to be. The rear looks the same as our LRA 24 gallon. There should be a metal welded on tab on the drivers side of the tank. Peak inside the wheel well to see it. As far as the stock replacement, that looks like the larger one as well from LRA. Good combo to have instead of a stocker and a 44 gallon out back to bang on rocks.

On the Fridge location you may notice you might have to step on your tippy toes to see inside. Also, the door may hit the hatch when you open it. Just something we've noticed with ours on the AO drawers. If the budget allows, you could mount a tembotusk pull down slide.

Like Gavin said.. trim packers.. to level out the ride height. They may have put the left coil on the right and the right on the left. Usually you don't need a trim packer to level the rig.. but there's always exceptions to the rule.

If you're going to mount a KTM on the back i'd make sure of the springs being part # 864 or 866's.

Oh and 14 mpg is good, we get 11.

Yes if I had the money, the Tembotusk would be very welcome.

I think that the larger tires, the front hub and modified transfer case (which gives a true 2WD) help with fuel economy. We are getting a lot for 14 mpg!

 

[FireGuy]

14 MPG with a RTT, ARB, fridge, drawers and 295's is OUTSTANDING! Has it been regeared? I have trouble getting 14 MPG out of my stock 97.

 

[Christian P.]

14 MPG with a RTT, ARB, fridge, drawers and 295's is OUTSTANDING! Has it been regeared? I have trouble getting 14 MPG out of my stock 97.

Again, we think it had. We really don't know much about the history - I wish I could talk with the previous owner who did the mods.
Someone put some serious money and time in this vehicle.

 

[Christian P.]

We just finished testing the next mod on the truck. Well, not really a modification...

We need to carry the bike for the first couple days until we reach warmer Mexico.

More details on the KTM later in a different thread - this thing is awesome.

 

[gabepari]

Nice choice in luggage, the Wolfman stuff is awesome!

You guys have all the cool toys

Gabe

 

[rain76king]

How did the cruiser do pulling the KTM? How was your rake?

 

[joel]

Oh man, I don't want to see that. I'd already committed myself to selling the XT225 before we hit the road, if only so I can get a dual swing-out spare situation happening. But now I'm daydreaming again.

What's the deal with bringing bikes with you into Central/South America? I was under the impression it's a pain in the *** to get one across borders.

 

[uncle_git]

x2 on the trim packers. For whatever reason it seems that most OME lifts develope a lean. In most cases it's on the drivers side. These Trim Packers help level them out.
I have heard that this is only a problem with OME. Other brands such as Frankie's Off Road (For) and Ironman4x4, from what I have read, and heard first hand from owners is that it's not an issue.
I run OME Jsprings due to the amount of added armor/gear I carry and trailer tongue weight. I am starting to get the lean as well.
I look forward to this build, I'm quite excited.

Bob

80 series springs are of unequal length left / right - they may have been installed backwards and the trim packer added to even out the truck.

To add to the confusion they used to be marked driver / passenger side - being manufactured in Australia for RHD trucks...

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Again, we think it had. We really don't know much about the history - I wish I could talk with the previous owner who did the mods.

Do you know if this was his personal 80 or one they had on trade? I've sold them a fair amount of parts I could look back and see if it was something they picked up from me.

Otherwise OME coils have a small tag on them that indicates the part number, usually mid coil. Amazingly they can often be read years after the install. The alternative method is to take them out an measure against OME's specs