Nate's 100 series family camping and DD build

[nmatcek]

Hey all. Starting a thread to document what I've been doing to my Land Cruiser.

Back story:
I bought my first new vehicle in 2008. A crew cab 4x4 Chevy Colorado. It took my family to some great places and I maintained it meticulously. I told myself I'd never get rid of it. Well our son is getting bigger and space in the cab became an issue. I had my eye on the 100 series in general knowing that it would fit our needs well. I test drove one on a whim and the following week I was trading my truck in. I had never driven such a solid feeling and comfortable vehicle. The Cruiser has double the miles of my truck and is 4 years older yet drives significantly better.

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[nmatcek]

Here she is from the dealer. 2004 with 145k on the clock. Runs like a dream. ZERO rust (I live in Texas) All stock except for running boards missing and 275/70r18 bfg all terrains. First task is to do the timing belt and water pump service. The finance guy at the dealership (who is also my good buddy ) said he owned this vehicle around the 100k mark and swears he had the timing belt done but there is no sticker under the hood. It's cheap insurance so I ordered up some parts.



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[nmatcek]

Knocked out the timing belt service with new water pump, tensioner, and idler. Standard stuff. Also had some slop in the serpentine tensioner so I swapped that as well. My brother and I did the job in my garage over a weekend.


After it was all buttoned up I dropped in a yellow top Optima.


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[nmatcek]

Next I changed diff and tcase fluids with Amsoil severe gear. She got all new coolant and I forgot to mention I replaced the heater Ts during the tbelt work. Also greased up my driveline joints and got rid of the R to D shift clunk.

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[nmatcek]

Next up is the TJM T3 bumper.
Approach:
Before

After



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[nmatcek]

A few weeks later the Old Man Emu medium lift went on. It still rides great and looks awesome in my opinion. It is so tempting to get larger tires but I don't want to lose acceleration or fuel mileage and I'm not interested in regearing. The 33s will suit me fine.




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[nmatcek]

Wired up my compressor.






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[nmatcek]

Installed some IPF 6" lights. I went for the 100W bulbs. The switch fell apart on me so I need to go get a lighted toggle.




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[PetitFrereArmada]

Nice. Looking good.

 

[Bretthn]

Great looking 100!

 

[nmatcek]

Finally got the cb from my last truck swapped over. I'm running a 3' firestik which I have to take off when I park in the garage.



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[nmatcek]

Gave her a wash and wired up a better switch for my aux lights.




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[nmatcek]

I realized that my cargo area 12v outlet is on only when accessory power is present so I needed a solution for running my fridge. I used Anderson powerpole connectors and mount and I now have an always hot power source for my fridge. I ran 10awg from the battery with an inline 15a fuse. The ground for the outlet hooks to a bolt inside the jack compartment.


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[mizzle415]

Great looking hundo. You're moving along quickly with the mods. The TJM profile looks a lot more slim than I've seen. The rest of the adds look spot on. I've been lurking...I got an 02 myself, but have been distracted by an expo trailer, and a semi built 3rd gen runner.

Keep up the good work. I'll be watching.

 

[nmatcek]

Thanks.

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