wreckdiver1321
Overlander
Hello all,
I'm going to start out with a bit of backstory to get everyone up to speed. I'm not super far into this build yet, but things are happening quickly, so I decided to get started on a thread. Let's back up a bit and see where this whole saga starts.
PROLOGUE:
My real name is Tom. I'm an avid outdoorsman, hunter, hiker, backpacker, and amateur overlander living in Montana. I've been lucky enough to grow up here and become acclimated to hiking and camping in the mountains for most of my life. It took my a little time to discover my passion was exploring remote places by vehicle, but I eventually got there and fell in with the big overland craze as it was getting kicked off. I owned a 2001 Land Rover Discovery II that shifted my focus from big American 4x4s to more practical travel machines that could actually get you places. Plus, the whole Land Rover lifestyle and overland travel started really appealing to me after a short while of ownership. As you'd expect, that came apart quickly thanks to Land Rover's incredible unreliability and my total lack of money as a college student. I sill have a deep love for that vehicle though, as it shifted my love of cars into something that fed my passion for travel as well.
After a few years of Land Rover ownership, I took the plunge into my first Japanese 4x4, a 2003 Nissan Frontier, named Nancy. Nancy was a great truck that showed me just how dependable a 4x4 could be. I hada lot of fun in that truck and went a lot of places, but the terrible fuel consumption of the supercharged 3.3 was unforgiveable and I could not take it far afield. Thus, after a couple of years, it too went off to a new owner to be replaced by another Japanese 4x4.
The next vehicle is where I really caught my stride with modifying and traveling. Lola, my 2005 Nissan Frontier, was as dependable as the tides. She started totally stock with 112k on the clock, and over the course of six years, I turned it into a mile-eating, trail capable overland machine. That truck took me all over Montana and Wyoming, way up north into the Canadian Rockies, and all over the western US. We took it on our honeymoon and it carried kids home from the hospital. It taught me a lot about what I wanted and what I needed out of a vehicle build. However, after our first child and many modifications to the vehicle, we were starting to reach it's limits. Large tires, heavy armor, and lots of gear placed a huge burden on the truck, and many years of backroads hammering had required me to replace or upgrade an awful lot. Two kids and a dog made it nearly impossible to cram enough gear into it. After six fun-filled years, I sold it, bought a cheap Subaru as a runabout, and bided my time until I could find what I was looking for.
I knew I wanted a robust, reliable, comfortable, and capable 4x4 that could take me and my family on overland trips as far away as Mexico or Alaska. I wanted more inside space and more load capacity, and I wanted durability. A number of options kicked around in my mind, from a Ford Excursion 7.3 to an import Mitsubishi Delica. Eventually though, the obvious choice came shining through and after several months, I found what I wanted: Claire, my 2003 Toyota Land Cruiser.
From the get-go, this vehicle had something special. A local Montana truck that appeared to have been well-looked after with only 156k on the odometer, an immaculate interior, and what appeared to be very minimal rust that my friend and I could tackle ourselves. It sported a Front Runner roof rack, WeatherTech floor liners, decent tires, the BT45-TOY module, and an upgraded speaker and amp set. Otherwise, just an honest Cruiser. After a little deliberation and a hell of a deal from the owner, I took it home and drove it for a while, getting to know it and the things I wanted to do to it. After removing the running boards and poking around under the truck, it became evident that this Land Cruiser would need a little more work than we originally thought. I had started some small projects by then, but the lion's share of the work was underneath.
Here's her current situation:
But let's back up a bit and talk about where this build is going, what I did before the tear-down, and how exactly this all came to be.
My initial goal was to baseline. I wanted to gather up all the fluids, filters, and small wear parts that I needed to get everything where I needed it. I also went after a few mods that I had purchased beforehand and had sitting in my garage waiting for the next build to kick off. Before all that though, I got rid of everything I didn't want. 3rd row seats, extra speaker boxes, running boards, and the Front Runner rack were removed, along with the frame weights. I also removed every scrap of fake wood trim on the dash before giving it a good clean.
I then drove her for a bit, using it as my daily driver while my wife's Crosstrek was being fixed from this fall's deer strike. I got acquainted, took it on a couple of road trips, and really started to fall for the thing and connect with it.
As I was preparing to tackle the rust repair on Claire, I decided it was time to figure out exactly how I wanted to build the truck. I'd been through multiple iterations of parts on my Frontier, and that was a situation I wanted to avoid with this build. I spent a lot of time thinking through each change to try to balance what I knew I needed, what was not at all necessary, and what was nice to have. The Frontier taught me a good many lessons, and I tried to put those to use in the grand plan and on the spreadsheet that has drawn out exactly what is going on the truck. Step one was pulling out the tape measure and seeing what I was working with.
I discovered that the Land Cruiser had exactly the same amount of clearance everywhere as my 3" lifted Frontier on 33s, except for the front diff, which was about an inch low. Good place to start!
Disclaimer: This is not going to be a rock crawler, build. I'm not going to be putting 35s and lots of steel under it. This build will be on the lighter side, balancing long-distance highway comfort with off-highway ability in order to be a good vehicle for overland/adventure travel. It's about going places, not beating it up on the rocks, though there probably will be some of that involved.
So here is the major parts of the build plan, from the ground up.
TIRES
265/70R18 BF Goodrich KO2s.
SUSPENSION
Old Man Emu 60000 front shocks, torsion bars, 60002 shocks, 2866 springs.
SPC lower and Metal Tech adjustable upper trailing arms.
Ironman 4x4 LCA reinforcement brackets.
Slee diff drop.
Wheeler's Superbumps.
ARMOR
ARB Deluxe front bumper.
ASFIR 4X4 aluminum front skid plate.
Home built "Creeper" style center protection.
Home built "LCP rock rails".
Dobinson's rear swing-out tire carrier.
EXTERIOR MODS
EBay snorkel.
Stubby radio antenna.
Rhino Rack roof bars.
Rhino Rack Batwing awning.
Smittybilt X20 winch.
Long Range Automotive replacement tank.
ARB diff/tcase/transmission breather extensions.
Viair 2.5 gallon tank.
INTERIOR MODS
Escape gear seat covers and dash mat.
Raingler cargo barrier.
Owl Expedition media mount.
Vulcan magnetic pistol mount.
Rear storage system (TBD)
Front Runner onboard water tank system.
DFG Offroad fridge slide.
BATTERY & ELECTRICS
Slee main battery tray upgrade.
Interstate group 31 AGM battery.
Auxiliary electrical system.
ARB CKMA12 compressor.
150W inverter.
ARB LED fog lights.
Xprite LED bumper lights slaved to high beams.
Nilight rear flood lights.
Indel B TB51 fridge.
Chewing away at the back of my mind, though, was the rust I knew was on the frame and starting to get at the body. It was clawing at my subconscious and tainting my feelings toward the Cruiser. It was getting close to time to do something.
I'm going to start out with a bit of backstory to get everyone up to speed. I'm not super far into this build yet, but things are happening quickly, so I decided to get started on a thread. Let's back up a bit and see where this whole saga starts.
PROLOGUE:
My real name is Tom. I'm an avid outdoorsman, hunter, hiker, backpacker, and amateur overlander living in Montana. I've been lucky enough to grow up here and become acclimated to hiking and camping in the mountains for most of my life. It took my a little time to discover my passion was exploring remote places by vehicle, but I eventually got there and fell in with the big overland craze as it was getting kicked off. I owned a 2001 Land Rover Discovery II that shifted my focus from big American 4x4s to more practical travel machines that could actually get you places. Plus, the whole Land Rover lifestyle and overland travel started really appealing to me after a short while of ownership. As you'd expect, that came apart quickly thanks to Land Rover's incredible unreliability and my total lack of money as a college student. I sill have a deep love for that vehicle though, as it shifted my love of cars into something that fed my passion for travel as well.
After a few years of Land Rover ownership, I took the plunge into my first Japanese 4x4, a 2003 Nissan Frontier, named Nancy. Nancy was a great truck that showed me just how dependable a 4x4 could be. I hada lot of fun in that truck and went a lot of places, but the terrible fuel consumption of the supercharged 3.3 was unforgiveable and I could not take it far afield. Thus, after a couple of years, it too went off to a new owner to be replaced by another Japanese 4x4.
The next vehicle is where I really caught my stride with modifying and traveling. Lola, my 2005 Nissan Frontier, was as dependable as the tides. She started totally stock with 112k on the clock, and over the course of six years, I turned it into a mile-eating, trail capable overland machine. That truck took me all over Montana and Wyoming, way up north into the Canadian Rockies, and all over the western US. We took it on our honeymoon and it carried kids home from the hospital. It taught me a lot about what I wanted and what I needed out of a vehicle build. However, after our first child and many modifications to the vehicle, we were starting to reach it's limits. Large tires, heavy armor, and lots of gear placed a huge burden on the truck, and many years of backroads hammering had required me to replace or upgrade an awful lot. Two kids and a dog made it nearly impossible to cram enough gear into it. After six fun-filled years, I sold it, bought a cheap Subaru as a runabout, and bided my time until I could find what I was looking for.
I knew I wanted a robust, reliable, comfortable, and capable 4x4 that could take me and my family on overland trips as far away as Mexico or Alaska. I wanted more inside space and more load capacity, and I wanted durability. A number of options kicked around in my mind, from a Ford Excursion 7.3 to an import Mitsubishi Delica. Eventually though, the obvious choice came shining through and after several months, I found what I wanted: Claire, my 2003 Toyota Land Cruiser.
From the get-go, this vehicle had something special. A local Montana truck that appeared to have been well-looked after with only 156k on the odometer, an immaculate interior, and what appeared to be very minimal rust that my friend and I could tackle ourselves. It sported a Front Runner roof rack, WeatherTech floor liners, decent tires, the BT45-TOY module, and an upgraded speaker and amp set. Otherwise, just an honest Cruiser. After a little deliberation and a hell of a deal from the owner, I took it home and drove it for a while, getting to know it and the things I wanted to do to it. After removing the running boards and poking around under the truck, it became evident that this Land Cruiser would need a little more work than we originally thought. I had started some small projects by then, but the lion's share of the work was underneath.
Here's her current situation:
But let's back up a bit and talk about where this build is going, what I did before the tear-down, and how exactly this all came to be.
My initial goal was to baseline. I wanted to gather up all the fluids, filters, and small wear parts that I needed to get everything where I needed it. I also went after a few mods that I had purchased beforehand and had sitting in my garage waiting for the next build to kick off. Before all that though, I got rid of everything I didn't want. 3rd row seats, extra speaker boxes, running boards, and the Front Runner rack were removed, along with the frame weights. I also removed every scrap of fake wood trim on the dash before giving it a good clean.
I then drove her for a bit, using it as my daily driver while my wife's Crosstrek was being fixed from this fall's deer strike. I got acquainted, took it on a couple of road trips, and really started to fall for the thing and connect with it.
As I was preparing to tackle the rust repair on Claire, I decided it was time to figure out exactly how I wanted to build the truck. I'd been through multiple iterations of parts on my Frontier, and that was a situation I wanted to avoid with this build. I spent a lot of time thinking through each change to try to balance what I knew I needed, what was not at all necessary, and what was nice to have. The Frontier taught me a good many lessons, and I tried to put those to use in the grand plan and on the spreadsheet that has drawn out exactly what is going on the truck. Step one was pulling out the tape measure and seeing what I was working with.
I discovered that the Land Cruiser had exactly the same amount of clearance everywhere as my 3" lifted Frontier on 33s, except for the front diff, which was about an inch low. Good place to start!
Disclaimer: This is not going to be a rock crawler, build. I'm not going to be putting 35s and lots of steel under it. This build will be on the lighter side, balancing long-distance highway comfort with off-highway ability in order to be a good vehicle for overland/adventure travel. It's about going places, not beating it up on the rocks, though there probably will be some of that involved.
So here is the major parts of the build plan, from the ground up.
TIRES
265/70R18 BF Goodrich KO2s.
SUSPENSION
Old Man Emu 60000 front shocks, torsion bars, 60002 shocks, 2866 springs.
SPC lower and Metal Tech adjustable upper trailing arms.
Ironman 4x4 LCA reinforcement brackets.
Slee diff drop.
Wheeler's Superbumps.
ARMOR
ARB Deluxe front bumper.
ASFIR 4X4 aluminum front skid plate.
Home built "Creeper" style center protection.
Home built "LCP rock rails".
Dobinson's rear swing-out tire carrier.
EXTERIOR MODS
EBay snorkel.
Stubby radio antenna.
Rhino Rack roof bars.
Rhino Rack Batwing awning.
Smittybilt X20 winch.
Long Range Automotive replacement tank.
ARB diff/tcase/transmission breather extensions.
Viair 2.5 gallon tank.
INTERIOR MODS
Escape gear seat covers and dash mat.
Raingler cargo barrier.
Owl Expedition media mount.
Vulcan magnetic pistol mount.
Rear storage system (TBD)
Front Runner onboard water tank system.
DFG Offroad fridge slide.
BATTERY & ELECTRICS
Slee main battery tray upgrade.
Interstate group 31 AGM battery.
Auxiliary electrical system.
ARB CKMA12 compressor.
150W inverter.
ARB LED fog lights.
Xprite LED bumper lights slaved to high beams.
Nilight rear flood lights.
Indel B TB51 fridge.
Chewing away at the back of my mind, though, was the rust I knew was on the frame and starting to get at the body. It was clawing at my subconscious and tainting my feelings toward the Cruiser. It was getting close to time to do something.
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