OutdoorX4 Magazine Official Family Overlander Build Thread - 100 Series Land Cruiser

OutdoorX4

Adventurist
Back in September 2014, after some unfortunate issues en route to Overland Expo EAST, we decided to start the search for a vehicle platform to base a family overlander build on. The criteria included:

- Plenty of space for a family of five
- Four-wheel drive with selectable low-range
- No older than 2000 model year
- Less than 100k miles on the odometer
- Parts availability in the event of a part(s) failure
- Aftermarket parts availability to upgrade based on our use of the vehicle
- Comfort both on- and off-pavement
- Reliability
- Cost less than $20k
- V8 powertrain to accommodate hauling the family, gear, and a trailer

After three months of researching and taking input from a LOT of people within the community, we opted on a 100 Series Cruiser (hence posting in this section). We finally found the vehicle in early January: a 2003 model with 95k on the speedo with the 90k service having been performed a month earlier. The previous owner had taken pretty good care of her and the truck had NEVER been off-pavement and was still in stock form.

Since making the purchase, I ensured all fluids (with the exception of repacking the bearings which will be done when we start Phase Two of the build) had been replaced and afterwards, our first item for consideration was to make maximize suspension capability, on a budget, without sacrificing on-road characteristics since the vehicle will be driven daily. We opted for an Old Man Emu setup with 2860 rear springs (medium rate) to allow for a "stiffer" ride but not so stiff that it becomes uncomfortable. This setup is very similar to the one we had on our diesel Grand Cherokee so we knew it would serve us well. Plus, we plan to do a trailer build as part of our family overlander package and the medium rate springs will accommodate this. The suspension installation was done by our Editor, Frank Ledwell, and a good friend in Houston, Sam Craven, on Sam's driveway on a brisk January morning. Here are a few photos of the truck prior to the install as well as during/after:

The Land Cruiser one day after bringing her home:

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Installing the Old Man Emu suspension:

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Here's the truck right after the suspension was installed. This was before installing new, larger tires.

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So far, I've been very pleased with the Old Man Emu suspension. Sure, we could have spent a lot more money on a more sophisticated setup but our point was to enhance the on/off-pavement characteristics while still using this as a daily driver and not breaking the bank.

Now that the suspension was on the truck, it was time to install new tires as the factory Michelin's just aren't up to the task of overland-style travel. Last September, I had the chance to attend BFG's new KO2 tire launch in Baja and after several days of fun and sun, testing out the tires, I was very impressed. However, I didn't feel three days was enough to truly review those tires so I decided this build would be the perfect platform to do an install with the new KO2 and then do a much more thorough review of the tires in early 2016. So, we chose 275/70/18 BFG KO2 tires and had them mounted/installed onto the truck. Here are a few photos of the tires. One is right after they arrived and the others are of the truck once they were installed.

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Once the tires were installed, the geometry of the front end had been compromised with the CV Joints at an awkward angle due to the differential being at a higher location than it was prior to install. So, we sourced a Slee Offroad Diff Drop Bracket Kit to level out the differential and bring the angle of the CV Joints closer to spec. We'll never meet spec completely as the suspension/tires have changed that. However, the CV Joints were leaking fluid when the suspension was installed and now that the differential has been dropped, the angle isn't significant enough. Here are a few photos of the Slee Offroad Diff Drop Bracket Kit being installed. Notice there are spacers between the frame and front skid plate which came with the kit and were necessary to compensate for the lowering of the differential.

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Now that the suspension was completely done, we noticed the front end was significantly lower than the rear end so we cranked the torsion bars and left 1" rake so the ride would be a little more leveled out. Here's a close-up photo of the front/rear with the tires installed after the torsion bars were cranked.

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The rest of Phase One of the build included small upgrades such as swapping out all the interior lighting (which is quite poor on the Land Cruiser) with new LED lights from PFranLEDs. Unfortunately, we didn't think to take photos of the lighting before the install or took photos of the product before installing it. However, here's a photo of the middle dome light after installing the new PFranLEDs. Believe us when we say the interior lighting is 100x better than it was before.

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The rest of the Phase One items included a Ram Mount Pod I Universal No-Drill Vehicle Mount to support our navigational needs from a Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 loaded with Gaia GPS and mated to a Dual XGPS160 Satellite Receiver (which we featured in Issue 1 of OutdoorX4 Magazine). Additionally, there were no floor mats in the truck when we purchased it from the dealer so we installed a set of WeatherTech All-Terrain Floor Mats in the front and Digital Fit floor mat in the rear. This will assuredly protect the carpet from the mess that kids inherently attract to the vehicle plus protect it from the mud/etc we get on our shoes while on our adventures. Here are a few shots of those items in the truck.

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Phase One has been completed and the build sheet for Phase One is listed here. Phase Two will be starting in about one week and will feature upgraded front/rear bumpers, sliders, a custom Gamiviti roof rack, fridge/freezer and storage bags/pouches from Blue Ridge Overland Gear, plus a lot more. All of those items are an essential part of our Family Overlander project and while this truck may/may not be for everyone, everything selected for the build was chosen for a reason based on the criteria noted above.

Phase One Build Sheet:
Vehicle Platform:
2003 Toyota Land Cruiser

Suspension:
Old Man Emu 2860 Springs
Nitrocharger Shocks
Slee Off-Road Differential Drop Kit

Tires:
BFGoodrich All-Terrain KO2 275/70/18

Navigation:
Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 loaded with Gaia GPS
Ram Mount Pod I Universal No-Drill Vehicle Mount
Dual XGPS160 Satellite Receiver

Miscellaneous:
PFran LEDs CV Clamp Kit
PFran LEDs 100 Series Interior Light Kit w/License Plate Lights and Back-up Lights
WeatherTech All-Terrain Front Floor Mats
WeatherTech Digital Fit Rear Floor Mat

Resources:
www.bfgoodrichtires.com
www.arbusa.com
www.sleeoffroad.com
www.amazon.com
www.dasmule.com
gsp.dualav.com
www.pfranleds.com
www.weathertech.com
 
Thanks Scott. It's been an awesome truck thus far and the build has certainly been a lot of fun to date. Stay tuned for all the upcoming details. :)
 
Looks like a solid build plan Frank and its coming along nicely. Any plans for under belly armor and sliders?
 
Thanks for sharing, I can't wait for the next installment.

Looks like a solid build plan Frank and its coming along nicely. Any plans for under belly armor and sliders?

Yes, Phase Two will feature Sliders and will probably add skids at some point though they aren't a part of the original build plans. I did have front/belly/rear skids on the diesel Grand Cherokee and am sure something similar will find its way onto this truck. But definitely Sliders are a part of Phase Two. I'll share the Phase Two build as soon as that phase commences. Currently waiting on the front ARB Sahara Bumper to arrive so we can get that mounted, then the Ramsey Patriot 9500 UT winch, etc. Stay tuned. ;)
 
Picking things up since Phase One completed, we have started Phase Two and this portion of the build focuses on some of the interior-specific overland items such as fridge/freezer, drawers, external mods including bumpers, roof rack, and more.

We started Phase Two with an easy, but VERY beneficial install, of a TemboTusk Standard Front Pull Slide w/Cutting Board Attachment (http://tembotusk.flyingcart.com/index.php?p=home). The install was done on a custom drawer we had sourced from TemboTusk approximately 3.5 years ago for our previous vehicle but had never installed the fridge slide. Installation took about 10-15 minutes and we were left with a highly functional piece of overland equipment, seen here:

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Once the TemboTusk Slide was installed, we moved to another simple but functional item: Gamiviti Antenna Mount for our CB Radio. Again, the install was easy and we chose to place the CB antenna up front, close to the regular antenna. Installation required drilling one hole and then attaching the Gamiviti Antenna Mount using a hex allen wrench bolt.

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The next step was, admittedly, one of our favorite items of the entire build: a custom Gamiviti 100 Series Expo Roof Rack. If you're not familiar with Gamiviti, the owner (Tim Nakari) has a fantastic reputation for building high quality products specific to the Toyota Land Cruiser. Our Marketing Coordinator, Stan Wright, had recommended Tim highly and after trading a number of emails with ideas of how we wanted the roof rack to function (particularly when it comes to mounting a James Baroud roof top tent, incorporation of light tabs all around for plenty of lighting while at basecamp, and awning attachment points) all in a low-profile design, Tim and his team built a rack we are VERY happy with.

The install wasn't difficult but took about two hours, starting with removal of the OEM rack/crossbar and all attachments as well as the OEM bolt covers.

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Once the OEM rack/crossbars were removed, it was time to install the new Gamiviti mount attachments. The setup came with a set of eight mounting towers (four on each side of the truck). The OEM configuration calls for a total of six mounting towers (three on each side) and we originally planned for an additional tower on each side to provide extra support. However, after evaluating this we decided that three on each side would meet our needs so we began the installation of the new mount towers onto the truck.

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Now that the Gamiviti Mount Towers were in place, it was just a matter of placing the rack onto the truck. Here's a shot of the rack prior to installation onto the Land Cruiser:

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Once the TemboTusk Slide was installed, we moved to another simple but functional item: Gamiviti Antenna Mount for our CB Radio. Again, the install was easy and we chose to place the CB antenna up front, close to the regular antenna. Installation required drilling one hole and then attaching the Gamiviti Antenna Mount using a hex allen wrench bolt.

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I like that antenna mount, it looks much stronger than the one I have.
 
Here are a few shots once we mounted the roof rack onto the truck. We really dig the low-profile design and are VERY pleased with how it turned out. Please note these photos don't do this rack justice. It truly is awesome!

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Thanks Cris. It's VERY stout and was super easy to install. I believe their mounts are Toyota-specific but I don't see any reason why they can't be used on non-Toyota vehicles. Here's the link:

http://www.gamiviti.com/html/products_antennamounts.html

Thanks for the link, I actually googled them and already gave them quick look. Definitely more stout than the generic mount I have. I keep expecting to break it when I run the antenna through trees. Going to bookmark them for future repairs / upgrades
 
Thanks for the link, I actually googled them and already gave them quick look. Definitely more stout than the generic mount I have. I keep expecting to break it when I run the antenna through trees. Going to bookmark them for future repairs / upgrades

:clang
 
The ARB Sahara Bumper arrived recently and we had been itching to get it installed and mounted. This portion of the build actually started about 1.5 weeks ago but was put on halt as our Editor took a break for four days to attempt an overland journey along the Kokopelli Trail from Fruita to Moab. Unfortunately, that journey was cut short due to terrible weather that resulted in only completing about 40% of the trail before having to turn back.

But alas, back to the build! The first shot is what the front of the 100 Series looked like BEFORE getting started on the bumper. Apologies for the glare in the photo.

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Getting the OEM bumper off was super easy and took maybe ten minutes.

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Here's a shot of the new ARB Sahara Bumper prior to installation:

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The bumper installation wasn't particularly difficult; however, it was very time consuming. With the help of one other person, it still took us the better part of 6-8 hours to get through the entire process. In this photo, we had just gotten the mount assembly installed and bolted to the frame.

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Once we got the mount assembly in place, we realized we were going to have to go ahead and install the Ramsey Patriot 9500 UT winch w/synthetic line we had sourced from Ramsey Winch. For those who aren't as familiar with Ramsey as you may be with other manufacturers, we chose the Ramsey because of its quiet, semi-automatic clutch, its wireless keyfob capability, and its pulling capability. This is an impressive winch that's also Made in the USA! Details can be found here:

http://www.ramsey.com/en-us/applications/off-road/patriot-9500-ut

http://www.quadratec.com/products/92142_002_07.htm

Mounting the winch to the mount assembly was pretty easy and once we had it in place, we went ahead and got it wired to the battery. Here are a few shots of the winch on the mount assembly:

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Now that the winch was in place, the last step was to get the bumper mounted to the mount assembly. If you have an ARB bumper, you know it's heavy and bulky but that's the price to have quality protection when you're on the trail. If you look closely at the close-up photo above of the winch, you'll notice three bolt-in holes on the left and right side of the mount assembly. Those are the holes that align with the inside of the bumper that are used for mounting. Believe me when I say this was probably the hardest part of the install for us. It took FOREVER to get these things bolted and tightened in place.

Once mounted, it was time to get the Factor 55 Hawse Fairlead and Factor 55 Flatlink E installed and in place. The only real complaint I have about the ARB bumper is that it was designed for use with a roller fairlead. Word on the street is a space is/has been developed to fill the recessed space in the bumper to allow for easy installation of a Hawse fairlead which is what you want when running synthetic winch line. In our case, we wound up using two Hawse fairleads to provide enough space in the recessed bumper area to not only allow a more flush appearance for the Factor 55 Flatlink E but also, from a safety perspective, push the Factor 55 Hawse fairlead closer to the front of the bumper so that in the event of needing to winch from the side, the synthetic winch line can't rub against the inside of the bumper, causing it to fray.

Here are a few close-up shots of the Factor 55 Hawse fairlead, then Flatlink E, after getting them installed.

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Once complete, the last few steps to finalize the bumper install was to get our set of ARB 7" Intensity LED lamps installed on the bumper, install the rubber buffers, and then install the hoop.

At first, we had decided NOT to install the hoop but after placing it on top of the bumper and seeing how it compliments the grille, we decided to install it and keep it as it is (rather than Plastidip it black/silver). Also note the wife had a lot of input on this.

The lights were easy to install, requiring about ten minutes to mount each light to its supplied mounting bracket, then bolting it to the bumper. Wiring the lights takes more time (approx. 60-90 minutes) and that portion will be featured separately as part of the dual battery setup we have planned.

Here are a few shots of this portion of the install. The first shot is with the lights mounted to the bumper and the second is of our Editor getting everything all tightened up

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For some reason I can't see the end result pics in tapatalk, but I really love the direction you are heading with this...
 
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