Feb. 8, 2013

The day's goal was to raise the spare tire underneath the Land Cruiser.

Dec. 16, 2012

A great day for a solo ride in Uwharrie and then picking parts from a Land Cruiser in Charlotte.

Oct. 16, 2012

Crap, but the only thing I shot all day!

Oct. 6, 2012 Part 3

This weekend we decided to check the progress of fall foliage in western North Carolina... and ended up in eastern Tennessee. I had heard of Unaka Mountain, it features a couple of good hikes, waterfalls, overlooks and a fun 14 mile forest service road to test the Land Cruiser on. Best laid plans and all... the fun FS road was gated, as soon as we started hiking it started raining and the further up we went, the more fog covered us. The one image is the huge overlook on Unaka Mtn., supposed to be able to see Mt. Mitchell. We also planned to camp, but an updated 70% chance of thunderstorms starting at 4am convinced me to drive back home.

Sept. 29, 2012

A foggy drive home.

Sept. 25, 2012

One of the things "Turtle" was missing was a battery tie down. The battery clamps were shot so I removed the battery box, cleaned everything up and installed new clamps and a homemade tie down.

Sept. 23, 2012

My "friends" decided they needed to "salute" the ultimate expedition vehicle ever sold in the US (a 1993 Toyota FZJ80 Land Cruiser, named The Turtle by Sam)... and we even messed with the local children.

Sept. 21, 2012

Off to work, home to pack and on the road to VA.

Sept. 20, 2012

Getting ready for a trip. New storage drawer and a slider for the fridge.

Sept. 18, 2012

The Turtle gets base-lined. All fluids (coolant, oil, AT trans, F&R Dif, transfer) and a new oil pump seal

Sept. 16, 2012

Not quite right. I received the wrong window motor.... It was a long day, 50 mile ride, sunroof leak repair and then this problem.

Sept. 14, 2012

More camera focus testing on a used Canon 1d Mk IV and a Canon 100mm macro.

Sept. 8, 2012

Thanks to Clay, we fixed the speakers grounded out and cutting off. It was 5 hours, soldered the connections, glued cereal boxes to the door panels to support them, and worked through a thunderstorm.

Sept. 5, 2012

A nice thing about the south, the Toyota dealership has lots of Cruisers.

Sept. 3, 2012

A new horse in the stable. On the way home I stopped to look at another (really not on the way, more out of the way, but is OK) and this followed me home. 1993 Land Cruiser with 166,000 miles, front and rear lockers, no major dents, almost everything works. I am very happy!

Sept. 1, 2012

Should I buy this? 1994 FZJ80 with 248k miles for $1500 The good: Drives, stops straight, all electrical stuff works, new starter and radiator. I have the truck for the night, first tank (only ran a 1/4 tank) was 14.7 MPG (That is only 1 MPG worse than my Taco) More Pictures at http://roccruisers.blogspot.com/ The Bad: Check engine and ABS light on (code 21 O2 sensor) Damage to both bumpers, sunroof cracked, door handle broke (you have to find that small piece to pull up on) carpet and seats trashed. The clear coat is pealed, etc.