Box Rocket - 2003 TRD Doublecab

Which one are you talking about? the Pin7 mod?

 

Take out the front bolt on the radius arm and replace it with a hitch pin, so that you can remove it when going off road? Just wondering how that performs? Supposed to let the radius arms free up a little and keep from binding

 

Oh, yeah. I've driven a friends cruiser who had done that. It does allow for a little more flex but honestly it didn't seem like it made that much real difference in how capable the truck was. For what I'll be doing I just don't see that being worth the effort. Besides, with 3 lockers I'm not too worried about lifting a tire now and then.

 

When I first got my old cruiser it has some aftermarket radius arms. They were pretty cool because they had a wristed joint in them that would allow them to twist and not bind up. I still have these arms but I broke one of them and would need to reweld one of the eyes back to the arm. If I end up using this truck a lot more in the rocks where suspension travel is a bigger deal it might be worth fixing up the old arms.

This isn't a great pic but it's the only one I could find of the arms when they were on my old cruiser. You can see the shock boots on the arms. Those boots cover the wristed joints.


Here's the eye that broke off. It broke right along the weld of the second eye. Obviously VERY poor weld penetration on this thing. But I ran them hard for probably 8 years before it finally broke. Wouldn't be hard to fix them up.

 

3 lockers. That is just cool. I am still trying to wrap my head around the concept of the center locker. Anyone know if the more modern cruisers and such have center lockers? Or was it short lived thing.

 

The center diff isn't quite the same as one of the diff locks in the axles. The center diff is needed on vehicles with full time 4WD since the front and rear driveshaft need to be able to spin and different rates in the same way that each wheel on an axle needs to be able to spin at different rates. When the center diff locked and the driveshafts spin at the same rate it splits power evenly to the front and rear axles instead of allowing some bias to one of the axles.

So yeah, anything with full time 4WD would likely have a center diff.

 

Yeah, I've read about wristed arms and the such. I plan on running stock because from what I've seen, aftermarket is big $$$$. To the point of making 3 link a better option. Which will happen way down the road, just not now lol

 

Well. I guess you can say I like them a lot. My '93 is the car that I've owned the longest of any vehicle I've ever owned (15 years now). Depending on the type of offroading you want to do they can be one of the best or at least quite acceptable. Many think they are the best overland vehicle on the planet. They are definitely well suited for that. If you need to haul a lot of gear or family they are big enough to do that. I love the size. Big enough to carry what you need to carry, but not too big. I could never wheel in a fullsize truck and these cruisers are a great size without feeling too big like a fullsize. They also rockcrawl really well. If you are after a dedicated rockhound, this shouldn't be your first choice. You'll want something smaller and more nimble with a lot less bodywork. But these have good suspension and fully locked axles from the factory (on many of them) so they can do amazing things in the rocks. They can be built for high-speed stuff too and do quite well at it but I think a Tacoma is much better suited for high-speed stuff if that's what you're after. These cruisers are big and heavy (slightly top heavy) and frankly, underpowered for speed work, but some guys still do it.

They are very reliable as you would expect. I bought my '93 in 2000 with 110K miles on it. Other than replacing a few hoses and normal maintenance I never had to do a thing to it and it currently has 320K miles on it. This new '95 had 187K miles on it when I bought it in November and I turned 190K miles on it last night. I didn't think twice about that mileage when I bought it. It will really come down to how it has been taken care of. If a truck has been totally neglected then a low mileage one can turn into a disaster. If it's been taken care of then they can go for a long time. A few things that are common items to watch or address are the PHH (Pesky Heater Hose) a small hose on the back of the motor in a hard to reach place that can fail and leave you stranded with coolant dumping out of it. Not a big deal but you'd want to take care of it when you buy one and replace the hose. Headgaskets can be a problem on some but if you keep the cooling system in good shape you can avoid that. Periodic front axle service will be needed if the inner axle seals start leaking. I think in the 15 years I've had my '93 I've rebuilt the front axle 3 times. So not bad. Otherwise, they are pretty solid.

They are SLOW. Don't plan on setting any speed records. They have a super torque-y inline 6 motor but they are not big on power and speed. I can cruise at 80mph all day long on the freeway so that's not an issue, but if the truck is fully loaded some of the steep canyons can slow it down to around 45mph on the bad climbs. Gearing helps with that especially if you have bigger tires.

So mine is a 80 series LC or a Lexus LX450. The LX 470 that you mentioned would be the same as the 100 Series LC. That's a different beast altogether. Still very reliable and very comfortable. But it will have the 4.7L V8 that is in the early Tundras so it's a big plus in the power department. They also have IFS so they will be better at higher speed desert stuff and great at overlanding, but not as capable in the rocks. they will be more expensive to purchase and to modify. But they are fantastic. Honestly I would have bought one of those instead of this new '95 that I got, but I already had all the parts to build an 80 series so I went that route. I've spent lots of time in the 100 series trucks and that was the main chase vehicle that I drove during the Baja 1000 this past November. They are sweet. You just need to see what features you need and what type of offroading you want to do and pick what fits that best. You won't be disappointed with either style cruiser though.

 

Wow thank you for the quick and detailed response. I am mainly just looking for something that has stellar reliability and can get around 400 miles (phx to southern Utah) on a tank (plus jerry cans/rotopax). Kind of a "bug out vehicle" if you will. Feel like a 4Runner may be a little small for my wife, myself, two dogs + gear. Which is why I started researching the LC/lx platforms.. Not really looking for a dedicated trail rig, but it also needs to be able to get around/over obstacles. I also like them because they look relatively low key without sacrificing off-road performance. A buddy of mine is trying to talk me into a older (to stay within my budget) Land Rover but I am just not sold on their reliability. Thanks again for your input boxrocket I really appreciate it!

 

The stock tank won't get you to 400 miles. You'll either need a long range tank to replace the stock one or carry fuel cans. Stock tank size is 25 gal and average fuel economy on these is 12-13mpg. I'm sure that will scare off most of you.

I owned a new LR Discovery in 2001. I sold it before the year was out. I did not like it and even new it was not reliable. Good thing it was under warranty while I owned it. There is no way I'd own an old LR unless I liked needing to fix stuff.

 

Dang 12 mpg is a little steep. Then add weight, bumpers lift and tires... I may be better off going with a 4Runner with a roof rack for storage.. Would like to get a rtt up there also. Hmm decisions. Well I got some studying to do boxrocket thanks for all the info!

 

Weight won't change much with the mileage. Loaded or not you'll get about the same.

 

The pics of Adams LC don't do it justice...It looks amazing in person, total off-road beast.

I sold my '03 4Runner for a 2012 Speed 3...Had it six months and wanted to go back to a Yota. Bought a used 2012 Taco, 20k on it...So happy to be back in a Tacoma. Buy one!

 

I like my wife's ms3 but... Not even close to the yota good choice my friend. Congrats.

 

Any advice when searching for a used Cruiser? Typical weak spots? Things that should have been changed or need to be changed?

I'm going to look at this one tomorrow...

http://sanantonio.craigslist.org/cto/4859294538.html

I'm trying to do as much research as possible, but since you have experience with cruisers, thought I'd ask. Price seem fair if it's in good shape?

 

Thaths pretty thweet!!

 

This is a good checklist for 80 series newbies
http://www.sleeoffroad.com/newbie/newbie100.htm

Typical issues are the PHH, headgaskets if the cooling system has been neglected, front inner axle seals, leaking valve cover gasket, leaking at the distributor o-ring. Most are minor.

 

most recent pic of the cruiser with a few updates if you didn't see the build thread.

 

Whats the color code for this
Im inlove with it?