Box Rocket 1995 FZJ80 Build

Some truth to that. Hard to explain what it is with Cruisers. It’s not really something you can point to. For me there is just something that clicks.
I consider myself a minitruck guy. I’ve always felt most at home in the pickups I’ve had, whether it was my old 2nd gen Pickup, my 3rd gen Pickup, my Tacoma or even my sons 1st gen. I just love the pickups.
But when I’m in the Cruiser it’s just “right” in whole different way. Yeah I know, totally corny. Ever since I’ve had my own cars, ive had times without a pickup but I’ve never not had a Cruiser and I’ll always have one because of that feeling.

 

Now I have 2 80’s. I think they’re better in almost every way except for hp. I’m still working on that but I have a plan. I think they’re the best vehicle I’ve ever owned.

 

An 80 can’t accelerate to save its life. But get some good suspension and get it up to speed and you can still hang with higher horsepower trucks.
They were never meant for speed. But it’s cool that there are good options if that’s what you want. Some good turbo development going on. Superchargers. But a good LS swap makes them really fun. If I switched to a V8 I’d try to swap in a 5.7L from the Tundra/200LC

 

Did the introduction of IFS diminish some of the legendary off-road abilities?

 

Yes a bit but the 100/200 series trucks are no slouch offroad. Maybe a bit lost in the more technical terrain and big rocks. But that’s it. In general the IFS is a better “Overland” platform because of the comfort of the IFS. But with the right setup the 80 can be better there too. With the Slinky suspension on my 80 I’d rather spend a week of 200+ miles offroad per day in it than I would like n my brother in laws OME lifted LX470.

I’ve seen 100 series do some impressive stuff offroad. And I know firsthand how much punishment the Canguro Racing 200 series goes through when we race Baja. They are tough vehicles!

 

Can you get 35's under the LX470 without too much drama with a lift?

 

Yes. There are guys on IH8MUD running 40's. I've got 285's on a stock rig and I've seen guys with 315's. My 3" OME lifted truck could easily have larger tires, but I'm running 285's on it too for highway manners.

Edit: I see you stated 470, not 450. I believe the same is true, but I'm speaking from the 80 series world. Lifts on the 100 series are a little more involved due to removal of the rear-leveling components.

 

35’s aren’t too hard to fit but like with other trucks can need a little trimming.

The rear is pretty simple since it’s nearly the same as the 80. The front just need to have the torsion bars adjusted to the desired height. Keep in mind the more lift in the front means less droop (but more up travel) because of how the torsion system works. It’s worthwhile to upgrade the UCAs so they balljoints don’t bind. The diffdrop from Slee offroad is something you’d want too for 35’s.

All of what I just said is with the assumption you want to completely upgrade the suspension and the approach would be the same for the 100 series or an LX470. However the LX has the Auto Height Control that would need to be removed for what I described. There are some people who use the AHC for their lift. The height sensors need to be adjusted and “tricked” into thinking the neutral setting is higher. From what I’ve read, the ride height can still be adjusted from there to increase height by 1” or lower it by ~2”.
If you were planning to just do average “Overland” type stuff that would probably work fine. If you wanted to do more serious rock crawling then swapping out the suspension is probably better

 

My hang up would be financially forking out to build another one. I may jump on one quicker if I found someone with one already built slightly or someone willing to trade. The Tacoma is still a lot of fun though. I suppose my other issue would be height. I'm very limited to height in my old garage in SLC area. My Tacoma with 3 inch lift and roof rack is pretty close to trusses in there. I have enough room to do 35's on the Tacoma but not much more. How are you to the top of your rack?

 

Semi-built and fully built Cruisers pop up all the time. It’s a trade off. Buying a built truck can mean unknown history of how it was used and how well the mods were done. Stock trucks can still have questionable history but when you do the mods you know how it was done and there’s less chance of hard offroad abuse.

But I hear ya. It’s cheaper to buy a built truck in most cases.

My truck is about 6’11” to the top of the rack.

 

Good to know. That would just barely fit in my garage.

 

Adam, do you do any more trip reports? Man I used to love those. Before I discovered all of the YouTubeLanders, I loved reading your trip reports and checking out your pictures. Stocking your IG is nice, but the reports were awesome.

 

I haven't done any trip reports like that for a little while. I not a real "overlander" since I don't own a drone or have a Youtube channel so I've kinda figured there wasn't much interest in reading or looking at still images.

But maybe I'll post a couple new reports. Have definitely had some really good trips.

 

Where you lack in being "overland basic," you make up with your story telling abilities. I'm sure it takes a ton of time to write those all up, but I enjoyed them. They honestly lit my fire to take my Tacoma out on some adventures with my wife. I couldn't believe what you were seeing here in our own backyard!

 

I'd like reading some actual trip reports rather than seeing dramatic YouTube or Instagram media showing the individual went 20 mins from home, drove on a graded dirt road, and camped by a stream. I like that your stuff has more substance and you're actually using your truck. Getting tired of seeing these trucks locally and online that have all the goods bolted to them and then they go places a Subaru could get to and then post pictures as if they're traveling the road less traveled with some silly obscure saying or quote. Woah, settle down. /endrant

I will say as well that your detailed Tacoma build thread was one of the ones that inspired me to get into a Tacoma and get outdoors with my family more.

 

I appreciate the kind words. It's nice to hear that. The only reason I've even participated and posted stuff online is to share ideas, whether they are truck builds or trips. I know I get tons of ideas from others so I try to return the favor. Nice to hear someone has been influenced to get out and actually use their truck and create experiences rather than self promotion.

 

The community is definitely evolving. You do have to weed through the fire-road warriors to find the folks who really test their skills and the capability of their rigs. I wish I was more hardcore! But I'm also still pretty new, and don't want to be a statistic or find myself on the business end of a search and rescue. Let people enjoy themselves as they wish. Pretentious or not.

 

Were you ever up in Washington last summer up near Gallagher Head lake?

 

There's nothing wrong with driving a fire road. It also doesn't make you any more or less "legit" whether you drive fire roads or the gnarliest trails in the land. Everyone has their thing. The point is to get out there.

I think there are just too many of the youtubers that don't have the time, or means and feel a huge need to provide content to their "following" so they try to make the 1 hr drive down a fire road and back into something way more dramatic that it was. It's a bit transparent and most viewers see right through it. I'd rather have 2 really great pieces of content in a year, vs one every month that is lame just because someone feels like they need to appear like a full production tv series. I think there is also too many that do what I just described because they have to in order to satisfy a commitment to some company they promised content for sponsoring them with free equipment. What ever happened to just building a truck on your own?

oh well...

Sorry I did not make it to Washington last summer. Wish I had.

 

I agree completely, just get out and go. My wife and I did a Moab trip this last summer and it was honestly one of the best memories we've made in our lengthy years of marriage (2) and we did some super mellow trails out there. We've been hooked ever since. The "sponsored bros" are the one's that are giving the hobby a bad rep, and so much scrutiny from the "off-roader" generation.