SCCRMUM- a Lexus Mountain Goat

Intro
So I'm in Australia for work right now and my trip got extended an extra week because the Australian Navy didn't have a back up test slot so I have to wait a week with nothing to do to test again. Soooo I'm going to finally make that build thread I've been thinking about since last summer!

Last year I finished school and started a Job out here in Arizona. My trusty '01 Expedition brought me out here but a decade in the north had it rotting inside out. I went on a trail ride on the 4th of July with the expedition, all stock 4x4 XLT 5.4L with LSD, up the backside of Crown King here in AZ. That day marked the final day for the rear body mounts, which were rusted all the way around and punched through the body. It was at that moment that I knew.... I had to buy a Yota sooner than I planned.

I had originally started looking at tacos (Hense TW). Then 4Runners, then GX, then 4Runner, then GX. When the Sexpedition started dying, I had been looking up and down all over for a stripped out GX. I didn't want Nav (This era Yota LC's had the HVAC controls tied into the Nav system making aftermarket replacement impossible) and no KDSS because while awesome stock, has a finite travel limit, especially when lifted or...LT... Oh! And I really wanted Gray interior, and wouldn't touch a black exterior.

I almost bought a white on gray 70k mile truck for $18500 in florida with $2k in shipping but the deal fell through. Thankfully.

I ended up buying this 2006 Cypress Pearl Metallic truck with 103k miles on it, overdue for timingbelt, with a little roof peel, and a bad headread DVD. Had the timing belt been done previously it would probably have been a $15k truck, he was asking $16k. I bought it for $13,500.

Latest Pictures



Build List (Italicized is planned):

Body/Armor/Recovery

• Rape by Dremel
• Shrockworks steel skids
• Sliders by @JeepAndrew
• Maxtrax (Gotta list it or I'm not expo right?)
• Safari Snorkel
• ARB Deluxe Bullbar
• Warn Zeon winch
• custom swing out carrier by @JeepAndrew
• SSO Roof Rack

Suspension/Tires/Wheels

• 4Runner Trail/Off-Road wheels
• 255/75/17 BFG KM MTs
• Spidertrax 1.25" Spacers
• Bilstein 6112 front
• Bilstein 5160 rear
• Bilstein 8112/8100
• SPC/LR Jounces front and rear
• SSO coil-spring conversion (modified for Jounce strike pad)
• Dobinson Medium duty progressive rate rear springs
• Metaltech 4x4 Upper and lower rear links
• JBA HD UCAs

Lighting

• CBI ditch light brackets
• KC HiLiTES G34 fog beam on ditch brackets
• KC HiLiTES Daylighter Driving beam on bullbar
• KC HiLiTES Pro6 7 or 8 ring on roof custom combo spot/driving
• KC HiLiTES Gravity LED 4" Fog lights in ARB bullbar
• Rigid scene diffused lights on side both sides of roof rack
• Unchosen flush mount LED pods in rear bumper skin for reverse
• OZ-USA 40" rear bar on rack for brake/turn/rear white
• unchosen rock lights
• OEM Sport Headlight housings w/HIDs

Interior/Electronics

• Dual Battery
• $430 Redarc BCDC1225D Dual Input 25A in-Vehicle DC Battery Charger
  Redarc BCDC1225D DC-DC charger
• sPOD SE with rocker switches
• $90 Midland 75-822 40 Channel CB-Way Radio
  Midland 75-822 CB Radio
• Icom 2730a Dual Band 2m/70cm
• Firestik CB antenna
• Comet SS680SBNMO 2m/70cm antenna
• Android based Headunit running Gaia
• SureCall Fusion2Go 3.0 4G Extreme Mobile Signal Booster
• weBoost 304415 RV & Trucker 4G Spring Mount Antenna

Storage/Camp

• Frontrunner Dropdown table on barn door
• Tepui Baja kenukem 3 person
• Alucab Expedition III
• Alucab Shadow awning
• ARB dual drawer system
• ARB cargo barrier
• ARB cargo rack and divider
• unchosen fridge
• Clearview Easy-Slide fridge slide

The Story Board

First Day!






I just moved and didn't have any tools or a real garage to work out of so I took it to a local indy shop and had them do the timing belt, water pump, and all tensioners and pulley for $1100 OTD cash.

Then I Wheeled it up on the Coconino NF



Then I immediately started raping it with a dremel.








And then got tipsy on the back side of Mt Lemmon on a hill climb


Combated some sun fade with some SEM trim paint (and replaced window trim seals along the belt line)


And then raped it some more!










Then off to craigslist for some 32" 255/75/17 BFG KM Rubicon tires. Picked up a set of 5, 4 half life and one brand new spare, on the wheels, for 500. Sold the wheels next day for $350 and bought some 4R trail wheels for $500/5. Also had a local exhaust shop tuck my exhaust.









Then I went out to Big Bend Ranch State Park and Big Bend National Park for Labor Day I think it was? BBRSP is way better than BBNP. Jussayin





MT's won't save you from yourself.


Safari life

















Then Shrockworks skid plates showed up after my trip. Thanks Hurricanes!




stocker had seen better days. Actually ripped out one of the welded nuts inside the front subframe hah!








So what better way to test out skids than a Chiva Falls run?


Not many pics because of the heat of the moment, but coming up Three Feathers, my right rear dropped off this boulder on the right and laid the truck down on the passenger side sill...






So I beat the bitch with a 2x4 and a hammer. Good as new!




Took a friend who was visiting up Rice Peak outside of Tucson




I guess I don't have any good progress pictures but small world, a guy I went to highschool with outside of Chicago lives in Tucson now and was manager at a body shop so he hooked up on repainting my sill. Can't even really tell now




first TWAZ Meet!


and then I went back and made Three Feathers my bitch (this photo is so much larger on google photos)


Then the truck just did a number of local trail runs, daily duty...waiting for the wallet to come back around. Christmas brought Ditch light brackets that I mounted my old Gravity LED Daylighters to, with a bit of light-stud chopping and hole reaming:






Then like a month later the daylighters came off to make room for the one and only true testimate to an offroad rig... NORKEL.


and I wasn't a bitch so I drilled the A-pillar like you should and now my snorkel is basically structural to the truck.



And the daylighters were shelved until the day the ARB shows up. They were replaced by KC G34 Gravity LED fog lights

She tight




And then it was raining so I went splish splashin' around Reddington Road just east of Tucson. I wanted a pic of my truck with this roadkilled truck down off a trail. I forgot living in the desert that mud is slippery when wet. Thank god for dem Maxtrax doeeee



But then, with said rain and moisture, My hood clear coat decided to say fuck it literally over night



As of now, end of march 2018, my sliders are in production by @JeepAndrew They should be going on when I return from Australia!





Also jesus sorry this picture format sucks attaching to the forum. Hopefully outsiders can see the pics... Thanks Photobucket

 

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Huh

 

Goddamn you guys are quick, I was trying to save the whole first page to keep the build progress all together on the first page haha. well fuck it i guess

 

Updated first post, needs some more work. More pictures. hopefully the formatting isn't too terrible. I'm copying my pictures straight from google photos to the forum since photobucket is a bunch of cunts. My Blackberry (yeah, that's right) uses Google photo as the native picture album app. Google Photo does host the photos, so I may try to go back and embed the hosted photos because as they are attached right now, they are hosted by the forum and I think you have to be a member to see the photos which sucks for outsiders cause I don't have the attention span to keep up on multiple build threads.

 

Shhhhh, I'm hiding....They still haven't figured out I'm not like them

 

Also, gonna dump some of the rigs I've caught down under here











Down under, when it comes to snorkels, two is one and one is none

 

Nice looking rig. I got one of these for the wife and we love it. Its done all the light wheeling we've done it without worry. Anything serious we take the truck. My only complaint about it is the lack of rear up-travel. But is hauls all of us in luxury to the mtns and then smooths out the rough wash boards. I'll enjoy watching your build.

 

Wheeling in style, subbed. Can’t wait to do another run with you guys!

 

Oh god do the stock shocks eat up washboards. They suck at big bumps/whoops/etc with low shaft speed. Rear up travel is pretty meh, especially if you run the "LT" shocks that are all droop and no compression. I'll be sticking with standard extended travel shocks. Thanks for the interest!

 

Added a couple more pics, tweaked OP format a little bit.

Anyone know how to make the thumbnail attachment things at the bottom of the post go away? Sometimes I update the post and the photos show up in thumbnails down there, sometimes I update and the post is clean with no stupid thumbnails at the end.

Once I get back from Australia, It's going DOWN on suspension. I have a pile (literally) of boxes sitting in the garage waiting. New:

• Inner and outer tie rods
• JBA HD UCAs
• OEM LCAs
• 6112 front
• 5160 rears
• SSO rear coil spring conversion
• Dobinsons medium duty progressive rate rear springs
• Metaltech upper and lower rear control arms
• SPC/Light Racing Hrdro Jounces front and rear
• Front 5th gen rotor/caliper updates

Amazon had a sale on 255/80/17 Cooper ST Maxx tires for $173 shipped while I'm here in Australia. I took a screenshot. Discount Tire direct accepted price match but that's online only. I'm gonna take both the Discount direct email and the screenshot to a discount store when I get back and get them to price match for a set of 5. I'm over these BFG KMs. Even though I've only averaged $60 per tire so far from the 8 I've bought, they won't balance worth a fucking shit. I'm averaging a re-balance once a month right now. Hense why I want to make sure I buy new tires from a discount store directly so I can get lifetime free re-balance and rotate, as well as certificates. With the new spacers I rub fender liner a touch with the 32's so I'll also wait to haggle until the truck gets lifted before going 33(ish).

 

Still waiting on the Billy's and MT4x4 upper links...which is funny because the lower links were out of stock and uppers in stock when I ordered, yet a month later lowers show up and uppers are backordered....

 

Sub-a-dub-dub!