Copyright © 2007, 2008 Brian McCamish,  All Rights Reserved

Note about the photos on this site:
Most photos were taken by me.  I usually allow people to use my photos for personal use or websites.  Simply Email me.  
Last Update: June 3, 2008
Welcome to my Expedition Land Cruiser Exterior page.

This page is linked from our main Expedition Land Cruiser Page, which is all about our new to us, 1995 Toyota Land Cruiser
FZJ80 and our modifications to make it a capable vehicle for our local expeditions, travels and trips.

The page covers all of our Exterior and Suspension area modifications.   For other sections, see the below links.

Our Expedition Land Cruiser Action photos page.
Our Expedition Land Cruiser Interior page.
Our Expedition Land Cruiser Engine page.
Our Expedition Land Cruiser Gear page.
Our article regarding how and why we bought a Land Cruiser.
OVERVIEW
Metal Tech Rock Sliders
Once I removed the factory running boards I created two problems.  One was making it hard to get in and out of the vehicle.  
Two, is that there is nothing to prevent the rocker panels from getting smashed up during off roading.   Not that the running boards provided much
protection.  In fact, their removal probably actually reduces the risk of rocker damage.

I have narrowed down my options to Metal Tech Sliders.   They are currently being made and I should have a set by early February.  My reasons for
going Metal Tech are the following.  They are local, they are lighter, I like the very beefy cat protectors, I like the kick out design and I like the fact that I
can utilize the empty space between the frame and slide to bolt up an accessory like an air tank or spare battery or storage box.

Brake Upgrade
Unfortunately, one area that the LC80 does not shine is in the brakes.   They are adequate, but only adequate and in some cases down right suck.
The prior owner used non-OEM parts and when I purchased the vehicle, the brakes were to the point of being unsafe.   After properly bleeding them,
this improved, but the braking was still not very good.    Switching to brand new OEM pads, helped significantly, however the front rotors are still
non-OEM.    I'm considering replacing these rotors with either Toyota parts or slotted rotors, such as from Slee Off Road.   In addition, I'd like to add
steel brake lines in place of the factory soft lines as these are said to help with brake feel.

Rear bumper & Tire carrier
There's no doubt the corners of rear bumper would get pretty well trashed in the event it hit anything, since they are pretty weak,  but what many may
not realize is that the very rear center bumper of the LC80 is actually a solid cross member.  Quite a beefy set up.   But a full wrap around steel
bumper would be much better.  A number of companies make them and I'd like to eventually upgrade to one.   The question comes in about whether
or not to go with a swing out tire carrier option.

Currently, the spare tire resides under the truck, where it hangs down very low.  However with the lift and spare tire mod, whereby the spare is lifted
up several inches, clearance is slightly better than stock.  A rear tire carrier would still be much better.   In addition, if I decide to go with an auxiliary
gas tank, it would provide the needed room.   There have been a number of occasions where the rear spare has gotten hung up, especially when
backing up off road, so its current location is less than ideal.

The problem is that I had a tire carrier on my truck and I absolutely hated it.   The tire blocked the rear view that was critical for backing up on poor
roads and trails and I considered it inconvenient to have to swing out the spare every time I wanted access to the rear hatch.   Locating a spare on
the roof is not an option since my garage clearance will not allow it.   So, I'm still debating.   The cost of a full steel bumper/tire carrier will be
significant, so this option will likely be pushed further down the list for the time being.

Rear auxiliary fuel tank.
One thing I'm finding out is that the LC drinks gas.   So much so, that a 25 gallon tank will likely not be enough for some trips.   My current
contingency plan is to carry at least three 2.5 gallon steel wedco cans inside the Land Cruiser, but this is a less than ideal situation.  See my Interior
page for more details and pictures.  Recently, I've added a roof rack where the cans can be carried up top as an option.

The Land Cruiser 80 actually came with an optional 13 sub tank in some non-U.S. spec versions.  That's one reason the spare tire is located so low,
because the tank was located in the empty space above the spare.  However, these tanks and the equipment needed to install them are very rare.

Man-a-fre imports an Aussie tank that replaces the stock 25 gallon tank with a new 38 gallon tank, but I've heard less than stellar reviews about this
tank, including low clearance issues and clearance issues with the drive line.

Most people I've talked to, have installed a 44 gallon sub tank imported from Australia.   Although I think these tanks are neat, I don't like the excess
weight and reduced clearance.     However, Man-a-fre does sell a 24 gallon version, which sounds interesting.   

However, so far, carrying Jerry Cans is the most cost effective and flexible option for carrying up to about 12 gallons and I'll probably stick with that for
a while.

ARB Snorkel
I love the ARB snorkel and had a low profile snorkel on my truck.   Not so much to keep the intake out of the water, because I rarely do deep water
crossings, but to allow a fresh cold air intake.    I had planned to add a snorkel to the Land Cruiser, but I can't bring myself to cut a hole in the fender
of this otherwise pristine vehicle.   So far, none of my modifications have required cutting or drilling and are completely reversible and I'm not sure I
want to change that now.   But I still have the snorkel on my future mod list as a possibility.

Roof Top Tent
Roof top tents are becoming more and more popular with U.S. Land Cruiser owners who use their vehicles for camping and long trips.   Having long
been used overseas in Africa and Australia.   At first I really wanted one.  Now I'm not so sure.  I know a roof top tent would be much more
comfortable and simple to set up than a regular tent.  As well as being safer.  But I'm not anxious to carry that much weight and mass on the roof of
my rig.

They are also extremely expensive, so for the time being, I've put off this modification.
FUTURE MODIFICATIONS in order of priority
When it was Stock
Here are a few pictures, when the Land Cruiser was nearly completely stock in the weeks and months after I purchased it.
EXTERIOR & SUSPENSION
Old Man Emu Suspension
The front winch bumper was one of the first modification we made.   After much thought, between the new Slee "shortbus" bumper and typical ARB
bumper, I decided to go with the Slee bumper.     What appealed to me most about this bumper was that it was good looking and had a low profile,
which went fairly well with our low profile build plans.    It was also light and easy to install.     One disadvantage compared to the ARB is that there is
minimal protection to the grill and hood area, which could be a concern during a very large high speed animal strike.

The Slee bumper is limited to an 8000-9500lb winch.    To keep costs of this build low, I decided to go with a new standard Warn M8000, and use
synthetic cable.     The decision to go with a less powerful but cheaper winch stems from the fact that we rarely winch and an 8000lb winch should be
more than adequate for any situation we could run into, especially when double lined.

The cable is 100 feet of 5/16th synthetic from Masterpull with a 16,500lb rated strength.   I chose to upgrade to this cable on my truck due to it being
much easier to handle, lighter and much safer.  After years of the pain of steel cable, including having to replace it several times after kinking a set, I'll
never go back to steel.   Synthetic is the way to go.

One disadvantage is that we occasionally winch or move historical artifacts and this involves running cable over stumps and rock, of which, synthetic
cable is far easier to damaged than steel cable.

I also added a custom mount for the hi-lift jack which is also mounted on the front bumper.
Slee Off Road Bumper & Warn M8000 winch
The suspension was another source of concern.   I knew that I wanted to upgrade the stock suspension,  and that I wanted to go with ARB's OME
line of springs, but I didn't know how high.     After experiencing years of frustration with the truck and its too high of lift, I reverted to the opposite
extreme and considered no lift at all with the Land Cruiser.

The Land Cruiser's stock springs were sagging to the point of having about 1" less lift then stock, so new springs were definitely in order.   I
considered going with OME's stock lift springs (OME 861/862), which would have lifted the Land Cruiser less than 1" over stock, but provided a much
better ride, both on and off road.   Christo at Slee Off Road, talked me out of the stock lift and encouraged me to go with a 2.5" lift OME suspension.

I was very apprehensive at the time, but now I couldn't be happier.   I consider the 2.5" lift to be just perfect for our type of driving and off roading.  
Surprisingly, the additional lift is barely noticeable when driving as the factory anti-roll bars are left in place and the stiffer springs work great on the
highway.   Off road, the clearance is much appreciated.

OME offers several different springs for a given lift height depending on weight.   I decided to go with Heavy duty springs up front (OME 850), which
maintained about 2.5" of lift, with the additional approximately  200lbs of bumper/winch/hi-lift on the nose.   For the rear, Heavy duty springs were
recommended, but I chose to use Medium springs (OME 860) instead, since my weight would not include a rear tire carrier and steel bumper.    
However I ordered both Medium and Heavy springs.   The mediums went on the Land Cruiser and so far work perfect, but Heavies (OME 863) are in
the garage for the day that weight is added and they are needed.

Slee also supplied special bushings which were needed to correct the castor of the front suspension, when lifting more than an inch or so.    A drive
after the suspension lift, but before the install of the bushings, revealed why they are needed.   The Land Cruiser wondered on the highway and felt
unstable.   Once the bushings were installed, it felt perfectly normal.

Finally, OME shocks and steering stabilizer were installed.    I don't recall noticing a significant difference between the stock shocks and the OMEs,
but the OME steering stabilizer definitely made the steering feel heavier and more stable.
Wheels are stock aluminum 16x8.  We chose to stick with stock for three reasons.    They are the correct off set, they are about half the weight of steel
wheels of similiar size and they are extremely strong.  Much stronger than many after market wheels.   The Toyota Land Cruiser wheels have to meet
a Japanese standard of hitting a curb at approximately 40 mph with no loss in air pressure, and these wheels have been proven all over the world to
be extremely durable.    It's also cost effective not to have to buy new wheels.

The tires are Goodyear MTR mud terrains, in 285/75R-16.    I chose Goodyear MTRs, because I ran them on my truck with good success.   Highway
performance is excellent for a mud tire.  They are not too noisy and perform good on both dry and wet pavement.   They are an excellent off road tire in
the dirt and perform adequately in the mud.   They really shine in the snow and ice when siped.   And finally, they are extremely durable.  I never
suffered a single flat tire in the 5 years I've run them.   The drawback is that they are expensive and wear is not very good.  They're probably worth
about 30K miles at the most.   However, for us, these tires will last us at least several years and performance is well worth the cost.   If the Land
Cruiser were a daily driver, I'd probably consider a different tire or at least a 2nd set of tires for normal use, such as the BFG A/T tires.  And someday I
still might.

I chose the 285/75R-16 size after much thought and debate.   I knew that I wanted about a 33" tall tire.  No less and not much taller to keep vehicle
performance with stock gears as high as possible.  16" MTRs are only sold in a 33.1" size with 285s being about 11.4" wide, while 305s are a little
over 12" wide.    I chose the narrower tire for a number of reasons.  It was more easily available, would be easier to replace, and would perform
better on the highway.  For most off road conditions, except where flotation is desired, I believe a narrower tire performs better.  So far, I'm very happy
with this tire size.
Stock wheels & Goodyear MTR mud terrain tires
I chose to do away with the factory running boards as they impeded ground clearance and can cause additional damage to the body when they get
hung up on obstacles.    However, this caused two problems.   The running boards provided front mud flap protection and allowed easier access to
the vehicle and once removed, that had to be fixed.

C-Dan from the ih8mud.com board was able to supply me with a set of rare factory front mud flaps for Land Cruisers without running boards, but so
far, I've yet to figure out what to do about the access into and out of the cab.

The current plan is to install a set of Metal Tech sliders when they become available from Metal Tech by early February, 08.
Front Mud flaps and -no- running boards
Stock front suspension.  Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures while swapping out the stock
springs for OME springs.  But Slee Off Road's website covers the install pretty well.
Obviously the stock back up lights are about useless as they are in most vehicles.    Not wanting to drill holes in the Land Cruiser, I chose to mount
two tractor lights on the rear of the roof rack for the best coverage.

I installed 100 watt bulbs in these lights, which are turned on independently via a cab mounted switch
Spare Tire Modification
The spare tire of the Land Cruiser resides under the cargo, but unfortunately hangs down further that it otherwise should.  The reason for this is
because Toyota designed the Land Cruiser to be fitted with a 2nd auxiliary fuel tank located above the spare tire.   However, this was never an option
on U.S. spec Land Cruisers, but the spare tire still hangs low as if it was.

The spare tire mod allows the spare tire to be moved up slightly and increased ground clearance.    The mod is achieved by spacing up the spare
tire crossmember with longer bolts and nuts or washers and spacing down the spare tire winch back to the stock location.     This effectively moves
the front of the spare up several inches.   The rear of the spare does not move up very much because the rear crossmember is in the way.   But this
effectively levels the tire and still increases clearance towards the front of the spare tire.   Left photo shows before the mod, while right photo shows
after.

I've since replaced the stock spare with a full size Goodyear MT/R in 285/75R-16 just like the other four tires, which can be seen in the far right photo.
Rear back up lights
After purchasing and installing LED interior lights, I found LED replacement tail and parking light bulbs and decided to test them out.    These are
from superbrightleds.com.    The reasoning for going with LEDs for parking and taillights was to reduce the power used by these lights and allow me
to leave them turned on for hours or even days at a time with no significant drain on the battery.    Where this becomes useful is when parking at
camp or trail head at night or when blocking a road.   Leaving the parking lights on can serve a number of safety purposes when out in remote areas.

In addition, I assumed that the 3 watt luxon taillights would actually be brighter and better than the stock bulbs.   In fact, they were slightly better,
although its hard to tell.   In the photos on the left, the left taillight has the LED while the right taillight does not.   Far left photo is just taillight while the
next photo is the brake lights activated.    The LED taillight uses about  .065 amps.   It would take a staggering 24 LED taillights to equal the power
usage of a single LED taillight putting out the same or more light.

I also swapped out and tested 3 watt LEDs for the back up lights, as you can in the two right photos.   While the light looks nicer, it's not actually
brighter than the 27 watt stock incandescent bulb, so LEDs were not used as back up lights.

LEDs were also swapped in the front two marker lights and two rear side marker lights and license plate lights.  These LEDs use an amazingly
minimal .030 amps each.  It would take 8 LEDs to equal the power usage of a single stock bulb.
LED parking and tail lights
I later added four auxiliary lights.   All are low profile KC hi-lights.  The lower lights are "driving" style, and fitted with PIAA amber bulbs and used as
fog lights.  They are extremely effective. (as you can see)   They are mounted low using the Slee bumper shackle tow tabs.    The stock tow hooks are
still mounted on the frame so we still have front tow points.    The upper lights are KC low profile long distance spot lights with 100 watt bulbs.  They
work OK, but I'd prefer something with better and longer distance illumination.
Some early photos after the initial major modifications of suspension, tires and front winch bumper.
The latest exterior configuration - October, 2007 and January, 2008
I actually did not intend to purchase a roof rack at all or at least was going to put it off.  But while planning for a long remote weekend trip, I quickly
discovered that I was running out of room in the interior for gear.   Especially extra fuel.   That's when I decided to purchase an African Outback rack
from Slee Off Road.   The reason I went with AO is that they are extremely light and can be configured with or without the rail and can be mounted very
low on the roof.  All very important concerns since my garage had very minimal clearance.

I had the choice of a full length rack or half rack.   The half rack was much cheaper, but it was also easier to ship as it could arrive at my door by UPS,
whereas the full size rack would require freight shipment to a local hub.    I figured the half rack would easily meet my needs.  In retrospect, I think I
would have preferred the larger rack as the half rack was smaller than I anticipated.

However, the rack is rock solid and fit great.    I especially like the AO shovel and axe mounts.   I had to custom install the axe mound due to my
height limitations, but both now work perfectly.    The rack was originally set up to  hold 10 gallons of fuel via four individual 2.5 gallon tanks, which
mounted in bolted on and modified Blitz can carriers on the roof rack and then tied down.   Other gear is also stored on the rack depending on the
need and trip.

A custom wind deflector is used to keep wind noise to a minimum.    On a recent trip, the rack worked perfectly, but once again, I do wish I went with
the larger model.
African Outback Roof rack
Some additional pictures showing all the front lights turned on at night.
An additional photo showing the rear LED tail lights and LED license plate lights.
In this configuration, 2 of the 4 jerry can holders have been removed as I've figured out other ways to store fuel and will only store extra fuel on the
roof for extremely long trips into remote areas.  Keeping in mind my height limitations pretty much mean that nothing can extend higher than about 1"
above the rack rail.
Before the rook rack, I installed these back up lights on the rear bumper using the factory pintal hook bolt holes.
As of January, 08 this was the roof rack configuration, before I decided on going with mostly storage boxes as seen above.  On the left side was
stored the pull-pal and blade, pick-axe and bolt cutters and an extra wide hi-lift jack base.  On the right side are low profile storage boxes containing
misc. spare parts, some extra rope and two jerry can holders that can hold two 2.5 gallon jerry gas cans or Scepter water cans.
Because of the height limit, the rack would normally go unused, so I devised a plan.  I purchased storage boxes that met the height limit and filled
them up with most spare parts and gear.    The first picture shows the 5 or 6 boxes stacked up and each other photo shows the contents of the
boxes.   These boxes could live on the roof rack 90% of the time where the rack could be put to good use.    This frees up interior space for other
gear.    For extra ordinary situations, the boxes can be reconfigured or removed for different gear.