Catherines 1998 Toyota Land Cruiser

Owners Name & City- Greg Catherine Gardner - Grand Junction, CO



Make, Model & Year of Vehicle- 1998 Toyota UZJ100 Land Cruiser


Engine- 4.7L V8

Transmission - Factory Auto, A343F

Transfer Case - HF2A full-time 2 speed transfer case with center differential lock




Axles- Factory parts, IFS front, solid axle rear. Rear has factory e-locker, front has an ARB air locker. Stock 4.30 axle gears.


Suspension- Old Man Emu 2.5" with 863 rear springs and OME torsion bars.


Wheels and Tires- Factory wheels powder coated black, 295/75/16 BFGoodrich AT's


Winch- None yet


Favorite Trails- Kokopelli, White Rim, Lockhart, San Juans, Baja... anything scenic and fun.


Other- It does have a Slee 2nd battery tray for dual batteries eventually, plus a set of home-built bolt on rock sliders. Future mods are an ARB front bumper, Warn Winch, homebuilt roof rack and probably a snorkel.



I purchased this from RotBox on RME after he reluctantly decided it was time for a change. This is a high-mileage Cruiser, sitting at 249k when I bought it. It has been well maintained, doesn't burn or leak any oil and it runs and drives great. Andrew made some great mods that will be very handy to have, including some LED lighting, the rear tailgate carpet was replaced with a piece of stainless steel for food prep.

I'm going to post the maintenance stuff here, mostly for my info.

Recent service history:
Timing Belt & related parts done @ 201k
Second 90K service @ 207K
Spark plugs changed at 243K
Differentials and transfer case gear lube changed @ 247K


Some pics, taken while making the drive home after buying it. From Black Dragon Canyon in the Swell.

 

[2002maniac]

Awesome that so many POs are in here. That said, I once bought a car back that I had owned years before and it was a depressing experience. There had some neglectful owners that did unrepairable damage to the chassis.

I'm certainly not implying that anything similar is going on here. This cruiser looks pretty good for a 300k+ rig.

 

[Greg]

Well.... it's back in our possession!

Need to change the title of this thread to "Catherine's Land Cruiser", as it will be her daily driver.

 

[Thursty]

Congrats! That's awesome!

 

[Noahfecks]

That didn't take long

Congrats Catherine

 

[Greg]

Congrats! That's awesome!

It's pretty funny, we're now the 5th and 7th 8th owners! When we owned it, it was my play 4x4.... weekend play rig. Now (hopefully) it will be her DD. She drives a 2004 Lexus RX330 currently and it gets close to 30 MPG, so a 1998 V8 Land Cruiser that gets 15 MPG will be a big change in driving costs.

That didn't take long

Congrats Catherine

We know to act fast!

 

[Greg]

So we bought this from bike5087 (Joe), who bought it from Sean, that I sold it to in 2015. Sean added a lot of aftermarket goodies, like the ARB Bumper, homebuilt rock sliders (I got them from RotBox, but never installed them), Smittybilt 10,000# winch (boooo!! Not a Warn!), Hella Black Magic driving lights (they SUCK!) and a knockoff snorkel (not mounted currently). There was also a small 30"(?) light bar on the ARB bumper... Joe pulled it off and it's probably a good idea. The light bar is a bit much, IMO.

It needs some work, Joe repaired the drivers fender that was previously smashed and his paint work is quite good... it's hard to tell it was repaired and repainted. It has needed an alignment for awhile and unfortunately all the tires are a bit cupped. It looks like Sean put new tires after I sold it to him, same size but KO2's, which I love. Joe found a full set of hub caps, painted them to match and the wheels look more finished than before. It also needs a rear anti-sway bar link mount installed, which Joe already had. And one of the front CV's needs replaced, it vibrates under acceleration pretty bad. I had a few stock CV's that needed to be rebuilt and gave them to Sean, but they seem to have been lost. Same with the spare tire mount that I fabbed up years ago. It will need front brakes pretty soon, which is funny because I put the last full set of brakes on, preparing for our Baja trip. New rotors in the front, so just a light turn and new pads again and it'll be good to go! RotBox also built the rear platform, it's actually pretty neat. We didn't run it before because I had my fridge in the back. Catherine really likes it, so it'll stay back there permanently now. It's hinged on the sides, so you have access when the seats are down.. It's the same height as the 2nd row seats when folded flat... makes for a great sleeping platform, but I don't know that we'll ever use it for that? Oh, Sean also apparently installed a set of Slee Upper Control Arms! More adjust ability at around $600! - http://www.sleeoffroad.com/products/suspension_pieces_ifs_arms.htm

The bigger spare tire doesn't fit in the factory location behind the rear axle. Sean did the timing belt at some point, so there's probably another 20-30k left on it, which makes sense... I think. Joe had a box of oil filters, LED's and other misc. parts that had my writing on them, which is pretty funny. I still have the Scanguage II that I was running in this.... I'll reinstall it!!

Overall, it's a bit rougher than when we owned it.... a bit more wear & tear, some new dents but otherwise it's been used and taken care of.

If Catherine decides to keep it as her DD, we have some things we want to take care of. Upgrade the factory radio, install new leather seat covers & new seat heaters, etc. We MAY also repaint it .... with Monstaliner, Desert Tan in color. The paint and body have had a rough life... they could use refreshed. That'll be a huge project, but worthwhile I think. That would mean no more 'Mahogany Pearl'!!


Some things we want to repair/improve....

• Shave tires to smooth out feathered edges.
• Get it aligned.
• New leather on front seats, possibly new foam on drivers seat.
• New seat heaters.
• Rear anti-sway bar link.
• Front brake pads & turn rotors.
• Tinted windows.
• Smaller antennae.
• Repair rust on wheelwell.
• Upgraded stereo with Navigation.
• New steering wheel leather/cover.

 

[Greg]

This is the color Monstaliner we're thinking... I've been anti-bed liner on a vehicle for a long time, but the color and sheen look great, IMO. And Monstaliner is a high quality product, doesn't fade over time.

 

[moab_cj5]

congrats!

 

[Greg]

congrats!

Thanks, my wife is very excited about it. I find the whole thing quite funny!

 

[Hickey]

Can you spray that monstaliner? I've seen some beautiful Raptorliner paint jobs, and you can buy the kits with custom color tints on Amazon. I think a gunmetal color would be sweet.

 

[Greg]

Can you spray that monstaliner? I've seen some beautiful Raptorliner paint jobs, and you can buy the kits with custom color tints on Amazon. I think a gunmetal color would be sweet.

Yeah, you can spray it rather than roll it.... and I'd much rather spray it. Catherine picked the color, a Desert Tan is her choice and I think it's a good one. We requested some samples of similar colors, too.

 

[Hickey]

That's good to hear, as I'm sure you can adjust the texture if it's sprayed. I think the full body lined paint jobs look great if the texture is more fine.

 

[Hickey]

The coarse spray texture just reminds me of Shawn's old FJ. It just looks like an inside out bed.

 

[Greg]

Yep, I'd much rather have a fine texture... if any.

 

[I Lean]

So, it seems this is what you're heading for:

Don't forget the black center part of the hood!

 

[Greg]

So, it seems this is what you're heading for:

Don't forget the black center part of the hood!

YES!!! That's beautiful. Not sure if I care for the black hood section, but it could be added.

 

[Greg]

So since this thread had covered this '98 Land Cruiser over the years and there are various photos of it in different stages of it's life, I'm going to add pictures from when we first picked it up. Later on I'll get some pics of it's current condition with 307k miles on it. Mostly to document the life of this Cruiser and to share what a 300k mile Land Cruiser looks like.

These pics are from a little while after I picked it up, with 258k miles on it.

 

[2002maniac]

It's pretty funny, we're now the 5th and 7th owners!

If there were 2 owners between you, wouldn't that be 5th and 8th?

Congrats, I'm sure you'll give it any attention it needs. I've really enjoyed your build threads over the years so this should be great.

 

[Greg]

If there were 2 owners between you, wouldn't that be 4th and 7th?

Congrats, I'm sure you'll give it any attention it needs. I've really enjoyed your build threads over the years so this should be great.

Yep, I wasn't paying that much attention to the maths.

Thanks, I appreciate the compliment! It's fun to have this one back, in a different capacity. Catherine loves it, I think it's going to stick around.

 

[Hickey]

YES!!! That's beautiful. Not sure if I care for the black hood section, but it could be added.

Needs to be a skull or the punisher logo... Kidding.