Latest / The Overland Journal Podcast / Principles of Overlanding: Land Cruiser 200 Series

Transcript

Principles of Overlanding: Land Cruiser 200 Series · The Overland Journal Podcast

0:06
Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the Overland Journal podcast. I'm your
0:10
Speaker 1: host Scott Brady, and I'm joined today by Kurt Williams now.
0:14
Speaker 1: Kurt Williams runs Cruiser Outfitters. He is a legend in
0:17
Speaker 1: the land cruiser community, not only for his knowledge but
0:20
Speaker 1: also his experience traveling in land cruisers around the world.
0:25
Speaker 1: Kurt and I have traveled on numerous continents together, but
0:28
Speaker 1: Kurt is a real wealth of knowledge around land cruisers.
0:32
Speaker 1: He has owned several one hundred series land cruisers and
0:36
Speaker 1: he's really learned about how best to modify them for
0:40
Speaker 1: overland travel. We also spend some time talking around which
0:43
Speaker 1: models are best to consider, things to look for when
0:46
Speaker 1: you're buying a land Cruiser one hundred series or the
0:49
Speaker 1: lex equivalent from Lexus. We talk about good, better, best
0:53
Speaker 1: around modifying the vehicles for long distance overland travel. So
0:58
Speaker 1: please enjoy my conversation with Kurt Williams. This series will
1:02
Speaker 1: start at the end of September and run through all
1:05
Speaker 1: of October, featuring a trail Scout episode, a Jeep Gladiator feature,
1:09
Speaker 1: vehicle trip planning and preparation, and some installments showing the
1:14
Speaker 1: local artisans and places to visit around the Smoky Mountains.
1:18
Speaker 1: We appreciate Hancook's ongoing support of the overland community and
1:22
Speaker 1: this podcast pretty amazing.
1:25
Speaker 2: It's our dear friend Greg has had this vision and
1:27
Speaker 2: this building is just amazing. And this is the third location.
1:31
Speaker 2: I think now you've been to all three.
1:33
Speaker 1: And this is my first time at this particular one.
1:36
Speaker 1: And I heard this morning that you guys just went
1:39
Speaker 1: over one hundred units here in the museum, including the
1:43
Speaker 1: new two fifty is here under roof, and it shows
1:47
Speaker 1: how a vehicle like a land cruiser that where it's
1:53
Speaker 1: not only an exceptional vehicle, but it also creates a
1:56
Speaker 1: sense of community like so few others do. And that
2:00
Speaker 1: was formative for Greg absolutely when he was young.
2:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think, and even moving into why the museum's here,
2:05
Speaker 2: I think Greg has always said that there needs to
2:08
Speaker 2: be this community, this focal point to inspire the community.
2:11
Speaker 2: And so we have our annual event each year, cruiser Fest,
2:14
Speaker 2: that we get hundreds and hundreds of land cruiser owners come.
2:16
Speaker 2: But just every day through the front door, land cruiser
2:18
Speaker 2: owners make their way here to come see this place.
2:21
Speaker 2: It's turning into quite a destination from around the world.
2:24
Speaker 1: When you read the comments on Google of this place,
2:27
Speaker 1: people are blown away.
2:29
Speaker 3: It's a little shocking when you walk through that front
2:31
Speaker 3: door and come in here.
2:32
Speaker 2: The building is so amazing, but from the outside it's
2:34
Speaker 2: industrial looks it is, it's a one hundred year old building.
2:37
Speaker 2: Then you come inside and see all these vibrant colors.
2:39
Speaker 3: It wakes you right up.
2:41
Speaker 1: And you come through that smaller entryway and then it
2:44
Speaker 1: just opens up into just a sea of buildings.
2:48
Speaker 2: I shared with you this morning that the first time
2:49
Speaker 2: I visited the building, long before it was the museum,
2:52
Speaker 2: Greg said, what do you think this place is going
2:54
Speaker 2: to be amazing? And I'm like, I've just not seen it.
2:56
Speaker 3: Greg.
2:56
Speaker 2: You had the rail tracks under and it was a
2:59
Speaker 2: foundry that were and the piles of molten steel, and
3:02
Speaker 2: I'm going.
3:03
Speaker 3: Like, okay, all the windows were busted out.
3:05
Speaker 2: And he had the vision and obviously had the vision,
3:08
Speaker 2: the resources and the kind of the bandwidth to make
3:10
Speaker 2: it happen.
3:11
Speaker 3: And here we are and you can see it absolutely.
3:13
Speaker 1: Today we are going to talk about the two hundred
3:16
Speaker 1: series land Cruiser, which I think is a really it's
3:20
Speaker 1: a neat one to talk about for a couple reasons.
3:23
Speaker 1: It's probably the vehicle in my twenty five years or
3:28
Speaker 1: so of doing this that I changed my mind on
3:31
Speaker 1: the most. When the two hundred first came out, I
3:35
Speaker 1: probably felt like a lot of other land cruiser owners did,
3:39
Speaker 1: where we had gone from what we felt was the
3:42
Speaker 1: pinnacle with the eighty series with the front and rear
3:44
Speaker 1: lockers and the center diff lock and the solid axles,
3:48
Speaker 1: and then the hundred series felt like a departure from that,
3:52
Speaker 1: and then the two hundred series felt like an either
3:54
Speaker 1: even further departure from that, where even the design language
3:58
Speaker 1: looked more reminiscent of a highland than it did of
4:01
Speaker 1: a classic land cruiser. So I think in the beginning
4:05
Speaker 1: for me, it was just this concern that the land
4:10
Speaker 1: cruiser was going to take this direction that was further
4:13
Speaker 1: and further away from heritage. But then I started to
4:17
Speaker 1: get the opportunity to drive the vehicles. But I would
4:20
Speaker 1: say that the thing that changed my mind the most
4:23
Speaker 1: and was also an important lesson for me in not
4:27
Speaker 1: making early judgments around things, was when Greg and I
4:31
Speaker 1: went to go pick up the seventy series land cruisers
4:34
Speaker 1: in Japan. We had the opportunity to meet with the
4:38
Speaker 1: lead Toyota land Cruiser engineer and his name Escapes. Yeah, yeah,
4:44
Speaker 1: and he incredible gentleman that loves land cruisers. And he
4:50
Speaker 1: was asking me. He asked me the question. He's like,
4:52
Speaker 1: why did you choose to not take a two hundred
4:55
Speaker 1: series because it's available here in the US. Why are
4:59
Speaker 1: you going on all the way to New Zealand and
5:02
Speaker 1: Zealand's that to try to get this car? And it
5:05
Speaker 1: was interesting because I said, the seventy series with solid axle,
5:10
Speaker 1: it's so durable, they're so strong, and he's I could
5:14
Speaker 1: see the solid axle and the payload and everything. He says,
5:18
Speaker 1: but actually the two hundred series is the strongest land
5:21
Speaker 1: cruiser we've ever made, and that completely That made me
5:26
Speaker 1: ask more questions and I asked him, I said, why
5:29
Speaker 1: is that? And he said, it's a heavier vehicle to
5:31
Speaker 1: begin with overall, and it's designed for carrying not only
5:36
Speaker 1: passengers but towing, and it has a much larger engine,
5:41
Speaker 1: so much more torque in the diesel and more power,
5:44
Speaker 1: et cetera in the gasoline engine. So he said, we
5:48
Speaker 1: had to make it very durable. And then he showed
5:51
Speaker 1: me this video of them taking it through this rock
5:53
Speaker 1: quarry basically, and the two hundred series was skidding across
6:00
Speaker 1: bowlders at speed like full suspension cycle, just bank all
6:05
Speaker 1: the way through, and he.
6:06
Speaker 3: Said, probably flogging.
6:08
Speaker 1: You said, the front end on that is stronger than
6:10
Speaker 1: any solid axle we've ever made. So that to me
6:13
Speaker 1: it was a really important lesson to not make snap
6:16
Speaker 1: judgments on things, but also to really understand that a
6:21
Speaker 1: company like Toyota, when they make a land cruiser, it
6:24
Speaker 1: still means exactly the same thing to them that it
6:27
Speaker 1: did in the nineteen fifties.
6:28
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a general consensus. Are the only goal with
6:31
Speaker 2: the Lancers, many goals, but the primary goal is it
6:34
Speaker 2: has to be better than the previous model. Has to
6:37
Speaker 2: exceed that in as many factors as possible to be.
6:40
Speaker 2: Certainly on road performance is important to Toyota, but off
6:43
Speaker 2: road and rough road performance now could easily make the argument,
6:46
Speaker 2: like many that the eighty series was like the pinnacle
6:49
Speaker 2: of the off road rough road performance with the solid
6:52
Speaker 2: axles front rear, the coil suspension which was new for
6:55
Speaker 2: the eighty series, but the fast forward, just as we
6:58
Speaker 2: found with one hundred series, the two hundred series chassis
7:01
Speaker 2: is every bit is stalwart and it's from a.
7:04
Speaker 3: Longevity standpoint, Like we're going to see.
7:06
Speaker 2: Them reach half a million miles here in the US
7:08
Speaker 2: without a problem, which is normal maintenance over time. So
7:11
Speaker 2: we're starting to see those higher and higher mileage ones,
7:14
Speaker 2: which kind of proves the point.
7:15
Speaker 3: I think so.
7:15
Speaker 1: And one of the things that people need to know
7:18
Speaker 1: when they think about a J series land Cruiser like
7:20
Speaker 1: this is that they are designed to run for a
7:25
Speaker 1: half a million miles. They're designed to operate in austere conditions,
7:29
Speaker 1: which would be developing world conditions for a half a
7:34
Speaker 1: million miles, not without failure, but like that, the chassis,
7:37
Speaker 1: the drive train, everything is designed to provide a service
7:41
Speaker 1: life in those conditions for a half a million miles.
7:44
Speaker 1: And there's just not another vehicle that I'm aware of
7:47
Speaker 1: that has such a focus on surviving those conditions for
7:51
Speaker 1: that length of time. And it's the reason why Toyota
7:55
Speaker 1: is now the vehicle of choice. Either in conditions like
7:58
Speaker 1: Australia where people are very remote and the roads are
8:02
Speaker 1: very abusive, not necessarily technical, but abusive, they drive land cruisers.
8:08
Speaker 1: And if you go to Africa, every NGO they used
8:12
Speaker 1: to drive patrols as well, but you can't get them anymore.
8:14
Speaker 1: So it's just the land Cruiser.
8:16
Speaker 2: Own those markets, they've really found a home, and a
8:19
Speaker 2: lot of those are with those chassis that we don't
8:20
Speaker 2: necessarily see in the US. But the two hundred series
8:23
Speaker 2: is very prevalent in those countries as well, particularly Australia.
8:27
Speaker 3: You see a lot of them.
8:27
Speaker 1: There, and you can see in Africa you'll see unique
8:31
Speaker 1: series of two hundreds where they'll have barn doors in
8:34
Speaker 1: the back, they'll have factory winches steel wheels, so they
8:38
Speaker 1: are really configurations, they're really unique. But in the US
8:42
Speaker 1: in particular, we receive the two hundred series with a
8:46
Speaker 1: naturally aspirated V eight. It started off I believe with
8:50
Speaker 1: a five speed transmission and then went.
8:52
Speaker 2: To a six speed to eight speed got in twenty
8:54
Speaker 2: fifteen as of twenty sixteen models when you saw that jump,
8:57
Speaker 2: but motorwise stayed the same. It was the same VA
9:00
Speaker 2: the three u urfe all the way through the five
9:02
Speaker 2: point seven very common motor in the United States market
9:05
Speaker 2: because that was also shared with the Tundra in the Sequoia,
9:07
Speaker 2: so we saw that in quite a few platform Stateside.
9:09
Speaker 1: Interestingly, as I understand it, the land Cruiser are actually
9:12
Speaker 1: sold in the fewest numbers. The Lexus actually sold in
9:15
Speaker 1: slightly higher numbers, so you might actually be able to
9:18
Speaker 1: find a Lexus more easily than a land Cruiser.
9:20
Speaker 2: Yes, certainly true on the used market to this day.
9:22
Speaker 2: There's just a lot more volume of them. One benefit
9:25
Speaker 2: of the Lexus trim versus the Lankrus or one is availability,
9:29
Speaker 2: so that drives the price on the used market. The
9:31
Speaker 2: other one is the Lexus ones for many different factors
9:34
Speaker 2: were often used less off road by their previous owners,
9:37
Speaker 2: so they're very clean, they've had a lot more perhaps
9:40
Speaker 2: overall maintenance done at the dealer level versus land cruisers.
9:44
Speaker 2: May and second third owners maybe they're starting to do
9:46
Speaker 2: some of their own maintenance. However, you can get really
9:48
Speaker 2: good service records with an LX five seventy, so you
9:51
Speaker 2: can often still right now find one that'spend serviced at
9:54
Speaker 2: the dealer. It's entire life, you've got all the records
9:56
Speaker 2: of it, and still in one hundred thousand mile range.
9:59
Speaker 2: Because some of these owners it's just maybe a second
10:01
Speaker 2: vehicle and they're not driving it a whole lot. So
10:03
Speaker 2: there are some really good buys on lex five seventies.
10:06
Speaker 1: And if I recall the Lex five seventy had some
10:11
Speaker 1: differences in the suspension.
10:12
Speaker 2: What were those that was the real key, whereas the
10:15
Speaker 2: land Cruiser had in the US market. There are some
10:18
Speaker 2: different ones around different markets, but in the US was
10:20
Speaker 2: just a traditional coil and shock combination and in the
10:23
Speaker 2: front a coil over shot combo. So easy to replace
10:27
Speaker 2: both with stock components or aftermarket from any manufacturers. Any
10:31
Speaker 2: relevant manufacturers all have something for the two hundred series platform. However,
10:35
Speaker 2: on the Lex five seventy it had what was called
10:38
Speaker 2: HC Auto Height control suspension. Because of that, it used
10:41
Speaker 2: a far different system actually hydraulic shocks that were controlling
10:45
Speaker 2: and taking some of the payload as well, So not
10:48
Speaker 2: only could it change ride height at the selection of
10:51
Speaker 2: a button, but that was also some of the payload
10:53
Speaker 2: in the spring rate control. So you can't just remove
10:56
Speaker 2: those shocks because the coils they otherwise had were.
10:59
Speaker 3: A little lower spring rate.
11:01
Speaker 2: The problem with that you couldn't always just pull that
11:04
Speaker 2: right off and put normal stuff on. But fast forward,
11:07
Speaker 2: the aftermarket and kind of the community has found ways
11:10
Speaker 2: like a certain combination of which fuses need to be pulled,
11:13
Speaker 2: which stuff has to stay, which has us to come off?
11:16
Speaker 2: Now at this point in time, any of the five
11:18
Speaker 2: seventies can be modified. You can put a traditional aftermarket
11:20
Speaker 2: suspension on them, and I wouldn't say that you need to, though,
11:24
Speaker 2: go drive one if you're looking in that market. Because
11:27
Speaker 2: the auto height control system when it's functioning and it
11:30
Speaker 2: is very robust, it works really well. Like the ride
11:33
Speaker 2: quality is actually better in a stock form. Plus you
11:36
Speaker 2: have the different ride heights, so at speed it can
11:39
Speaker 2: lower get a little better a fuel economy. Not saying
11:42
Speaker 2: you'd notice it, what's there loading people in and out,
11:45
Speaker 2: but then in an off road mode had a high
11:47
Speaker 2: and even an extra high that was to the tune
11:50
Speaker 2: of four or five inches in delta in the suspension height.
11:53
Speaker 1: And then does it auto level as well?
11:55
Speaker 2: You can, Yeah, it has high position sensors at all
11:57
Speaker 2: four corners, so it knows what everything's doing. It could
11:59
Speaker 2: change changed raake even on the high speed for better handling.
12:04
Speaker 3: The caveat of it.
12:05
Speaker 2: Overall in the lifetime of it is that if it
12:07
Speaker 2: starts failing, it can be expensive to repair. That said,
12:10
Speaker 2: many users are still putting new components on those even
12:13
Speaker 2: at three hundred and four hundred thousand miles keep that
12:16
Speaker 2: system working I'd say the big one is if you
12:18
Speaker 2: really start loading the vehicles up like we like to
12:21
Speaker 2: do often with payload be sensitive.
12:23
Speaker 3: That one possible.
12:25
Speaker 2: But when you start exceeding what that system was designed for,
12:28
Speaker 2: you're still under the GVW of the vehicle, but you
12:30
Speaker 2: just can't get the same handling at those higher weights
12:33
Speaker 2: when you start putting things like bulbars, winches, skid plates,
12:37
Speaker 2: a lot of extra weight that's always.
12:39
Speaker 3: On the vehicle. Yeah, that makes sense.
12:41
Speaker 1: Do you have in your mind is there a sweet spot?
12:44
Speaker 1: Is there the model to get? Is it the heritage
12:47
Speaker 1: of the last year or what do you think is
12:50
Speaker 1: the one that currently is the sweet spot.
12:52
Speaker 2: I don't think there's a bad year of two hundred
12:54
Speaker 2: series or five to seven. This eight speed transmission on
12:57
Speaker 2: the newer one certainly is a smoother shifting, kind of runs.
13:00
Speaker 3: Really tidy down the highway. It does.
13:02
Speaker 2: It's got the significally lower first gear but also has
13:04
Speaker 2: significantly numerically lower so higher differentials.
13:07
Speaker 3: So they went from.
13:08
Speaker 2: Three nineties in the dift down to three thirties with
13:11
Speaker 2: that eep speed. But the eight speed still has definitely
13:13
Speaker 2: more pick up and punch in first gear and can
13:16
Speaker 2: handle bigger tires easy, so anything sixteen and newer. I
13:20
Speaker 2: do love the eight speed, but I've got a two
13:22
Speaker 2: thousand and eight, which is a first year of the
13:25
Speaker 2: two hundred series here in the US. It's an early
13:27
Speaker 2: build too, came out in seven. As of two thousand
13:30
Speaker 2: and eight, it's not had any problem. So, like usually
13:33
Speaker 2: a lot of people say from any manufacturer, stay away
13:35
Speaker 2: from the first year. Hasn't been the thing's been great.
13:38
Speaker 1: Probably caveat on the land cruisers, it's just fine.
13:41
Speaker 2: So like we could put a little aastic next to
13:43
Speaker 2: that suggestion, there are things that got added along the way,
13:45
Speaker 2: so it's just about the creature comforts you want cooled
13:47
Speaker 2: seats or ventilated seats in the later years that of course,
13:50
Speaker 2: that eight speed we talked about, a little upgraded dash,
13:53
Speaker 2: certainly newer change on the dash. So my general consensus
13:56
Speaker 2: with all land cruisers, when you're looking at a certain
13:59
Speaker 2: series is the latest one you can affords with the
14:02
Speaker 2: lowest miles. Yeah, the later the year with the lowest miles,
14:05
Speaker 2: that's the best one.
14:06
Speaker 1: But that's good because like when you look at like
14:08
Speaker 1: one hundred series, for example, there were years where it
14:10
Speaker 1: had that two pinion front end, there were things that
14:12
Speaker 1: were yeah, not as advantageous, easy enough to fix. Years
14:16
Speaker 1: of other land cruisers that are better than us.
14:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, we saw that with the eighty series, there were
14:20
Speaker 2: some big changes there. Definitely saw that with one hundred
14:22
Speaker 2: series with front pinion differentials, some different things that changed.
14:25
Speaker 2: But on the two hundred there wasn't a whole lot
14:27
Speaker 2: that changed from two thousand and eight all the way
14:30
Speaker 2: to twenty twenty one. Now, the Heritage editions were a
14:32
Speaker 2: neat offering only available in twenty twenty twenty twenty one.
14:36
Speaker 2: Those last two years, you could get it as a
14:38
Speaker 2: two row model. And one benefit to me of a
14:40
Speaker 2: two row model is I take the third rows out
14:43
Speaker 2: of everything I own and do drawer systems or other
14:45
Speaker 2: sleeping platform So one less thing to put on a
14:48
Speaker 2: shelf and feel bad about taking out. But the bigger
14:50
Speaker 2: one to me is then it just didn't have the
14:51
Speaker 2: seat belt stuff, Like the trim was different, so even
14:54
Speaker 2: after you modify and add those drawer systems, it didn't
14:57
Speaker 2: look like there was missing stuff.
14:59
Speaker 3: You didn't seat belt.
15:00
Speaker 1: Still back there for years they are since it was
15:03
Speaker 1: certified as a three row vehicle and the payload was
15:07
Speaker 1: set for what would be essentially six or seven passengers.
15:11
Speaker 1: Then the payload was actually quite high on the two hundred,
15:15
Speaker 1: and when they did the two row model, they kept
15:17
Speaker 1: the payload high, so you actually ended up with the
15:20
Speaker 1: biggest payload of any two hundred because of that, because
15:23
Speaker 1: it didn't have the seats, and.
15:24
Speaker 2: There were a couple other little minor changes on the
15:26
Speaker 2: Heritage that not there are gonna be a huge change
15:28
Speaker 2: in the payload, but a little bit. They got rid
15:30
Speaker 2: of the center console cooler and you could have just
15:32
Speaker 2: a normal center console. There was a little bit of
15:35
Speaker 2: change on those in those later years. Also, they got
15:37
Speaker 2: rid of the door striping down the side, so it
15:39
Speaker 2: was just a clear door, which I liked. The clear
15:41
Speaker 2: look a little different. Seats and interior had a roof
15:44
Speaker 2: rack that not everyone loved. You could take them that
15:47
Speaker 2: comes off easily, But yeah, they were. They're good ones
15:49
Speaker 2: out now because it is a Heritage edition that has
15:51
Speaker 2: that badge on that back d pillar, they do demand
15:54
Speaker 2: a premium. Even to this day, they're doing just fine
15:56
Speaker 2: in the market. Some of those early ones are where
15:59
Speaker 2: the deals are.
15:59
Speaker 1: And the thing about that, yes, it's more expensive when
16:02
Speaker 1: you buy it, but if you ever were to resell it,
16:04
Speaker 1: but you've got the most desirable two hundred, so that's
16:07
Speaker 1: another you're hedging on a future return. But overall, in
16:13
Speaker 1: my experience with the two hundred driving it, there's a
16:16
Speaker 1: couple things that I really like. It tolerates roofloads better
16:19
Speaker 1: than any of the other land cruisers. So if you
16:23
Speaker 1: do want to run a roof tent, if a roof
16:24
Speaker 1: tent is of interest to you, two hundred series is
16:27
Speaker 1: going to take that roofload really well. In fact, the
16:30
Speaker 1: two hundred series had depending on the market, but when
16:32
Speaker 1: I did the research, it had up to a two
16:35
Speaker 1: hundred and forty pound roofload rating, which is quite a
16:38
Speaker 1: bit better than.
16:40
Speaker 3: Most other vehiclesloads.
16:41
Speaker 1: Most SUVs have a roofload rating of one hundred and
16:44
Speaker 1: forty to one hundred and fifty pounds. The two hundred
16:47
Speaker 1: has one hundred pounds more on the roofload rating. That's
16:51
Speaker 1: one of the things that I think is really relevant
16:53
Speaker 1: around the two hundred. The other thing that I really
16:55
Speaker 1: like about it is it's a global model. Even with
16:58
Speaker 1: the V eight, it was sold and mini markets as
17:01
Speaker 1: a gasoline V eight, but it was certainly sold in
17:04
Speaker 1: nearly every developing country as a diesels. Even though you're
17:08
Speaker 1: unlikely to have a reliability issue with a two hundred
17:11
Speaker 1: when you're driving it around the world and you pull
17:13
Speaker 1: it into a Toyota dealership, they're going to be able
17:15
Speaker 1: to change out the bushings and the lower control arms.
17:17
Speaker 1: They're going to be able to swap out a CV.
17:19
Speaker 1: They're going to be able to service the vehicle fairly
17:23
Speaker 1: easily because it was in market.
17:25
Speaker 2: Neat part of languishers in general, but certainly the two hundred,
17:28
Speaker 2: and because it had so few changes throughout that time.
17:32
Speaker 2: Parts compatibility is amazing. A like tyrod ends and inter
17:35
Speaker 2: and out of tyrod ends. Cvs, for example, full range
17:39
Speaker 2: of the vehicle, regardless of what motor package you had,
17:41
Speaker 2: could have the V six gas, could have, the V
17:43
Speaker 2: eight gas, could have the V eight.
17:45
Speaker 3: Twin turbo diesel.
17:46
Speaker 2: All of them use the same cvs, same actual shafts,
17:48
Speaker 2: a lot of Now six speed to eight speed changed
17:52
Speaker 2: a few things, but overall a lot of parts compatibility.
17:55
Speaker 2: So that's massive, and I would agree suspension wise, it's
17:59
Speaker 2: one of the most find we've seen out of any
18:01
Speaker 2: land cruiser to date. It went from the one hundred
18:03
Speaker 2: series in the four to seventy was a torsion bar
18:06
Speaker 2: which works well but not amazingly. That doesn't offer a
18:09
Speaker 2: lot of travel. There's limitations there. The two hundred series
18:12
Speaker 2: went to a true coil over in the front and
18:13
Speaker 2: some of the most robust lower control arms we've ever
18:16
Speaker 2: seen on a Toyota product. They are a massive lower
18:19
Speaker 2: control arm. So you just don't see. That's not something
18:21
Speaker 2: we experience failures with, even with big tires, even racing
18:25
Speaker 2: them with big tires, like we've got one that we
18:27
Speaker 2: race that's running thirty seven inch tires and gets beat
18:29
Speaker 2: pretty hard. We don't see bushing and ball joint failures
18:33
Speaker 2: or inter and out.
18:34
Speaker 3: Of TI rud fares.
18:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's time, but no failures are very uncommon on those.
18:38
Speaker 1: That's an interesting point in this discussion is that a
18:42
Speaker 1: mutual friend, Joe Baccall, raced these Lexus land Cruisers for
18:47
Speaker 1: many years, was very successful in the Baja series, and
18:51
Speaker 1: then you guys purchased that vehicle and your Kangaru racing.
18:55
Speaker 1: Is that racing? Yeah, now, you guys have been racing
18:57
Speaker 1: this same vehicle now for five or six years, oh.
19:01
Speaker 2: A little longer than that. It's going on about ten
19:03
Speaker 2: years now. Okay, so yeah, Joe was racing it as
19:06
Speaker 2: a Lexus sponsored It was a Lexus build. The vehicle
19:08
Speaker 2: we're running was built by Geyser Brothers. It's a famous
19:11
Speaker 2: chassis builder and desert car builder. Joe ran it for Lexus,
19:15
Speaker 2: had a very competitive and did really well, had some
19:18
Speaker 2: great wins in it, cleaning some championships in the Baja
19:21
Speaker 2: one thousand. We bought it from him when he was
19:23
Speaker 2: done racing. We'd always told him like, hey, you ever
19:25
Speaker 2: want to sell that, we'd love It's a very neat
19:27
Speaker 2: build and we all love toyotas. He called up actually
19:31
Speaker 2: reached out to me one time and said, hey, you
19:32
Speaker 2: guys still interested in This is about ten years ago now.
19:35
Speaker 3: We jumped on it fast forward.
19:36
Speaker 2: We've raced it about eight different eight or nine different
19:39
Speaker 2: Baha one thousands and a lot of smaller races. Vegas
19:42
Speaker 2: Doreno meant four hundred. And what that did is it
19:45
Speaker 2: cemented the two hundred series to so many members of
19:47
Speaker 2: our team that now there's probably ten of us with
19:50
Speaker 2: two hundreds as support vehicles. Because of how stalwart we
19:53
Speaker 2: found that that vehicle.
19:54
Speaker 1: I mean, where did you find the weaker links to occur?
19:57
Speaker 2: So we run It's called stock full in the in
20:00
Speaker 2: desert racing, so we're required a stock motor, stock transmission,
20:03
Speaker 2: stock axles, and stock suspension. Now we can have a
20:05
Speaker 2: lot of shock. We've got keen coil overs and bypass
20:08
Speaker 2: shocks front and rear, so they'll let you change the
20:10
Speaker 2: mounting locations of the shock. But the other components are
20:13
Speaker 2: all Oe Toyota and there we knock on wood. We
20:17
Speaker 2: don't really find any massive weak links like that car.
20:21
Speaker 3: It's thick.
20:21
Speaker 2: It's unreal that it's raised that many races. We do
20:23
Speaker 2: a full rebuild a front and rear. Every race we
20:25
Speaker 2: put a new steering rack because they after one thousand
20:28
Speaker 2: miles of desert racing, they all get some play.
20:30
Speaker 3: Bushes they do right.
20:31
Speaker 2: And I actually equate that I've found like great R
20:34
Speaker 2: and D for my business selling land cruiser parts, because
20:36
Speaker 2: we found something that wears out in a thousand mile
20:39
Speaker 2: desert racer starts to get a little bit.
20:41
Speaker 1: Of play in.
20:41
Speaker 2: It is going to be something a customer with a
20:43
Speaker 2: land cruiser that has two hundred and fifty or three
20:45
Speaker 2: hundred thousand miles is going to need on their daily driver.
20:48
Speaker 2: So it's about a two hundred to three hundred x
20:51
Speaker 2: of the ware factor if you want, like that's happening
20:54
Speaker 2: in a race, but none of it. We haven't found
20:56
Speaker 2: anything that's like a crazy week link overall, Like, given
21:01
Speaker 2: what that thing pushes that's on the factory motor, We've
21:03
Speaker 2: done nothing to the motor. We do oil changes. That
21:05
Speaker 2: thing's got probably thirty thousand race miles on it.
21:08
Speaker 3: Just insane to death in the dust, that's insane.
21:11
Speaker 2: If anything, weak links are going to be the aftermarket
21:13
Speaker 2: components or the safety components that are required to race.
21:16
Speaker 2: We've had issues with aftermarket fuel pumps. We've had issues
21:19
Speaker 2: with our air filter system that we run a big
21:22
Speaker 2: giant air filter for the dust.
21:24
Speaker 3: It's just not.
21:24
Speaker 2: Always enough to keep dust out. But overall, yeah, that
21:27
Speaker 2: thing's been amazing. Now it's in a stock class, so
21:29
Speaker 2: we're not the fastest ones out there on the race course,
21:31
Speaker 2: but that thing has an amazing finish rate, Like in
21:34
Speaker 2: the ninety percent finish rate, which is for desert racing,
21:37
Speaker 2: is pretty impressive. And that's why I own one after
21:39
Speaker 2: racing Medicine. These are everything I thought I knew, and
21:42
Speaker 2: I had one hundred series at the time, and it's
21:44
Speaker 2: like everything I thought was better about the hundred, The
21:46
Speaker 2: two hundred really is better.
21:48
Speaker 1: Yeah, So let's talk about let's talk through the process
21:52
Speaker 1: that someone would make in modifying a two hundred series
21:56
Speaker 1: for overlanding. In your mind, what would be the top
22:00
Speaker 1: three or four things that you have found consistently improves
22:04
Speaker 1: the overall experience of traveling into two hundred.
22:08
Speaker 2: Suspension and not that you need to change it for height,
22:11
Speaker 2: but just getting something that handles a little bit of
22:13
Speaker 2: the weight that you're likely going to be adding, both
22:15
Speaker 2: in terms of gear you may have permanently bolted on
22:18
Speaker 2: the vehicle or accessories, but also just like the day
22:21
Speaker 2: to day payload that comes in and out of the
22:22
Speaker 2: back as you start adding jugs of water, lots of food,
22:25
Speaker 2: or maybe passengers. And there's a lot of great suspension
22:28
Speaker 2: components out there. Australia has been doing suspensions forum the
22:31
Speaker 2: Australian companies since they were brand new. The benefit of
22:34
Speaker 2: that does let you get a little bit taller to
22:36
Speaker 2: put a plus sized tire. The factory equipped tires on
22:40
Speaker 2: the land Cruiser they were never an awesome setup in
22:43
Speaker 2: my opinion. They had this amazing off road vehicle and
22:46
Speaker 2: part of what gave it. That discredit it to some
22:48
Speaker 2: in the industry was they looked at the tire package
22:50
Speaker 2: that came from the factory. Never bothers me that bad,
22:53
Speaker 2: because that's the first thing most people do anyway, is
22:55
Speaker 2: choose a different tire combo. The wheels were even stalled.
22:59
Speaker 1: That there's a strong does it fit a seventeen?
23:01
Speaker 3: It does?
23:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, you can run a seventeen on it, no problem.
23:04
Speaker 2: I run seventeens on my two hundred series. Certain you
23:07
Speaker 2: have to be a little caveat there is not every
23:09
Speaker 2: seventeen inch wheel will fit, just depending on the shape
23:11
Speaker 2: and the profile of martial forging or machining of the wheel.
23:15
Speaker 2: But most seventeens fit and then a plus size tire,
23:19
Speaker 2: So getting into a true measured thirty three thirty four
23:22
Speaker 2: inch OD tire fits really well on a two hundred
23:25
Speaker 2: series well.
23:25
Speaker 1: Wheel wells are fortunately a little bit bigger.
23:28
Speaker 2: Suspension handles all that just fine, drive train handles all
23:31
Speaker 2: that just fine. Don't really have to start getting into
23:33
Speaker 2: gearing and breaks any upgrades there until you get into
23:37
Speaker 2: the kind of like thirty five inch range, and then
23:39
Speaker 2: maybe need to start adjusting those items just to keep
23:42
Speaker 2: it stock performing.
23:43
Speaker 1: It does seem like thirty fives are becoming more popular,
23:46
Speaker 1: but I don't know that I would for travel. I
23:49
Speaker 1: don't know that's actually an advantage. In my mind, something
23:52
Speaker 1: like a two ninety five seventy seventeen, so like a
23:56
Speaker 1: thirty three eleven fifty, or like a two fifty five
24:01
Speaker 1: eighty R seventeen so that would be like a thirty
24:04
Speaker 1: three by ten point five. Those are going to be
24:07
Speaker 1: the tires that are actually going to be an advantage
24:09
Speaker 1: for long distance travel because you just don't once you
24:13
Speaker 1: get a really big tire, they're hard to find, they're
24:16
Speaker 1: hard to replace, and when you're in the middle of Africa,
24:22
Speaker 1: you're just not gonna find it, not.
24:23
Speaker 2: Gonna see that. And I totally agree. I run the
24:25
Speaker 2: two ninety five seventy seventeen on mine. Yeah, could I squeeze.
24:28
Speaker 3: Bigger one in there? Sure would? It look awesome?
24:30
Speaker 2: Absolutely, however for daily driving, and just let I get
24:33
Speaker 2: a lot of road miles on that up and down
24:35
Speaker 2: that's been up into Canada and I take it down
24:37
Speaker 2: to Mexico every year for the to support the Baja
24:40
Speaker 2: one thousand. That just seems to be a good moderate
24:42
Speaker 2: tire size that doesn't ever leave me feeling wanting off road,
24:45
Speaker 2: but then I don't also, on the other hand, feel
24:48
Speaker 2: like I'm pushing to need to regear and deal with
24:50
Speaker 2: upgrading breaks, to push a bigger tire, and even with
24:53
Speaker 2: thirty fives, Yeah, while the wheel well will accommodate that
24:56
Speaker 2: to a fair degree, at full travel, full stuff, thirty
24:59
Speaker 2: fives start requiring a fair bit of trimming if you're
25:02
Speaker 2: really using an off road thirty five.
25:04
Speaker 1: And special thanks to Overland Explorer Vehicles also known as OEV,
25:10
Speaker 1: or their generous support of this week's podcast. The OEV
25:14
Speaker 1: is one of the most respected camper builders in our industry,
25:18
Speaker 1: using premium four season construction and the highest quality components
25:23
Speaker 1: to manufacture campers capable of traveling around the world.
25:27
Speaker 3: So that's a big one.
25:28
Speaker 2: I'd say a little bit of beefed up suspension just
25:30
Speaker 2: for payload more than anything. A little bit of more
25:32
Speaker 2: positive handling because the suspension package on the US models particularly,
25:36
Speaker 2: they were really looking at ride quality, vibration.
25:40
Speaker 3: It was a softer fill, a little bit a lot
25:41
Speaker 3: of die Fair.
25:43
Speaker 2: Now they do have KDSS so they handled body roll
25:45
Speaker 2: really well. But the suspension just stands to help that
25:48
Speaker 2: even a.
25:49
Speaker 1: Bit more, and do you find that up to a
25:51
Speaker 1: certain degree you can still retain the KDSS. So if
25:55
Speaker 1: you go with maybe plus thirty to fifty millimeters, you're
25:59
Speaker 1: able to.
26:01
Speaker 3: Fact all the way.
26:02
Speaker 2: Even customers running thirty five to thirty sevens a KDSS,
26:05
Speaker 2: you can get KDSS extension links.
26:08
Speaker 3: But even in the.
26:08
Speaker 2: Stock form it doesn't require a whole lot of modifications.
26:11
Speaker 2: Stand mine still. I run KDSS on mine and most
26:13
Speaker 2: customers do. Works really well.
26:15
Speaker 1: You found what have you found on spring rate? For
26:18
Speaker 1: most people that are setting up a two hundred series
26:21
Speaker 1: for travel, so you're going to see maybe five six
26:24
Speaker 1: hundred pounds of static load increase in the rear? Are
26:28
Speaker 1: you finding that plus one fifty per side or a
26:31
Speaker 1: plus three hundred or.
26:32
Speaker 2: To one fifties like the common upgrade on a pound
26:35
Speaker 2: print inch coil on the back? Dobinson old Man em
26:38
Speaker 2: you both have a wider ray. Including this is interesting
26:41
Speaker 2: that's commonly done is a lowering spring for the back
26:44
Speaker 2: like either a zero inch height like a stock height spring,
26:47
Speaker 2: or a minus one in the back and then go
26:49
Speaker 2: plus one or two in the front. Because if you
26:51
Speaker 2: look at a factory two hundred, they did have quite
26:54
Speaker 2: a bit of rate. Now I don't always advise getting
26:56
Speaker 2: rid of rake, because rake allows you to have some
26:59
Speaker 2: transient loads in now the back without getting squatty. But
27:02
Speaker 2: also there's some handling characteristics built into having a little
27:05
Speaker 2: bit of rake. When it comes to your castro on
27:07
Speaker 2: the front end is designed to have a bit of
27:08
Speaker 2: that in there. So I like to have a little
27:11
Speaker 2: rake just so that when I'm fully loaded, that doesn't
27:13
Speaker 2: go away. But for those that want a very esthetic
27:16
Speaker 2: level stance, there are even lowering springs for the back
27:19
Speaker 2: while bringing the front end up in all of those
27:22
Speaker 2: different weights too, so in a stock load weight, a
27:25
Speaker 2: medium load or up to one hundred kilos, so like
27:28
Speaker 2: a two hundred pound, and then even way beyond that
27:30
Speaker 2: because two hundreds can be built as armored vehicles, so
27:33
Speaker 2: there are some massive coils available for this.
27:35
Speaker 1: And that's what's interesting if you look at a two
27:38
Speaker 1: hundred series how much they've been pushed to the limits.
27:42
Speaker 1: Arctic trucks in Norway built military two hundred series land
27:48
Speaker 1: cruisers on forties and they were very heavily loaded and armored.
27:53
Speaker 1: So you had an armored two hundred on a forty
27:55
Speaker 1: inch tire and they just don't have chassis and drive
27:59
Speaker 1: line failure. When we drove the high Lux across Greenland
28:04
Speaker 1: or when I drove the high Lux across Antarctica, we
28:07
Speaker 1: would use a two hundred series transfer case because they
28:11
Speaker 1: actually hold up to all of that day after day
28:14
Speaker 1: low range high heat. They were getting failures of the
28:17
Speaker 1: highlux transfer cases, and so the two hundred series rear
28:20
Speaker 1: axle is also fitted on this one also fitted to
28:23
Speaker 1: the Arctic trucks. So there's a reason why there's so
28:26
Speaker 1: much of that built in reserve. The reason why we
28:30
Speaker 1: do not want to overload much beyond gross vehicle weight
28:34
Speaker 1: is in a country like Australia, they will have random checkpoints.
28:38
Speaker 1: We saw one when we were in Australia. Remember that
28:41
Speaker 1: they were off the side of the road and they
28:42
Speaker 1: were pulling guys with campers and everything else like that on.
28:46
Speaker 3: That's right.
28:47
Speaker 1: So if you are over what is your listed gross
28:51
Speaker 1: vehicle weight for the vehicle, you can either get a
28:55
Speaker 1: ticket or be taken off the road until it's remedied.
28:58
Speaker 3: Flag for that.
29:00
Speaker 1: In the United States, if you were fifteen hundred pounds
29:02
Speaker 1: over your gross vehicle weight and you were to get
29:06
Speaker 1: into a really bad accident, and the insurance company is
29:09
Speaker 1: looking at this huge liability and they take a look
29:12
Speaker 1: at your vehicle and they see that you've added it
29:14
Speaker 1: willfully as the owner. You've added one thousand or fifteen
29:18
Speaker 1: hundred pounds over the gross vehicle weight of the vehicle,
29:21
Speaker 1: and now you've gotten an accident. They could say you
29:24
Speaker 1: modified the car outside of its safety limits, which include breaking,
29:29
Speaker 1: handling and all these other things. So even though a
29:32
Speaker 1: two hundred series shockingly will do it all day long,
29:36
Speaker 1: there's some real liability and regulatory considerations about not overloading vehicles.
29:42
Speaker 1: And also like you're going to the thing's going to
29:44
Speaker 1: perform better, it's going to be more enjoyable to drive,
29:47
Speaker 1: you're going to get better fuel economy, all of those
29:49
Speaker 1: things if you just keep it a little closer to
29:51
Speaker 1: the gross vehicle weight.
29:52
Speaker 3: Totally agree, wronger and different.
29:54
Speaker 2: In the US, we don't have like liability aside. That's
29:57
Speaker 2: a very real thing. Yeah, and I think we will
30:00
Speaker 2: see that happen more and more in the futures. Insurance
30:02
Speaker 2: companies look at heavily modified vehicles and say that's not
30:05
Speaker 2: our You did this right, but we don't have the
30:08
Speaker 2: same GVW regulatory that like Australia and other countries have.
30:12
Speaker 2: One benefit of that in countries like Australia, for example,
30:15
Speaker 2: is that you can do gv W upgrades right WRGVW
30:19
Speaker 2: upgrades and actually improve breaks, improve suspension. So a lot
30:23
Speaker 2: think that you improve the payload by just changing the suspension.
30:26
Speaker 3: You don't like, really.
30:26
Speaker 1: Approve you can maintain the ride, but breaks don't.
30:31
Speaker 2: Your suspension doesn't solve breaks doesn't solve a lot bigger rotating,
30:34
Speaker 2: massive tires.
30:35
Speaker 3: Cooling system of the engine.
30:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, right down to just even chassis stiffness, right, and
30:40
Speaker 2: that chassis was designed to hold a certain way.
30:41
Speaker 3: So you're right.
30:42
Speaker 2: The two hundred does cover for you in a lot
30:44
Speaker 2: of guards not saying that's recommended. Your vehicle build is
30:47
Speaker 2: only done when you've taken the last item back off
30:50
Speaker 2: of the vehicle. There seems to be like this curve
30:53
Speaker 2: of build your vehicle at everything, bolt everything on, and
30:56
Speaker 2: then you're really only done when you take that stuff
30:58
Speaker 2: back off. Maybe think about that before you all the
31:00
Speaker 2: stuff on in the first place.
31:01
Speaker 3: Keep it simple.
31:02
Speaker 1: Yeah, and these two hundred series, you and I could
31:06
Speaker 1: take a heritage edition tomorrow and drive it around the
31:08
Speaker 1: world without everything we did with E seven other than Antarctica,
31:13
Speaker 1: we could have done in a Stock two hundred series.
31:16
Speaker 1: Maybe change the tires because the tires need a better
31:19
Speaker 1: the tires stock tires based Stock's eyes.
31:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, we saw them everywhere around the world, right like
31:24
Speaker 2: they were there. You'd see a two hundred about everywhere.
31:26
Speaker 2: I'm gonna throw my third is they do very much.
31:29
Speaker 2: Particularly the three you are which is the five seven
31:31
Speaker 2: gas very much benefits from a little extended fuel range.
31:35
Speaker 2: So an added an auxiliary tank in the rear, which
31:37
Speaker 2: there's great options available twelve twenty four forty gallon tanks.
31:41
Speaker 2: That starts to be a lot of weight. So consider that,
31:43
Speaker 2: what does forty gallons look like hanging off the back
31:46
Speaker 2: of your vehicle.
31:47
Speaker 1: But even that, because petrol would be six point three
31:50
Speaker 1: three pounds per.
31:51
Speaker 2: Call it at a forty gallon tank including the tank itself,
31:55
Speaker 2: the peripheral planet about five hundred pounds all hanging behind
31:59
Speaker 2: the rear.
32:00
Speaker 3: So what a factory tire was.
32:01
Speaker 1: Do they have an increased size main tank.
32:05
Speaker 3: I don't know that one.
32:06
Speaker 2: I haven't seen an increased maintain because there's just not
32:08
Speaker 2: a lot of geography there now long range automotive out
32:10
Speaker 2: of Australia or Brown Davis. They may m'd have to
32:12
Speaker 2: look into that, but I'm a big fan and some
32:14
Speaker 2: of these. In fact, this vehicle right here has it's
32:16
Speaker 2: a twelve and a half gallon tank in the back, yeah,
32:18
Speaker 2: above the spare tire, so you can still keep your
32:21
Speaker 2: factory spare And it's location that where you're not getting
32:23
Speaker 2: into a rear bumper, and all that added weight twelve
32:26
Speaker 2: and a half gallon gives you like an additional half
32:28
Speaker 2: of a tank capacity that's just enough to usually push
32:31
Speaker 2: it about anywhere. And I've traveled all over Utah and
32:34
Speaker 2: all over the West and down in New Mexico, and
32:36
Speaker 2: I'm never the first one worried about fuel with that
32:38
Speaker 2: extra twelve and a half gallon.
32:40
Speaker 1: So and if I remember, the factory has a twelve
32:43
Speaker 1: and a half or has an optional tank like that.
32:46
Speaker 2: Non US, you could get a factory sub tank. So
32:48
Speaker 2: if you wanted to keep it really pure, that's possible
32:51
Speaker 2: to do is use a factory sub tank in the rear.
32:53
Speaker 3: Get all that.
32:54
Speaker 2: You could dial it in the front with factory subtank buttons.
32:57
Speaker 2: It was never offered the United States with the secondary tank.
33:00
Speaker 2: It's a smaller sub tank in the back.
33:02
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think even the hundreds in the eighties
33:04
Speaker 1: had that all above the spare tire.
33:06
Speaker 3: All of them are in that same location back there. Yeah.
33:09
Speaker 1: When I look at the two hundred series builds, they're
33:12
Speaker 1: a heavy vehicle, so that means they can struggle in
33:16
Speaker 1: soft conditions. So paying attention towards self recovery with a
33:20
Speaker 1: two hundred series, I think is a good idea. When
33:22
Speaker 1: you're in a super lightweight jeep with tons of reserve capability,
33:26
Speaker 1: you don't tend to get stuck that much, whereas when
33:28
Speaker 1: you're in a heavy land cruiser which has reserve not
33:32
Speaker 1: so much reserve capability. So I think on a two
33:36
Speaker 1: hundred series you're going to be better off thinking about
33:40
Speaker 1: should I install a rear locking differential, should I install
33:44
Speaker 1: a self recovery winch, or should I at least make
33:47
Speaker 1: sure that I have two or four recovery tracks, something
33:51
Speaker 1: like a max tracks along with you. I think it's
33:53
Speaker 1: a really good idea to pay attention towards self recovery
33:57
Speaker 1: with land cruisers in general. I've been surprised is where
34:00
Speaker 1: land cruisers have gotten stuck.
34:02
Speaker 3: They're heavy, they're just heavy.
34:03
Speaker 2: You're about compression surfaces, sand, snow, they're a big, heavy vehicle. Yeah,
34:07
Speaker 2: And you put something that's sixty five seven pounds when
34:10
Speaker 2: fully loaded with all your gear and people on board,
34:13
Speaker 2: in sand and.
34:14
Speaker 3: Other compression surfaces with a traditionally.
34:16
Speaker 2: Narrower tired than maybe a lot would run like on
34:18
Speaker 2: a jeep, And yeah, you can start digging some holes
34:21
Speaker 2: pretty quick.
34:21
Speaker 3: And they are heavy.
34:23
Speaker 2: Things get stuck, and heavy things are hard to get
34:25
Speaker 2: unstuck on the flight side, so yeah, plan accordingly.
34:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, and they're just a larger vehicle, so you end
34:30
Speaker 1: up with a lot of chassis stiction. They're more difficult
34:33
Speaker 1: to recover. And I think a lot of times because
34:36
Speaker 1: land cruisers have so much durability, people don't pay attention
34:40
Speaker 1: to what they've added. The number of times I've asked
34:43
Speaker 1: someone with a two hundred trees how much it weighs,
34:45
Speaker 1: and they'll say, oh, maybe sixty five hundred pounds, and
34:47
Speaker 1: I'm like, no way, it was close to six when
34:49
Speaker 1: it was new.
34:50
Speaker 3: I know, Yeah, mine's the same way. It's heavier.
34:52
Speaker 2: I do have a lot of stuff, but I've scaled
34:54
Speaker 2: back on a lot of things that I put on there.
34:56
Speaker 2: I've gone away from a rooftop tak. I have a
34:58
Speaker 2: rack on there with alubox, but I leave them all empty.
35:01
Speaker 2: I only use that if I absolutely need that storage
35:04
Speaker 2: space up on top sleeping platform on the inside. Just
35:07
Speaker 2: try and keep it simple and minimize and a lot
35:09
Speaker 2: of that was weight in mind, because they handle really
35:11
Speaker 2: well at five to seven pushes. It's the most powerful
35:14
Speaker 2: anchruiser motor we've ever seen in the US market. However,
35:18
Speaker 2: underload they still struggle, and that's the economy really dumps
35:21
Speaker 2: off as well.
35:22
Speaker 3: You superchargers. Mine is not supercharge.
35:24
Speaker 2: You have a lot of customers have them, and Dave's
35:27
Speaker 2: got a supercharge one and we've done a handful for customers.
35:31
Speaker 2: They're fun, but this one's older. And then I did
35:33
Speaker 2: I actually have a heritage kicking around too that I've
35:35
Speaker 2: done nothing with.
35:36
Speaker 3: It has just still in the very few miles that's driven.
35:40
Speaker 1: Still got it wrapped in plast It.
35:42
Speaker 2: Has forty miles on it. I drive it one mile
35:44
Speaker 2: every other week. I have a really good regiment of
35:47
Speaker 2: how it gets warmed up and how to drive around
35:48
Speaker 2: the block once a week. The plan isn't to keep
35:50
Speaker 2: it as a time capsule, it's my next one I
35:53
Speaker 2: build out.
35:54
Speaker 3: I got to sell this one to kind of fund
35:55
Speaker 3: build the next one.
35:56
Speaker 2: But at the tail end, I did pick one up
35:58
Speaker 2: just to have so I can build them.
35:59
Speaker 3: I'm they supercharge that one. We'll see.
36:03
Speaker 1: Overall, the two hundred series is a vehicle that I
36:06
Speaker 1: commonly recommend to people. When we did our top ten
36:11
Speaker 1: used overland vehicle list many years ago, and I've updated
36:15
Speaker 1: it several times since, the two hundred series has remained
36:18
Speaker 1: in that number one position because it is something that
36:22
Speaker 1: guys like you and I can recommend to anybody, any
36:26
Speaker 1: new person to overlanding, and they say, what should I.
36:29
Speaker 3: Go get used?
36:30
Speaker 1: I've got twenty eight thousand dollars to spend. I'm going
36:33
Speaker 1: to be like, buy the newest, lowest mileage two hundred
36:37
Speaker 1: Series that you can find, because when it's stock, it'll
36:41
Speaker 1: take you around the world. If you modify it lightly,
36:45
Speaker 1: it will take you aund around the world and even
36:48
Speaker 1: into more remote and challenging locations. So they're just an
36:52
Speaker 1: exceptional vehicle overall, and there's no red flags with it.
36:55
Speaker 1: It's just not that thing of oh, you got to
36:57
Speaker 1: do the do Hickey mod because it's a problem.
37:01
Speaker 2: No major week links that just say, yeah, vet it out.
37:03
Speaker 2: If you're shopping for one climb underneath there, spend some time,
37:06
Speaker 2: better yet, get it up on a lift. Chassis corrosion
37:09
Speaker 2: is a big one, not because they were inherently prone
37:11
Speaker 2: to that, but we're just looking at a twenty year old.
37:12
Speaker 1: Vehicle in this time, so they could have been owned
37:15
Speaker 1: in New York City or whatever.
37:17
Speaker 2: Very salty climates or here in Salt Lake. If they've
37:19
Speaker 2: driven it up and down the canyon a lot and
37:20
Speaker 2: not properly clean that chassis, we can get some bad rush.
37:23
Speaker 2: That's when they get hard to modify or hard to service.
37:26
Speaker 3: It's just if they haven't kept up on preventive maintenance.
37:28
Speaker 2: But yeah, to your point, there's not like any of
37:30
Speaker 2: those major you have to do this on every one
37:32
Speaker 2: of them. Like things were pretty well vetted out, and
37:34
Speaker 2: that's why they didn't change much from two thousand and
37:37
Speaker 2: eight all the way to twenty twenty one.
37:39
Speaker 3: And I do a lot of changes.
37:40
Speaker 1: I do believe it's really important if you can get
37:42
Speaker 1: one with a clear service history, especially those one owner cars,
37:46
Speaker 1: those are going to be worth spending a little bit
37:49
Speaker 1: more money or waiting being patient to find because the
37:53
Speaker 1: one thing about land cruisers is some guy will buy
37:57
Speaker 1: it and he needs to buying it for his wife
37:59
Speaker 1: and kid to drive, and they haven't done an oil
38:01
Speaker 1: change in twenty thousand.
38:02
Speaker 3: Happens like does yeh? Because the forgiving of.
38:05
Speaker 1: That, Yeah, and people just forget the fact that you
38:07
Speaker 1: have to put oil in every once in a while.
38:09
Speaker 1: So you've got to make if you can find one
38:11
Speaker 1: with a good service history. If you enjoy the podcast,
38:16
Speaker 1: I think you'd really love the print magazine as well.
38:19
Speaker 1: And one of that subscription price goes back into creating
38:23
Speaker 1: the content like you're listening to right now. And as
38:27
Speaker 1: a special thank you for your loyalty, we're giving twenty
38:30
Speaker 1: percent off any subscription and that even includes our special
38:34
Speaker 1: lifetime subscription which includes numerous lifetime only benefits. You can
38:40
Speaker 1: go to Overland Journal dot com and use the Code
38:43
Speaker 1: Overland podcast at checkout again, that's Code Overland podcast at checkout,
38:49
Speaker 1: and I'll give you twenty percent off. I sincerely appreciate
38:53
Speaker 1: your support.
38:54
Speaker 2: And don't neglect to look at the LX five to
38:56
Speaker 2: seventy if that's an option. They are great options as well.
38:58
Speaker 2: Plenty of built ones on the market, A lot of
39:02
Speaker 2: accessories available from those. For a while, some of the
39:04
Speaker 2: accessories were harder to fit because of that agec but
39:07
Speaker 2: now companies like Slee and Descent and others CBI, they're
39:11
Speaker 2: starting to do accessories that work on the Lex five
39:13
Speaker 2: seventy just the same or with a little bit of ingenuity.
39:16
Speaker 2: You can swap some of those Landcruis are specific two
39:18
Speaker 2: hundred series ones to the LX. Because of the you
39:21
Speaker 2: mentioned they did, it was like two to one overall,
39:23
Speaker 2: kind of real mebile mouth there. That about twice as
39:26
Speaker 2: many Lex five seventies as they sold two hundreds in
39:29
Speaker 2: the US market, So they're because of that, there's just
39:31
Speaker 2: a lot more five seventies available as an option, and yeah,
39:34
Speaker 2: don't discount those because there's a lot of great things
39:35
Speaker 2: about them.
39:36
Speaker 1: When I as I recall in twenty sixteen, they also
39:41
Speaker 1: added the tighter turning radius button where it locks that
39:45
Speaker 1: inside turn assist where it locks the inside rear tire
39:49
Speaker 1: to help tighten a radius of a turn, and I
39:53
Speaker 1: believe they also improved the traction control at the same time.
39:56
Speaker 1: So if you don't plan on putting a locker in
39:59
Speaker 1: the vehicle, you may want to consider the newer one
40:01
Speaker 1: because it will have a much better performing hill descent
40:05
Speaker 1: control traction control, and normally traction control is all you
40:08
Speaker 1: need for a travel vehicle, but if you do want
40:11
Speaker 1: to put a locker, you can put them in front
40:13
Speaker 1: and rear. I think a rear is all you need
40:16
Speaker 1: in the two hundred series, and it really does change
40:18
Speaker 1: the vehicle. A rear locking differential just allows the whole
40:21
Speaker 1: vehicle to slow down through challenging terrain. You're not having
40:24
Speaker 1: to use quite as much momentum or we'll spin right
40:27
Speaker 1: to engage the traction control and then tracks control is
40:31
Speaker 1: still going to be available in the front differential, but
40:33
Speaker 1: it will be even more effective because you're now not
40:36
Speaker 1: trying to.
40:36
Speaker 3: Arrest two spinning tires. Yeah, that's the truth.
40:40
Speaker 2: They all had crawl control, even starting in two thousand
40:42
Speaker 2: and eight, and they had the eight tracks, So all
40:43
Speaker 2: those systems are there on all model Lan cruisers, but
40:46
Speaker 2: as they got newer, that system got more and more refined,
40:48
Speaker 2: and on the sixteen plus with the eight speed, it's
40:51
Speaker 2: significantly more refined operating the crawl control and the traction
40:54
Speaker 2: control systems turn assist. There's definitely some use cases for
40:58
Speaker 2: it out there. Not one that's like a deal breaker
41:00
Speaker 2: for me personally to have. However, there are use cases
41:03
Speaker 2: where it makes sense to hatchbacks switchbacks.
41:05
Speaker 3: I've used it. I've seen it in use.
41:06
Speaker 2: I've seen times where he didn't have to back up
41:09
Speaker 2: or do any crazy jockeying because that thing pivoted right around.
41:12
Speaker 3: So that is neat on those newer ones as well.
41:13
Speaker 2: But the crawl control traction control systems definitely got a
41:17
Speaker 2: lot more autonomous and smoother in those later years. Therefore,
41:21
Speaker 2: you had to use less momentum and less speed and
41:23
Speaker 2: obstacles to get those systems working.
41:27
Speaker 1: Any other thoughts on the two hundred No, overall great machines.
41:30
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, caveats. Do get one. I think everyone should.
41:34
Speaker 3: I wish there were enough available.
41:36
Speaker 1: That's the biggest challenge. They're like Hen's teeth. I've had
41:39
Speaker 1: so many great memories in two hundreds. We talked when
41:42
Speaker 1: I first got to the museum here about rob Boheim.
41:45
Speaker 1: Heima maps that has their two hundred series. Land Cruiser
41:48
Speaker 1: is diesel. It's a twin turbo diesel and it's in
41:51
Speaker 1: the land Cruiser Heritage Museum. I've driven acrossed Australia in it.
41:56
Speaker 1: You've driven it.
41:56
Speaker 3: You and I got to go take it trip in Australia.
41:58
Speaker 1: In a trip in Australia, and then it was brought
42:01
Speaker 1: to the US. Chris Cordez when he was on our team,
42:04
Speaker 1: drove it. Rob drove it here in the US. It
42:08
Speaker 1: went all the way up into Alaska and Canada.
42:09
Speaker 3: Heema Matt patrol in the US. Yeah.
42:12
Speaker 1: So the two hundred series again, it's the one vehicle
42:14
Speaker 1: I've changed my mind on the most and I highly
42:17
Speaker 1: recommend it.
42:18
Speaker 3: No, no cave.
42:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, I totally agree with you there. It'll be fun
42:21
Speaker 2: to see. We're just not too far off a few
42:23
Speaker 2: more years and some of these Diesel import two hundreds
42:26
Speaker 2: are going to be US legal. We're not too far
42:28
Speaker 2: off of twenty five years to get a VBJ two
42:30
Speaker 2: hundred with that twinter.
42:32
Speaker 3: B Ob eight.
42:33
Speaker 2: That'll be interesting to see how many of those come
42:35
Speaker 2: over to the US. I'm sure if you will, there'll
42:37
Speaker 2: be some collectors.
42:38
Speaker 1: Kurt, thank you so much for the time talking about
42:40
Speaker 1: the two hundred series land Cruiser. We thank you all
42:42
Speaker 1: for listening, and we'll talk to you next time.