Last December I purchased a '95 Land Cruiser - It's very well built and is a very capable off-road vehicle and an excellent daily driver. A well-built Cruiser is very friendly to inexperienced off-road drivers, which is a solid plus for this vehicle. Last month I took the Cruiser down to Arizona and followed Schaefer around for a couple of days. We had a family gathering in Phoenix, so I drove Terminator and let my son-in-laws drive Elvis and Martinez Canyon. All I did was tell them what line to take, not to worry about scraping the armor including the bumpers and to try to just keep momentum in the climbs. Well, I guess they listened pretty well because this 40-year trail veteran was the only one who left paint on a rock while the newbees cleaned their trails. I mention this as the Cruiser followed Steve and he, of course, took every difficult line possible. The J hook on Elvis is optional and only Steve’s vehicle and the Cruiser attempted and made it. I drove up Yellowbelly on Martinez because if something unexpectedly went astray and the Cruiser started to roll, I didn’t want a youngster at the controls. The way the Cruiser handled Yellowbelly, anyone would have been successful with that iron pig. I felt I needed to put the above information here, so an inexperienced person wanting to wheel with the “big dogs” would know he could with this vehicle and a decent spotter.

The only off-road improvements this Cruiser would need if one is always in large rock gardens, would be a Marlin Crawler and hydro-assist steering, which would transform this bull in a china closet into a floating butterfly.

Here’s the mods this Cruiser has:

Slee front bumper with Warn M12000 Winch
Interior Winch Controls
Slee rear bumper with tire carrier
Slee tube sliders with the drivers side containing the air tank for the on board air compressor.
Slee Transfer case skid plate
Complete 5" lift using OME springs, shocks and adjustable spacers.
Double Cardan front driveshaft
ARB lockers front and rear
Re-geared to 4.88
Toyota oem Cup Holder
Toyota oem Hand Throttle
Toyota oem Center Diff Lock Switch
SuperLift Tru-Speed Calibrator
Front Heated Seats (driver and passenger)
On-Board Extreme Air Compressor
Slee Light Harness Upgrade
IPF 170 Watt Rally Auxiliary Lights
ARB Safari Snorkel
2nd Interior fuse box (under passenger seat)
African Outback drawer system
Custom cargo barrier.
315/75 R16 GoodYear MT/R (right now the thread is about 50%)

Preventative head gasket replacement by Slee offroad at 115k miles, vehicle currently has 131K miles. Slee advised head showed no problem at 115K but the gasket was replaced by previous owner as a preventive measure.

Alarm w/ remote starter
Uniden CB
Icom 2800 H 2m/440cm Ham Radio
Hella auxiliary backup light
Garmin III GPS mounted in sun visor
2 " receiver adapter
LED map & dome lights.


So, now to the money part. The cost is $20K. The mileage right now is 131K. It’s known on the internet as Slee’s School Bus due to the yellow school bus color. The interior is in great shape, no cuts or tears in the leather.

I’m selling it as I have two “testosterone” looking off-road vehicles in my driveway – the other being a 2001 Tundra – and one has to go.

In the condition they both are in right now, the Tundra is more enjoyable in the rocks because of it’s flexibility, additional lift, hydro-assist steering and the 4.7 Marlin Crawler.

On the highway at 75 mph the Tundra gets 16/17 mpg without a headwind/quartering headwind, while the Cruiser gets around 12/14 and wind isn’t a factor. At 55 the Tundra gets 17/18 while the Cruiser gets 16/17.

You have to use the handgrips while “jumping” into the cab on the Tundra but it’s a normal entry mode with the Cruiser. The War Department enjoys both driving and riding in the Cruiser but hates the Tundra and refuses to ride in it – she’s 5’2” so that might explain it.

As a family daily driver – Cruiser hands down. The only negative is the snorkel – people look and snicker a lot but when they ask what you need a snorkel for, I just tell them it’s not a snorkel – it’s a smog testing device and they walk away seemly satisfied I'm not a nut.

I’ve got plenty of pictures so if you’re interested just shoot me an e-mail at jmj@cableone.net .

 

Wow, the bus is back up for sale. I don't need to read this thread anymore.

 

 

post this on ih8mud.com you will probably get alot more intrest.

Good luck selling. Wasnt this rig laid on its side one time?

 

Price and pics to nezsm76@yahoo.com I've seen it before but that was on Slee's site while he owned it. I'd like to see how it looks now. Thanks

Steven

 

Not that I know of - if it was, it would have been prior to Christo Slee purchasing it.

The problem selling vehicles like this Cruiser and my Tundra is most people don't go places where all these "modifications" are needed. When in Moab, I've seen very few daily drivers running trails such as Pritchett. Those of you who do - you know the costs to build your rig the first time, then the upgrades and then biting the bullet and doing it up right, like you should have done the first time.

 

Just a FYI, the Schoolbus was never laid on it's side. Many people think the Schoolbus and the Shortbus is one and the same truck, but they are not. Now the Shortbus has been on it's side a couple of times.