ToyotaLandLady

So, I have yet to introduce myself in the newbie section- but in all honesty, who really goes into there who isn't required to to make people feel un-ignored?

I'm really not that high maintenance or needy, so I'll just jump in.

To start- we're definite Toyota lovers. My husband is very handy with his 92 V6 truck (xtra-cab) and can take the whole thing apart and put it back together, which is really only amusing maybe... the first 2 times he does it. After that, it's not as funny, but I do enjoy learning about mechanical things and helping out where I can.

He's made his own diamond skid plate and welded it on himself, he has nice KC lights on top of it and a Warn Winch which proved to be very useful when all the Portlanders with 2 wheel drive and bald tires come out during snow days. Unfortunately, this thing has been sitting in our garage lame for the past 2 1/2 years do to our Toyota-loving neighbors, the field mice who made a home of it and chewed the wiring throughout it. It's been an ongoing search-and-find project.

Otherwise, our main transportation is our shared 94' Landcruiser with locking differentials. Apparently we got lucky since, although all the landcruisers have it as an option, it's an expensive addition that the previouse owners splurged on. They also had a robust car phone put in but really, it's gaudy and I felt like I was entering Miami Vice every time I got in the car, so I just took the thing out.

As much as we love my LC which has accomodated our growing family (we're stuffing it to the max of 8 persons this coming August when I'm expecting my 6th kiddo) it's slowly having more and more issues.

We have been battling injection issues for about 4 years now, and recently we've had a power steering leak somewhere (we're thinking a hose)- variouse rubber and foam and plastic parts just seeing the end of their days and falling apart.

Last winter we even had quite a scare when, after a long drive through a dangerouse area (the columbia river gorge and over Mt. Hood, OR) we hear a clunking noise after taking a turn and pulled over to find 5 Lug nuts completely SHEERED off a back right tire, which was precariousely held on by 1 nut only. I can't even tell you all the horrible what-if's that ran through our minds as we stared in disbelief at the tire.



But knowing we needed to replace our tires, we have been trying our best to find ones that won't put us in the poorhouse just before I'm due. We found a great deal on Craigslist but the tires are much bigger than mine, and my car basicly needed a lift... which my husband happily bought and is currently still installing (it's 12:11 am) at this very moment.



View my gallery to see the description of this picture which should be properly labeled "How NOT to Work on a car".

Anyway, so that's our story for the moment. I have a feeling my car is going to undergo a lot of work soon, as my husband slobbers over bumpers, and multiple upgrades for my rig. More pictures are probably soon to come, but either way it's nice to meet you.

I'm being summoned as professional 'company' for the lonley husband working on the car. Apparently we punctured one of the tires we got by trying to remove some of the studs that are on them... so I have a feeling I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow, also.

CRafferty

Welcome to YotaTech!!!
Good luck with those tires!

ToyotaLandLady

Thanks! Im actually Googling "Old Man Emu Struts" because hes having a tough time getting the rubber bushings into the back struts and he's out there hammering with a rubber mallet and squeezing it with a clamp... O.o

Where is a good Old man Emu how-to when you need one....

I THINK this is the kit we're installing.... http://www.bc4x4.com/inthenews/default.cfm?ID=144

scuba

You had me until I read "we're"

Welcome though

CRafferty

^^x2

ToyotaLandLady

Hey, if he gets to say "We're having a girl..." even though I'm doing all the work and I'm expected to be out there tonight entertaining him until he's done because he's tired... although I would RATHER be sleeping, then I can say 'We're Installing..." because really, my job is to keep him from killing himself and having the cops called on us because its almost 1am Thursday night and we live in a tight cul-de-sac.

Us women- we're handy at being the voice of reason... sometimes.

"Are you SURE you need to shave down that part to make it fit...?"

CRafferty

That's what my mom said when I cut my A Arm for my Ball Joint Spacers! lol

ToyotaLandLady

Hahahaha! I know that self fabricating is good to an EXTENT... when you are trying to make the square fit into the circle because... you didn't see that the square goes on the other side, that's another story.

We got it on FINALLY and it's only about 3am. I ran out and got the tire pumped with air and it seems to be sticking, so maybe it was just low... now we are finding out that 32x12.5r15's DONT clear the back brakes by just a hair.

So, looks like we're getting up early to grind the back brakes down a tad to fit because we dont have the money just at the moment to get the extension peice that will help the rims clear, hahahahahah *sigh*

Goodnight ya all.

..but before I go... the lift looks AWESOME.

leebee

welcome aboard! sounds like hubby is a keeper, i wonder how many requests hes going to get about tearing apart that 3vze! all the best for the upcoming new addition, dont forget to post up some pix of the little one.

lee

dropzone

iTrader: (6)

Welcome to YT. What part of PDX are you in? I always do a double take on 26, 217, 205 etc when I see a LC...trying to talk my wife into replacing her Camry with one

Post some pics of the new addition...

oh and you should head out to brown's camp next weekend and test out your new found flex: https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f15/...meetup-152038/

If my Roll cage gets done in time I will be out there in my '81...

ToyotaLandLady

We live a stone's throw from the Washington Square Mall in Tigard (good for pushing big tires along the sidewalk to Les Schwab like trailer trash if all goes terribly wrong). If you see a Green Landcruiser with lots of people inside and an iStockphoto sticker on the back- that's us.

We've only had a little sleep last night- Hubby got up early to grind those rear brakes down so they aren't grinding the inside of the rims. Love the smell of brake dust in the morning!! He works at an interactive Ad agency on the East Bank in PDX and has multiple meetings this morning, as I have an ultrasound at OHSU so... hoping this works pretty quick here!!!

I love Camry's BTW- I'm not too hot on their robust rear end and how bulky it is.

Now we have to get a new bumper for the car, step plate, and other misc. items. NW Landcruiser seems to be pretty awesome for info and parts here.

Well, all went well and have to stuff the kids into the car. Here are some shots of my rig- remember, this is a family vehicle that is WELL USED!

space-junk

iTrader: (1)

your rig looks great! i love the look of those cruisers...

and welcome to YT...

might i suggest you chime in on THIS thread...

ToyotaLandLady

Thanks! The next big thing we are going to do to my rig is get bumpers and a paintjob... Im just not a forest green sort of gal.

87LVRunner

Hey TLL,

Nice looking 80 you have there! I'm not trying to suck users from YotaTech as I had an 87 4Runner and this place was AWESOME. Don't know if you noticed though, the LandCruiser section is a bit of a ghost town. May I suggest for 80 related questions, check out ih8mud.com. I sold my runner for a 90 FJ62 and found a great deal of info over there! I still come here obviously as I miss my 4Runner. Both these sites ROCK! But, ih8mud.com has some GREAT info for you. (I'm FourEyedWilly over there)

Cheers! And you guys did great work on your rig! My daughter is 4 1/2 months old. I was scurrying to get my lift on before she arrived so I know the feeling!

mendozart

I've noticed this too. I owned a '90 4Runner for 10 years, and posted here often. Just recently it was totalled, and I'm now going to be picking up a '94 LC (tomorrow). So, I came here to check out the LC section and noticed not much action. I actually had registered at the ih8mud forum back in 06, and used to dream of owning an LC.

BTW TLL, it's nice to see you and your hubby having so much fun together with the LC. Good luck on the upcoming baby.

Lc80series

Nice!

michael1963

Welcome to YT. I love your sense of humour. I've been meaning to ask ocdropzone this for awhile but seeing as I've your ear now, what exactly does PDX stand for?

FlyingLow

PDX is Portland airport.

michael1963

Thanks FlyingLow...and now I know the rest of the story.

ToyotaLandLady

Thought I would give you an update!
It's been just over 20 mos since I wrote the intro. Emmalia is a sweetie and of course, now we're expecting our 7th in a few more weeks- this time a boy.
We were concerned we were going to have to upgrade to a new vehicle since the FJ80 only sat 8 but... well, we got around that.

Hubby ordered a fabricated middle seat for the front and now it seats 9. From here we could ACTUALLY fabricate side facing seats for the very back to seat an extra person making that 10. I wouldnt put it past him to do it, either.

We have a 92' Toyota 4x4 xtra cab in the shop waiting to have a Tacoma engine conversion done to it... will make it a 6 but- well we dont have the extra $$$ to do that yet, so there it sits.



Next up is to re-upholster the inside....