The 'new' Cruiser...
So we picked up a 'new' to us truck for Claudia: a 1972 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ40. This addition to the Desertrider fleet is already nicely equipped for our purposes: it has 4" of suspension lift, 33" BFG MT tires, and ARB air lockers front and rear. The engine is a 2F out of a later model, and it runs very well. Since it came with the original drum brakes on the front axle, the braking performance was less than confidence-inspiring.... installation of a bling front disk brake kit from Man-A-Fre with four-piston calipers solved all that - now the brakes really work well! We have a few more odds and ends to tend to, such as gas tank sending unit gasket and wipers, and weatherstripping for the doors. We'll also need power steering for the harder trails, stay tuned...
Here is Claudia in her new 'Cruiser on a little climb on our way down to Sycamore Creek from Sugarloaf Mountain Road. This was our first lesson how different the lines through an obstacle are for the shorter wheelbase and the smaller width of the Cruiser compared to the K5!
