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Christine the Cruiser

105Aus

New Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2014
Messages
38
Country Flag
australia
Hello everyone, I've been on these forums a few times browsing through for ideas and tips and thought I'd join and make my own build thread and so i can comment on others to ask questions and get more idea's.

So, my car is a 1999 model HZJ105R Landcruiser, or 100 series solid axle front with the 4.2 diesel n/a engine. Bought it from a random online in march 2013 who turned out to be a past work colleague so i managed to save a few dollars. When i bought it, it had 208 000 km's under its belt, everything on it was stock except he had a turbo kit fitted.

Not long after i purchased the car i started straight away going off-road and testing the car and my own capabilities offroad as this is the first 4x4 I've owned. After not long I realised that I needed better tyres then the stock radial's as i was struggling for grip on rocky climbs and was always getting bogged in mud. I went with Cooper STT Maxx's as they're a pretty good alrounder from the research i did, and theyre guarantee'd to last 80 000 km's and i also went up a tyre size to 285/75R16's.

A few months later after some light touring to local State Forest's I was still struggling for grip when my suspension was working out and locking up tyres so i'd only be spinning one tyre on each axle which would get me nowhwere so to fix the problem i bought an ARB Diff lock for my front diff. To run said locker, i had to have air so i also got an ARB air compressor which has 2 outputs so i can also run rear difflock down the track and an outlet for my tyre inflator.

Later that year for my birthday i was given a 52 inch LED light bar, but with only an alloy bullbar i decided to mount the light to my roof so i also gain very good side vision for spotting wildlife while driving at night. Made up a custom bracket at my work and fit it up in an afternoon and ive loved the extra light ever since.

After crunching a cv axle on a weekend away i decided to fit a Part Time Kit and free wheeling hubs, which with the help of mates and an arvo of head scratching and beer drinking we managed to change out one of the gears in the transfer case so that it no longer constantly drives the front axle, and the hubs were so the tyres can spin freely without spinning the cv's, axles and diff centre. This mod worked out great as it slightly improved my fuel usage, saved my front tyres wearing as quickly and gave me much lighter steering.

Another problem I ran into was that my standard sidesteps were always coping a beating and bending up, at one time stopping both passenger side doors from opening, so i got some 38mm tube rock sliders made up. I wasnt happy with the workmanship of the job i'd paid a weeks worth of my wages to be done so myself and a mate chopped the tube up and extended the rails to protect more sills and mainly re do the welds as the "Professional" welds hardly had any penetration.

I bought a turbo timer as i was sick of sitting in the car for a minute everytime i pulled up after a long drive so that i could set it to automatically turn off after 30 seconds or longer for harder trips on hot days and at the same time I also fit a UHF so i could better communicate with people while on trips.

The most recent mod i did only just a week ago was a 2" suspension lift which I fit in house with the help of my father and a mate, and overall on average i gained 60mm and got a much smoother ride. I havent been out the bush yet to test it's new feel but I am very keen to do so.

I have all sorts of future plans for the car including but not limited to; Rear diff lock, Steel Bullbar, Winch, Steel rear bar, long ranger fuel tank, Watertanks, Roof Racks, Roof top tent, rear drawers, fridge, fridge slide, 2nd and 3rd battery's, more underbody protection, window tint and a few more lights.

I'll upload some pics of my car and some mods when I have more spare time but for now this is it, thanks for looking and any input or questions welcome
 
While I'm, here I'll post why my car was nicknamed "Christine".

Earlier this year after I got home from holidays, I pulled up out the front of my house to see my gate was open, and that my car was no longer parked infront of the gate where I had parked it up for the weekend. I walked around to see that my car was now under my car port (10m foward from where i parked it) and the gate was opened the wrong way (had a latch and a backstop so it would only open fowards).
At first i was confused and didn't know what on earth was happening so I called family and they came around to help me sus the situation incase someone had tried stealing it or something?
We looked around the yard and house but with no sign of anyone around we turned out attention to the car, it had no damage, all the doors were still locked but it had somehow moved foward 10m, running over car parts i had sitting in the drive way and coming to rest on my project car and it's gearbox.
The gate was bent so from a top view instead of being straight it was now bent and shaped like (. It also snapped a chain that was holding the gate to the fence and the bracket which stopped the gate from opening backwards, but how?
After asking everyone on my street noone had any idea and hadn't heard or seen anything happening except my direct neighbours who werent home at the time. With lots of investigating I couldnt see any damage on the rear from someone driving into it to push it, there was no sign of anyone breaking into the car and it was still in 5th gear with the handbrake on how I'd left it.

The next day my neighbour got home and i asked him if he knew anything of it, and he said earlier the previous day he heard it trying to start up, but it sounded as though it was in gear trying to start and he looked out and seen it lurching foward. Not sure why he didn't investigate more since it went through a fence and over car parts but he said he thought we were working on it so payed no more attention after seeing it lurching. So now I was even more confused.

Looking in the engine bay, my battery positive terminal had been melted down to a blob of led and the clamp and wiring was black from being burnt, which made me think i had some sort of electrical problem. I rang about 15 auto electricians and half of them didnt believe me and said someone must have been trying to hotwire it, the others said my starter motor could of shorted out but most of them said for that to happen your key has to be on, to let power through the fuses and relays before it can even get to the starter.

With a new battery and new terminals, i still have no idea what caused the incident but now no longer leave the car in gear when parked and it hasn't repeated itself yet? Telling the story to friends and family, everyone said it sounded like my car was Christine, from the steven king novel, so thats how my car was nicknamed "Christine"
 
Welcome to the club, great intro. :thumbup:

Where abouts in OZ are you?

Think we need to see some pics please! :icon-biggrin:
 
Welcome 105Aus & Christine! Great intro (even though I don't quite understand what you've done to the T/Box and the front-wheel-drive).

I'll have another read of that.

BTW, photos are mandatory... :lol:
 
Well I'm not trying to mess anything up, I'm still trying to understand....

"After crunching a cv axle on a weekend away i decided to fit a Part Time Kit and free wheeling hubs, which with the help of mates and an arvo of head scratching and beer drinking we managed to change out one of the gears in the transfer case so that it no longer constantly drives the front axle, and the hubs were so the tyres can spin freely without spinning the cv's, axles and diff centre. This mod worked out great as it slightly improved my fuel usage, saved my front tyres wearing as quickly and gave me much lighter steering".

Does this mean that it's only 2 wheel drive at the rear now? :think:
 
They are suspect stories like the one where the valve collets came loose which CANNOT happen. Photos of the pt time 2 wheel drive would prove me wrong on the first story anyway.:whistle:.
 
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Are you guys seriously saying you havent seen or heard of part time 2wd conversion kits for the 80 series? :icon-rolleyes:

We are messing up a great thread.
We have dedicated forums and threads for jokes.
Moderator, can you please delete this and the 4 previous posts?

PS
Nothing wrong with humor in posts, but this is kinda ridiculing.

Agree! :|
 
Thanks to everyone for the replys, bar those few trying to be funny I think?

The part time kit allows men to drive around with only rear wheel drive and then when I want to go off-road I lock in the hubs and hit the centre diff lock button and its back into 4x4.

Tried posting a link but can't until I make some more posts so search "marks 4wd adapters part time kit" and have a look, I believe the instructions are on there also if you want a look at how the gears change out
 
Yes Clive, 2wd at the rear until I lock in the hubs and hit the centre diff lock button
 
Thanks to everyone for the replys, bar those few trying to be funny I think?
Sorry about that, just trying to inject a little humour, I have now deleted my own posts. I obviously can't delete others replies to them.
And a belated welcome to the forum. :text-welcomeconfet:
australia-flag-06.gif
 
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What a WARM welcome chaps :wtf:

They're a nice bunch actually 105Aus (once they have taken their meds)

Now gets some pics posted :)
 
I/We did have the weewee taken out of us twice. Once with a pic of loose collets which was impossible and once by someone saying petrol LC's block their oil ways. So if you're a genuine bloke without a roo on a pogo WELCOME.
 
OK, also I've deleted my responses, so the thread's looking a little tidier, now.

Yes Clive, 2wd at the rear until I lock in the hubs and hit the centre diff lock button

Interesting...

""Are you guys seriously saying you havent seen or heard of part time 2wd conversion kits for the 80 series? :icon-rolleyes:""

No I haven't Ben, I've heard of folks removing the front prop, but not an all-out conversion to 2WD with optional 4WD.

What sort of fuel savings are to be made 105Aus?
 
The general spec hzj80 was supplied in 2wd with locking front hubs. Mainly in Denmark, some parts of Africa and Australia.... Clive :thumbup:. Quite a popular conversion in Europe my Dutch friend was telling me. .
 
Welcome to the club will try not to crack any jokes.

I dont like the 2wd its a pain in the ass. One more thing to faf with get out turn knobs they will be covered in crap if you need them in.

Ok if your on 100% dirt roads all day but i would chance it when crossing tar or short journies so i turned off. This might be the wrong thing to do. I soon got bored and love the perminant 4x4.
Stu
 
Welcome to the forum 105Aus and G'Day mate! I've heard of the 2wd conversion on other vehicles also, for both fuel economy and mechanical fix reasons as you have done. Are your FW hubs the auto or manual locking type? Years ago, on a much smaller scale, I had a Suzuki SJ413 and a popular mod for those was the fitting of auto locking FW front hubs. Saves fuel, tyre and drivetrain wear.
 
It's interesting the love/hate for the different types of four wheel drive systems; I've got part time + manual hubs in my 4Runner, whilst a lot of the Surfs have the ADD (vacuum actuated) system with auto front hubs... which people tend to convert to the full part time system.

When I was looking at the RJ70 for my mate, that had an early ADD system in it, but still with manual hubs (Ben, what has LJ got?) whilst my FJ73 had the same set up as my 4Runner.

In my ideal world I'd have a DX spec 80 or 105, so 6 seats, manual hubs and no frills... I can cope with simple things...
 
My first hilux had manual hubs and whilst its a pain in the butt remembering to engage and disengage the hubs, there are times that I miss them on my current hilux. When the trailer is fully loaded and your manouvering on tarmac or a similar surface its handy to use low ratio but you don't want or need 4wd.You don't want to hammer the clutch or the drive shafts by pushing against that locked centre diff.
 
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