As seen in Toyota Trails!
Various articles written here have been published in TLCA's Toyota Trails magazine and on their website. After roaming around our site, click on the magazines to visit TLCA.
Tech and Fabrication
Quarter Guards
By Tony K
Once I installed my rock sliders the next chink in the armor reared its ugly head. Due to the long overhang on our wagons more sheetmetal is at risk for some serious carnage. The rear quarters on a wagon need some protection if you are going to venture out into the rocks.
Bumpers and Winch Mounts
By Tony K
Doesn’t really matter what style of bumper you run as long as it does what you want it to. I like short minimal bumpers that rely more on me to keep my rig from running into things. But my bumpers are more than stout enough to hit something and survive, on the road or in the rocks.
-Front Bumper-
Rock Sliders
By Tony K
I had first thought about completely fabricating my own sliders, right up until I found out how cheap you could get them from Trail Gear. Trail Gear sells a set of sliders that are designed for a mini truck that are the perfect size for our wagons, 67 inches which is just about perfect. They are made from DOM tubing (which stands for Drawn Over Mandrel by the way, and yes I had to look it up myself). DOM tubing is generally stronger than the same size of HREW tubing. HREW tubing has a seam, just run you finger around inside and it will catch on the weld residue. DOM tubing also has a seam but you can’t see it for the most part due to the manufacturing process.
A Voltmeter or Two
By Tony K
Having a voltmeter in the dash was always a nice feature, much better than the proverbial idiot light that only reveals itself when it is pretty much too late to do anything about it. But the factory gauge in the dash does have some drawbacks. Having to turn the key on for a reading is a bit of a pain and just how accurate is the gauge. And adding a second battery added even more complications. But my biggest concern with the added battery was knowing just what condition each of the batteries were in. All the factory gauge does is tell me the voltage while they are both hooked up in parrellel.
A Better Oil Filter
By Tony K
One of the great things about Land Cruiser engines is the amount of oil they hold, even my little 3B holds almost 2 gallons. I really believe this plays a major part in the longevity of their engines. But I have never been thrilled with how black the oil seems to be when its time to change the oil. Not that this is always bad, all that gunk could be hanging out inside your engine and just piling up until it clogs something. But rather than just sit on my duff I decided to do something about it.