Well someone had to...

So, what have you got???...Any problems??? (Of course not, it's a Toyota!! Just kidding) What have you done to it..any mods??

I will kick this off with my Hilux Surf 1995 3.0ltr diesel which i have had for 4 years and used for various trips and now using for our RTW.

Tempting fate here, but it has never broken down or failed to start. Since we have been away a two week old alternator started making bearing failure sounds and the old viscous unit slowly gave up...Never had any other problems in the 4 years other than normal servicing. It has 207,000 klm on the clock.

Any mods are simple and sensible...the rest is modded for comfort and travelling.

So, show us all yours...

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Facebook " Kevin Heike " come and say Hello as we travel around the world.

Pretty much mint, stock Toyota Hilux LN105 (2.4 non-turbo diesel).



Light, strong and blends in in the some of the less-stable countries I like to visit.

With a little weight in the back it's a damn good 4x4. Certainly not overpowered but I'm in no rush.

440,000 km, 190,000 km with me on two expeditions (May 2007 to Dec 2011 and June to Nov 2014).

Stopped once, was due to a brake line fouling on the fuel hose. Brake line was non-genuine, copper and way too long, and fitted by previous owner.



So far it's been to:

UK
France
Belgium
Germany
Poland
Slovakia
Hungary
Romania
Czech Republic
Ukraine
Russia
Kazakhstan
Uzbekistan
Kyrgyzstan
Tajikistan
Turkmenistan
Iran
Pakistan
India
Bangladesh
Nepal
Afghanistan
Azerbaijan
Georgia
Abkhazia
South Ossetia
Mongolia
Estonia
Belarus
Moldova
Transnistria
Turkey
Armenia
Nagorno Karabakh
Iraq
Bulgaria

EO

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EurasiaOverland a memoir of one quarter of a million kilometres by road through all of the Former USSR, Western and Southern Asia.

Here's mine

P1020983 by Trackasylum, on Flickr

When I first started looking for a 4x4 for an overland trip I was going to buy defender 110. After looking around this site and the prices needed for a decent 110 I realised 2 things

1. Decent 110's were out of my budget
2. Driver comfort and aircon are important

Which pushed me towards Japanese cars and I ended up with a 1999 Landcruiser KZJ95. Technically I've owned this truck twice now.

Its not been without faults, the biggest being the upper rear link bar mount shearing off in the Western Sahara, not due to Toyota but a rather dodgy repair by the selling dealership. Otherwise I've had an alternator fail and replaced the diff lock actuator (a known weakness on these), a few rubber bushes and the rear diff bearings (as a result of the mount failure)

I've now completed 20000 miles since purchase on overland trips and it's perfect for me

I'm exactly the same as The warden, initially I went Toyota because to get a landrover capable of doing the trip was out of my budget.

So, I bought an HJ60 that had previously been used to tow a kids teacup fairground ride.

First trip was to Kazan in Russia, for no better reason than it was the furthest most East point on my map of Europe.







Second, came the Gambian school run. Initially, because of sponsorship from suzuki the plan was to take my cruiser and 2 vitaras loaded with about a ton of school books, but last minute loss of personnel meant selling the vitaras and going instead for another HJ60. This at least proved that the key thing, when buying any vehicle to go overlanding, is to use it, a lot, before you go.

I bought the white one only a month before departure. 2 days before we left the rad blew. I managed to get a second hand rad, but it overheated all the way to the Gambia despite stopping in Gibraltar at the dealers there to get the system flushed. Once in Africa, barely a day went by without the white one needing repairs!! I made a shock absorber bush from an old inner tube, had a hose blow (fortunately I had spares), lost the top nut off a shock absorber (but a guy in the middle of the desert took one off his own patrol to help us out and would take nothing for it), the exhaust fell off etc etc. It really was a shed!! but I did manage to sell it in the Gambia for 2.5 times what I bought it for!



You can see here the damage caused to the rear when my wheel came off on the autobahn on the way to Russia!!








Mine on the other hand, ran faultlessly, until the high speed (ish) run back home when overheating caused the gearbox to start to fail, it's a known problem on the 5 speed boxes but it lasted around 5000 more miles before I had to change it.

Several little trips later, about 4 years ago, the time had some to either sell or do it up. The tin worm had badly taken hold.





The sensible thing of course was to sell it and get something more suitable, but by then I was in love, so off to the garage it went, what started out as a patch up job gradually morphed into something completely different, and this is how it looks now.







Just to for you landie fans out there, the heatshield is a landrover stamped item. I think it amused the mechanic who rebuilt it as he's a landrover nut! the rocksliders are also 110 items.



The design ethos was to provide capable, but reliable, off road ability in almost all conditions. Here's the spec list

Body off bare metal restoration including NOS front wings, 4 NOS doors, NOS upper tailgate, replacement lower tailgate, various bits of chrome, rubber seals etc, new rear carpet. chassis blasted and painted in chip resistant chassis paint, all cavities waxoiled to within an inch of their life!!

Toyota Hilux front brake calipers and pads
ARB winch bar
Winchmax 13000lbs 24v winch
IPF auxillary lights
custom made rear bumper
ARB air lockers
ARB compressor with auxillary air tank and external airline plug
OME heavy duty suspension, giving approx 50mm lift
longranger fuel tank
GRP side panels for rear windows
custom rear load restraint
Upracks roof rack
Foxwing
235/85x15 tyres on 8x16 rims with -33mm offset
4.1 diffs to compensate for tyres
24-12V dropper
12v and 24v accessories seperately fused through secondary fuse boxes
convert from electric windows to manual.
remove central locking
Toyota Hilux front seats in the rear
modified land rover 110 rock sliders
racing harnesses to the rear
load restraint system
additional 12v and 24v power outlets
'security items'!

Of course, these jobs are never finished! I want to sort the interior, get a block heater and would like to fit a more powerful engine (definately one of the shortcomings of the HJ60). I was thinking 12HT but maybe 4.2 turbo diesel would be easier to get and easier to maintain in the UK where the 12HT is virtually unknown

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1990 Landcruiser H60. Full rebuild completed 2014

Great posts guys....May stick some more info/pics on my one now the ball is rolling.

Hj60 and basic 2.4 pick up are on my list....love them. A Troopy is out of my price range. I say this as i understand the RHD problems in S America and that means at some point our Hilux Surf will have to be changed...I'm leaning towards the pick up only due to the ease of finding one...

Keep the pics/posts coming as its great to drool over other peoples Toyota trucks...

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Facebook " Kevin Heike " come and say Hello as we travel around the world.

This is what I plan to drive from Singapore - Moscow - Europe

l200

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Uphill all the way then???..

An L200 is a Mitzi model in Europe...Very posh looking truck you have there.

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Facebook " Kevin Heike " come and say Hello as we travel around the world.

Nice work there Moggy.... looks really good, and tidy.

Anyone for an HJ60 camper conversion!!








A bit of good old fashioned post whoring for my 1000th post!!!

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1990 Landcruiser H60. Full rebuild completed 2014

Wow that looks, interesting.
Looks like something that would be used to carry a coffin and not to use as a camper!

ARB set up in rear

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congratulations!! it was, in fact, a hearse. Budhist if I remember right from the original ad.

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1990 Landcruiser H60. Full rebuild completed 2014

It's now as dead as the person in it!!!

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Facebook " Kevin Heike " come and say Hello as we travel around the world.

Someone we have met along the way...Still would love one of these..

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Facebook " Kevin Heike " come and say Hello as we travel around the world.