1998 Landcruiser Colarado 3.0D Offroad/Daily

Great pics. Bring on the snow. Looks a very capable bit of kit. I think the land cruiser and the Nissan patrol are some of the best 4wds ever made.

Been making good use of the LC these past few weeks with all this bad weather. The mrs has been using it to drop and pick up the child from Nursury as the road floods so shes happy.

We took a trip out as soon as it s snowed just for a jolly and a walk, there was one rather large tree down on one By-way that we had to turn back.







She looks well in the snow and it really wasnt deep enough to worry her grip wise







I can accross a large hunt that was going on and the road on one end by the estate was very flooded, it was up to the bottom of my doors on the LC but when i went back that way i guy had tried to get his Transit through. He had his young daughter and was carrying two horse in a box so i chucked him a strap and the LC pulled the van, trailer and both horses with no issue at all. I towed him to a safe place with other hunters and left him to it, he had hydrolocked the engine so an expensive day.







The local Ford one the Fosse was a little deeper than expected. As i went down the hill a new freelander was parked with father and young son watching on advidly to see if we would go through. I drove straight in showing off a bit but soon stopped for a minute when i realised i had hardly got in and it was over my bonnet already. Ive been around this Ford for years so i gathered my balls, sucked it up and cracked on through to the lads joy. To my joy i got out the other end only taking on a little fresh river water in the driver foot well. Even in the 2 tonne truck you could feel the depther of the water making it lighter and the current pushing a little, in the end mid river it was half way up the door and i was getting a little concerned but wahts life without risks right?










Shes had a hard few weeks so will go in for some work in the next week or so. Mainly sjust a clean up and fluid changes really.

When I was up in the Northern Territories got talking to a bloke about their wet season. He went out on a trip towing his boat and in the end used his boat to tow his truck!

A few years back in Malaysia, I'd just bought a new Isuzu D-Max, the full-fat 3.0L 4x4. There was a group of us used to take some kids from a city orphanage out for a bit of a day. Football, swimming, food, that sort of stuff. So we did.

The place we went was to a large clearing, three or so miles into fairly deep jungle, with two river crossings. On the way, they were gentle little babbling brooks, then the heavens opened, as only it can in the Tropics. Crossing them the first time coming back was bad enough, but by the time we made the return trip for the last lot, they were raging, well over the bonnet (no snorkel - completely bog standard vehicle) and it was only because the stream bed was so rocky, you could find some traction as the tyres gripped the higher ones. You know, the ones you normally drive around. I had visions of bobbing my way back to Kuala Lumpur, hydrolocked, moving only by the aid of the current. Fun, fun, fun!

Took it for its first service the following week and the workshop manager came over with something sad and yellow, dripping water. "Been wading, have we?" I told him the story and so he dropped and replaced all the diff and gearbox oils as well. They were fine, but no charge. Good man.

Car was pretty impressive for just out the showroom!

The old LC has been getting me about nicely in this winter weather we've been having. Really grateful to own it at the moment. I've actually dropped the truck off at my pal at Langley 4x4, our local Toyota truck specialist to have a fair bit of maintenance done.

Every few weeks i'd have to charge her up as it seemed the alternator was only charging at just over 12 volts. So ive had the alternator replaced as well as new Aux belts. She was also pulling to one side on the brakes as there was some play in the steering rack so ive had the outer steering knuckles replaced. Also had the diff oils changed and drained and flushed the auto box out with a new filter as well. The bearings on the pulley for the Air con were also noisy so Olly changed those at the same time. The Toyota now run really smooth, the auto gearbox especially. Olly did also find a snapped rear trailing arm, of which you can't seem to get them new, I'm currently looking for aftermarket options but it does seem the Surf has the same length arm so can always get hold of one of those.

We had a good covering of snow the other week and it was quite amusing to head out first thing and pass all the people who thought it was a good idea to head out in 2WD cars. My mate broke his Jimny AWD on a lane so i had to recover him. TBH even once the snow is compacted the Mud tyres do struggle, may have to buy some chains for next winter.

Had a run around in the old girl yesterday as we took our daughter for a walk down a local by-way, far nicer than walking round our estate with 200 other people. I mounted a UK style plate to the front of the truck. Its usually square and plastic but i keep smashing them off hitting deep water. Hopefully a metal one like this will hold.







Also got a quick pic of the new alternator ad belts as i was swapping over batteries after giving them a full charge off the car




I'm also looking into a winch to hide behind the front bumper. As the LC gets used as a recovery vehicle on a rally stage it will certainly come in handy for that and green laning.