Don Anway's TLC T-Case Saver Adding more strength to the Land Cruiser's October 1, 2005 By: Eric Stegall

Toyota Land Cruisers are known for their rugged durability and outstanding off road performance. As we modify them with V8 engines, granny gear transmissions, larger tires and lockers to tackle more difficult terrain, we put added stress and strain on the drive train components. One of the major weaknesses of Land Cruisers (other than Birfields and pinions) is the cast aluminum transfer case. Many of the early transfer cases were made from a brittle aluminum material and did not have many gussets or reinforcing webbing. These transfer cases are notorious for developing stress cracks and eventually cracking in half!

FJ40 HyperShackles FJ40 HyperShackles October 1, 2005 By: Eric Stegall

An easy way to get more flex out of your suspension

Project FJ40 October 1, 2005 By: Eric Stegall

Since I bought my 78 FJ40, I have been trying to improve its off-road performance and its on-road comforts. The more I wheel it, the more I want to improve it. Not only is this Land Cruiser my trail rig, but sometimes it is my daily driver. I do not have a tow vehicle for it (yet), so this rig has to be driven to the trail, through the trail, and back from the trail without any problems. Therefore, the main goal of Project FJ40 ? ROK CRZR is to make it into a bulletproof rock crawler without sacrificing reliability and on-road handling.

RockNob: Adding a little Rock to your Stick! October 1, 2005 By: Eric Stegall

Do you want to add a little rock to your stick? Since most of us are so addicted to 4 wheeling, why not add something special to our rigs that we can enjoy each time we shift gears? Replace your shift knobs with RockNobs. That's right, real rocks. RockNob offers hand-crafted gear-shift knobs made from river rounded rock found in the mountains and deserts of Utah. Each RockNob is hand picked so it will fit comfortable in the palm of your hand. RockNobs come in various shapes, sizes, and colors.

Rocker Panel Protection Rocker Panel Protection October 1, 2005 By: Eric Stegall

The factory running boards on my Cruiser served well in the scheme of things. They made it easy to climb into the captain's chair of the old beast. And prettiest of all, they kept the road tar and trail sludge from finding its way onto the paint job.

Custom Tie Down Mounts Custom Tie Down Mounts October 1, 2005 By: Eric Stegall

Whether you are cruising down twisty fire roads or crawling over large off camber boulders, it is very important to tie your gear down. You never know when you might get in a collision or go somersaulting down a steep hill and that "what-cha-ma-call-it" you had sitting on your seat becomes a destruction-seeking missile. In the event of a rollover, every loose object in your vehicle becomes a potential risk to your life as well as others around you.

Toyota FJ40 Mini Roll Bar Rack October 1, 2005 By: Eric Stegall

While packing my Cruiser for our annual Pacific Mountain Cruisers club run to the Rubicon, I was thinking how much easier it would be if I had a roof rack. This trip was different than all the others that I have packed for since Tracy and I were bringing Toby, our 7 month old Yellow Lab. I couldn't just pack all of our gear in the back of the Cruiser and tie it down like usual. Instead, I had to carefully pack and stack the gear in such a way that Toby had enough room to stretch out and sleep in the back (yeah right).

Saginaw Power Steering Conversion on a '78 FJ40 with the 2F engine November 1, 2004 By: Eric Stegall

There are a few reasons why I wanted to convert my stock Land Cruiser manual steering to Saginaw power steering. The main reason is the stock manual steering has 6 tie rod ends, tie rod, relay rod, center arm, drag link and steering box. A little bit of wear in each of these components can add up to a lot of 'slop' in the steering system and leads to wandering, darting and involuntary lane changes. A lot of the slop can be removed from the steering system by replacing all of the tie rod ends and adjusting the play out of the drag link and center arm, but you can only adjust them so much.