New guy...

Oilburner

Adventurer
Been lurking for a while... Some familiar faces, but most are not.

JL, Ottawa, 1980 XMOD 109 with Land-Cruiser axles, Cummins TD power, disc brakes, hydroboost, 37s. Currently serving duty as a daily driven pickup, but the plan has always been a van roof with a semi-camperized rear section. Also have a 1969 VW Westy that I am converting to TDI power for tarmac trips. Last truck was a CDN spec 84 Land-Cruiser BJ60, and before that I had a sprung over 109 which was a mess. I think this group fits my interest in 4wds better than the rock crawling sites as I use the truck mostly as a vehicle and secondly as an off-roader, and the bros are overtaking the rock crawling scene.

Here's a pic of the pile...
 

mountainpete

Spamicus Eliminatus
Welcome to ExPo :26_7_2:

I'll be out closer to your end of the country next week... in Toronto for a few days on business.

Pete
 

MuddyMudskipper

Camp Ninja
Oilburner said:
Been lurking for a while... Some familiar faces, but most are not.

JL, Ottawa, 1980 XMOD 109 with Land-Cruiser axles, Cummins TD power, disc brakes, hydroboost, 37s. Currently serving duty as a daily driven pickup, but the plan has always been a van roof with a semi-camperized rear section. Also have a 1969 VW Westy that I am converting to TDI power for tarmac trips. Last truck was a CDN spec 84 Land-Cruiser BJ60, and before that I had a sprung over 109 which was a mess. I think this group fits my interest in 4wds better than the rock crawling sites as I use the truck mostly as a vehicle and secondly as an off-roader, and the bros are overtaking the rock crawling scene.

Welcome to ExPo! Nice MOD.

Oilburner said:
Here's a pic of the pile...

Aww come on. The snowmobile doesn't look that bad.:hehe: :hehe:
 

bovw

Explorer
Welcome, sounds like you've gone through some nice rigs. Love to have a BJ series LC and a Westy too for that matter.
 

dieselcruiserhead

16 Years on ExPo. Whoa!!
Welcome JL as always. This site has become my new 4WD home too related to those issues as well. I am hardly on Pirate and even Ih8mud these days any more it seems...

Here is a photo of JL's truck when it was much much larger, was a wagon, and in its buildup stage... A great photo though regardless :)

A
 

Oilburner

Adventurer
Haha, no, my brothers are not into rockcrawling! The comment was meant as a joke. "Bros" are a certain demographic of young males that seem to be on the rise, particularly on the west coast. They are sometimes referred to as flatbillers. Visit www.flatbiller.com for additional information. It was more of a joke than anything else...

I knew I would find you on here Andre, and I am surprised you still have that pic! So much got changed in the last rebuild (isn't that always the case though?). The roof and roof rack are slated to be installed on the truck this fall, or for any long trips that I take, but I have solid (windowless) roofsides now. I still run those tires (325/85R16 XMLs) for off-road, I just picked up some 37X12.50R17 BFGs for the winter. The wheels are FJ cruiser steelies, and I really like the way the 17s look on the truck, they look proportioned, and the handling is really good, less sidewall flex and they balance out nicely. It rides like a caddy up to 100+ mph, the michelins got a little squirrelly at 65 mph.

One of my buddies (with 22R powered toyota and a Wildernest camper) recommended this site for camperization info, so I figured I would sign up. So far, so good!
 

Yorker

Adventurer
JL- were you the one who was talking about using a John Deere diesel engine in a 109 years ago on the LRO Mailing list?
 

Oilburner

Adventurer
Wow, yes, that was me, and that was years ago - Probably 6-7 years at least. I ended up using a Cummins 6BT, which is in all respect a better solution that the JD 6.
 

dieselcruiserhead

16 Years on ExPo. Whoa!!
The same one, but I think it had a Ford inline 6 gas engine and Range Rover axles... I was on that list too back when I had my one and only Rover, a Series III 88, one of my favorite trucks of all time except the frame was failing. That was something like 10 years ago and I remembered "this guy sure must be a character." :) Then I think we both ended up on Pirate which satisfied out thirst for creativity of modification and drivetrain swaps, including diesel swaps, but I think we both stayed away from pirate for several reasons... JL has also always built "big" as you can tell, LOL :)
 

Oilburner

Adventurer
dieselcruiserhead said:
The same one, but I think it had a Ford inline 6 gas engine and Range Rover axles... I was on that list too back when I had my one and only Rover, a Series III 88, one of my favorite trucks of all time except the frame was failing. That was something like 10 years ago and I remembered "this guy sure must be a character." :) Then I think we both ended up on Pirate which satisfied out thirst for creativity of modification and drivetrain swaps, including diesel swaps, but I think we both stayed away from pirate for several reasons... JL has also always built "big" as you can tell, LOL :)

A brief history then:

Originally a 1966 IIA 109. I bought it when I was 17, and had very limited experience fixing anything. I "rebuilt" it with all stock parts and drove it around for a few years.

The frame then finally broke from terminal rust (ontario winters and my bad welding). Faced with the prospect of junking my beloved (actually quite crappy) 109, I "engineered" and built a frame for it. It turned out OK and I drove it like that for another year or two. It was crude but very strong.

The engine (2.25L 4 cyl) finally died, so I replaced it with a Ford inline 6 and a T18 transmission with a homemade adapter. It had some teething issues but proved to be pretty reliable.

The brakes were a PITA to deal with so I swapped in range Rover axles with disc brakes.

I drove this combination all over the place, and it was quite scary. I mean, it was all there, it worked OK, but the execution was pretty bad, and it wasn't exactly well thought out. The Ford started making nasty noises, so I parked it and got a real car.

By that time, I was getting an eye for welding and metalwork, and I started seeing just how badly executed the green 109 was. I wanted a blank canvas to start over on, so I started the Cummins 109 transformation/buildup.

It's kind of funny because I'm not really into "big" trucks. The point of the white truck was to have a 109 that could drive to the trail at 80 mph, run the trail, and drive back, and also serve as a usable vehicle for pulling trailers, hauling my gear, etc. The design criteria dictated the size, not really my personal preference. I am thinking of downsizing to a 35 as the springs settle and I regear the T case, but the 37s just look right (to me :) )

I guess it has been 10 years Andre, weird huh?
 

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