Times are changing.... am I crazy?

[Corbet]

I wish I would quit DD my 80 sooner than I did. Could have saved a lot of miles on her that I could cash in for fun miles later.

 

[Well Sorted]

I have my 80 and love it and will never sell it. But I’ll never “Daily” it.

I have the house here in the Front Range and in Creede and that 5 hour drive mandates some things that over the 9 years of owning both homes has stood out: economy, comfort, safety.

In the summer I leave the 80 down there and commute in a CRV. And honestly, it gets 38mpg on the highway, is AWD, has heated seats, can go 85, and I can still do forest service roads.

Mineral county has one road that is paved and longer than 1/2 mile. It’s all dirt on either side of 149. I’m bombing around the La Garitas on 10s of miles of dirt roads in the 80 and fording streams and climbing a lot. I have an OzTent and an awning and honestly it’s pretty simple to set up and enjoy.

Everyone is different but I want my daily to be easy to drive and park and cheap to own.

Thread Hijack - we're heading out to Creede to camp this weekend, never been there and wanted to check it out. Any particular recommendations for easy trails and best hikes? My kids are 3 and 5, so things can't be too ambitious. We'll spend a lot of time throwing things in the river as a form of entertainment...

 

[nicholasandrews]

I'm in the same boat. Looking at selling my 100. It's overbuilt for the trails we have been doing the last few years and I've put a bunch of money into it making it look nice to sell (new leather upholstery, grill and other cosmetic items & maintenance), but I go back and forth every day. I did drive a LX700 OT and really liked it, but I'd only ever go Land Cruiser to Land Cruiser.... Good luck with your decision.

 

[nicholasandrews]

Things change that's OK but I struggle with it too. We had a built 60 that was awesome when it was me my wife and dogs, swapped it for an cherry 80 that I thought would be my forever truck when we had Mila. I totalled that cherry 80 and now have a OK 80 but with a sorted drivetrain. We had a daily driver 40 that we both loved tooling around in a ton but I restored 8 years ago and now it never leaves the garage for fear of losing it, I think I shot myself in the foot with that one... Allison won't even drive it anymore because she's scared to mess it up. We had a neat old truck now we have an ornament. It's almost a waste at this point. I always talk about selling it. It just sits. I drive it once every year or so.

A few years after Mila was born we bought a 4 Wheel Camper and a Tundra for comfy camping and road trips. I built it for mild off road but we never really went on anything harder than webster or boreas pass with it. We now have that 4WC on a totally stock 2017 Duramax and its rad for road trips and dirt roads. Its bigger inside for our 2 dogs and 1 kid and can pull a trailer with the camper in it for occasional car races. I've lost count of how many nights we've spent in the camper, it's been so great for us.. We use it a ton. We gravitated towards the camper because it was sooooo much cheaper than a van and we figured we could have a pickup also which added utility since I was also doing an addition to our house at the time and I ride dirt bikes (occasionally) and use to ride a timbersled also. Anyhow, I'm not saying you should get a truck camper just sharing the utility of a more dedicated rig.

The 4WC and duramax is a lot cheaper (and shorter.... 8' 3" tall only.. it fits a dive thru every time) than a van but we still always talk about a Van. Bro in law just Got a Van, they are bike racers and it fits that lifestyle really well, they can go to events camp in the lots or on the way in a rest stop/wherever and store everything inside. Its a freakin awesome platform for athletes... Our 4WC takes a little effort to setup and if we store bikes inside they have to come out so we can live in it. FWIW Theirs is a new mercedes they got new a few months ago and it's already been to the dealer twice. Cracked thermostat housing during the drive home from buying it the first time (coolant loss) and second time it had a situation where it pulled all throttle because (the dealer says) a bunch of temp sensors werent in agreement on the exhaust side (sounds weird IDK)... so its back at the dealer as we speak. Anyhow, we rented a van for two weeks and camped in Norway a few years ago and really liked having a van so I am always kinda on that train of thought as well.

We like having the 80 so the fam can go wheeling and camp out of a tent. We still like that lifestyle still and the freedom it offers. The duramax and 4WC we use a ton for bigger missions that involve covering more distance. Different vibe but a lot of fun. A 200/570 would probably be awesome but I'm a sucker for older cars and the 80 is just such a cool platform. The AC works just OK and it's not huge inside but it's always a fun adventure. Its also more of a beater so we don't mind exploring wherever with it and letting the dogs just crawl all over it and spilling coffee in it etc. Sure it's tight and you might have the dogs on top of you in there but they can fit in the back next to a fridge and there's kind of a back seat.

Anyways, with a van, you can roll up to an event, find a spot, spin the front chairs around and be eating dinner in 10 minutes while it's snowing, raining, or dark and cold outside. After the race, you can slide the door open and hop in, make food, put your shoes next to the heat vent, fire up your nespresso machine for a cappuccino and be on the road or laying down in 30 mins. You have your bikes in there that you never took out but Amber used one to wheel around with the dogs while you were out. When kids come they have a nice place to sleep with heat. It'd be pretty boujee but hey its what you worked for right. When you get home you unpack the fridge and walk in the house with your two duffels. Everything else including bikes stays in and is safe/dry. Not sure what your house is like or how many guests you get but a van is also a nice extra room sometimes. We use our camper like that a lot at home actually but a van would be warmer/quieter/better.

I should sell the 40 but I'm not saying you should sell the 60. My original plan was to build the 40 back to showroom condition then drive it into the ground over the next 50 years as if I bought it new. That hasn't happened but maybe do your 60 like that. Drive it and don't be shy about using it. it's what I hear I should do a lot.

That's all I got.

Marco, your 40 is amazing....681 green is my favorite color and it would be a dream to have a 40 like yours. My goal for some day in the future.

 

[BritKLR]

Not a Sprinter but a heck of a deal on a real expo vehicle!

1981 DAF YA-4440 Adventure Truck with Yamaha TW200 Motorcycle $57,500 USD

For years I dreamed of backcountry exploration, slow travel through areas most people never see. For the last seven years my wife and I have been lucky enough to live that dream traveling without resupply for weeks at a time to hike, bike and explore. The time has come for us to move on to new...

forum.expeditionportal.com

 

[KC Masterpiece]

Those big trucks might deliver what a van lacks in the 4x4 department but the size of them yields a near identical result when it comes to access. Maybe they do well in Africa or other but you’re not driving that to many if any of my favorite places in the lower 48.

Thats why the completely unhinged move is to sell all the vehicles and get a massive quad cab unimog style camper with a garage big enough to fit a Samurai on 40s.

....then convince my company that I should be able to work fully remote.

 

[BritKLR]

Thats why the completely unhinged move is to sell all the vehicles and get a massive quad cab unimog style camper with a garage big enough to fit a Samurai on 40s.

....then convince my company that I should be able to work fully remote.

Not a Mog but, was my Kansas City to Colorado and Moab adventure rig before I got into Land Cruisers and retiring to Nederland.

2003-2012, still have the truck and the Sammi. Amazing setup for exploring the Southwest.

 

[madorbit]

Adding a question to this thread.

Why is it that the 570s are so much cheaper than the LC200? Is it just the Lexus branding not being as macho? We loved the LX470 other than the outdated ac nav system that was almost impossible to swap. ACH was actually pretty awesome. I guess front bumpers are a bit harder. Looking at the market these days the 80 would likely sell for enough to get an LX570 with 100k and have some cash leftover.

It’s that god awful “Predator” grille. It’s got a face that only a mother could love.

 

[Telly]

I restored 8 years ago and now it never leaves the garage

I'm a guy that churns through old Toyota's. Find one for a deal, spend a bunch of time/$ restoring it to 'keep it forever', and then sell it because I found another one. Anyway, I feel you on the thinning the herd and picking up a 'do all' rig. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed with car projects and just want to go hike a 14er instead. It would kill me to sell what I have now tho.

I'm 100% with what Marco said on owning a restored cruiser. I've seen his 40 and it is absolutely mint, I'm talking nicer than what you could have bought off the show room floor. I have a restored FJ60 with 103,000 original miles and it still has 1/2 a tank of gas from when I filled it up 2 years ago. I drive it to the local brewery on nice days with no chance of rain. I want to drive it more, but then I see the crazy aggressive drivers on I-25 and quickly decide against it.

 

[KC Masterpiece]

More good advice.

@Telly I feel the same way about my 60. It has some rock chips in the paint. I have actually put about 15k on it since the restoration though, and alternate between the 60 and 80 as my daily driver. The speed limit on highway 82 is 55 in most places, so its a very 60 friendly stretch of road. I am trying to get to a place where I am okay driving the 60 a ton. If you followed my thread I did not go nearly as hard as I could have on the restoration. The intention was to get it into really good cosmetic and mechanical shape, and then drive it into the ground over the next decade. Its just harder in practice than it was as a plan.

 

[pmccumber]

Thread Hijack - we're heading out to Creede to camp this weekend, never been there and wanted to check it out. Any particular recommendations for easy trails and best hikes? My kids are 3 and 5, so things can't be too ambitious. We'll spend a lot of time throwing things in the river as a form of entertainment...

Yeah. If you got to the San Luis Peak trailhead and hike to San Luis Pass that is pretty mellow and pretty. I think you pick up 400’ in about 2 mi. And from the pass, you intersect the CDT, get your wife to stay with the kids and run up to the trail to the east and get a great view of San Luis. From the trailhead you basically follow the San Luis Peak trail for about 1/2 mi and instead of heading up you continue to contour the side of the hill. The drive in to the trailhead is a legit 4WD road too. I attached a picture of my cousin Gina from Phoenix and her kids marveling at snow in July on that trail.

From that trailhead the 4WD road continues and that is a cool drive actually. Head over to the Continental Divide Lookout. Another 1 or so. Steep and fun, lots of willows, lots of moose. Great views of San Luis. That off-roading to the divide is what we love about off-roading and Colorado.

The North Clear Creek Falls is a must see.

If you head towards the Ivy Creek Campground there are some cool dispersed camping areas around there. I’ll attach a picture of the Ivy Creek basin that I’m recommending. There is a bridge over Ivy Creek where there is a primo campspot right next to the creek.

Hiking Ivy Creek from the actual FS campground isn’t bad either. Very low key with a couple hundred feet of climbing initially and then 4-5 miles with little to no elevation gain.

Another fun little adventure is fording North Clear Creek above the falls and driving up towards Bristol Head. Just getting in to what is essentially Snow Mesa is pretty cool up there.

Up in that area near North Clear Creek there are long relatively easy 4WD road right from the Spring Creek Pass trailhead (like 10 miles - it’s kind of amazing to drive that far back there) and another just off a hairpin Creede side of Slumgullion Pass (forest service road 473).

But my favorite area on the southern end of the La Garitas is the area around the San Luis trailhead.

I’ll attach a picture of my house too, it’s up near Creede cemetary.

 

[BritKLR]

More good advice.

@Telly I feel the same way about my 60. It has some rock chips in the paint. I have actually put about 15k on it since the restoration though, and alternate between the 60 and 80 as my daily driver. The speed limit on highway 82 is 55 in most places, so its a very 60 friendly stretch of road. I am trying to get to a place where I am okay driving the 60 a ton. If you followed my thread I did not go nearly as hard as I could have on the restoration. The intention was to get it into really good cosmetic and mechanical shape, and then drive it into the ground over the next decade. Its just harder in practice than

Can relate.

My 60 started as a $1500 Ozark deer hunting truck. My son and I built it up for our seasonal hunting trips and not much more. Then I learned about Colorado, Utah and RS. The buildup got a little out of hand over the years but, I've now had it over 20 years and it's still my camping, exploring and CM truck. Can't imagine ever selling it...fingers crossed.

 

[HDavis]

This is a great thread, and I think it addresses what some of us are feeling. I feel that these vehicles are a part of my identity in addition to our hobby and that's hard to recon with, but it can be done. I had the same feeling about motorcycles for many years but now I'm down to 1 and it hasn't been registered in 7 years and that's ok, I still like looking at it. As far as Land Cruisers, I have the 62, 80,100, and 200 right now.

The 62 is my daily driver and is roughhhh but I love it, I park it downtown and at the airport, and I never worry about it, in fact I was in such a hurry to get through security last week that I left it unlocked at the airport for a week and didn't realize until I got back. I would be heartsick if I did that with your 60 or my 80. The 80 is supposed to be my daily driver but I love it too much to leave it at the places It needs to be parked and Ive put maybe 500 miles on it this past year. The 100 is my wife's beater. It was her old daily that we recently purchased back for her to use for Real Estate work. It's great, we also don't worry about that ever. But it's been needy, and I have found myself vacillating between liking working on it and hating it. The 200 is our second 200 we have owned and we purchased it as is with all the overland goodies you could imagine. This also brought on the early retirement of the 80 because as a family we had just about outgrown the tent that is on it. I would say that we naturally progressed into the 200 as our son has grown and wasn't a necessity when we went from the 100 to the 200, but it sure is nice to have the power. However, we have only put 4k miles on it in 2 years of owning it and it does not feel any bigger than the interior of a 100 in my opinion.

This has caused me to find myself considering the same thing you are. Why do I have a sweet built 200 for camping if I go 8-10 times a year and then the thing sits during the week. Why do I have a daily 80 if I'm hesitant to drive to the places, I need to park it. Why do we have a 100 for real estate duty when it gets 13 mpg.

If I sold the 200, 100 and 80 I could buy a new prius for my wife and a nice used adv van for the family adn drive the beater 62 in the city. In my mind Ive concluded that I'll just end up buying something on a whim and then make a decision on what to sell once we have it for a while.

I have dialed in the manufacture I want.

A Ford Sportsmobile or a Class C converted e-series by ujointoffroad;

Colorado | Ujoint Offroad

www.ujointoffroad.com

 

[KC Masterpiece]

Can relate.

My 60 started as a $1500 Ozark deer hunting truck. My son and I built it up for our seasonal hunting trips and not much more. Then I learned about Colorado, Utah and RS. The buildup got a little out of hand over the years but, I've now had it over 20 years and it's still my camping, exploring and CM truck. Can't imagine ever selling it...fingers crossed.

Thanks for the advice. Your 60 makes me want to slap some sweet graphics on mine. I always wonder how it would look on silver.

I should just bite the bullet and daily drive it until it dies. Cruisers are meant to be driven, not garage queens.

 

[BritKLR]

Thanks for the advice. Your 60 makes me want to slap some sweet graphics on mine. I always wonder how it would look on silver.

I should just bite the bullet and daily drive it until it dies. Cruisers are meant to be driven, not garage queens.

Your drive train seals will thank you for it.

Mine sat for almost 5 years and it now it marks it’s territory like a Land Rover and that was with all new seals after the H55 got installed.

 

[KC Masterpiece]

Your drive train seals will thank you for it.

Mine sat for almost 5 years and it now it marks it’s territory like a Land Rover and that was with all new seals after the H55 got installed.

Gotta keep those gaskets wet. My father had a 1991 911 Cabriolet that was the first new car he ever purchased the same year I was born. It unfortunately died a few years back due to flooding from a hurricane at 68,000 miles. Although he treated it like a princess, he was adamant that it was driven at least once a week to keep the seals happy. It must have worked because it never leaked a drop its whole life.

The 60 is in fantastic shape but does need some garage time. Need to set aside a weekend to rebuild the front axle, replace tie rods, and ditch the weber for the OEM carb and HJ61 airbox setup I have sitting on the bench for it.

I also need a sweet ATC tool roll to toss in the back of whatever I happen to be driving that day. The 60 deserves some timeless waxed canvas.

 

[KC Masterpiece]

I am in love with this.

1995 Mitsubishi Canter for sale | JDMBUYSELL

1995 Mitsubishi Canter for sale at JDMBUYSELL. $70,000 from JDM Offroad. 12,000 km. Compare specs, photos, and seller details on JDMBUYSELL.

www.jdmbuysell.com

 

[shellb]

This is a great thread, and I think it addresses what some of us are feeling. I feel that these vehicles are a part of my identity in addition to our hobby and that's hard to recon with, but it can be done. I had the same feeling about motorcycles for many years but now I'm down to 1 and it hasn't been registered in 7 years and that's ok, I still like looking at it. As far as Land Cruisers, I have the 62, 80,100, and 200 right now.

The 62 is my daily driver and is roughhhh but I love it, I park it downtown and at the airport, and I never worry about it, in fact I was in such a hurry to get through security last week that I left it unlocked at the airport for a week and didn't realize until I got back. I would be heartsick if I did that with your 60 or my 80. The 80 is supposed to be my daily driver but I love it too much to leave it at the places It needs to be parked and Ive put maybe 500 miles on it this past year. The 100 is my wife's beater. It was her old daily that we recently purchased back for her to use for Real Estate work. It's great, we also don't worry about that ever. But it's been needy, and I have found myself vacillating between liking working on it and hating it. The 200 is our second 200 we have owned and we purchased it as is with all the overland goodies you could imagine. This also brought on the early retirement of the 80 because as a family we had just about outgrown the tent that is on it. I would say that we naturally progressed into the 200 as our son has grown and wasn't a necessity when we went from the 100 to the 200, but it sure is nice to have the power. However, we have only put 4k miles on it in 2 years of owning it and it does not feel any bigger than the interior of a 100 in my opinion.

This has caused me to find myself considering the same thing you are. Why do I have a sweet built 200 for camping if I go 8-10 times a year and then the thing sits during the week. Why do I have a daily 80 if I'm hesitant to drive to the places, I need to park it. Why do we have a 100 for real estate duty when it gets 13 mpg.

If I sold the 200, 100 and 80 I could buy a new prius for my wife and a nice used adv van for the family adn drive the beater 62 in the city. In my mind Ive concluded that I'll just end up buying something on a whim and then make a decision on what to sell once we have it for a while.

I have dialed in the manufacture I want.

A Ford Sportsmobile or a Class C converted e-series by ujointoffroad;

Colorado | Ujoint Offroad

www.ujointoffroad.com

That’s what I bought! Let me know if you want to try it out when I get back from my trip!

 

[BritKLR]

That’s what I bought! Let me know if you want to try it out when I get back from my trip!

A domestic Class "C" is a great alternative to the van campers out there. Domestic engine, drive train and lots of parts availability on the road.

 

[HDavis]

That’s what I bought! Let me know if you want to try it out when I get back from my trip!

Even more reasons to connect soon!