Trail rig ~vs Daily driver

[LandCruiser]

I've been hanging on to my FJ80 ARB off road tank for about a decade now for that reason. It's been sidelined with some drivetrain issues lately. I've never been allowed to have a hardcore "trail rig" as my DD because my wife is small and hated ruining her dresses and pants scrambling up a lifted vehicle and brushing against the sliders (also almost falling out to get back out). She also doesn't like trying to drive a lifted tank with mud tires that hum at 45 mph, doesn't fit in most parking garages, bangs into height limit signs at drive thrus... Also none of the electrics really work on my 80 due to numerous water crossings, so the only thing I've fixed was the driver's window... which isn't that great when the wheezy AC doesn't work that well. (I usually manually lower the other windows to about 1/2 height when wheeling).

I think the last straw was when her car was in the shop and she borrowed my 80, got her summer dress hooked on the sliders when getting out, and flashed all of her coworkers when her dress was almost lifted over her waist.

My TE is allowed a "basic" low lift and that's about it.

 

[CAN-03runner]

Can you elaborate about this part ?

Oh, It is nothing horrible like a major failure. It is annoying little things, little noises and creaks and crackles here and there. You don't know if it's because you hit something on the trail, just regular maintenance, or if it's because of the lift you installed. It's more just the better experience of having a offroader that is not a daily. If it breaks I can afford to let it sit in the garage until I can fix it. I don't need to rush to repair it because I need it for work on Monday. I don't mind keeping it dirty, or getting inside with my muddy boots, I can leave all my offroad gear, tools and spares inside 100% of the time, it's always ready to go. Parts are cheap, and scrap yard parts readily available, and I'm not really limited to 1st gen parts only. I will probably install a roll cage inside of it soon and a marlin crawler. I don't mind cutting up the floor, for these. With my 4th gen...not so much. Plus if I want to sell it. You can lie and say you never offroaded it, or probably take a hit on it. You also won't recover all the mod money on it either. With my 1st Gen, if this truck goes boom for whatever reason, I take my winch, front and rear axles/diff/lockers and stick them under an other.

So it's not really that having used my DD was horible, its that using a purpose built offroad has been better. In fact the 4th Gen is more comfortable. And I can easily carry passengers....plus it has AC...and good heating, and a radio with more than one speaker...no down shifitng required to go uphill with 33" tires. Plenty or good reason.

When I got to the point where I had sliders, lift, tire, and skids, I even had 2 ARB lockers purchased for the 4th gen... I was at a point to get front / rear bumpers and winch. This was going to add even more weight for something I "TRY" to do once a month, plus cost of getting lockers installed, and opening up diffs that had no problems. For the price of those items I got a 1st Gen solid axle, dual locked, winched. Goes everywhere I want. Now my 4th gen is still outfitted nicely for mild offroading or for towing the 1st Gen. And I can see getting rid of it and getting myself into a SR5 or trial 5th gen maybe even 7 passenger limited, stock, and being perfectly able to hit simple gravel roads with maybe some unforseen washouts, do some fishing, mountain biking, hiking, camping etc... with the little family, and it is 100% stock and reliable as designed.

Ask me if I had the cash for a stock DD 5th Gen and purpose built 5th Gen trailED..... for sure I would. And For the same reasons. I'm too busy with kids and work etc... that I sometimes just need to let my offroader sit there before I can wash it, or repair it, or don't even have time to pack my offroad stuff in it....so this one is always packed, and ready to go.