It’s been a long time since I’ve sat down and written anything for this website. As a matter of fact, it’s been over 3 years since the last time. Unsurprisingly, 2020 and the years that have followed have been crazy for everyone, not just the Halls. Because it would take way more space than I’d like to use, I’m going to gloss over what I missed out posting here, and sum it up with the fact that I’ve managed to go through multiple new rigs in the interim, with a couple winners that I think we’re going to stick with. The first I’ll mention is the one pictured above, my 1987 Toyota Land Cruiser HJ60. It’s a work in progress for certain, and will be nothing short of a lot of work in the coming months as I do a complete engine swap, trading the stock 2H for a Cummins R2.8. It’s going to be a crazy project for me, as I’ve never attempted something like this before. The end result is going to be really cool, though, and worth the effort.
The next rig that I wanted to highlight is Blueberry, my 1988 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ62, that I bought in late 2021. It’s been my daily driver, and despite its 310,000 miles on the original drivetrain, it’s been nothing but reliable the whole time. Despite that reliability, it’s getting time to replace a lot of components. Once the HJ60 is done, the plan is do an LS/4L60E swap on it. The new engine and transmission will go a long way towards improving the longevity of the rig, as well as improving things like fuel economy and parts accessibility.
Additionally we picked up a 1991 GMC Suburban 1500 in a trade earlier this year. I traded it for a 1994 Jeep Wrangler YJ that I’d gotten, as we were expecting our third kid (safely born one month ago) which meant we were no longer going to fit in a short wheelbase Jeep. I was lucky enough to find someone looking to trade, and we got a new (to us) family hauler. It’s been a great rig so far, but (as always) there’s a few things I’d like to replace or upgrade before I’ll fully trust its long range reliability. That said, once those are cleared up, it should make a great family camping and tow pig.
No rig focused post would be complete without mentioning Lemon-Lime, my 1958 Jeep CJ-5. I still own it, but unfortunately it’s in storage a few thousand miles from me. The hope is to go pick it up soon, so I’ll be able to get it back on some trails next summer. We will see how that pans out.
To wrap things, up, though, with any luck I’ll be keeping this better updated in the future. I’ve added all of my most recent videos to the “video section” of the website, though, so in the interim, feel free to check those out.
Hallout 