People talk about breakage, "carnage", the day being ruined because you broke a rear axle and you have no replacement. If this happens in Moab, it's a day-long hassle at best. But what about when it happens 2,500 miles away from home, in the middle of nowhere, 800 miles from the closest village and 1,200 miles from the nearest source of spare parts? Check out the following pictures of the Venezuelan expedition to the Nazca desert of Peru and Chile, and you'll see why this can be some of the most radical "wheeling" in the world, even without the boulder-sized rocks. A very sobering thought:

The first shot shows the expedition reaching the Geysers at Tatio, in the middle of the Atacama Desert in Chile.

Another shot of the Geysers...

The word I got is that the rear shock absorber on one of the FZJ80's broke off and jammed, which broke off the anti-sway bar and made the guy lose control of the vehicle over loose ground. In any case, here is the result:

You can see the roof tent and auxiliary fuel tank were ripped off, but didn't suffer much damage. The tank didn't even spill.

You can see how buggered the truck got. After making sure the driver and passenger were all right, recovery efforts begin.

Check out the windshield, cracked but in one piece! The team has already begun assessing the damage and preparing the truck so they can continue their journey.

Keep it up, I love to see neat pics you always seem to come up with! I was hoping to seek you out at GSMTR and say hey. Since you are moving, I'll assume it is a upgrade and wish you and the misses the best, now and in the future!

The side cargo window didn't fare quite so well, so a tarp is improvised.

On a long-range expedition, cargo space is always at a premium, so everything that this particular truck carried will have to be re-packed into it.

After hammering the mounts and rain gutter back into "shape", the tent and fuel tank are remounted.

The body is buggered, but the truck started up right away (after pulling the spark plugs to drain the oil). The radiator has to be soldered in a dozen different places, but other than that, the truck is ready to continue.

Looking a little ragged, but ready. It's not because I'm a Cruiserhead, but I don't think any other vehicle in the world can stand up to this abuse and keep soldiering on!

And so the expedition continues...

...on to the next border crossing.

Henry, that's crazy. THose guys are as hardcore as you get if you ask me. A few of our club members have been talking about an expedition run through central america. It will probably be at least a year away, but probably two as we make sure we've got our ducks in a row. A trip like that is not one I want to find out after it's too late that I didn't prep correctly for.

Awesome pictures as usual! Once again congrats on the new job and hopefully it'll bring you to Utah in the not too distant future.

Those pics are great, thank you so much. So you took the job in Texas, congrats.

Yes thanks for sharing those pic with us.

Adam, I hope they're not considering US-spec 80 series, that would be the *LAST* vehicle I would take on a trip like that, too many things to go wrong that would be very hard to fix in the Third World.

Thanks for the kudos, I'm really excited about the new job, and Kate and I are looking forward to moving to Texas.

Nope, I don't think anyone involved even has an 80 except for me and even if I wanted to, Michelle wouldn't let me drag "her cruiser" through central america.

I guess that would leave me taking the 40.:eek: That will be one L O N G drive in a 40. Gotta decide if I'm down with that.

Not so much the drive but the cargo capacity, better get hopping on that trailer project! :)

Seriously, *most* people on long expeditions use Land Cruiser wagons because a SWB forces you to pack very carefully and probably skimp on parts/tools/gear. Most people I know back in Venezuela with 70 series Cruisers have gotten rid of the rear seat altogether in favor of a steel shelf for cargo carrying. Some people have an additional shelf that folds out from the rear shelf, over the knocked-forward passenger seat and up against the dash, which allows one person (up to 6' tall) to sleep inside the truck. Let me see if I can dig up a picture of that, it's pretty trick.

I would love some pictures of that! However for a trip that long, I think I'd like to have a passenger/navigator/backup driver.

I will definitely be pulling my rear seat and if I do it in the 40 I *WILL* have the trailer completed before the trip. I'm convinced there is no way I can get all the necessary gear into my 40. The trailer will need to become a reality if I go on this trip.

Rest assured, I will harrass you plenty about expeditionary stuff as time goes on.

Having someone along on an expedition is mandatory, I've NEVER seen a truck with just the driver. However, the platform only allows *one* person to sleep inside, the other person has to slog it out in the hammock, payback for not risking their own truck! :)

Here are two shots I got, a buddy of mine sent them. He got a lot of ribbing for his pose, too!:rainbow:

Henry- find this shelf bed pic, it sounds sweet. about the rear cargo window that got smashed... i've heard you say before that most all of these are replaced with welded in sheet metal pre-expedition to make the cruiser more secure... any reason they chose not to?

AWSOME pics. i LOVE seeing stuff like that, thats the kind of wheeling i would like to do someday.

Matt:smokin:

On the first one you can see the shelf from the inside.

No pics Henrique!

Here's the second shot, which shows the sleeping platform deployed.

Nevermind. I'm too impatient.

Jeez, man, hold your horses! I got six (6) CD's and 8 100 MB zip disks in front of me, it's a *bitch* to flip through my collection of Cruiser pics!

Fixxxxer6, some people replace their windows with sheetmetal, others don't. For the most part, people who do have a dedicated expedition rig, the guys on this expedition are there with their daily drivers, so most of the modifications are simple and reversable.

wow henry you continue to feed my expedition appetite, and now with the dessert, oops i mean desert pics, thats what i'm talkin about!!!
on another note since i have your attention, would it be cost effective for me to purchase a shipping container for our future drive across OZ. i was thinking about it, i can get a 40FT container for $1200 and use it here at home when not shipping our trucks.

AFAIK, purchasing the container won't do you much good in terms of shipping your truck in it from place to place. For the most part, the cost of shipping it will be the same as if the container is owned by Sea Marine or Hapag-Loyd or any of the others. $1,200 isn't bad for a 40' container, though....

I like the inside rack, that thing is pretty coll for long hauls. Even as a bonus I can put my kids in the bottom part, and not worry about them!:D
Nice pics, looks like some seriously rugged terrain!:skull:

Hey henry, is that sleep rack in the same orange 60 thats bobbed?

i think that rig is BAD ASS. i kept the pic ass my desktop:D

Matt

I don't think so, Renzo has a pretty cool setup inside that bobbed 60, it only has the two front seats, the rear is a completely custom cargo drawer and storage system, but in terms of sleeping, he's got a folding tent on top.

Originally posted by 60seriesguy
I'm really excited about the new job, and Kate and I are looking forward to moving to Texas.

CONGRATULATIONS, Henry! Great news! Kate will take a new teaching job in TX?

Right on.

BTW: The offer still stands: You can have all the disk space and bandwidth you need to publish your pics on birfield.com. The script I showed you no longer needs the comments in the JPEG - you can put the comments into a file. I'd be happy to use some other software to publish the pics too.

Please consider it.

Morgan

my housemate is buying an 80 and we're gunna do a fair bit of touring in that, and save the wheeling for my junk

and probly use his rig as the tow vehicle, much nicer to ride in for a long journey
these photos make me wanna leave now

thats some unreal footage henry

:beer:

Heya Henry,

I working on an aux water tank for my55 and have come up with around 37.5 to 46 gallons of water. Is this overkill or will i use alot of it on a dry trip to somewhere like moab for a few weeks of camping????

How many gallons does the aux-roof tank hold. That is bithcen'

aux roof tank isnt the best idea when you think that in hot climates the water will be boiling......and in cold climates it will freeze causing all sorts of problems.

An interior tank is the best idea if you can find the room. In my 55 i am building a tank in the shape of the seatback that will sit flush with the cargo floor (like when the seat is down). I just did the measurements last night and its looking like 37.5 gallons in that wasted back seat space. It will be inside so in freezing temps it wont freeze and in warm it wont be hot tap water. hopefully it will be removable so that i can just pop out the seats for bigger trips where they arent used anyway.

In my experience, 40 gallons of fresh water should be more than enough for most expeditions in South America, unless you're going into the desert, obviously. The usual formula is 2 gallons per person per day, which means you can spend 10 days out between water stops, more than you need. We used to carry water to drink, I had no qualms using river, creek or lake water to bathe in Venezuela. As long as it's fast moving water, you're golden. If it's slow moving, you want to dump a bucket tied to a rope and get the water like that, filter it through an old t-shirt. You couldn't pay me me enough money to go in, too many nasty little critters!

As for the roof-top tank, it's not for water, it's for fuel. What it does is replace the seven jerry cans that a standard roof rack holds with a baffled steel tank with a vented cap and a hand-operated pump. This is a recent development in Venezuela and I don't know how I feel about it. It's heavy when full, probably not as heavy as the seven full jerry cans, but still. It's definitely more aerodynamical, but I think you lose fuel capacity with it. People swear by it, and if you see the pictures above, it stood up to a nasty roll without even spilling.

I noticed the antennae on the front bumper. What kind of radio (freq) are you guys running? Enquiring hams want to know!!

It varies depending on where the expedition is headed, and how well-connected those on the expedition are. What happens is that in Venezuela the military has control over certain frequencies, so only people who have connections can get permission for radios. This holds true for other countries in South America and affects 2-meter and UHF mostly. I'm not really 100% sure, but if I remember correctly the trucks on this particular expedition are carrying 2-meter and 11-meter (CB) radios, as well as SATCOM phones and GPS units, of couse.