Newbie from Devon

[mr_magicfingers]

Hello all,

just bought my first LC so joining here to learn more about it.

I'm Justin, recently moved to a little farm in Devon that we plan to develop as a campsite, running away to the country and escaping the city.

The LC is 2001 Colorado VX 3.0 Diesel, Engine 1KDFTV, Frame KDJ95. I'm planning to use it as the farm runabout and general workhorse. The day after I bought it I found the brakes were f@cked, one front caliper was seized solid and a rear caliper was missing a pad and the piston had worn most of the way through the disk. Had 2 new rears disks put on, 2 new calipers and new pads all round then drove it from Aberdeen to London and on to Devon. Both the front anti roll bar links are broken so that's my first job, replacing those in a week or so.

I want to learn to service and work on it myself, always worked on my motorbikes so I'm reasonably mechanically minded. Want to get a tow bar fitted so I can pull the farm trailers, may just pay to have that done unless I can find the parts easily enough.

Many years ago I spent a few months doing field work in Zimbabwe and had an old Landcruiser for a month then a 1965 landrover for 2 months, living in the bush in a tent and driving through some amazing places. Couldn't believe where you could take a 30 year old landrover That was my introduction to offroading and I've done very little since. Might be tempted to take the LC on some green lane fun when I find some like minded locals. After the Zimbabwe fun I have had a hankering to overland across Africa, though that may just stay a dream, although a very fun one.

 

[AndyCook]

Weclome Justin

thats a long old drive!

where did you purchase the colorado in Aberdeen?

 

[grantw]

Hello and welcome!

Sounds like your LC has had bit of a hard neglected life But am sure a bit of TLC will get it back in shape in no time.

I've just started getting into camping in England (I'm from Australia) so look forward to visiting your campsite when it's up and running. If you're from Africa then I hope you will be one of the few that allows fires?

Grant

 

[Graham]

Welcom

I am sure you will learn good from here.

The 95 series is a good Land Cruiser, just like all the rest of them.

Gra.

 

[mr_magicfingers]

Andy, I actually bought the landcruiser from a small dealer in Glasgow, I had a friend in Aberdeen so I drove up to visit them as a shakedown test, very glad I did and had the brakes fixed before the long drive south.

Grant, I'm English but was lucky to spend some time in Africa visiting places most people don't get a chance to go. Yes, there'll be camp fires at our campsite, it's part of our ethos, camping isn't properly camping without a fire. There'll be the field around the lake with kitted out yurts and bell tents, each of which will have their own firepit. Another field with pitch your own tent camping will have 5-6 pitches in a circle with a fire pit in the middle. Then there's 7 acres of woodland to explore and play in next to those, but I think no fires down there, too much chance of accidentally setting fire to the wood. I'll post up next year when we're up and running.

 

[grantw]

Sounds great. Don't forget those that have roof top tents though as well

 

[AndyCook]

yes good thing you found out about brakes on drive from Glasgow to Aberdeen

I got my 95-series from a small dealer in glasgow too

Braehead motor company

 

[stumog]

where abouts are you in north devon as we are down there alot and NEED a good campsite that allows fire and dogs. i will be there alot if thats the case. we go to westward ho! alot. not so crowded as saunton or croyde.stu

 

[oldman]

Hi Justin
I'm down in South Devon, let us know how the site comes on
would love to come up for a search around.
John

 

[Red Oktober]

Mornin .... we are in south devon too ...

seems you're just down the road from us Mr Oldman,

 

[Annamarie]

hello

 

[mr_magicfingers]

Thanks for all the welcomes. Yes, rooftents will be welcome. There'll be no caravans or hookups but we'll let a few campervans and 4wd's on site as long as it's not too muddy. We always have a spare field next to the parking area for vans if needed. Cars won't be parked on the camping area, but we can ferry things down in the quad trailer.

We plan to be open next year. Keep an eye on luckaborough.co.uk for details. There's nothing there at the moment but I'll have a blog up in the next week or two so you can follow our progress and eventually it'll become the place where you can look around and book your stay. It'll take a few years to get to where we want to be but I think it'll be the sort of place that appeals to people here, we're building it to be the perfect campsite that we've always wanted to stay at.

 

[PedroAraujo]

Andy, I actually bought the landcruiser from a small dealer in Glasgow, I had a friend in Aberdeen so I drove up to visit them as a shakedown test, very glad I did and had the brakes fixed before the long drive south.

Grant, I'm English but was lucky to spend some time in Africa visiting places most people don't get a chance to go. Yes, there'll be camp fires at our campsite, it's part of our ethos, camping isn't properly camping without a fire. There'll be the field around the lake with kitted out yurts and bell tents, each of which will have their own firepit. Another field with pitch your own tent camping will have 5-6 pitches in a circle with a fire pit in the middle. Then there's 7 acres of woodland to explore and play in next to those, but I think no fires down there, too much chance of accidentally setting fire to the wood. I'll post up next year when we're up and running.

Hi Justin,

Are you still planning your camp site in Devon? I am from Zim and lived here for 20 years, just bought a 79 series single cab for my 13yo son and I to venture out, who knows where it will take us. Be good to catch up

 

[Roy Duffy]

Welcome to the group!! Camp site sounds fun, we get down that way quite often. Will be great to have somewhere nice to camp

 

[mr_magicfingers]

Hi Justin,

Are you still planning your camp site in Devon? I am from Zim and lived here for 20 years, just bought a 79 series single cab for my 13yo son and I to venture out, who knows where it will take us. Be good to catch up

Sorry for the delay in replying, I didn't see a notification for this and didn't think to come back after such a long time.
Yes, our site is up and running, it took us longer than expected. We have a large double yurt, smaller bell tent and shepherd's hut. You can see the place at Luckaboroughglamping.co.uk. We're just updating the site over the next couple of weeks with some new pictures.

 

[AdventureWagon]

Want to get a tow bar fitted so I can pull the farm trailers, may just pay to have that done unless I can find the parts easily enough.

If it's anything like the Prado 95 then it's just 4 bolts for the towbar - there is some threaded stock you pass through the chassis rails at the back and then screw the towbar bolts into. Mine needed replacement as the previous owner had left the hitch in the receiver for 19 years and it had rusted in. Had no trouble sourcing a genuine part at a local 4WD wreckers.

If you do go this route try and get the loom as well, as sometimes especially if you have a bullbar, there are an extra two relays for indicator repeaters for the towbar. Again this is pretty simple, the loom just threads through an existing grommet hole and then you connect on the passenger side rear light area.

 

[Jacob100]

You left out a crucial bit of information - what happened to the Colorado?

Your farm looks lovely. Still room for 4x4s or is it all static pitches?