2000 Toyota LandCruiser 100 Series Restoration - A Man With a Wrench Pt 1.

The 2000 UZJ100 sat in the driveway under a film of dust and baked clearcoat, showing 275,412 miles on the digital odometer, leaking power steering fluid from a tired rack, and weeping red coolant from the brittle factory plastic heater Ts (OEM 87248-60460). The 2UZ-FE 4.7L iron-block V8 was smooth and indestructible, but everything around it was screaming for attention: sagging rear coils, blown shocks, frozen front lower ball joints, and a dangerous amount of slop in the steering wheel.

The full overhaul began on Friday evening with the heavy Cruiser raised on four 6-ton jack stands. Armed with a 1/2-inch drive Milwaukee M18 Fuel impact wrench, a set of 6-point metric impact sockets, a 54mm spindle socket, a 250 ft-lb torque wrench, and a ball joint press kit, the teardown started at the front end. Off came the 21mm lug nuts (103 ft-lbs factory spec) and the 16-inch alloy wheels, exposing original brake rotors scored down to the vents. The front brake calipers (OEM 47730-60070 and 47750-60070) were unbolted with a 17mm socket (90 ft-lbs) and hung safely from the frame rails with zip ties. The hub dust cap was popped off using a brass punch, revealing the axle stub snap ring and six 12mm nuts securing the drive flange (26 ft-lbs). After knocking loose the tapered cone washers with a soft-faced hammer and brass drift, the flange slid free to expose the spindle lock nuts and star washer.

Next came the steering and suspension refresh. Out came the leaking steering rack, replaced with a fresh OEM rack and pinion (OEM 44250-60050) paired with heavy-duty polyurethane mounting bushings (SuperPro SPF2542K), torqued down to 123 ft-lbs on the main crossmember bolts. The front lower control arms were removed by loosening the 22mm cam bolts (152 ft-lbs) after carefully scribing alignment marks on the frame tabs. The worn OEM lower ball joints (43330-60010) and 43340-60010 were pressed out and swapped for new Genuine Toyota units, torqued to 59 ft-lbs at the spindle flange with fresh cotter pins inserted. Up top, an Aisin TKT-021 timing belt kit was installed alongside a new water pump (OEM 16100-59275), hydraulic tensioner, and thermostat, securing the water pump bolts to 14 ft-lbs and pulling the crankshaft pulley bolt home to a massive 181 ft-lbs.

By late Sunday afternoon, metal heater hose tees replaced the cracked plastic fittings, pink Toyota Super Long Life coolant was vacuum-bled into the cooling system, and the high-mileage V8 fired up instantly, setting into a whisper-quiet 650 RPM idle—ready for another quarter-million miles.With the cooling and timing service complete, attention turned back to the front hubs for a full bearing repack and spindle overhaul. The original inner (Koyo JLM506849) and outer (Koyo LM102949) tapered roller bearings were knocked out of the hub body, thoroughly washed of old hardened grease in solvent, and inspected for pitting. After packing both bearings by hand with high-temp moly-fortified synthetic grease, a fresh inner grease seal (OEM 90311-62001) was tapped flush into the hub bore using a seal driver. The hub assembly slid back over the clean spindle snout, followed by the outer bearing and thrust washer. Using the 54mm spindle socket, the inner lock nut was torqued down to 43 ft-lbs while continuously spinning the brake rotor to bed the roller bearings. It was then backed off to hand-loose and snugged back up to 3 ft-lbs. Attaching a spring scale to a wheel stud showed a smooth rotational drag reading of right at 11 lbs—dead center in the factory 9 to 14 lb preload specification. A brand-new tabbed star washer (OEM 90215-42025) went on next, locked down by the outer jam nut torqued to 47 ft-lbs, with two teeth on the lock washer bent tight over the inner and outer nuts.  

Before re-attaching the drive flange, the torn factory CV axle boots were addressed. Rather than settling for cheap aftermarket axles, the original high-strength Toyota shafts were rebooted using a Genuine Toyota boot kit (OEM 04438-60020) filled with fresh inner tripod grease and outer moly grease, secured with OEM stainless steel crimp bands.

Moving to the rear, the tired 275k-mile rear suspension was transformed. The sagging factory coil springs and blown shocks came out, making room for a set of Old Man Emu 2860 medium-rate coil springs matched with OME 60000 Nitrocharger Sport twin-tube shocks. Up front, heavy-duty OME 303001 torsion bars replaced the worn factory bars, adjusted to give a level 2-inch suspension lift while retaining 60mm of droop travel to protect the new CV angles. The rear lower control arms were swapped for fresh assemblies (OEM 48720-60040), with their frame and axle mounting bolts torqued to 130 ft-lbs only after lowering the full weight of the vehicle onto the tires to avoid pre-binding the rubber bushings.

Finally, the rear differential drained black, metal-shaving-free fluid from the 24mm magnetic drain plug (36 ft-lbs). Three quarts of 75W-90 GL-5 synthetic gear oil were pumped into the housing until weeping from the fill plug (36 ft-lbs). With new rear rotors (OEM 42431-60200), fresh rear pads (OEM 04466-60090), caliper bracket bolts torqued to 65 ft-lbs, and a quick bleed of the hydraulic brake lines using fresh DOT 4 fluid, the Toyota Landcruiser 100 Series settled back onto its tires—riding high, completely quiet, and mechanically restored to factory perfection.