Mike stopped round one day after work with a new idea for his beaten-up but back then capable mud truck. A plan was worked out and the fun begun…

The truck in question is a 70 series landcruiser that had already been re-powered with a toyota 4.5 Litre 6 cylinder 24V Petrol power plant. It was also running a Prado automatic box, coilsprung front and electric lockers front and rear. He wanted to cut it down to an extra cab with a tray as it was previously a soft top, so out came the tools and on went the cutting.

After one night Mike and I had started to get somewhere with this beast, completing the box section frame that would eventually form the shape  of the cab. We then made up the new panel steel skins for the roof and the rear of the cab from scratch. Next on the list was the tray but time was running out, with the deadline to the winch competition Mike had entered in closing in fast. Next the new bead locked deep dished rims and tyres arrived and we sent it off to a mate to sort out the external cage.

Once that was made and tacked to the chassis we removed the entire rollcage in preperation for  a SDP panel and paint. We then refitted the rollcage, carefully welding it back on, masked up the cab and painted it.

We reassembled the truck and took it straight into a competition that weekend. It drove and handled like a dream placing 3rd on the first day. On the 2nd day the front diff exploded after some of mikes “creative” driving techniques and had to finish the competition in 2WD.

Since then Mike has entered a few comps and placed well considering the amount of time spent on the truck is minimal. An SDP maintenance programme was organised before and after each event to keep the truck going hard, this gives Mike the reliability he needs out of the truck. Gracing the cover of NZ4WD this truck still has a lot of potential and improvements lined up. We can’t wait to hear what his next mods are for this sweet mud truck.