Our Minimalist 4WD Fit-Out

is LESs, MorE?

Our minimalist 4WD fit-out

By Amanda Burton Images by www.red-dirt.net.au

As much as we should strive to do something with our lives that leaves a mark, a commemorative bay at the mechanics in recognition of our too regular attendance and significant financial contributions to his bank account wasn’t quite what I had in mind. So we took the plunge and cut our losses, parting ways with our beloved (if injury-prone) old LandCruiser and instead putting the money we were endlessly spending on repairs towards a new vehicle. Well, not a new-new vehicle (the bank manager wasn’t in that good a mood) but she’s new to us. So let me introduce our new 4WD, a 2013 VX 200 series LandCruiser (and yes we learnt our lesson – this time she’s a diesel!)

She shows all the signs of having lived a very sheltered, bitumen-based life up to now. Shiny silver paint with not a scratch to be seen, no red dust in sneaky places. The only modification, a ball hitch for a garden trailer. When you acquire a new 4WD the first question on everyone’s lips is, “So what mods are you planning?” Rather than riding the wave of excitement of now having a blank canvas to work on, we stopped and took a deep breath and tried to really think logically about what we actually needed accessory-wise. Our old Cruiser, over time, had acquired pretty much all the 'proper 4WD' accessories. Roo bar, spotties, winch, suspension lift, roof rack, rear bar dual carrier, rear drawers, fridge/slide, long range tank, second battery, snorkel etc. etc. In the end, being so heavy had contributed to a lot of the old Cruiser's health issues. We took a step back and had a real think about what accessories had actually been useful versus what a 'proper' 4WD 'should' have so it looks the goods. It made for interesting discussions and has led us to trying a new 'minimalist' approach. If we’re not sure we need it, let's see how we manage without it (and we can always add it on later if we find we need to). Now I know through experience that people are very, very passionate in their beliefs about 'essential' mods to a 4WD, so let me say up front that this is our personal experiment, and is based on our experiences and travel style. I may be back in 12 months telling you we’ve come full circle and she’s kitted up again with every accessory known to man. But for now I’ll share our plans and maybe it’ll prompt some thought. So, let’s get started (and may the debate begin!) Most obvious is the lack of roo bar. We’ve hit our share of roos, but never once on the roo bar. Aerials we’ve had attached to the roo bar have shaken to bits (we find they fare much better attached to the roof rack). The new hi-beam is pretty good (and we try not to travel at night anyway) so no need to have something to attach spotties to. We had a winch – used it a grand total of once to get ourselves out and lots of times to help other people with no recovery gear of their own. The plan moving forward is to have the Maxtrax for recoveries - works for us and less strain on our vehicle to help others out. The approach angle looks shocking, but so far we haven’t ripped the bumper off (and if/when we do, we can put the insurance money towards maybe a sharp-angled small competition-type bar to solve that problem).

An extension to the diff breathers was a no brainer (not patient enough to let things cool completely before doing a water crossing to go without that simple, inexpensive mod). On the subject of water crossings, a snorkel was the thing we debated longest and hardest about. Not actually so much in respect to water crossings (if the water is that deep I’m happy to turn around and find

Approach angle still intact.

another way, if it’s touch-and-go we have the MSA car-bra for a bit of added insurance) but the combination of a well-sealed airbox (the plastic LandCruiser ones are known to warp and leak in hot weather) and where your air is drawn from (what genius decided that the wheel arch would be a nice, dust free place to suck air from?) But having a snorkel installed is pretty major surgery, they create a lot of wind drag and some are very, very noisy. Moonlight’s stainless steel airbox and snorkel were hard to resist, if only because they are an absolute droolworthy work of art, but at this stage we are still contemplating. Under the bonnet we installed a secondary fuel filter (we may still have a touch of post-traumatic stress about fuel filters), an intercooler and radiator protector screen and an engine breather catch can. Though a little controversial, we changed out the dual batteries to one starter battery and the other an Orbital deep cycle for the fridge

Catch can. Fuel filter.

That is deep enough.

(and so far she’s starting fine off the one battery). Really, really heavy-duty, well overspec wiring was run through for towing (Anderson plug, electric brakes, trailer plug and reversing camera) and the fridge. The problem of power loss from using cheap, too-thin cabling was a lesson we had already learnt the hard way. On top we opted for a low-profile, lightweight aluminium RhinoRack Platform roof rack. True, you can’t reach under it easily to polish the roof, but I’m not that tall so out of sight, out of mind works well for me there. This gave us somewhere to attach the UHF aerial, Maxtrax, shovel holders/shovel and the sun awning. When we need some extra storage, a Spacecase or two might make an appearance. On those rare occasions where we need to carry more fuel, we can strap some jerry cans up there. This is not ideal weight distribution-wise, but the cost/benefit analysis of this vs the logistics of fitting a long range tank (moving spare wheel from under the vehicle, install rear rack to carry spare, permanent increase in weight and stress on vehicle, beef up suspension, have to open dirty swing arms every time you need something out of the back) it came out pretty strongly, especially given the LC200’s range and the number of times that fuel options have been outside of this. In the back, rather than going for the previous permanent drawer system, we’re trying out a more versatile model. The third row of seats was removed and a carpet covered marine-ply board fitted to level off the floor. On to this is bolted a Dunn & Watson fridge slide and cage barrier to house a 60L National Luna fridge/freezer. Drawer-wise we’re trialling plastic Oates Stacker Drawers from Bunnings. They are light-weight, lock together, don’t slide open by themselves and are held in place with a strap to tie-down points on the false floor. At around $30 each they’re substantially cheaper than a 'proper' drawer system and so far have worked fabulously, even if they don’t look quite as sexy. At the end of a trip you can easily remove any parts you don’t need for day-to-day around town and you then have plenty of room in the back for boring things like the weekly shopping.

Old vs new - front and rear views.

When we hitched Lucy the glamper-camper up for the first time, there was a bit of sag in the back end. This was easily rectified by fitting some Polyair ultimate 60psi heavy duty airbags to the rear coils. Inflate when you need them, let the air out when you don’t, so the day-to-day ride isn’t affected. At this stage we are going to see just how good Toyota’s Kinetic Dynamic Suspension System (KDSS) is and not rush into any suspension upgrades. The new LandCruiser came with 18-inch tyres, which don’t match Lucy’s 17-inch tyres (which were matched to the old LandCruiser when we had her built). This interchangeability between vehicle and trailer wheels/tyres provides a significant safety margin when travelling. Problem solved by having two sets of boots for the new LandCruiser – 17 inch 'bush wheels' fitted with Toyo Open Country A/Ts for travelling which can be swapped for the 18 inch 'city wheels' fitted with (cheaper!) standard road tyres for the boring stuff around town. Yes, it is another job you have to do each trip (changing over the wheels) but with a hydraulic trolley jack and some practice it’s not a huge effort (well, so says someone who just watches and delivers the coffee anyway!) Inside the cabin we forked out for some Supafit denim seat covers and Bushranger floor mats which have helped protect from the mess and dirt that is an inescapable part of bush travel. They can be easily removed to enjoy the 'refined comfort' of the underlying leather and carpet around town. A few extra USB ports to charge and power the multitude of electronic devices that seem to accompany us, the iPad with Memory Maps being an essential which has kept us on the right track more times than I can remember (especially given my dyslexic navigation skills). A UHF radio and tyre pressure monitoring system (which is on its way out and investigation is ongoing as to the best replacement) round out the mods. With this minimalist approach to accessories, we are lighter than we’ve ever been so a GVM upgrade hasn’t become an essential item. Being lighter should also improve fuel economy and reduce maintenance loads. Does the impact of carrying the weight of all these 'must have' 4WD accessories enter the typical decision-making process? It certainly should. Less weight = less wear and tear. Ultimately, you just need to have a good hard think about what you want from your 4WD. Why spend thousands of dollars on huge lifts, enormous tyres and modified suspension when all you really want is a reliable 4WD to explore Australia with? Don’t add accessories just because everyone else has them. You can get out and tour this amazing country of ours without needing to have a vehicle equipped to tackle the hardest possible line (life lesson - there’s no shame in taking the chicken track if it gets you were you want to go). Does our rather bare new LandCruiser look like an absolute off-road beast? Probably not. Does she get us where we want to go? Yep - so far so good. Don’t get too caught up in what others do to their 4WDs, or what they think of yours. If it suits your needs, it’s the perfect 4WD for you.

Rear fit-out for travelling.