Is there a more iconic 4WD on the market than a Sandy Taupe Troop Carrier LandCruiser? We think not, so it’s only fitting that we got hold of one these box-on-wheels machines for our shop and threw everything we could at it to make it the Troopy from hell. We really wanted to show people what we could do with this Troopy and the 70 Series in general, while still making it practical to tour with, as well as hitting some of the harder tracks.
Of course, the first thing was to get our good mates from Jmacx involved, with them fabbing up a 4200kg GVM coil conversion kit with some Sandy Taupe colour-coding thrown in…well a lot of Sandy Taupe colour coding actually! Cradle, coils, control arms, panard rods – you name it – it got hit with Taupe! We opted for the Kings remote res shock options for this build as they are the best in the business for load carrying, touring and off-roading which we’re aiming to do plenty of. The 4200kg GVM means that we could throw all the accessories we could at it, without worrying about the legalities when loaded up with camping gear or towing. The certification with this kit also means we can run a fully legal 4″ of lift and 35″ tyres.
When it came to bar work, we thought we would do something slightly different to our normal 79 builds in the way of the TJM T15 Deluxe bar. The fleet-style bar, while a little more basic than the traditional T13 Outback bar that you’ve all become accustomed to seeing on our big builds, still caters for the GXL owners with it’s slightly wider design to suit factory flares and built in fog lights. There are a set of TJM brush rails and side steps which match the 63mm tubing of the bull bar and give the sills a bit of extra protection if we ever manage to reach them with anything.
The bull bar houses a TJM Torq 9,500lbs Black Edition winch fitted with a Factor 55 Ultrahook winch hook with built in closed system shackle mount. There’s a set of Stedi Type-X Pro LED driving lights and GME 4705 6dBi antenna also mounted on the bar.
A Kaymar rear bar and wheel carrier offers rear protection for the big girl and a place to mount the spare to get the weight off the rear door. Up-top is the Rhino Pioneer platform for extra storage and provides a good base to mount the solar panel and Darche 270 Awning for the ultimate protection from the elements. The awning is running Korr adjustable strip lighting with dimmer switches for ample shades of light for the campsite. There’s also 5 of Stedi’s newest light- the LED Quad 12 driving light. These things are packing a mean punch in series together and turn night in to day out on the tracks. The square look is the perfect alternative to a roof mounted light bar as well. There’s also plenty of camp lighting from Stedi with 2 rear mounted 10W LED’s and a side mounted ST3520 13″ Micro light bar for lighting up the campsite.
We’ve gone to town under the bonnet as well with an upgraded stainless steel air box and snorkel combination by Patrol Docta. We wanted to ditch the leaky old OEM units for something seriously well designed and engineered to handle the sort of conditions that would be thrown at it. They also look mint in the powder coat black finish and the induction noise resonating from the staino snorkel sounds great without being intrusive.
There’s a HPD high-flow intercooler to keep turbo temps down and a billet catch can to catch any unwanted oil contaminates. This will really come into play when we take the Troopy up to Torqit for some performance tweaks, where they will be playing around with some new technology which we’re pretty excited about. We also fitted a Diesel Care pre-filter to give the engine the best protection from dirty fuel.
Inside, the vehicle has had a complete work over with over-head and centre consoles by Department of the Interior. We’ve added a little Redi Cruisers touch of our own to the consoles which is a sneak peak of something special to come. The floor console is fitted with a Redarc dual battery voltage gauge and a series of Stedi Carling style switches for lighting. The overhead console houses the Uniden UH9050 din size UHF radio for communications and there is a ton of netted storage compartments to hide all your goodies.
We took the Troopy to House of Soundz at Hamilton so that those guys could work their magic with the sound system featuring a Kenwood touch screen unit with Apple and Android play as well as a set of door pods and DB speakers to suit. Seats are covered by a full set of Black Duck 4 Elements seat covers over the standard Toyota seats. The back has received a once over by RV Storage Solutions with an Easy Access Combo draw system with fridge and cargo barriers. We went with a Bushman DC65-X Upright fridge for cool storage and we’ve fitted out the TJM Heavy Duty 12v compressor hidden away in the wing panel of the draws.
To power the lighting and electricals we’ve done a full lithium battery set-up by Enerdrive comprising of a 200A/h battery, 40A AC and DC chargers, inverter, 180W solar panel, all controlled and monitored through a Simarine panel. There are a series of Enerdrive USB outlets and sockets to run any additional accessories flush mounted into the panel. All the charging units, inverter and breakers were mounted on the side of the fridge barrier to keep them out of the way, but still accessible when the need arises.
The whole package is rolling out on a set of Method Beadlock wheels that are 17×8.5 and a set of Toyo Open Country R/T tyres measuring in at 35 x 12.5/ 17, supplied to the us from the legends at Race Wheels Australia. Even the GXL Troopies miss out on factory flares so a set of TJM Deluxe flares, colour coded by T&K Restoration were fitted to give that factory look, hide the fat rubber and keep it all on the legal side. Josh and the boys in the TJM Hunter Valley workshop put in a big effort as usual on this one and the results speak for themselves.
We’re all about the big Cruiser builds here at Redi Cruisers and we believe that this Troopy represents a big part of what we do here. It’s built Redi to tour, Redi to tow and Redi to hit the toughest tracks in Australia. We’ve bought together some of the best names in the business to supply the best parts so that we go harder, go further and for longer. If you’re looking to get your own tough build done, then get in contact with us.
