Builds lx450 land cruiser ROTW Prt2 (1 Viewer)

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lx450landcruiser

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Well its been awhile since the last time i did this about 2 years i think, but alot has changed so ill see if i cant lis it all out here. Also youll have to bear with me as i cant get the photos up until later tonight (mid terms are killer)

My truck is a 1996 lx450 ive owned it for about 4 years now and I purchased it from my dad so it was in the family since almost new.
It has
2.5 in OME lift
1.5 in CSC aluminum front spacers
33 BFG ATs
ARB front winch bumper (no winch yet)
custom rear bumper wings with tire carrier
rear storage box
integrated rear miele wok stove
dual rear mv50 compressors mounted in quarter pannel
760 watt sub system
aux fuse box
in dash cb
rock lights
Dual batteries
Painless battery switch
center console switch plate


A few other things ive picked up
eezi awn 1400 series roof top tent
and a can m101 military trailer

my truck is mostly used as a daily driver but i love to wheel as often as possible as well as camp.

sorry this is so brief but ill add more tomarrow i promise

mike
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EEZI AWN TENT

Heres some pictures of the eezi awn 1400 series tent. i chose this tent ove the other after much consideration. I wanted a comfortable place to sleep, i figured if i was going to do a roof top tent i might as well have so room up there.

I chose to mount my tent so it opens off to the passenger side as the width of the 80 series roof is about 48in wide this allowed for the most "aerodynamic" placement. Only the 1200 will fit front to back with the same look as the way mine is mounted due to the size being 48x48.

First impressions were this tent is very heavy duty, although the weight is about 120lbs. This thing is built like a rock, the canvas material is very heavy and keep the interior dim to dark in the early morning so waking up is nice. The floor is made of wood that is very nice and well finished. all the zippers are heavy duty and the ends have double sewn stoppers to keep the zipper from going to far (see pic) the folding mattress is well made as well, it has 2 layers of foam (soft on top harder on bottom)

Space
this tent has tons of room im 5'10 and with arms out stretched either above my head or to my sides i just barely touch the edges. My concern was not having enough room but after seeing how large this was i wouldn't think twice about getting the 1200 if a more compact tent is desired.

I looked at all the roof top tents and these were a few things i found i liked about this tent.

the auto home tent with fiberglass shells looks good closed and is by far the fastest to set up and take down however i didn't like the set up look (resembling a brick) and if in rain or snow it seems that the windows cant stay open possibly leading to a stuffy environment and or confined feeling. The nice thing about the eezi awn tent is the windows and doors have awnings over them to allow the windows and doors to be open when raining.

The Hannibal tent resembles the eezi awn with awning however I've been told that due to the materials they use in cold environments its hard to zip up and down which can be a pain.

The tent is very stable and if you park your truck correctly you will be amazed how little movement there is while up there.

The latter is very well made and its telescopic design make it very stable.

Other things i like
interior pockets ( there are 4 and are great for holding shoes and or other things while sleeping)

adjustable mounting ( you can mount this tent to just about any think that's flat as it can adjust to any dimensions)

bug screens ( very heavy duty although not good for noseeums very heavy quality and will not likely be worn or ruined with use.

Elastic ropes built into the sides of the tent with clips. you use these to keep the sides of the tent tight so when you close the tent it helps pull the tent in ( also if in extremely windy weather these can be used to stop flapping. ( see pic)

things i don't like

the tent has little fasteners for holding the window flaps down on the outside as well as for rolling up the screen inside. these consist of a little straps with a plastic rings that you attach another strap with a male end to. These seem like a very cheap design idea and seem to be more of a pain in the butt then a solution to the problem. I will likely attach snap rivets to these to fix the problem.

Closing the tent is not as easy as they say it is After you close it you usually have to go to the other side and tuck the tent in so the cover will fit over the tent. packing up the tent takes longer then setting it up.

The cover, this is where the auto home excels, the cover is a weather proof heavy cover with a built in ratchet strap in the back that pulls the corners and sides down. this often gets dirty and is more time consuming then just cranking down a fiberglass top. I am also concerned of water getting up under the cover and will likely attack a flap underneath to keep it better protected.

The height of the tent, this tent sticks up 11'' off the top of the roof, I would recommend a "air foil" for the front to solve this.

Over all this tent is very nice and i am very happy with my purchase. there is nothing like pulling into the camp site and setting up in 5 min with bed like comfort every time. Im happy to say i wake up every morning feeling like i slept in my own bed not like i spent the night camping. I highly recommend this tent and would highly recommend it to any one else.
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Very nice. Great looking ride. You should be proud! :cheers:
 
MIELE STOVE

After much debate i always wanted to pit a stove in the tailgate of my truc. theres plenty of room and it will be done. I had started this project this past summer but dut to my location, time and well access to suplies i wasnt able to complete that. I did however build a stove into my box which will soo be mounted in my M101 trailer. The stove is a km406 propane wox burner. retail is very expensive but i scored this one on ebay. I lined the wood box with fire proof material that a fellow mudder shipped to be for free (I love this site) also the surface its mounted to is wood covered in aluminum. I had alot of trouble getting this thing up and running as the stove i bought was propane and they no longer made the conversion kit (how ever if any one ever does this i can give you the numbers of the parts need to convert it) The cool thing about this burner is it is insanly efficient. most grills use around 10-20 psi this one how ever uses 1/2 psi and can boil water in no time. To use the stove you simply pull it out flip up the aluminum cover which acts as a dust protector when closed. If its windy then the cover acts as a wind guard. the cover then can flip all the way over and acts as a sturdy table for cooking. The stove hookes up the a regular propne tank with a special propane quick disconect. The stove box also have a flush mount magic bullet. the magic bullet is the as seen on tv blender- food processor.
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The rear bumper is something i made year ago but i just got around to making the tire carrier this past summer. the bumper bolts to each site of the cross member leaving the cross member as the bumper part. this allows for the best approch and departure angle you can get with out cutting the cross member. The tire carrier also holds a 3 gal air tank.
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rear compressors

The Mv50 compressors were pointed out to me from a fellow mudder when they were really cheap and i was able to pick two of them up on my way up to washington for school. i decided to mount both of them for quick fills and these compressors rock. If you dont know about them you should look them up, there no longer as cheap as they were but there still no to bad. i keep the rear plastic off fromt he inside because i like the extra space. however these are mounted so that the pannel would still fit if i chose to seal them in there.
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Curious why you chose to run two compressors vs one. Was it just to up the CFM or other reasons?

Very nice rig, thanks for sharing. :cheers:
 
Excellent to have double redundancy. Well done sir.
 
Nice!

Can you or do you have any more pictures of the inverter mounted in the rear panel? Also what model is it?

Thx

:cheers: :cheers:
 
that would be an amp for the sub woofer the inverter is mounted in the box and is a 400 watt digital gauge type i purchased from costco a few years back
 
:eek: Wow a miele stove:cool:

:eek: 700+ watts of stereo:cool:

:eek: dual compressors mounted:cool:

Nice write up.:D

As always thanks for contributing.:cheers:

I almost dread it when one of these write ups gives me new ideas for my rig.

I'm sure the hair on the back of my wifes neck is standing up about now.:whoops:
 
I would like to know how and where you ran the wiring for the Amp and inverter. Wiring details I guess is what I am asking for.
 
I am interested in the rear bumper you built. Can you take more pics? What size steel did you make it of? If you were to do it again what would you do different? Any tips to making my own rear bumper? Awesome rig!
 
I would like to know how and where you ran the wiring for the Amp and inverter. Wiring details I guess is what I am asking for.

the wiring runs from the battery to the upper drivers side fire wall hole. it runs in then along the driver side door and passenger side door then across the rear cargo area. ther is a factory wiring harness there so theres a channel built in to where you can run the wires. then under the carpet to the rear.
 
I am interested in the rear bumper you built. Can you take more pics? What size steel did you make it of? If you were to do it again what would you do different? Any tips to making my own rear bumper? Awesome rig!
If you look for my name in the vendors section there is a thread with a ton of pics from start to finish on the bumper. im was going to sellt he bumper a while ago but never got much intrest. If i had to do it again i would use a much larger spindle for the swing out. mine works fine but it can shake if i grab on to it and shake it. also support to the frame. the more the better. i will prolly go back and put a u bolt around the frame in the back on the spindle side and give it more strength. tires are heavy.
 
thanks for the roof top tent write up. i am thinking on spending my tax reutrn on something totally useless and this fits the bill (i dont camp enough to make it cost effective)! i mean, we go camping like 4x a year but the thought of camping in a house is just great.
 
hey lx450, mabey i'm dumb or something but i could not find anything when i searcher for your name in vendors section
 
I did multiple advanced searches and searched your threads looking for the one detailing the build of the bumper. I only found the ones selling them and a few finished shots. I would like to see the build shots also if you would be so kind as to point them out. :)
 

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