Getting my first LC next year, need some help on mods.

[ymc226]

Complete newbie. Do not understand differentials and such but I have a few questions. I'm a quick learner but don't want to waste my money on equipment that I don't need except the LC.

Coming from 3 consecutive Suburbans since 1999, all bought or leased new. This last one will be 6 years old with 120K. More of the kids are leaving for college so don't need all the space to haul the soccer or lacrosse team.

Reason for getting a new 200 series LC is: has been my dream car since I was young and can afford it now. In NO way would a Lexus LX do. Will be kind of a poser as I will not off road it in the usual sense. The most I will put it through will be driving it on the beach, surf fishing on Nantucket. I've got stuck there before on a rental Ford Explorer and had to get towed out by another truck with a winch.

In terms of beaches on Nantucket, there are moderately high dunes and I go out early when its dark to fish so extra front driving lights are a plus.

I question whether raising the suspension will help with driving on the beach and if so, would raising 2 inches affect the Land Cruiser's driving all wheel drive systems. I've read in this forum on a different thread that turning off ATRAC and having locking differentials would make a difference in certain situations; would that include beach driving in soft sand? Or is turing off ATRAC enough without the need to install locking differentials.

Would the ABS bumper with a Sahara bar and installation of driving lights and a winch be overkill? Is there additional recovery gear that is available to recover oneself from the sand if you have nothing to tie the winch onto?

Also I was looking on the ABS site regarding air compressors. As I would be letting the air out of the tires to about 15PSI, would these compressors do a relatively quick job on all 4 tires?

 

[soslo]

The 200 has a lot of computer goodies that help out a lot. I just recently went out with my stock 200 (took off running boards) without airing down the tires and ran with 3 built FJ Cruisers. We did some gnarly stuff and the 200 was easy to drive. Compared to my built FJ40 with lockers/etc - this thing is a dream. Don't over think the mods yet ... It will surprise you. I think the atrac will be better in the sand than lockers alone because of the throttle modulation that you need to keep from digging in. Takes time to learn that skill.

Just drive it until you find a deficiency and then address that when the time comes. I had a skew of mods planned until I went out and really learned just how capable these are for anything short of extreme rock crawling.

As for sand recovery gear - take a shovel and sand ladders/MAXTRAX and you'll be fine.

 

[bjowett]

I sell many of the goodies you have listed, and while they all have their place, I agree with soslo.

 

[ymc226]

Thank you for the responses.

I think I will keep it stock and see if it drives adequately on the beach and dunes.

If I plan to buy in 2014, summer at the earliest, when do the 2015 model years come out so I can deal more on the 2014s?

On the other hand, are the 2015 model year LCs going to be redesigned or have new features?

 

[soslo]

2014s should be out at the end of this summer

 

[patrickfinley]

If I plan to buy in 2014, summer at the earliest, when do the 2015 model years come out so I can deal more on the 2014s?

On the other hand, are the 2015 model year LCs going to be redesigned or have new features?

There probably won't be much wiggle room on the LC, there are so few of them around.

The 200 LC just had it's mid cycle refresh 2013. Historically the LC has very subtle changes for the remainder of it's design after the mid cycle refresh. If you base it off of history then there will likely only be subtle changes in 2014 and 2015.

 

[patrickfinley]

If I plan to buy in 2014, summer at the earliest, when do the 2015 model years come out so I can deal more on the 2014s?

On the other hand, are the 2015 model year LCs going to be redesigned or have new features?

There probably won't be much wiggle room on the LC, there are so few of them around.

The 200 LC just had it's mid cycle refresh 2013. Historically the LC has very subtle changes for the remainder of it's design after the mid cycle refresh. If you base it off of history then there will likely only be subtle changes in 2014 and 2015.

I bet as it's been stated that Maxtrax will be all you need.