Hello all. I've been lurking on this forum for a couple of months now and am extremely grateful for all of the excellent information I've been able to find here. It's been invaluable in getting my LC sorted out. I'm getting close to finalizing all of the major areas, but there are still a few that I haven't finalized yet.
I decided to purchase an LC (my first one; I've only owned Nissan before and never a truck) because my wife and I are getting ready to start on a RTW (or something similar) trip from Washington state (Walla Walla, to be exact) to... somewhere far away. We will be starting with a 2-3 year plan heading south through Mexico, Central America and into South America. We'll be living out of our LC about 50% of the time, with the remainder of the time spent house sitting, couch surfing, renting an apartment/condo/etc or tenting it while trekking. Our goal is to travel with the minimal amount of gear possible; we don't want to overload the vehicle nor end up with a bunch of things we don't use. The first few months of our trip will also be in the US still, so if we find out we missed something we can still acquire it relatively easily. We will be traveling relatively slowly as well, so we don't need to be fully self contained for weeks at a time.
I bought the LC about two months ago. It's a 2001 with 200k miles on it (bought it with 197k, have done a few trips with it) in excellent condition. I'm the third owner and I have all the service records for the vehicle, and in February this year the last owner did a pretty thorough service on it; timing belt, all fluids, all filters and new tires (Toyo Open Country 265/75R16). So far the main issue I've found is the seal around the sun roof is a bit warped, and it only sets correctly after using the "tilt" setting. There is no leakage (nor any evidence of it in the past), so we have simply decided not to use the sun roof (no big loss for us) and avoid replacing it until we absolutely have to.
Other notable work done;
- OME HD 1.5" suspension. I decided against the higher lift because we don't intend to add a lot of additional weight to the vehicle, and I would prefer to keep the tires (31") we have now without it looking sort of silly with the 2.5" lift.
- ARB bull bar.
- ARB modular rear bumper, with two jerrycan mounts. Decided against additional spare tire, we will stick with a single spare. Two jerrycans are better than one, and the range on the LC is one of the few things I am a bit grumpy about.
- Slee steel skid plate.
- Drifta drawer system (currently en route from AU, thanks to some creativity from Mark and the guys there!). We will sleep on top of the drawers.
- Misc safety/ease of use improvements. Locking gas cap, wheel locks, spare tire lock, interior LED lights, etc.
Work remaining;
- Solar panels and mount. I already know what type of panels (flexible 100w Renogy x2), and I will get a custom mount fabricated locally. It will be a light-weight removable mount that fits into the existing 3/4 racks that are already installed on the truck.
- Second battery. I have the mount already in the truck, but need to decide what battery to get. Any suggestions? I'll be using it primarily for Engel fridge, two laptops, 12v slow cooker, misc recharging, that sort of thing. No intention to install a winch or any air-lockers. I'd like to keep the primary battery used for starter, radio, power windows, etc - keep all the "optional" stuff on the second battery.
- Electrical work. Basically need to hook up the solar panels to the second battery, install an inverter and I would like to be able to monitor the power level and charging status of both batteries (and be able to start the vehicle from 2nd battery if needed). I've looked at a few options (Blue Sea, IBS, etc) but none seem to do everything that I want in one package. I'm no wrench expert by any means, so I am looking for something as simple as possible with the fewest amount of moving parts. I also want to keep it simple while we're on the road, as we will be using our gadgets frequently and want to be able to rely on the solar for a few days at a time.
We're currently visiting family abroad so I don't have any fun pictures to share, but in a couple of weeks we'll be reunited with the our LC and I'll post some then. In the meantime, thanks in advance for any advice/suggestions/ideas/tips/etc! All of the help so far has been invaluable.
Cheers!
I decided to purchase an LC (my first one; I've only owned Nissan before and never a truck) because my wife and I are getting ready to start on a RTW (or something similar) trip from Washington state (Walla Walla, to be exact) to... somewhere far away. We will be starting with a 2-3 year plan heading south through Mexico, Central America and into South America. We'll be living out of our LC about 50% of the time, with the remainder of the time spent house sitting, couch surfing, renting an apartment/condo/etc or tenting it while trekking. Our goal is to travel with the minimal amount of gear possible; we don't want to overload the vehicle nor end up with a bunch of things we don't use. The first few months of our trip will also be in the US still, so if we find out we missed something we can still acquire it relatively easily. We will be traveling relatively slowly as well, so we don't need to be fully self contained for weeks at a time.
I bought the LC about two months ago. It's a 2001 with 200k miles on it (bought it with 197k, have done a few trips with it) in excellent condition. I'm the third owner and I have all the service records for the vehicle, and in February this year the last owner did a pretty thorough service on it; timing belt, all fluids, all filters and new tires (Toyo Open Country 265/75R16). So far the main issue I've found is the seal around the sun roof is a bit warped, and it only sets correctly after using the "tilt" setting. There is no leakage (nor any evidence of it in the past), so we have simply decided not to use the sun roof (no big loss for us) and avoid replacing it until we absolutely have to.
Other notable work done;
- OME HD 1.5" suspension. I decided against the higher lift because we don't intend to add a lot of additional weight to the vehicle, and I would prefer to keep the tires (31") we have now without it looking sort of silly with the 2.5" lift.
- ARB bull bar.
- ARB modular rear bumper, with two jerrycan mounts. Decided against additional spare tire, we will stick with a single spare. Two jerrycans are better than one, and the range on the LC is one of the few things I am a bit grumpy about.
- Slee steel skid plate.
- Drifta drawer system (currently en route from AU, thanks to some creativity from Mark and the guys there!). We will sleep on top of the drawers.
- Misc safety/ease of use improvements. Locking gas cap, wheel locks, spare tire lock, interior LED lights, etc.
Work remaining;
- Solar panels and mount. I already know what type of panels (flexible 100w Renogy x2), and I will get a custom mount fabricated locally. It will be a light-weight removable mount that fits into the existing 3/4 racks that are already installed on the truck.
- Second battery. I have the mount already in the truck, but need to decide what battery to get. Any suggestions? I'll be using it primarily for Engel fridge, two laptops, 12v slow cooker, misc recharging, that sort of thing. No intention to install a winch or any air-lockers. I'd like to keep the primary battery used for starter, radio, power windows, etc - keep all the "optional" stuff on the second battery.
- Electrical work. Basically need to hook up the solar panels to the second battery, install an inverter and I would like to be able to monitor the power level and charging status of both batteries (and be able to start the vehicle from 2nd battery if needed). I've looked at a few options (Blue Sea, IBS, etc) but none seem to do everything that I want in one package. I'm no wrench expert by any means, so I am looking for something as simple as possible with the fewest amount of moving parts. I also want to keep it simple while we're on the road, as we will be using our gadgets frequently and want to be able to rely on the solar for a few days at a time.
We're currently visiting family abroad so I don't have any fun pictures to share, but in a couple of weeks we'll be reunited with the our LC and I'll post some then. In the meantime, thanks in advance for any advice/suggestions/ideas/tips/etc! All of the help so far has been invaluable.
Cheers!