New member and new build thread (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Jun 9, 2016
Threads
4
Messages
15
Location
Walla Walla, Washington
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!
 
Welcome! Sounds like you are in for quite an adventure. My life-long interest in 4WD travels was started by reading the book "20,000 Miles South", an amphibious Jeep trip from the tip of NA to the tip of SA.

Much of your remaining work is electrical. I use the site below for equipment, ideas, and advice. They have a Marine/RV section with kits and specialty items. Nothing specific for the 100, but maybe some info on the site will help in the rest of your work. I'm concerned about the 12V slow cooker you mentioned. That sounds like a heavy long-term power draw that may be too much for a solar system?

Solar Electric Power Systems For On & Off Grid | Panels and More | NAWS
 
Welcome. How much did the drawers wind up running you shipped?
The total is a bit less than 2k AUS. This includes drawers, fridge slide, extension to cover the 2nd row seating area and table. However, because I was lucky with the timing of my order I got a really big discount on shipping to US (I don't think it's even something Drifta does on a regular basis).

Welcome! Sounds like you are in for quite an adventure. My life-long interest in 4WD travels was started by reading the book "20,000 Miles South", an amphibious Jeep trip from the tip of NA to the tip of SA.

Much of your remaining work is electrical. I use the site below for equipment, ideas, and advice. They have a Marine/RV section with kits and specialty items. Nothing specific for the 100, but maybe some info on the site will help in the rest of your work. I'm concerned about the 12V slow cooker you mentioned. That sounds like a heavy long-term power draw that may be too much for a solar system?

Solar Electric Power Systems For On & Off Grid | Panels and More | NAWS
20,000 Miles South - I haven't heard of that book, but I will look for it. I am quite excited for our adventure too!

Thanks much for the link, that looks like a great resource. I'll be doing lots of research there.

As for the slow cooker on the battery, you're right. If we are using the slow cooker at the same time as the other electronics, it would probably drain the battery after about 8-10 hrs or less. However, assuming we have 200w of solar, ~200 amp battery and good sun, we should be fine. Mainly I expect to use the slow cooker while driving, so the meal is ready when we stop. Using it while we are already parked somewhere will be less common.

Thanks again for the link!
 
Welcome and looking forward to your trip updates and pics.
Side note: This thread should be merged with - or even the answer to - the thread "Are 100s all they're cracked up to be?"... I LOVE that you started (STARTED) with a 200,000 mile Land Cruiser for this epic journey.
 
Welcome and looking forward to your trip updates and pics.
Side note: This thread should be merged with - or even the answer to - the thread "Are 100s all they're cracked up to be?"... I LOVE that you started (STARTED) with a 200,000 mile Land Cruiser for this epic journey.

And I'm glad that I could get a vehicle such as this for such a great price (~9k)! From my perspective it's really a mathematical decision once my wife agreed the LC was acceptable from an aesthetics perspective. It's very difficult to beat the LC in terms of value for money, considering the range of "effective use" that I was able to discern seems to be anything under 400k miles. This is assuming the vehicle is taken care of and continues to be treated well, but I couldn't find anything else that comes close. It's a pretty great piece of machinery.
 
Are you using the solar to charge a single battery under the hood? If so 1x 100 watt Renogy will do it easy with a MPPT controller.

Also what 200ah battery are you planning on using as a secondary? Thats a lot of ah in a single battery to fit under the hood. I haven't looked recently but when I built mine the highest used to be 150ish until you went to two 6v.
 
Are you using the solar to charge a single battery under the hood? If so 1x 100 watt Renogy will do it easy with a MPPT controller.

Also what 200ah battery are you planning on using as a secondary? Thats a lot of ah in a single battery to fit under the hood. I haven't looked recently but when I built mine the highest used to be 150ish until you went to two 6v.

The solar is for the single battery, yes. I am planning to keep the primary battery isolated and charge it via alernator only.

As for the battery itself, I need to check again. I thought that I had seen a 200ah that would fit in the truck (I don't recall the model, need to double check), but maybe I am overestimating what would fit under the hood. Let me continue with my research and I'll post back here in a few days with an update on what I found.

Thanks much for the input!
 
Wow. What an adventure. Lifetime memories in the making!
 
Resurrecting an old thread to offer another big thanks to all the contributors on this forum. A few months ago I finally finished everything on the LC and it's been working out really well for us. Currently we've been enjoying Mexico for a couple of awesome months and are slowly continuing south.

I've documented (with pics, moderately detailed step-by-step and including as many technical specs as I could) what I did to our vehicle in two places;
- high level overview of everything: We Are Out Of The Office
- step-by-step of the drawer setup and electrical/solar stuff: We Are Out Of The Office

Thanks again to everyone for all the great info!
 
Nicely done! Any concern regarding the front diff? Some mudders have found that it will grenade under certain circumstances with little to no warning.
I haven't had any issues yet. That said, I haven't done any rock climbing or anything too severe.

I have done at least 1000 miles of s***ty dirt/gravel/rutted/muddy/non-pavement roads (with plenty of regular pavement) with lots of severe elevation changes and a few potholes I didn't avoid, though. And haven't had any issues.
 

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