very impressive
Build Romer's 200 Build Thread
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- #282
I forgot to mention before I went to Silverton, I converted my Warn M12 to Synthetic using 7/16" Amstell Blue winch line with a Factor 55 Ultimate Tow hook
Photo on top of Hurricane pass
I also went through my Recovery kit and updated it adding Soft Shackles, a new Snatch Block and an Xlock along with a 7/16" 25 foot Winch extension. My kit now includes:
I also moved my ARB Jack from inside to outside using the Slee Bracket for their bumper
Photo on top of Hurricane pass
I also went through my Recovery kit and updated it adding Soft Shackles, a new Snatch Block and an Xlock along with a 7/16" 25 foot Winch extension. My kit now includes:
- ARB ARB710LB 3-1/4" x 30' Recovery Snatch Strap Minimum Breaking Strength 24000 lbs Kinetic Stretch 20% With Reinforced Eyes and Protector Sleeves
- ASR Tree Saver (2-ply, 3" x 10') 46,500 lb MTS
- 2 Max Trax Boards
- ARB Hydrolic Jack
- Warn M12 winch with 88 ft Synthetic AMSteel Bluee 7/16" Line
- 4 Hard shackles, Two of them are ARB and the other two were highly rated when I bought them.
- 2 Safe-Xtract Soft Shackles - SX-20000E 7/16x 10"
- Safe Xtract SX-20000G Pulley Block (Snatch Block) – Vehicle Recovery Hardware – Up to 20,000 lbs. VERY Expensive but after talking to them I was sold. I really appreciate it as a engineer. Quality product that will be passed down generations
- Safe-Xtract X-LOCK SX-20000H – Vehicle Recovery Hardware – Up to 20,000 lbs
- 25ft AMSteel Blue 7/16" Winch Extension
I also moved my ARB Jack from inside to outside using the Slee Bracket for their bumper
Nice. I’ve eliminated all metal components except for a coupe bow shackles I carry to attach to other truckers that may not have soft shackle friendly recovery points. My winch line doesn’t even have a metal eye. It’s designed like a soft shackle and I just put a soft shackle through it to attach to my anchor or other vehicle.I forgot to mention before I went to Silverton, I converted my Warn M12 to Synthetic using 7/16" Amstell Blue winch line with a Factor 55 Ultimate Tow hook
Photo on top of Hurricane pass
View attachment 3957825
View attachment 3957831
I also went through my Recovery kit and updated it adding Soft Shackles, a new Snatch Block and an Xlock along with a 7/16" 25 foot Winch extension. My kit now includes:
I bought a bag from ATC to carry some of the gear
- ARB ARB710LB 3-1/4" x 30' Recovery Snatch Strap Minimum Breaking Strength 24000 lbs Kinetic Stretch 20% With Reinforced Eyes and Protector Sleeves
- ASR Tree Saver (2-ply, 3" x 10') 46,500 lb MTS
- 2 Max Trax Boards
- ARB Hydrolic Jack
- Warn M12 winch with 88 ft Synthetic AMSteel Bluee 7/16" Line
- 4 Hard shackles, Two of them are ARB and the other two were highly rated when I bought them.
- 2 Safe-Xtract Soft Shackles - SX-20000E 7/16x 10"
- Safe Xtract SX-20000G Pulley Block (Snatch Block) – Vehicle Recovery Hardware – Up to 20,000 lbs. VERY Expensive but after talking to them I was sold. I really appreciate it as a engineer. Quality product that will be passed down generations
- Safe-Xtract X-LOCK SX-20000H – Vehicle Recovery Hardware – Up to 20,000 lbs
- 25ft AMSteel Blue 7/16" Winch Extension
View attachment 3957833View attachment 3957834
I also moved my ARB Jack from inside to outside using the Slee Bracket for their bumper
View attachment 3957835
How do you like the ARB jack? I hate my high lift. I’ve had almost fall once and the one time I’ve actually changed a tire on a trail with it, it slipped while lowering and put a nice dent in the quarter panel. I’d like to carry my Harbor freight “off road jack” but it’s too big and heavy.
Bushranger X-Jack - once you have used it, you'll wonder why you never used one before:
Requires very little air pressure to lift a whole side of the LC - and don't fret about using exhaust gas, you can also inflate it with a portable air pump.
HTH
- Thread starter
- #285
I really like the ARB Jack. It is safer and easier to use than a highlift. A freind reminded me you can use the Hi-lift for lots of other functions, none of which I have done so I don't feel I am missing anything. I have had it 5 years and still works great
For the Tacoma I bought a similar unit from Mojab off road after talking to the owner. I have only tested it in my garage, but seems comparable to the ARB in function and even quality and for a lot less $$. Time will tell though
- Thread starter
- #286
I had one and didnt like it. Sold it after using it once. Don't remember specifically what I didnt like about it, just that I didnt. It was about 15 years ago
I’ve seen these and forgot all about them. Looks like a great idea as long as they are durable and don’t puncture.
The use case I think these would work well in is flat repair on a an incline rocky trail where any jack could be sketchy. Or maybe deep sand.
Not only flat repair, but recovery on loose/irregular surfaces is also aided by the X-Jack. Even in snow.
For those of us without side rails or custom bumpers, the X-Jack is really helpful. It's also light and relatively compact - fits easily in my Kaon roof shelf.
Gear is always a personal choice, so I'm not trying to convince anyone of anything, just pointing out an option I have found very helpful for my use case.
HTH
I'm looking to go the same route on my 2017, what tire size did you go with on the 18s rims?
- Thread starter
- #292
275 70 R18
- Thread starter
- #293
I was feeling my 200 was getting dated. I bought a 4th gen Tacoma to get something more modern. It is comfortable and a great truck on 4 coil springs which is what really attracted me to it. The technology is modern but a lot of it requires paid subscriptions. Navigation went away after a year. Plus you can’t load apps you want to use like Gaia. Thankfully there is Android Auto in the Taco which really eliminates the need for navigation app subscriptions in the Taco. I really hate Toyota is charging for this.
I had a 2019 version of the Android Tesla head unit in my 200. Worked great for 6 years. My topo maps worked great. When I was close to wifi, I could surf the internet. It was short on internal memory so I wasn’t able to load tons of maps. It didn’t have Android Auto capability and I was unable to use my phone as a hot sport for wifi. I know a few found a way to make that work.
Like I said, I was feeling the 200 was getting dated even with the Android unit. I was looking at the Lc250, GX550 and frankly don’t feel those are built as well as the 200. That was intentional as they are for a different market. The LC300/LX700h is the real next gen replacement for the 200. The LX700h has a few more bells and whistles than the 200 in off road capability. The turn assist works better and is quieter. The Camera systems is awesome and I have the same setup in my Taco and really like it. The 360 deg birds eye view is awesome. I don’t really use the Turn assist in my 200, maybe because I am an old guy. I like to drive with 4WD, Atrac and lockers when needed.
The new generation 250/550/700 have the newer info systems similar to my Tacoma. Man, I was really looking at the LX700’s at Silverthorne this summer at Cruiser on the Rocks. Really nice vehicles for $118K. Not thrilled about the subscription services and only so much you can do with Android Auto. Gaia running native on the Android has better capabilities than running it through your phone on Android Auto.
I saw in some posts that a newer version of the Android unit was out. Not really thrilled with Phoenix Automotive due to the inability to answer simple questions on the capability of their units. EC Offroad where I bought my previous unit was an option, but they hadn’t really updated their technical info on the new units and it looked like it was one step back from the latest version Phoenix was selling. Then I found Vhedia in Perth Australia selling the unit for less than EC Offroad, but a lot more than Phoenix. In 2019 I went with EC for more $$ because I wanted a company that knew Land Cruisers and would provide support when I needed it. The Vhedia site had all kinds of how to videos, technical blogs, troubleshooting guides etc on their site. Likely all the same units, but I was willing to pay more for the knowledge and support since I planned on using this a long time.
As I posted a few spots previous to this, I bought the Unit and had it within a week from shipping even having to pay the tariff.
Android Auto works awesome. It also has Carplay, but have no idea how that works. It has a lot more memory so I can load all the maps I want. It can use my phone as a hot spot to use the native android apps while driving. The OBD app works great. I had bever tried it on the old unit and heard they worked there as well. I can have multiple windows open on the screen. I can run a local map program (Magic Earth) for city navigation or switch to Android Auto for Google maps or Wazee. I can run those on the main unit using my phone as a hot spot as well. I can load and run any Android apps so that provides lots of choices. It is a big step from my 2019 unit and I no longer feel it is dated. I have stopped jonesing for the LX700h. Frankly, I think my head unit has more capabilities than the newer Toyotas and without subscriptions. It doesn’t have the ability to remote start or unlock, but I can customize a lot of features. The only thing I wish it had was better cameras and the 360 birds eye view. I believe the SW on the unit has that option if I add the right cameras.
Vhedia has been great with quick response considering the time change. We have been troubleshooting a minor issue the last few months and they have been very supportive. At least as well as they can be since the factory and design team is in China. They do get answers to my questions and they even had the factory send me out a new harness to help resolve the issue I had. I believe I got one of the first newer versions so it has been a learning experience for all of us.
It took me a while to see I had an issue since I normally ride alone. Wheen ever I had a passenger ride with me the air bag light would come on the dash. No issue without the passenger
We did find their instruction sheet was wrong on connecting two connectors. I had it connected correctly. I did figure out if I disconnected one connector, the issue would go away, but the passenger light would not come on either. That is why the sent me the harnesses thinking there was an issue there. Even with this issue, this unit has been a huge upgrade.
Turns out that wasn’t the issue (replacemeent haarnesses) so I made my own mini cable where I could connect/disconnect each of the 4 wires in the connection I had isolated the issue to. I found 1 wire if disconnected would remove the issue and everything else would work. Maybe the factory would have eventually found that, but I wanted to get this resolved. They always responded within 1 business day after I tried something and they were there for me even though I used my Electronic Engineering skills to isolate and eliminate the problem.
Now it all works as it should and I couldn’t be happier with this unit
Here is the connector from the install manual that was incorrect. It showed connecting a 4 pin to a 2 pin and I questioned that and they agreed that was incorrect and it should go 4-pin to 4-pin per the arrow
I also found by disconnecting the first wire in that 4-pin, my issue went away. Maybe this is an issue only with my unit, but posting here in case anyone else runs into the same problem. I would clip the wire far enough back that you can resplice it if need be as I forgot to take a photo if it is the Purple wire or the green wire. 80% sure it is the Purple one.
I had installed this mini harness which has different colors I made from the old harnesses from my 2019 unit. It is still in there while I drive around for a bit to make sure no issues and wait to hear what the factory has to say
I really love this unit and my 200 doesn't feel dated anymore
I had a 2019 version of the Android Tesla head unit in my 200. Worked great for 6 years. My topo maps worked great. When I was close to wifi, I could surf the internet. It was short on internal memory so I wasn’t able to load tons of maps. It didn’t have Android Auto capability and I was unable to use my phone as a hot sport for wifi. I know a few found a way to make that work.
Like I said, I was feeling the 200 was getting dated even with the Android unit. I was looking at the Lc250, GX550 and frankly don’t feel those are built as well as the 200. That was intentional as they are for a different market. The LC300/LX700h is the real next gen replacement for the 200. The LX700h has a few more bells and whistles than the 200 in off road capability. The turn assist works better and is quieter. The Camera systems is awesome and I have the same setup in my Taco and really like it. The 360 deg birds eye view is awesome. I don’t really use the Turn assist in my 200, maybe because I am an old guy. I like to drive with 4WD, Atrac and lockers when needed.
The new generation 250/550/700 have the newer info systems similar to my Tacoma. Man, I was really looking at the LX700’s at Silverthorne this summer at Cruiser on the Rocks. Really nice vehicles for $118K. Not thrilled about the subscription services and only so much you can do with Android Auto. Gaia running native on the Android has better capabilities than running it through your phone on Android Auto.
I saw in some posts that a newer version of the Android unit was out. Not really thrilled with Phoenix Automotive due to the inability to answer simple questions on the capability of their units. EC Offroad where I bought my previous unit was an option, but they hadn’t really updated their technical info on the new units and it looked like it was one step back from the latest version Phoenix was selling. Then I found Vhedia in Perth Australia selling the unit for less than EC Offroad, but a lot more than Phoenix. In 2019 I went with EC for more $$ because I wanted a company that knew Land Cruisers and would provide support when I needed it. The Vhedia site had all kinds of how to videos, technical blogs, troubleshooting guides etc on their site. Likely all the same units, but I was willing to pay more for the knowledge and support since I planned on using this a long time.
As I posted a few spots previous to this, I bought the Unit and had it within a week from shipping even having to pay the tariff.
Android Auto works awesome. It also has Carplay, but have no idea how that works. It has a lot more memory so I can load all the maps I want. It can use my phone as a hot spot to use the native android apps while driving. The OBD app works great. I had bever tried it on the old unit and heard they worked there as well. I can have multiple windows open on the screen. I can run a local map program (Magic Earth) for city navigation or switch to Android Auto for Google maps or Wazee. I can run those on the main unit using my phone as a hot spot as well. I can load and run any Android apps so that provides lots of choices. It is a big step from my 2019 unit and I no longer feel it is dated. I have stopped jonesing for the LX700h. Frankly, I think my head unit has more capabilities than the newer Toyotas and without subscriptions. It doesn’t have the ability to remote start or unlock, but I can customize a lot of features. The only thing I wish it had was better cameras and the 360 birds eye view. I believe the SW on the unit has that option if I add the right cameras.
Vhedia has been great with quick response considering the time change. We have been troubleshooting a minor issue the last few months and they have been very supportive. At least as well as they can be since the factory and design team is in China. They do get answers to my questions and they even had the factory send me out a new harness to help resolve the issue I had. I believe I got one of the first newer versions so it has been a learning experience for all of us.
It took me a while to see I had an issue since I normally ride alone. Wheen ever I had a passenger ride with me the air bag light would come on the dash. No issue without the passenger
We did find their instruction sheet was wrong on connecting two connectors. I had it connected correctly. I did figure out if I disconnected one connector, the issue would go away, but the passenger light would not come on either. That is why the sent me the harnesses thinking there was an issue there. Even with this issue, this unit has been a huge upgrade.
Turns out that wasn’t the issue (replacemeent haarnesses) so I made my own mini cable where I could connect/disconnect each of the 4 wires in the connection I had isolated the issue to. I found 1 wire if disconnected would remove the issue and everything else would work. Maybe the factory would have eventually found that, but I wanted to get this resolved. They always responded within 1 business day after I tried something and they were there for me even though I used my Electronic Engineering skills to isolate and eliminate the problem.
Now it all works as it should and I couldn’t be happier with this unit
Here is the connector from the install manual that was incorrect. It showed connecting a 4 pin to a 2 pin and I questioned that and they agreed that was incorrect and it should go 4-pin to 4-pin per the arrow
I also found by disconnecting the first wire in that 4-pin, my issue went away. Maybe this is an issue only with my unit, but posting here in case anyone else runs into the same problem. I would clip the wire far enough back that you can resplice it if need be as I forgot to take a photo if it is the Purple wire or the green wire. 80% sure it is the Purple one.
I had installed this mini harness which has different colors I made from the old harnesses from my 2019 unit. It is still in there while I drive around for a bit to make sure no issues and wait to hear what the factory has to say
I really love this unit and my 200 doesn't feel dated anymore
Last edited:
- Thread starter
- #294
After the most recent trip to Moab pulling the trailer, I checked the brakes. The rears were down pretty low. The fronts likely could have gone another year
I replaced them with the DBA Pads and DBA T-Slot rotors. The Rotors looked great and could have gone through another set of pads. I went ahead and replaced them since I had them. I made a note to only do Pads next time.
I had purchased parts to redo my Emergency/Parking brake. They looked good so I left them alone
I put the rear axle up on jack stands and adjusted the e-brake. That adjustement wheel is really hard to see with a flash light. Finding it took longer than adjusting it.
I tightened until the wheels were locked and then backed off a few clicks. Did it a few times until I thought it was the right spot.
The ebrake was still loose on the test drive (was loose before) and the truck would move in Drive very slowly without gas
I pulled the cup holder out and using a 12mm I adjusted the cable until I could engage it and it would hold in D, R or N even at a slight angle. I saw some confused posts were some claimed it should hold at 1200rpm. I don't think that is true with an Automatic and plenty of others said hold with no gas.
The Vhedia Head Unit is working awesome and I updated that thread
I did use it to monitor Tranny temps going over MTN passes (Eisenhower and Vail) towing and was surpirised how cool the Tranny was throughout. The engine oil temp climbed a bit engine braking down, but still in OK levels. Note, when towing I take it out of D and leave it in 5th or 6th unless engine braking. My Kimberley Karavan was about 4400 pounds during this and I was maintaining 60 mph
The hardest on the engine was Eisenhower Pass eastbound going up.
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we knew you were old Ken but c'mon... Bonnie Raitt?
hey curious if your OBD display shows when the torque converter is locked/unlocked? I got the OBD Fusion setup from @linuxgod that has this, was really eye opening to see the correlation between a locked torque converter and temperatures... granted it only can lock up in 4, 5, and 6, not in 3rd approaching the tunnel.
hey curious if your OBD display shows when the torque converter is locked/unlocked? I got the OBD Fusion setup from @linuxgod that has this, was really eye opening to see the correlation between a locked torque converter and temperatures... granted it only can lock up in 4, 5, and 6, not in 3rd approaching the tunnel.
- Thread starter
- #297
Road testedwe knew you were old Ken but c'mon... Bonnie Raitt?
hey curious if your OBD display shows when the torque converter is locked/unlocked? I got the OBD Fusion setup from @linuxgod that has this, was really eye opening to see the correlation between a locked torque converter and temperatures... granted it only can lock up in 4, 5, and 6, not in 3rd approaching the tunnel.
Not sure yet on the torque converter, but now that you ask I will research how to do that and what it means
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I'm sure it's all in Geoff's towing thread. Towing with a 200-series Toyota Land Cruiser - https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/towing-with-a-200-series-toyota-land-cruiser.932343/
- Thread starter
- #299
That and a google search
watched a few videosI was not monitoring it. I can see how it would improve temps and Fuel economy, but wasn't on my dash board. What you see in my picture is what I have displayed. I was more concerned about monitoring items that show I have a problem before I get to a serious issue.
It does some like good information to add. This is Geoff's dashboard he shared. It isn't obvious to me which data output it is or maybe it isn't on here
Bonnie Rait was/is/and will continue to be bad-azz.