The Boba Fett Build (1 Viewer)

[samirlrhoul]

Hello everyone !

My wife and I have overlanded in Autralia, New-Zealand, Morocco, Europe and Iceland. Now we are in Canada and hope to travel all over America. Until now, we've use mainly stock vehicles (LC 120, Defender 90, 110) with light mods. Now we want a serious build ! Our base vehicle will be a 2012 GX460. Land Cruiser are hard to find in Canada and borders are closed. Most of the work will be done by a professionnal here in Montreal. The full build will probably take a year or two and I will document it as much as possible, here on the forum.

The first step will be to install a RTT, simply so we can enjoy the summer before hibernation !

Here is my first question for you guys : the tent, we already have it but we need a rack to support it. The tent is a 4 season Treeline Ponderosa Constellation for 3 to 4 personnes. It weighs 172 lb and we might want to add some lights. What are the solutions that can handle that weight ? According to the Rhino-Rack Pioneer documentation, it won't handle that weight offroad. SSO might be the way to go, but that means no summer overland ...

Thanks +++

Samir

PS : The name comes from the color scheme of the tent. We might keep that for the rest of vehicle. It's pending ...

 

[Washingtontaco]

Welcome! Sounds like you have a bit of experience.

For roof racks I like Front Runner, a bit expensive but capable of handling a heavy load and available now. I've used them on two builds and find the quality and durability excellent.

My current build.

My past build.

 

[GreenbowCounty]

Congratulations on the purchase and welcome to the club!

 

[Jacket]

Since most roof rack systems on modern platforms integrate into the existing roof channel mounts, your heavy RTT might be at risk for the undersized OEM mounts. Conversely on a gutter mount system, you can add more towers to help support and distribute the load on the rack, but I don't think you've got that option with the GX.

If there are just two of you traveling, maybe look for a smaller, lighter RTT?

@nakman over at Gamiviti may be able to provide some advice. He can build you a custom rack to suit your needs if you like (i.e., more support for the heavy RTT), and may know of a way to get more support for the weight on the overall platform.

 

[samirlrhoul]

Welcome! Sounds like you have a bit of experience.

For roof racks I like Front Runner, a bit expensive but capable of handling a heavy load and available now. I've used them on two builds and find the quality and durability excellent.

My current build.

View attachment 2380976
My past build.

View attachment 2380977

Thanks ! You seem to have some experience too ! Nice rigs ! I am looking at the Front Runner Slimline 2 and how to get one here in Canada

 

[samirlrhoul]

Congratulations on the purchase and welcome to the club!

Thank you !

 

[samirlrhoul]

Since most roof rack systems on modern platforms integrate into the existing roof channel mounts, your heavy RTT might be at risk for the undersized OEM mounts. Conversely on a gutter mount system, you can add more towers to help support and distribute the load on the rack, but I don't think you've got that option with the GX.

If there are just two of you traveling, maybe look for a smaller, lighter RTT?

@nakman over at Gamiviti may be able to provide some advice. He can build you a custom rack to suit your needs if you like (i.e., more support for the heavy RTT), and may know of a way to get more support for the weight on the overall platform.

Because we are not two anymore

 

[r2m]

HOLY COW!! That's a lot of overlanding! I'm envious!
Agree with Jacket! If you go to my build, at post #4, you'll see the specs on my rack: Builds - R2M 2013 GX460 Overland Build
I have a iKamper 4 person RTT (160 lbs), proximity lights on both left and right side, and a front LED light bar. Albeit, I did make the front clear fairing myself. But that was easy and I have templates I can send you if you go that route.
Personally I like the Safari look of round tubing that Gamiviti uses, but many like the straight lines of the other racks.

 

[Acrad]

I notice that looks like an Ultra Premium model with the 4 way cameras (additional on driver door).

Does it also have the cool box?

Are you going to swap out the adjustable suspension and rear airbags?

 

[samirlrhoul]

HOLY COW!! That's a lot of overlanding! I'm envious!
Agree with Jacket! If you go to my build, at post #4, you'll see the specs on my rack: Builds - R2M 2013 GX460 Overland Build
I have a iKamper 4 person RTT (160 lbs), proximity lights on both left and right side, and a front LED light bar. Albeit, I did make the front clear fairing myself. But that was easy and I have templates I can send you if you go that route.
Personally I like the Safari look of round tubing that Gamiviti uses, but many like the straight lines of the other racks.

And I love your build and the roof rack looks great ! I did actually looked at it several times before posting. Would you be Ok if during the build, I contacted you for some information ?

 

[samirlrhoul]

I notice that looks like an Ultra Premium model with the 4 way cameras (additional on driver door).

Does it also have the cool box?

Are you going to swap out the adjustable suspension and rear airbags?

Yes, it's a Ultra Premium with the 4 cameras and the cool box. The cool box works great but it's a bit small.

The rear air suspension will probably go as I don't see the use. The adjustable suspension and KDSS will too depending on the suspension we choose. I don't want those to fail at the wrong moment ...

 

[r2m]

And I love your build and the roof rack looks great ! I did actually looked at it several times before posting. Would you be Ok if during the build, I contacted you for some information ?

Just PM me. I usually can reply pretty quickly. And regarding the suspension, Yea, the air suspension will have to go, but there shouldn't be a problem keeping the KDSS. I've never had a problem with it, but there are posts that say otherwise, but it's usually just about how to level. Never seen anything about it going out and leaving one stuck. I don't think that's possible.