The super slow build thread of my 2021 LC HE (1 Viewer)

[HSTexan]

Wanted to start a build thread as a place to chronicle it's progress more easily. This is going to be a nice and slow build, that will likely take a few years as I learn what works and what I want and what actually overlaps the two. I have ideas in mind, but who knows what will stick. This first part is going to just be background in what led up to the purchase of the LC, nothing important to the build, but I wanted to write it down somewhere.

Why a Land Cruiser and why a Heritage?
I've been driving an old 4th gen 4Runner for awhile now which is what reignited my passion to get outdoors with a special emphasis on vehicle based exploration. I intended to wait for the new 6th gen to build and enjoy for 7-10 years and then finally move to a Land Cruiser once I had "earned it." Of course then they announce the demise of the Land Cruiser here in the US, and while I fully believe it will make a return there was no idea in what capacity it would be. Just like many others here, it was enough to push me over the edge and commit to bumping up the timeline.

I had gotten connected with the GM of a local dealership who started looking for an allocation for me in late January. I was only interested in one specific specification--it had to be black, it had to be a Heritage, and it had to be optioned with the 3rd row. After a close call with another dealership in Houston I heard from my GM that port had found him an unclaimed allocation on 2/2 and we had a guaranteed LC headed my way due to arrive in late March.

I absolutely despise white cars, I'm not a huge fan of silver either. I do like grey, but prefer a much darker shade than MGM, so my only other option was black which I love. As far as the 3rd row goes, I will be the primary kid hauler when that time comes and while I don't intend to use the 3rd row often, it's extremely nice to have when family comes into town and you need to squeeze 6 people in a car to go to dinner. Lastly, as far as it goes, I'm not a big fan of chrome; the Heritage Edition's black accents and aesthetics combined with the bronze BBS wheels sold me immediately. I know it's an aesthetics package, but for a fairly minimal increase in price it exponentially improves the looks for my preference.


Delivery Day
After a few weeks of delay due to the crazy ice storm we had here I finally got to take delivery on April 6th. The 4Runner that started it all got sold a week later, I had just enough time with them together to get one final picture of them both.

How it sits right now:

 

[HSTexan]

Build Purpose
My wife and I have a goal to see every National Park we have, we've knocked out about a quarter of them so far and while I know we won't be driving to a handful of them, I want to not be limited by anything when exploring the ones we do drive to. Additionally I go on a couple extended back country hunting trips every year. We're usually deep in for 1-2 weeks using our vehicles as a basecamp. I want to be able to get as deep as possible and be self sustainable in terms of food storage, power, and fuel without the need to come back to civilization. In addition to that add random trips to Colorado/Utah/AZ, surrounding states for weekend getaways, and general exploration. I really want to keep this thing for 20-25 years so this is somewhat of a spare no expense build. Buy once, cry once is something I've adopted with my other hobbies and it pays off long term.

Plans
As of now the desired modlist is fairly lengthy--some of it will go hand in hand like the rear bumper and LRA tank at the same time, front bumper and winch at the same time, etc. My solid guess is total completion in about 5 years. Some of this will obviously change depending needs/wants and figuring out what will work and what won't

Suspension: King 2.5 valved by Filthy w/ remote reservoirs and compression adjusters; UCAs TBD (I know SPC comes highly recommended, but something about them sketches me out); long term I'd like to do the Tundra front end OEM LT swap
Armor: Bud Built Sliders, Dissent full front bumper, Slee Rear Bumper, Bud Built full aluminum skids
Vehicle: Canvasback Cargo Liners, 24gal LRA tank, Dual battery setup w/ solar, ARB Zero or Dometic Dual Zone Fridge
Cargo: Front Runner Roof Rack, Single ARB drawer, Kaon roof shelf
Camp: GFC V2 RTT, Kinsmen 270 Awning, ARB 2000 Awning w/ room (I'll explain the dual awning later)
Wheels/Tires: Spidertrax 1.25" spacers, Nitto Ridge Grapplers 275/70R18


First Round of Mods
Cargo Liners
I had a few things waiting on the LC to arrive since I knew around when it was supposed to get here. We didn't pick it up until late on the 6th, so first thing in the morning it got the full Canvasback Liner set installed. We've got an 85lb lab and a 70lb 6 month old golden retriever so protecting the cargo area was a big priority. The Canvasback liners protect from scratches and stains and make it super easy to vacuum out any dog hair. I went back and forth with them on a color of the deviated stitching as I wanted to accent the factory HE bronze stitching. In the end we settled on orange which isn't a perfect match, but it is close enough and it also happens to be one of my favorite colors

Tires
Immediately following the liners it went to get new rubber--I had KO2's on my 4Runner and really liked them, but wanted to try something new. I have always heard great things about Nitto Ridge Grapplers so I decided to give them a shot. 2K miles into them I'm absolutely thrilled with them. I opted for a taller tire rather than wider for the very best ground clearance possible. I went 275/70R18 for now, but by the time the next ones are due I'm probably going to a 285 width which should hopefully fit with little effort once lifted.

Roof Rack
Next thing up was the Front Runner rack--again, I had one on my 4Runner and loved it, but this time I didn't feel a need to deviate. I'm deep into the Front Runner ecosystem of accessories and love to be able to store my camp table under the rack rather than in the car so I kept with it and put on my Slimline right after it came home from tires. Install was a little more tedious and fitment didn't go together quite as smoothly as my previous experience, but in the end it all fit on and is tight and solid. The biggest point of headache was that the side rails had to be flexed inward just a tad at the front for the corner pieces to fit on. I also opted to try a slightly oversized fairing from Front Runner rather than the recommended one. I went with the 1345mm/1425mm which fits perfect with the dimensions of the rack and roof

Tint
Following the rack, the next step was to get it ready for the TX summers. By that I mean it got a full ceramic tint as well as a clear film on the windshield. Llumar IRX 30 was applied to the driver and passenger windows to keep it legal, IRX 15 was applied to the rears for privacy and heat reduction while maintaining visibility at night. Llumar Air 80 was applied to the windshield and it has made the most noticeable difference with no visual impairment.

Tent
On the 4Runner I had a Treeline Outdoors soft shell which served me well for just under 2 years. It was a great tent with a lot of nice features, but after having to pack it up one morning during an elk hunt at 5AM and low teen temps I was convinced to make the switch to a hardshell. I thought about going with the Bush Company Alpha because a buddy had one that I had the chance to check out in person and was blown away with the construction and thought put into it. In the end I knew I still wouldn't be able to park in the garage and it would need to come off between trips and 220lbs was too much for that. I put a GoFastCampers RTT on preorder back in November and happened to luck out that it was the new V2 updated version by the time my order was filled. Weight is 135lbs, it sits at a compact 6" thick, and is made in the USA. The tent arrived back in mid-April, but the mounting rails were delayed by a couple weeks. Combined with two trips I never got around to installing it until today on 6/10. The roof of the tent is a white honeycomb composite which lets in some light during the day. I like getting up early during camp, but my wife likes to sleep in, so we compromised and it's going off tomorrow to the get vinyl wrapped so it's darker. Unfortunately since I never opened the mounting hardware package I never realized that one of the mounting blocks they sent me didn't have the holes drilled and tapped. A bit of a bummer, but they said it would be fine to go the 3 miles to the wrap shop in the morning and they'd express one to me tomorrow.

Didn't want to bump the thread again, but picked up the tent from the vinyl shop last night. As I mentioned above, my compromise with my wife was to vinyl wrap the roof to keep it as dark as possible inside the tent. Given the theme of the outdoors I opted for a topographical map of a section of Lake Tahoe. I had family who lived near Tahoe and spent my summers going out there to visit them as a child. They are some of my best memories and I also credit the beauty of Tahoe as what sparked my love of the outdoors. I opted for OD Green and then did GFC orange for the contour lines. I know the colors are a bit out there for a lot of people, but it's exactly what I had in mind.

 

[Tex68w]

Sounds like a quality build over time, I like that idea. Like yourself I am not a fan of SPC UCA's, I'd consider TC or wait for the new billet versions from Camburg (that's what I am doing).

I am running the same size tire as yourself along with Spidertrax 1.25" wheel spacers. I like the look but it does rub some at 3/4 to full lock turn in reverse, are you experiencing the same thing? I have the factory 10mm front coil spacers going on next week so I'll see if that alleviates it some but if not I'll have to break out the heat gun and get to work on the inner liners.

I love the CanvasBack covers and the protection they provide but I wish that they fit better.

 

[HSTexan]

Sounds like a quality build over time, I like that idea. Like yourself I am not a fan of SPC UCA's, I'd consider TC or wait for the new billet versions from Camburg (that's what I am doing).

I am running the same size tire as yourself along with Spidertrax 1.25" wheel spacers. I like the look but it does rub some at 3/4 to full lock turn in reverse, are you experiencing the same thing? I have the factory 10mm front coil spacers going on next week so I'll see if that alleviates it some but if not I'll have to break out the heat gun and get to work on the inner liners.

I love the CanvasBack covers and the protection they provide but I wish that they fit better.

I haven't heard about the new billet Camburg's coming to the LC200; I heard good things about their billet Kinetik UCA's and was hoping they made some for the LC, but I didn't see them and hadn't heard about their development. I just looked on their site again and it I do see them coming soon, so that is probably the route I will go now! Glad you said something, otherwise I probably wouldn't have checked again.

I haven't actually put the wheel spacers on yet--I was planning on waiting until the lift in the hopes I wouldn't have to deal with any rub. Additionally, I really hate the blue anodizing Spidertrax does, so I've been waiting to buy through Slee once they're back in stock since they're anodized grey.

I didn't spend a ton of time fitting the 3rd row seat covers, but I thought Canvasback did a fantastic job with the fitment of the floor, tailgate, and seatback covers. Everything fits edge to edge for me with perfect coverage, my only gripe is that the velcro loop they use won't attach to the factory LC carpet so it requires you to add the velcro tape to the carpet. I have never had luck with those staying put long term.

 

[Orange Hat]

Great thread and writeup, looking forward to hearing more. I’m also in the DFW area, where did you get the tint work done?

 

[Tex68w]

I haven't heard about the new billet Camburg's coming to the LC200; I heard good things about their billet Kinetik UCA's and was hoping they made some for the LC, but I didn't see them and hadn't heard about their development. I just looked on their site again and it I do see them coming soon, so that is probably the route I will go now! Glad you said something, otherwise I probably wouldn't have checked again.

I haven't actually put the wheel spacers on yet--I was planning on waiting until the lift in the hopes I wouldn't have to deal with any rub. Additionally, I really hate the blue anodizing Spidertrax does, so I've been waiting to buy through Slee once they're back in stock since they're anodized grey.

I didn't spend a ton of time fitting the 3rd row seat covers, but I thought Canvasback did a fantastic job with the fitment of the floor, tailgate, and seatback covers. Everything fits edge to edge for me with perfect coverage, my only gripe is that the velcro loop they use won't attach to the factory LC carpet so it requires you to add the velcro tape to the carpet. I have never had luck with those staying put long term.

Yea they've been in development for half a year or more, I am hoping they drop this year but it'll be a pricey purchase for sure.

I had rubbing in reverse with the 275/70/18's both with and without the Spidertrax spacers. You can usually order the Spidertrax in black, you might want to reach out to them directly and inquire. I have been running them on our200 for four or five months now and the only time I notice the blue is when I deliberately look for it up close so I don't think that it'll be that big of an issue for you (out of sight out of mind). That said, I am not a big fan of running wheel spacers myself, it messes with the scrub radius and can be noticeable in the handling. When I get around to putting a proper lift kit on ours I'll likely go with an aftermarket wheel with a proper offset so that I can ditch the spacers, I'll likely move up to 34's at that time too.

I might have to give the Canvasback stuff a second look, it was nice when we had it in our 4Runner. If I ditch the third row seats it'll eliminate my largest gripe about fitment. Thanks for the reply!

 

[HSTexan]

Great thread and writeup, looking forward to hearing more. I’m also in the DFW area, where did you get the tint work done?

Tint was done by Pro Tint in Plano--they've done four cars for me now and it's been excellent each time. The owner is a super nice guy and drives a pretty awesome 80 series too.

 

[HSTexan]

Yea they've been in development for half a year or more, I am hoping they drop this year but it'll be a pricey purchase for sure.

I had rubbing in reverse with the 275/70/18's both with and without the Spidertrax spacers. You can usually order the Spidertrax in black, you might want to reach out to them directly and inquire. I have been running them on our200 for four or five months now and the only time I notice the blue is when I deliberately look for it up close so I don't think that it'll be that big of an issue for you (out of sight out of mind). That said, I am not a big fan of running wheel spacers myself, it messes with the scrub radius and can be noticeable in the handling. When I get around to putting a proper lift kit on ours I'll likely go with an aftermarket wheel with a proper offset so that I can ditch the spacers, I'll likely move up to 34's at that time too.

I might have to give the Canvasback stuff a second look, it was nice when we had it in our 4Runner. If I ditch the third row seats it'll eliminate my largest gripe about fitment. Thanks for the reply!

I haven't experienced any rubbing without spacers with the tires, but I know every vehicle is just a bit different. I too really dislike the idea of spacers; I'm not thrilled at the idea of running them which is part of the reason I eventually want to do the Tundra front end swap to eliminate the need for spacers up front. I'd just prefer to wait for every single warranty on the LC to expire before I go down that path. I'm too in love with the bronze BBS wheels to change them even though I know a proper offset wheel would solve my issues.

 

[Tex68w]

Hahaha, I get it with the warranty, I too am waiting on ours to expire before I get crazy with things. When we purchased I got the dealer to throw in an extra 12 months/12,000 miles to the base warranty so she's covered for 4/48 bumper to bumper now.

The spacers are fine, it's more of a mind thing for me. I've run wheel spacers on prior Tacoma's and 4Runners without issue and these have been to Florida and back from Texas this year already without issue as well. I'd like to go with more than a +18mm offset so I might consider the Tundra swap as well, lots to consider for sure.

 

[Angelo1]

Sounds like a quality build over time, I like that idea. Like yourself I am not a fan of SPC UCA's, I'd consider TC or wait for the new billet versions from Camburg (that's what I am doing).

I am running the same size tire as yourself along with Spidertrax 1.25" wheel spacers. I like the look but it does rub some at 3/4 to full lock turn in reverse, are you experiencing the same thing? I have the factory 10mm front coil spacers going on next week so I'll see if that alleviates it some but if not I'll have to break out the heat gun and get to work on the inner liners.

I love the CanvasBack covers and the protection they provide but I wish that they fit better.

How are the UCA Camburg billets any different then the ICON billet?

 

[Tex68w]

How are the UCA Camburg billets any different then the ICON billet?

Slightly larger heim joints but besides that nothing much other than not being made by Icon lol.

 

[Angelo1]

Slightly larger heim joints but besides that nothing much other than not being made by Icon lol.

Gotcha. Bigger is better. Lol

 

[Indepth]

A fellow WIS, and from what I can see on delivery day and in the driveway a Macan sneaking around as well - show us the goods!

Congrats on the HE, I'm sure you and your wife will find many miles enjoyed in the truck. Nothing quite like a LC.

 

[HSTexan]

A fellow WIS, and from what I can see on delivery day and in the driveway a Macan sneaking around as well - show us the goods!

Congrats on the HE, I'm sure you and your wife will find many miles enjoyed in the truck. Nothing quite like a LC.

My wife's is a 2020 Macan S, it's a blast to drive when you want something more small and nimble than the LC. I helped nudge her in the right direction after she looked at a few other options. Last picture is next to my introduction to Porsche--my father's 97 993 C2, which will one day make it's way into the garage next to the LC200 whenever he grows tired of it.

 

[Angelo1]

FYI- just received an email from SM Juan Ossa from Camburg and the UCA billet is ready for sale. Will be updating website to reflect with pics.

 

[Tex68w]

FYI- just received an email from SM Juan Ossa from Camburg and the UCA billet is ready for sale. Will be updating website to reflect with pics.

Well there goes $1500 lol.

 

[HSTexan]

I've been e-mailing with Ben from Filthy today trying to order my King's. They sell the regular Camburgs, I wonder if he'd be able to throw the Kinetik's in with my order. Gonna have to ask him on the next e-mail

 

[Angelo1]

I've been e-mailing with Ben from Filthy today trying to order my King's. They sell the regular Camburgs, I wonder if he'd be able to throw the Kinetik's in with my order. Gonna have to ask him on the next e-mail

I can’t see why not and since you’re going Kings, might as well go all the way with the Kintetiks.

 

[Angelo1]

Camburg Toyota Landcruiser 200 Series 08-21 KINETIK Billet Uniball Upper Control Arms

Countless hours were spent designing and refining these arms to the point where they met our high standards. CAD designing and machining gave us the ability to bring some new design elements and features to the table. We CNC machine these from aerospace quality 6061 billet aluminum, then send...

camburg.com

 

[HSTexan]

September 2021 - 5000 miles

Haven't updated in awhile, but back in September I put a DDI exhaust on to give the 3UR a little rumble. I opted for the 14x5 setup which is fairly mild and not loud at all. Now that I've been driving it for a couple months I can confidently say that there is just a bit of drone between 1500-2250, however, right after I installed it I did a ~2500 mile road trip out to Colorado and back and it was not pronounced enough that it was annoying or gave me a desire to take it off. The sound is a slight low rumble that you can hear on startup and acceleration. The sound at WOT is wonderful and I'm very happy with this setup. I will be looking to get the DDI resonator delete shortly as well since the plan for 2022/2023 includes a Slee rear bumper.

Audio best experienced with either external computer speakers or headphones. Phone audio doesn't really give an accurate representation of the deep rumble.





November 2021 - 8700 miles

Before the end of the month I placed an order with BudBuilt; next up on the list was always armor so I wanted to get in before the price increase on Dec 1. Sometime in late Jan/early Feb I should be receiving a nice care package including my sliders with kickouts and full aluminum skids (with the exception of the rear shock guards in stainless). I don't do any crazy rock crawling and really wanted to keep weight down while providing a bit of "oopsie" insurance which is why I opted for aluminum. Sliders will be finished in their textured black and all of the underbody armor will be raw.


December 2021 - 9100 miles

Suspension was ordered back in mid-June through Filthy; I was assigned to a stocking batch order they had placed in early February. We are now 10 months since the order was placed with King and almost 6 months to the day after I placed my personal order. I spoke with Ben at length about finding the perfect setup for my wants and needs and he was very adamant not to do a uniball UCA on a daily driver. Despite my original plan of doing the Camburg Kinetik UCAs he eventually swayed me into going with the boring but proven SPCs. The day before I dropped it off I ended up finding a local seller who had a brand new ARB diff breather kit for basically free. I grabbed it and had them throw it on the rear diff while they had it my vehicle in for the suspension. They did a very clean install electing to use nutserts for the manifold rather than the provided self tapping screws--I can't say it's something I would have thought to do myself and am very happy with the result.

After install I've now found two new issues that I'll need to correct. The first is that I have a very, very slight rub on the fender liners at full lock. I will need to heat gun and massage the rear of the liner and either remove or heat gun the front small flap. More importantly I've discovered that I am now too tall to fit in my garage with the setup as I have it. The mounting crossbars for my GFC RTT that I leave permanently on my Front Runner rack make contact with a wood trim piece around my garage door opening. After removing the crossbars I am just short enough that I can clear the wood, but do contact the rubber trim right below it. I'm sure once the rear settles it will be less of an issue, but there is no guarantee that once I eventually put a rear bumper and LRA tank in the future that the stiffer coils I'll have to run won't make it slightly higher again.

I have absolutely loved my Front Runner rack and all of the accessories, but I believe it will need to shift to something more low profile. I have been exploring a couple options and right now my top two are a Gamiviti tower setup and directly bolt my GFC bars to those. The other is the Eezi-Awn K9 load bar setup which would also allow me to mount my GFC bars straight onto the Eezi-Awn towers, but once the tracks are mounted in the gutter channels I could remove the towers entirely and run a smooth top. I'm slightly leaning toward this setup right now as the majority of my driving would be without the rack and I'd love to get a couple MPGs back.


Setup is:

-King 2.5 w/ adjusters (valved by Filthy)
-Dobinsons C59-559V Rear Coils
-SPC UCAs
-Dobinsons Adjustable Rear Panhard Bar
-Slee/Spidertrax 1.25" Wheel Spacers
-275/70R18 Ridge Grapplers


Before:

After:

December 2021 - 9450 miles

The lift presented me with a new problem--I could barely fit into the garage. I had to completely remove my GFC RTT crossbars which had previously been living permanently on my rack. With the crossbars on I made contact with the wood trim around my garage door; with the crossbars off I still made contact with the rubber "flap" trim across the top of my garage door as well. I had already been contemplating another setup to get my RTT lower to the roofline. The Front Runner racks are tall enough as is and once you add a tent mount, mounting crossbars, and then the tent itself I was somewhere in the neighborhood of my cargo sitting 12-14" over my roofline.

I went back and forth on two setups, the Eezi-Awn K9 system and a "custom" Gamiviti system utilizing his towers and the GFC crossbars. In the end I decided on the K9 setup for a few reasons.

1. Once the rails are mounted I can run it without any mounting feet for a slick top look. Given this is 90% of my use, it will allow me to hopefully recover just a little MPG while also reducing day to day wind noise

2. The K9 system has a lot of accessories, similar to my Front Runner setup which was one of my favorite aspects

3. I can still utilize a "custom" setup where I mount my GFC crossbars straight to the K9 towers. Additionally, the towers come in a variety of heights so I can get the lowest possible profile.

Placed an order through Equipt1 for their 200 series load bar setup as well as some additional mounting feet to use with my GFC bars. The current height towers are really optimized for the rack tray, so I'll probably either swap out 6 of them or buy 6 additional dedicated feet of the 40mm low height to use strictly with my GFC crossbars. I've now gone from making contact with my garage opening to ~6" of clearance I'll miss my Front Runner rack and accessories, but I'm excited to try this out and can't wait to get the tent up there again to see how much lower it sits.

This swap completely changes the look as well--the Front Runner is big and bold and obvious, the K9 is subtle with a slightly retro vibe akin to a rackless 80 series.