Let me start by stating that I took my HJ61 with a CDNM101 in tow and we went about 5500Km. It was with my new wife Jen and I on our honeymoon. I learned a few things about the truck that where both good and bad. And found out what I would like to change for next time.
An auto SOA 60 series on 38's with A/C and an MP3 player is a great rig to travel in. I have upgraded the axles and tranny but everything else is relatively stock. (well, it's mostly Toyota) But we did run into a few issues. The first being the clutch fan on my rig is week. It will keep up to about 100* F temps, anything past that and it starts to slip and can't keep up, causing the truck to warm up (we never got over 210* F) but that's warmer then I would have like it. Also the bilstien shocks got extremely hot in the front end causing a few "bouncy" monents on some bad highways we traveled.
A bed in the back of 60 is GREAT. We really enjoyed this option and used it for the majority of our travels. I built the bed and drawers myself and they worked as expected. The ability to access the drawers from the front of the truck was a great design feature. I did screw up though. I made the bed as low as possible to maximize headroom, in doing this I was an inch short on hieght for a standard cooler to fit under the front section of the bed. Not a big deal, but I would lose the headroom next time. Also, for us I found a small 2 step stool that was great for getting in and out of the truck at night.
In the drawer system we carried all of our tools, parts, etc on one side and all our kitchen gear on the other. I made the back ten inched of the bed lift up on hinges so the you can have access to part of the drawers with the tailgate closed. The drawers are also fully removable with handles on both ends. This was handy for when we did set up our kitchen tent as we could haul everything at once. The drawers also slide forward and are accessable from the front of the truck. They worked great.
A third battery is a MUST. (or a second if your truck is only 12V) I have a 24V-12V solar converter going to a charge monitor connected to a blue top optima. It never let us down and was great to have. We bought a 12V light, fan and coffe maker. I also invested in a 1000W inverter that is connected via forklift quick disconnects for easy removal. It worked great and runs anything you want. We used it for the computer, charging batteries and my grinder.
A small cooler in the truck was sufficient for packing lunches and keeping our drinks cool for the day. I did end up moving the front support for the bed towards the rear to offer more space behind the seats. This was great for storing items that you want access to while moving. A flip up lid to under the bed may be an option as well. I would like to find a small plug in cooler for inside.
I was sceptical on towing the trailer for that distance but it turned out to be just fine. It pulled nice, is easy to wheel around by hand and the convience of it out weighs any downfalls IMO. I have a standard CDN M101 military trailer that I did a SOA to and have it on TLC hubs running a 9.00R16 tire. This allows me to only have to carry one spare tire and one set of hub bearings. We kept bigger parts and tools along with oils, tarps, chairs, tents and our cooler in the trailer.
SOA trailers on 36" tires NEED a tailgate. It's that simple. Rifling stuff up an over the top edge of the trailer got old really quickly. A hard top is essential for security. I only had the original canvas cover. The cooler should go outside the trailer in it's own alluminum box. Buy an Engel/ARB and have it with it's own batteries. Packing ice SUCKS. For myself, I am going to build a two battery box and cooler box on the front tongue of the trailer that is charged by the altenator (it's a 24V truck) This does two things for me. Allows the Engel to run on 24V and consume half the amperage and allows me to have a seperate set of batteries for my on board welder. To balance the wieght I am going to mount the spare tire on a swing out at the rear of the trailer.
All in all I was really pleased with the performance of the rig. It performed as I would have expected from any Land Cruiser out there!!
An auto SOA 60 series on 38's with A/C and an MP3 player is a great rig to travel in. I have upgraded the axles and tranny but everything else is relatively stock. (well, it's mostly Toyota) But we did run into a few issues. The first being the clutch fan on my rig is week. It will keep up to about 100* F temps, anything past that and it starts to slip and can't keep up, causing the truck to warm up (we never got over 210* F) but that's warmer then I would have like it. Also the bilstien shocks got extremely hot in the front end causing a few "bouncy" monents on some bad highways we traveled.
A bed in the back of 60 is GREAT. We really enjoyed this option and used it for the majority of our travels. I built the bed and drawers myself and they worked as expected. The ability to access the drawers from the front of the truck was a great design feature. I did screw up though. I made the bed as low as possible to maximize headroom, in doing this I was an inch short on hieght for a standard cooler to fit under the front section of the bed. Not a big deal, but I would lose the headroom next time. Also, for us I found a small 2 step stool that was great for getting in and out of the truck at night.
In the drawer system we carried all of our tools, parts, etc on one side and all our kitchen gear on the other. I made the back ten inched of the bed lift up on hinges so the you can have access to part of the drawers with the tailgate closed. The drawers are also fully removable with handles on both ends. This was handy for when we did set up our kitchen tent as we could haul everything at once. The drawers also slide forward and are accessable from the front of the truck. They worked great.
A third battery is a MUST. (or a second if your truck is only 12V) I have a 24V-12V solar converter going to a charge monitor connected to a blue top optima. It never let us down and was great to have. We bought a 12V light, fan and coffe maker. I also invested in a 1000W inverter that is connected via forklift quick disconnects for easy removal. It worked great and runs anything you want. We used it for the computer, charging batteries and my grinder.
A small cooler in the truck was sufficient for packing lunches and keeping our drinks cool for the day. I did end up moving the front support for the bed towards the rear to offer more space behind the seats. This was great for storing items that you want access to while moving. A flip up lid to under the bed may be an option as well. I would like to find a small plug in cooler for inside.
I was sceptical on towing the trailer for that distance but it turned out to be just fine. It pulled nice, is easy to wheel around by hand and the convience of it out weighs any downfalls IMO. I have a standard CDN M101 military trailer that I did a SOA to and have it on TLC hubs running a 9.00R16 tire. This allows me to only have to carry one spare tire and one set of hub bearings. We kept bigger parts and tools along with oils, tarps, chairs, tents and our cooler in the trailer.
SOA trailers on 36" tires NEED a tailgate. It's that simple. Rifling stuff up an over the top edge of the trailer got old really quickly. A hard top is essential for security. I only had the original canvas cover. The cooler should go outside the trailer in it's own alluminum box. Buy an Engel/ARB and have it with it's own batteries. Packing ice SUCKS. For myself, I am going to build a two battery box and cooler box on the front tongue of the trailer that is charged by the altenator (it's a 24V truck) This does two things for me. Allows the Engel to run on 24V and consume half the amperage and allows me to have a seperate set of batteries for my on board welder. To balance the wieght I am going to mount the spare tire on a swing out at the rear of the trailer.
All in all I was really pleased with the performance of the rig. It performed as I would have expected from any Land Cruiser out there!!
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