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Essential Additions for Your Land Cruiser
Essential Additions for Your Land Cruiser
So maybe you’re just bought yourself a new stock as a rock Land Cruiser. Or you’re slowly building up your existing vehicle to become the perfect overlander, and you’re wondering: “What additions are essential and what aren’t? Keep reading and find out 7 essential additions for your Land Cruiser.
We should probably just state that these are our views, and they are completely subjective, and it’s quite possible that you may share a different opinion. Either way, let us know if you agree or disagree in the comments below.
1. Tyres
Tyres are perhaps the most essential addition you can make to your Land Cruiser, let alone any overlanding vehicle. The tyres you have on your vehicle can make or break your trip, depending on what you’re planning on doing. Obviously, no one is looking to break their trip, and therefore upgrading your tyres is a must. Quality off-road tyes that are suited for overlanding will do a few things. They will provide better traction through most of the terrain you are planning on visiting, be it sand, mud, or snow. If you know you are going to be doing a lot of driving on a particular type of surface, you can match your tyres a bit more appropriately to the terrain. If you’re not sure, then stick to a standard all-terrain tyre. All-terrains are designed to handle pretty much anything you can throw at them, and we’re particular fans of the BFG’s.
They’re designed with stronger sidewalls and shoulder sections, so deflating your tyre to get a bit more traction in certain situations isn’t a problem. Because of their more robust design, durability goes up, and you’ll be less prone to getting a flat out in the middle of the bundus.
For more on tyres, read how to choose the right tyres for your Land Cruiser.
2. Recovery Gear
A solid arsenal of recovery gear is really going to save your bacon time and again. As far as additions to your Land Cruiser go its not the most exciting, but believe us, this will pay for itself over and over. So it really makes sense to invest in some solid recovery gear early on in your 4×4 career. Below are some of the items that should make up your recovery gear arsenal:
- Spade with pointy end
- An air compressor
The reason this is added in with recovery gear is because when you are driving along and the ground is soft, you are going to have to let down your tyres, or you will get stuck. Consider this preemptive recovery or recovery before you get stuck. The problem is with many of us is that we suffer from laziness. We think, “Naa, it will be fine, I’ll keep my tyres a bit hard”. But we need to avoid this way of thinking, and just let the tyres down. Firstly to prevent us getting stuck, and secondly to prevent our wheels digging holes in the beautiful environment that we ourselves are trying to enjoy.
The thing you want to look at when buying a compressor is maximum airflow. Our bit of advice here is to spend a little extra. If you’re just starting out overlanding, and you enjoy it, you will need something that will last. So then why spend the money again buying a better compressor? Just buy a decent one the first time around. So get one that will do the job even for a larger tyre.
Something with a minimum flow rate of 50L/Min (above 100L/Min would be ideal). The catch here is to not just go for the compressor with the max airflow, but to make sure that it can actually keep delivering that kind of air flow rate as the pressure in the inflating tyre increases. If you’ve just decided that you are not even going to mess around and you want the best, the ARB Twin Compressor is what you’re looking for.
ARB Technical Specs
This compressor puts our a 131.8L/Min, which may seem less than other equivalent compressors advertised. However, when you look a bit closer, it’s actually not less. ARB give their pressure reading at 200kPa. Or in other words, they have given their specifications under load. While many others simply give the unloaded airflow rate. And you’re not really going to get better than 132L/Min under load.
If you are bit more budget conscious, make sure you stick to a trusted name with a half decent duty cycle. This essentially means that the compressor will at least keep running for a longer period of time because it’s not overheating and turning itself off. At the end of the day, it’s not necessarily how much you are going to spend, but rather the value you are going to get out of it. It’s not about cost, it’s about value.
- Recovery kit
When it comes to recovery kit, you’re looking for some traditional kit that is known to work in a sticky situation. You don’t have to go for the most expensive, but certainly don’t go for the cheapest either. Something like this should do the trick.
Make sure it has at least a couple of shackles (soft or hard), a pull strap for pulling, a kinetic recovery strap or snatch strap for difficult situations where the towing vehicle may not have enough traction simply with a pull strap. They might need to take a bit of a run up and snatch you out with the kinetic strap. Again, our advice here is for you to invest in a good recovery kit, and keep it for the next 20 years.
- A set of maxtrax
These are without a doubt one of the best recovery tools for any Land Cruiser owner. They are really useful in so many situations, from beach recovery to getting up rock steps, sticky mud, and so much more.
Pro Tip: Keep a brightly coloured rope attached to the maxtrax during a recovery. You would be surprised at how quickly they disappear and how hard they are to find during a beach or mud recovery.
- A basic toolkit
- Rated recovery points
3. Electrics
Keep it simple.
The electrics in your Land Cruiser can be the bane of your existence, as they often take more time and require more fiddling and tweaking than anything else. So try to keep it simple. That said, having a half-decent electrical setup in your Land Cruiser is going to make your life a whole lot easier on almost any trip. Certainly on any longer trip, as having a place to charge phones, laptops, cameras, etc is just super convenient. Not to mention your fridge, and any other electrical appliances you might want to carry. You’d be surprised at some of the appliances we’ve seen, from microwaves to coffee machines and more. This can be achieved by fitting a split charge system.
Try to minimize kilometers of wiring, and too many fuses and connections, as these are some of the most common areas where people get it wrong. Keep it simple by using a dual-battery system and auxiliary battery to protect starting voltage, and don’t be afraid to spend the time or money necessary to ensure the wiring is 100% correct, including quality components, weather-tight connections, and proper fusing.
Side Note:
Cigarette lighters for the purpose of anything electrical are pretty much useless. Ok, fine. You can use it for a USB charger to charge your phone. That’s it. Particularly with a vehicle that is driving over rough ground. The actual socket that the USB charger goes into simply doesn’t fit snuggly, and the voltage drop is also monumental. Minimizing voltage drop is something you want to be aware of when it comes to setting up a basic electrical system in your Cruiser. Minimising voltage drop equals higher efficiency which in turn means longer battery life.
Also consider making your system compatible for solar input charging. This will help you maintain a charge, or refresh a charge, that has been taken by the fridge or other appliances. When your vehicle is parked you don’t want your fridge to drain the start battery, so that it won’t start the car.
You really want to fit what is known as a split charge system.
Looking to setup electrics in your Land Cruiser on a budget? Watch this video.
4. A Fridge Freezer
The importance and convenience of having an overland fridge cannot be overstated, and therefore one of the really essential additions for your Land Cruiser. While ice will carry you for a few days, anything longer and you run the risk of your food going off and getting soggy. Which is less than ideal.
There are quite a few really good fridge manufacturers on the market, providing all kinds of fridge freezer options to suit your needs.
However, don’t make the mistake of buying too big a fridge. This will force you to compromise on some possibly much-needed space. We particularly like a fridge freezer with separate doors, as this allows you to manage your food really well. Space-wise, you want to look around the 50-70L mark. Something like the National Luna Legacy 72L Double Door is a great option, that isn’t going to break the bank, but will still give you the reliability you’re looking for.
5. Roofrack
A roof rack is a given. For any longer overlanding you simply are going to need to carry more. From a rooftop tent to chairs, firewood, jerry cans for extra fuel, you name it. There are any number of reasons why a roof rack is an essential addition to your Land Cruiser. Have a look at something like Front Runner’s Slimline 2 for just the right combination between design and reliability.
6. Rooftop Tent
A roof top tent is a wonderful thing. While not a completely essential addition to a Land Cruiser for the purposes of overlanding, there is certainly an element of comfort and luxury that one starts to access with a rooftop tent.
Check out our full guide on what the best roof top tent is for a Land Cruiser.
7. Storage
The choices for different storage options are endless. From removable boxes which are the most flexible, to fixed storage units, to drawer systems and everything in between. While making this decision, you also need to consider weight distribution.
If you’re just starting out, you’re not going to know what you like. Therefore we suggest that you go with removable storage boxes. By the end of your first trip you’ll know exactly what you like and what you don’t, and be better informed to make the right decision for a more permanent storage solution. If you do decide to start with storage boxes, just make sure you strap them down properly, as you don’t want these flying around in the event of a collision, or just a particularly bumpy road.
We say start with removable boxes because you can’t really change your set-up if you’ve invested in fixed storage systems, and then find out it’s not practical for you. So it’s really important to find out what works best for you in your situation before you invest too heavily. Either way, some kind of storage solution is another one of the essential additions for your Land Cruiser.
Summary
As we said in the beginning, these are just general guidelines and are also subjective. You might find that you have a different set of additions, or just in a different order, that you think are essential for your overlanding Land Cruiser. Either way, let us know in the comments below.
Also, check out our article on the Top 10 Things to Carry When 4x4ing for some other essential items to carry with you when going on your overlanding trip.
