Axewell's 2008 120 GXL

[Axewell Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Axewell]

Some photo's of the stock standard 2008 Petrol GXL we have just acquired:




Mods Completed:

-Dual Battery Install                  (27/10)
-Rear Power (Engel, Merit, Cig)        (27/10)
-Garmin 3790T GPS                      (27/10)
-Sandgrabbas                           (27/10)
-Engel 40ltr mounted in 2nd row        (28/10)
-Bilstein/Lovells 2" HD Lift           (28/10)
-Mickey Thompson Baja ATZ 4 rib Tyres  (28/10)
(265/70/R17) 
-amts Spacer to rear door              (28/10)
-Portable 1500w Inverter               (28/10)
-Airtec Snorkel                        (11/11)
-ARB Compressor Under Bonnet           (19/11)
-Hilux washer jets                     (27/11)
-GME TX3440 Remote Head CB             (27/11)
-LeighW Voltage Booster                (14/12)
-Diff Breathers x 4                    (14/12)
-amts Diff Drop                        (14/12)
-amts bash plate                       (15/12)
-Auto-Craft Steel Sliders              (15/12)

Mods Planned for near future:

-Shower / Heat Exchanger (ready to go)
-Rear work light w/Kaymar Spacer
-ARB winch bar, then:
  -Tigerz11 12000lb winch with rope
  -Mount IPF 900XS Spotties
  -Mount CB Aerial

Further down the track:

-Drawers
-ARB Rear Locker
-Side Awning
-Water tank(s) & plumbing
-Maxtrax

[Axewell Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Axewell]

First mod is underway!
Have to install the dual batteries and wire in some power to the rear.
Plan is to have an Engel plug, cig plug and merit plug mounted into the rear passenger hidey hole.
Hardwired inverter back there too.
Engine bay will house a Piranha battery tray that will hold an N70 I have from the last truck.
Sure Power isolator will handle the switching duties.
Photos to follow.

[Madkore Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Madkore]

Welcome aboard Axewell and nice pickup!

Petrol yeah?

Is it your first 4WD?

Nice to see you have some PP mods on the list already - 'amts bash plates'. Are you gonna go with AJ's sliders?

[Axewell Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Axewell]

Cheers Madkore. Yes, sorry, first post amended to say Petrol.
2nd 4wd for me, just 'downsized' from a 2001 GU 4.8 Petrol Patrol that had a heap of mods on it too.

Just waiting on amts to confirm shipping ATM. Also have his wheel spacers already too!
I have been speaking with AJ about it but the 120 petrol sliders won't be ready until at least Jan unfortunately.
Would've taken them immediately if he had them. Might end up having to get some from Darren at AC if my patience gets the better of me.

1st few mods are done.
Will post pics and a write up next week after the trip.

[Madkore Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Madkore]

Shame about not being able to go with AJ's sliders, however Darren was previously a member here on Pradopoint so I'm sure he will look after you.

[Axewell Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Axewell]

DUAL BATTERIES:

OK. First few mods are done.
First off was the dual bats.
I already had most of the gear from my old Patrol that I sold before acquiring the Prado.
Chose a Piranha tray as they have good feedback on the strength etc & I definitely wanted the battery placed in behind the driver's side headlight. The size also helped to enable my N70 Extreme Hybrid to slot in there.
(Photos taken after our Haunted Stream trip so everything is a bit dirty!)



I found a nice solid earthing point right on the chassis rail sort of in-between & below the 2nd battery and the radiator.
Bit of steel wool and it works a treat.

A Piranha DBE140S handles the system and for now I have just cable tied it in there so I could go away last weekend!



Cables have all been crimped, wrapped in conduit and finished off with some simple heat shrink (well the ones I had time to do anyway!)



Most of the install was OK. Couple of tricky parts re moving and 'drilling out' the P/S reservoir bracket, but the trickiest is 2 bolts that go through the new air tube mount & into the wheel arch. Very hard to get the nut on the bolt from within the wheel arch. I ended up using a couple of the longer bolts first to tighten it all up and then just replaced them with the correct ones. It was much easier after that.

[Hutch Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Hutch]

Hi Axewell, nice choice of vehicle, if you can wait for AJ's steps they will be worth it. Keep the photo's coming.


Robert Hutchinson

[Axewell Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Axewell]

Cheers Hutch, unfortunately I can't wait.
I have already damaged the factory passenger side step, so have ordered a pair
from Darren at Autocraft. Should be on in a couple of weeks hopefully.

[VKPrado Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close VKPrado]

Looking good Axewell. Looking forward to seeing how you mount your outlets in the back for the fridge.

[Axewell Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Axewell]

Cheers VK. Next installment is on its way!

[Axewell Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Axewell]

REAR POWER:

Following the dual bats, I then needed to wire power in to the rear.
Firstly for the Engel, but also for a 2nd cig plug, a merit plug and a feed for the rear work light down the track.

I installed a fuse box along the driver's side behind the 2nd battery. Simply screwed it into the engine bay.



From there I ran 2 6mm power wires across the firewall to the passenger side and fed them through it using a coat hanger.



Removed the plastic trim from the passenger footwell and then all the way along the passenger side to the rear 'hidey hole' where I intended to terminate into sockets. In some places along the body I wrapped the cables in conduit just to be sure they wouldn't rub through. All in all, pretty straight forward job.



cont....

[Axewell Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Axewell]

Using a stepped holesaw, I then drilled three holes in the 'hidey hole' on the side facing the rear (the front side doesn't have much clearance due the body panel behind it). Engel, cig & Merit plugs were then mounted in the holes. I used one of my power feeds from the front for the fridge socket and the other one for the other 2 sockets. Found a bolt near the jack that was perfect for grounding the terminals, so wired all three to that point and wrapped it in conduit as it will no doubt rub in there somewhere!





Tested it all with a voltmeter and all good. Very happy with how it all turned out.

Need to spend some time this weekend tidying it all up a bit. Mainly heat shrinking and applying conduit to the parts that need it but that I ran out of time to do before our trip!

[Axewell Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Axewell]

FRIDGE

Very simple mod! Using a mount from John at Lifestyle racks I've put the Engel into the passenger side of the 2nd row.
ie. Pulled out the '40' siide of the 60/40 split rear seats and replaced it with a fridge mount.



The mount simply hooks around/under the rear seat mount and then is bolted into the front 2 mounts.



It has 4 fixing points for the fridge (standard) and the whole thing feels very stable and safe.
I have my 40ltr Engel in there and it fits perfectly. I believe it will take up to a 47ltr ARB too.





The lid opens all the way and then rubs on the grab handle. We actually use it to jam the lid onto it so it stays open whilst you ferret around in the fridge.

[Axewell Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Axewell]

LIFT

Coming from a Patrol that had awesome clearance, I knew I would have to lift the much lower Prado ASAP.
Chose the Bilstein & Lovells combo for the job- with a twist!



SWMBO has one request (read demand) when it comes to ride- MAKE IT AS STIFF AS POSSIBLE!
Couple that with the fact that we will be adding a steel bar, winch, compressor over the front and the fridge & drawers in the back, the only way to go was with seriously rigid rates.
For this reason I chose the Lovell's EHD front springs and the Lovell's HD rear springs.
Paired them with the Prado Bilstein adjustable front struts, but paired the rear with a Landcruiser 80 series Bilstein shock. This was decided due to the extra height anticipated from the HD rear springs.

Parts Specs:

	        [B]Brand     Model	        Free Length 	Spring Rate[/B]
Front Coil: 	Lovells   TFR-118EHD	345  	        1125
Rear Coil:      Lovells   TRR-119HD	400	        321

        	[B]Brand     Model 	Opened	Closed  Travel[/B]
Front Strut:    Bilstein  BE5-A712 	552  	427	125
Rear Shock:     Bilstein  B46-1478      592     381	211

[Axewell Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Axewell]

And of course the all important measurements....

[B][U]mm's:	Stock	Lifted	Diff[/U][/B]
LF	735	810	75
RF	740	815	75
LR	740	835	95
RR	745	840	95

(All taken from bottom of rim to bottom of guard)

NB. Front Bilstein strut circlip is in middle position until the bar & winch go on.

Very, very pleased with those gains!