Tiny's 150 D4D Blue Storm

[talk2tiny Moderated member Find all posts View Profile Close talk2tiny]

Hi Guys,

Tiny here. My build up was on the light side but now I'm reading through it, it's starting to get there.

Mine's a 2012 150 Auto Diesel GXL in Blue Storm.



So far:
Towpack (Factory)
Rubber mats - front, middle and cargo bay (Factory)
Window tinting - MotorOne
Rear Airlocker - ARB
On board compressor and tyre kit - ARB
Couplertec electronic rust protection - ARB
Colour coded deluxe winch bar - ARB
GME TX3540 remote head UHF radio + Aerial - ARB
Outback Ideas front recovery points - ARB
iPad and headrest mount for the kids to watch movies
Wetseat neoprene waterproof seat covers (Black with blue stitching looks great).
Pradopoint sticker
Rhino rack aero roof racks
Tigerz11 2.5m awning
Maxtrax mounting pegs
OME suspension upgrade (50mm lift)
Dual Battery System
- Optima D34 Yellow Top deep cycle battery
- Redarc BCDC1225 isolator and smart charger
- ARB battery tray
- 2 Cigarette plugs in the cargo area


Plan to get through the desert in september will require:
New tyres, probably Cooper AT3's or ST's on a spare set of rims: edit : ended up with st maxx on new rims, see later.
Underbody Protection (still confirming if it fits with the recovery points): edit : done. Definitely fits
ARB 47L fridge: edit : bought the 60L one.
and I'd really like some TraxRax too though not exactly necessary: edit : bought fitted and they are great. Very highly recommended. See craigm's for sale thread for details.

Longer term wishlist:
Snorkel : edit : done. and diff breathers : edit: bought the bits but looked a little too complicated for the few spare minutes I had so I'll have a go another weekend.

Wow, there's not much left really:
Kaymar rear bar with spare and dual jerry can carriers
Some sort of decent driving lights (still undecided on HID's vs LED light bars etc)
Winch
There's bound to be more that I haven't thought of yet (there always seems to be).

By the time I get all that done, it'll probably be time to sell it and start again (possibly on a flying jet car or something).

[talk2tiny Moderated member Find all posts View Profile Close talk2tiny]

Also, for those who are having trouble tracking down whether the Outback Ideas recovery points are still available, I got mine direct from the guy who makes them because ARB insisted he had gone out of business. I got in touch with John on [email protected] and he sold them to me direct and is definitely in business. I told the ARB guys about it and last time I went in, they had a a shelf full of them again so they are definitely still available and look pretty good:

[Fungi2003 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Fungi2003]

Nice rig and congrats on the purchase!

Out of interest what made you decide on getting the rear locker considering traction control is available on your model Prado? I'm interested in knowing your point of view as I too am considering lockers for my new rig or rely on traction control and spend the money on other mods.

[talk2tiny Moderated member Find all posts View Profile Close talk2tiny]

Hi Fungi,

There's probably no real justification for the rear locker other than ARB does a good job of brain-washing people and that I had some spare room in the lease price for accessories. It was fitted pre-delivery so it's not like I tried the traction control and found it lacking or anything (in fact I haven't even had a chance to take it off road yet).

The theory behind the locker is that if a front and a back wheel are off the ground, the car won't move as the open diffs send the power to the wheels that are spinning. Engage the locker and the back wheels will be forced to turn together. I don't know the details of the computer controlled traction control system though. I suspect that others on here might be able to comment more. As soon as I get a chance though, I intend to get out and try it out so I can see whether it really does make a difference and I'll be sure to report back when I do and hopefully I don't just prove that I've wasted my cash.

[talk2tiny Moderated member Find all posts View Profile Close talk2tiny]

Hi Fungi,

You got me thinking about how ARB managed to brainwash me into thinking that the locker was worthwhile. I found some videos on youtube where they compared a couple of 120's. One with no traction control, one with traction control and one with lockers front and rear. An interesting watch. Basically from what I can tell, the lockers reduce the reliance on momentum to clear obstacles. Traction control helps too but as it works by braking wheels, it reduces drive and you have to give it more to overcome the braking to get it to go.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2wkW...0&feature=plcp

If there's other accessories you think you need then I certainly wouldn't recommend the air locker as vital but if you've got a bit of spare room in the budget like I did, they don't seem to be a bad investment.

Tiny

[Paul1972 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Paul1972]

When i suggested buying front and rear air lockers the guy at arb said dont waste your money, as the centre diff lick standard on prado gxl is fine

[REV Find all posts View Profile Close REV]

When i suggested buying front and rear air lockers the guy at arb said dont waste your money, as the centre diff lick standard on prado gxl is fine

My GXL has twin air lockers and as a NT tourism add says; You'll never never know, if you never never go!

It all comes down to being able to do a LOT more, with the least amount of stress on your vehicle, there are quite a few members on PP who can vouch for what I am saying. Sure, if you don't have the funds don't stress, as the traction control is very capable. If you only can get one, I would put a rear one in.

Have a read of this thread http://www.pradopoint.com/showthread...6-Diff-Lockers

Had mine in for almost two years now done 2 GTG's and not once have I regretted getting them.


Cheers
REV

[derek11 Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close derek11]

Why go air lockers, the E Lockers are just as good plus you don't need the air compressor, and if the air locker is not used regulary the seals dont dry out, the E locker is the better option.

[talk2tiny Moderated member Find all posts View Profile Close talk2tiny]

Why go air lockers, the E Lockers are just as good plus you don't need the air compressor, and if the air locker is not used regulary the seals dont dry out, the E locker is the better option.

Hi Derek, I've never heard of E Lockers but in my particular case, I wanted the on board compressor so I didn't have to carry around a compressor in the cab to do my tyres and things with so that lent a little extra weight to the ARB lockers for me. As I said though, ARB marketing have done a good job convincing me that their gear is better so that's probably why I went with it.

[talk2tiny Moderated member Find all posts View Profile Close talk2tiny]

Added Tigerz11 Awning and Maxtrax Mounting Pegs

Just updating the build. I've now put rhino sportz roof racks on as well as a tigerz11 2.5m awning and maxtrax mounting pegs. Having seen the difficulty others were having getting their maxtrax mounting pegs to fit in the channels of their sportz bars, I took a few photos as I did mine.

The pegs come with quite long bolts so that they can go right through a roof rack, if that's what you want, and they don't come with any nuts so that you can just get the right M10 nuts to fit your application. To get it to mount in the channels rather than all the way through, I had to cut down the bolts (obviously) and look for some nuts to fit. Rhino don't sell M10 nuts to fit their sportz bars but they do sell some quite thick M10 nuts to fit their heavy duty bars. I got 4 of those and ground them down to fit inside the sportz channels:



The mounting peg bolts wouldn't have enough thread if they were flush with the roof rack though so I had to throw a washer on each one to space them.

The results turned out pretty good. If the maxtrax are locked on, and the end caps are locked, the mounting pegs shouldn't be removable.

The awning I just got some regular M6 rhino rack bolts and nuts and attached. The results came up pretty well. I'll post pics in the next post. Having trouble uploading more pictures.

[talk2tiny Moderated member Find all posts View Profile Close talk2tiny]

Final results:

[talk2tiny Moderated member Find all posts View Profile Close talk2tiny]

I've added my pradopoint sticker:



And I'm booked in for OME suspension upgrade and lift at the end of January as well as dual battery system. Should all be fitted just in time to go on the SE QLD day trip.

[talk2tiny Moderated member Find all posts View Profile Close talk2tiny]

Suspension lift and dual battery system fitted. I'm really happy with the lift and it takes a lot of the body roll out of it that it used to get over humps and round corners.

Before:



After:



At the moment it ads 50mm at the front and 58mm at the back though they tell me it'll settle down a bit over the next week.

I'll post some photos of how the dual battery system was fitted later.

[blkd4d Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close blkd4d]

Looks good

[stevep84 Find all posts View Profile Close stevep84]

Looking good Tiny.

I can't wait to take delivery of my blue one in a few weeks.

Steve