jinandrew's D-4D Altitude Build Up

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

Hi All,

Great forum and heaps of knowledge amongst users... thought I might share my vehicle and keep a log of things I do along the journey.

This is my first Prado and have owned it for about a month now. Previously owned a 2004 Mitsubishi Pajero that was dual fuel and wanted to upgrade to a diesel and although I read all the feedback regards lack of power in the Prado so far I find it no problem. After shopping around and doing research on this forum (which helped me so much) we purchased an Altitude model as it satisfied not only the kids but the wife too with all those creature comforts.

Crystal Pearl in colour, with standard Altitude Specs, and had them throw in factory tint on the two front windows.




First mod was to change to some decent rubber. Had BFG All Terrains on my previous Pajero and loved them, great mix of on road low noise but enough off-road capability for most situations we will find ourselves in.




Have since added the following-:

• Toyota Factory Rails
• Toyota Rear Cargo Rubber Mat
• Toyota Prado Rubber Mat Set

As I didn't want to pay LCT i purchased the Factory Towbar as we will be towing our Jayco Expanda and had it fitted at the 1000km inspection.



Am in the process of fitting some mods to run the Waeco and have purchased the following which I will be fitting next Wednesday -:

• Redarc BC-DC20
• Redarc Brake Controller
• Optima D34 Battery
• ARB Battery Tray
• Fitting my Uniden UHF Radio
• Fitting my Thule Bike Racks to the factory bars
• Running Anderson Plug to rear for Jayco Expanda battery

Started the battery install.....


Hope you guys like it we plan on doing heaps of trips with the Expanda and next planned trips are Flinders Ranges and hopefully a six week trip next year up into the Alice etc.....

Cheers,
Andrew

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

Some pics of a recent trip up to our farmhouse in Merrijig, love the high country.....

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

And last weekend mucking around with a friend and the kids up at Toolangi....






Found a great creek crossing on Campsite Rd...







Loving getting out and about in the new Prado, so much quieter than my old Pajero and very capable off-road. So far couldn't be happier.

[vscorsa Member Find all posts View Profile Close vscorsa]

Nice Rig Andrew, are you going to post pictures of the wiring install?

Cheers

Dave

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

Hi Dave,

Yes going to do it this Wednesday and I will take lot's of pics. After lots of research ( i know there are strong views about this both ways) the Redarc BC-DC20 will charge the Optima and also a 100ah battery we have in the van. As we have a young family we don't tend to travel 10 hour days when away so a quick charging solution was most appropriate for me.

I had a Prodigy brake controller in the Pajero but again from this forum I learnt about the potential issues with the knee airbag, with the Redarc I can fit to the blanks as others have done on this forum, a great solution and easy to use.

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

Looks like we've won yet another over from the Pajero tribe haha. You won't be disappointed.

Awesome pics. Thanks for sharing and looking forward to more.

Cheers

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

Well after a long Anzac Day I finally got all the gear installed.

RedARC BCDC for keeping everything fully charged, mounted on the RHS firewall. Easy to read the display to check what's going on, also thinking of adding an ARB Sidewinder meter in the rear above the 12V to compliment.



Mounted the 12V socket to run the Waeco just below the factory input and plan to put the sidewinder gauge above this.



Installed the Anderson plug neatly on the factory towbar......



Ran all the wiring down the RHS side of the car, was not too difficult. I built a custom board where I mounted the redARC brake controller module, so 30A fuses and some other gear, neatly tucked up under the right kick panel in the drivers footwell.

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

Wiring being run.....









And the RedARC brake controller installed....

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

and finally coming through the grommet out toward the tow bar for Seven pin plug and Anderson plug....



The Optima finally wired up....



Tried to keep it looking as factory as possible.....




and for good measure the UHF installed....

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

Finally got around to getting the ABR-Sindwinder gauge in..... and the Hella socket, much neater and stronger connection....

[drew_1 Find all posts View Profile Close drew_1]

very useful post, thanks andrew. has given me some ideas post the imminent purchase.

cheers, andrew

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

Looks good mate welcome to Prado land

[Colin Mackey Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Colin Mackey]

Nice bus man