Jono's MY14 GXL

[jonoxplor Member Find all posts View Profile Close jonoxplor]

Howdy guys,
Decided a few months back that it was time to move the D40 Navara on, and buy something a bit nicer!
The old girl:

I decided on a white GXL MY14 Prado, fitted with boot liner and floor mats, wheels wrapped with Cooper AT/3 265/65/R17's.
On the day of delivery, great day to pick up a new car!


And quickly made a list of short and long term additions, the rough outline being:

Colour coded ARB Winch Bar and side steps.
ARB Underbody Protection
Lightforce 240 XGT's
Icom UHF
Runva 11XP
Dual battery system
OME 2" lift
Safari Snorkel
Diff/transfer case/fuel tank breathers
Recovery points
GPS upgrade?
Reversing light
Pioneer Rack

Late the other night I came home from Macquarie 4x4:

And made quick work of the Lightforce 240's

I also managed to fit the ARB Underbody plates, no photos yet though!
That's a lot of lumens!

Quick photo before going to work!


Hopefully more to come in the not to distant future!

[vxcruiser08 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close vxcruiser08]

Looks great mate, look forward to watching your build. Will have to meet up over the blue mountain sometime and go for a 4B!

[2impulsiv Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close 2impulsiv]

Looks nice and neat.

But I do have a soft spot for white!

[jonoxplor Member Find all posts View Profile Close jonoxplor]

Looks great mate, look forward to watching your build. Will have to meet up over the blue mountain sometime and go for a 4B!

Definitely will! I'll be heading up to Worlds End (Not too far off Hill End Road) around Easter for some wheeling and camping!

Looks nice and neat.

But I do have a soft spot for white!

It's not neat at the moment, it needs a clean!

Cheers for the kind words boys, it's early days so far.

[2impulsiv Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close 2impulsiv]

I look forward to watching this thread!

[Pugaree Member Find all posts View Profile Close Pugaree]

Nice rig. Wish I had bought a white one.

[simo4b Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close simo4b]

Your truck looks sweet,my truck goes in May to be kitted out with bullbar (white also)and snorkel,already has lift kit (2 in) with poly bags in rear springs,ORS draws installed,and dual battery system,electric brakes ,driving lights wired ready to go........the list is never ending.......

[D4D Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close D4D]

Looks like you got the ARB LED option too.

[jonoxplor Member Find all posts View Profile Close jonoxplor]

So a few things have happened in the last couple of weeks! Lots of work and then a week of camping 4wding fun!

Started off the nights with what else, a light test...

Noticed that the Prado had shaken it's drivers side Hi beam out of position, bit of an odd one..

Lot's of light

Fixing some parking/indicator issues on the 100 series!

Toothpaste does the job!

Family photo... The jeep is pretty serious, ARB all round, dual air locked, 50" lightbar and HID Hella's. It puts out some lumens...

Getting dirty on some trails

Hiked via a steep access trail to the top of one of a large hill, 800 odd meters up!

Prado looking dirty, bit of mud stuck to the underbody plates and some bugs!

The stock flex on the Prado was impressive! This wasn't even fully tweaked.

Coming down the trail

Doing the dam ramp over test... Failed...


So a few thoughts...
The 150 kept up with the 100 series, which has muddies, sliders and a 2" lift, except for the dam wall ramp over test, disappointing, but if I had sliders I would have given it more of a go. I was just wresting on the mounts of stock ones on the passenger side.
The lightforce 240's are great... as spots. The combo filter was not very impressive. I will look at upgrading them to HID's and maybe getting a full spread cover. I would really like a lightbar to do a huge spread at close range, but I can't really think of a place to mount one that I can live with.
The Icom 440n UHF + RFI 6.5db antenna was the best performing kit out of our lot, which was great! Didn't have to use the recovery points as it wasn't too bad, but I'm glad they are there.


I am hoping to do dual batteries, Kaymar spacer and rear light in the near future.
Winch will come shortly after as well as Snorkel + diff breathers.
ARB steps are on the list as well!

Off to the 4x4 camping caravan megashow on Thursday, might spend a bit of cash...

[jonoxplor Member Find all posts View Profile Close jonoxplor]

I've been pretty slack with updating this recently, but fear not, the Prado has been making small progress!

Went and explored Stockton with the faithful D22

And went to Zig Zag to get down to business


And she tucks too!

Found these while travelling around, wish I had my proper DSLR on me!

If anyone is ever wondering, you can fit a GrandMA2 Lite, in a roadcase, in the back of a Prado (Lighting console for work!)

I managed to have a bit of a careless moment on the powerline trails at ZigZag, and reversed into a tree log...

(Yes that is the mud flap) But atleast I didn't lose my licence plate!


And then... I went and spoke to the boys at ARB Wentworthville... And they sorted me out with a 2" OME lift Kit, with the correct rates for the bullbar, winch and dual batteries in the front, and a constant weight in the rear. It has so much less roll in the corners, and although the ride is a lot firmer and less forgiving, the first track I did offroad reaffirmed my choice. It was an amazing feeling.
Carpark shot, day to day.

And went a bit crazy at work... and decided to do a bit of a flex test on a garden (Perfect ramp!)



Right now I have all the bits for the dual battery kit to go in and the compressor is mounted and working, although it needs an AMTS mount I reckon.
I also wish to get a Runva 11xp, which would have been great after trying to rescue an 80 series landcruiser after a full roll over at ZigZag.

After getting the OME kit fitted we made our way back up to the powerline trails, our testing grounds, to try see what we could do, and boy did we do.
Having never fully completed the powerlines before, due to bad weather and lack of experience, the weather was perfect and track conditions were great.
We met up with some guys in 70 series and had a great day. The D22 fed all day long and had a great go of it, eventually getting stuck in the bottom of a hole and having to get pulled out. The two 70 series made their way through just, as a N70 hilux and old Pajero made their way up, both having to take multiple attempts and the hilux engaging it's rear locker. Next it was the Prado's turn, I was fairly nervous given my inexperience and having watched the other vehicles struggled. In 4Lo, 1st gear selected and foot firm on the throttle I chose my line and crawled straight up the hill! Drivers side wheel up in the air the whole time. I wish I had the video of all the on lookers, because the expressions were priceless, they were truly amazed at the prado's capabilities, as was I.

Seriously, the A-trac sets this apart.

I still want lockers though.

[2impulsiv Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close 2impulsiv]

Looking really good now, that lift looks great!

Awesome ride mate.

[jonoxplor Member Find all posts View Profile Close jonoxplor]

A few photos from a trip up to Zig Zag, the Prado dominated!

Playing around at Pipeline...

Lots of slush around

2" OME Lift doing its thing

At the bottom of the main hill for the Powerlines before the turn off for the Lost City.


Some mods!
I couldn't fit in the carpark at Luna Park, and I was working there for a week... So I bought some rhino rack feet. Installation was easy as.

The idea is to eventually have a Pioneer Platform and rooftop camper... Maybe?

ARB Air compressor mounted on AMTS's V2 bracket. Fuel prefilter is now on the list!


Great bracket, I had a couple of drama's though. One was due to where I spun the pressure sensor and T piece to sit, making it hard to thread the bolt to mount the bracket in the vehicle. The second was I couldn't make the compressor sit nicely with all washers in place, so I ditched 2 washers and will have to find some smaller replacements soon.
Mounted!

New switches from the AirOnBoard ebay page.


Optima Yellow Top D34, Projecta Distrobution terminal and a RedArc SBi12.

All fused up, running mega fuses, across the top of the radiator.




I need to sort out a fuse block terminal for the main battery, as it is getting a little crowded and I would like to neaten it up a bit before I get a winch in there. I also need to mount and cable the over ride switch/indicator for the RedArc. As soon as OziOffroad get stock, I will be ordering a Runva 11xp!
Cheers all!

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

Photos don't work...

[jonoxplor Member Find all posts View Profile Close jonoxplor]

Oh... whoops, how's that?

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

Mate it's looking great. Wow that is a tight fit for the compressor! Didn't know you could fit it in there. Will it get too warm there at all being so tight? Only ask coz it's already in the engine bay.
It's great that you have been out and about with it plenty already.

Kane