Congratulations: You Made Your LandCruiser Worse, at Huge Expense | Auto Expert John Cadogan

I work with a guy who got a “GVM upgrade” to his brand new BT50. He tried to tow his big van, and kept overheating the transmission and ended up with engine issues. These were traced to dragging too much weight. Yes, the SUSPENSION could handle the extra load, but you’re still using the factory engineered drive train which is made for the standard towing kit. He also damaged his rear frame structure. I firmly believe that GVM upgrades should be illegal. The cars are designed by someone who knows a hell of a lot more than you about the vehicle. Then again I also believe that you shouldn’t be allowed to tow anything that’s more than 80% of the maximum tow capacity of your vehicle to give a good safety margin. Spending a lot of time on the highway, I’ve seen way too many massive vans wobbling along behind sagging new four wheel drives that are obviously towing right at their capacity. The local police held an “information day” for caravan owners and reported that around 70% of combinations were way over the combined vehicle mass allowed. Did the Plod defect them off the road? No. They gave them “towing suggestions”. 🙄

All the gear & no idea.

I have a 200 series and so of course I joined some chat groups where people talk about these things. I swear, it's like observing some sort of online group masturbation session. Everything is about the brand names, it's like a laundry list that must be ticked off. You have to have Brand X air cleaner, Brand Y snorkel, Brand Z lift kit, a dodgy ECU remap performed by some guys cousin who does 'fully sick tunes' etc. etc. None of this stuff is selected on its merits or with any intellectual rigour, you just "have to have it bro". The fact that the same chat groups are equally populated by guys complaining about issues caused by fitting all this stuff doesn't seem to bother anybody, apparently you just need to fit more stuff to improve the stuff that is causing issues.

avoiding roos isn't as easy as 'driver training' when driving a loaded car with a van. I drove coaches many years ago (for Greyhound) and was often amused at how shocked foreign tourists would be when I would simply hold the wheel straight and hit the roo without swerving. Of course I could have swerved and put the bus on its lid and saved a dumb animal but I'm pretty sure the dead and injured passengers wouldn't have cheered that on. Same with semis or any heavily laden machine. Not always easy to play slalom with a wild animal. A bullbar saved my bacon many a time in a truck, bus and off roader, especially when forced to drive at night.

I love how people with no engineering knowledge think that they know better than the engineers that designed the vehicle!

Now we need "The Ronny Dahl & John Cadogan talk show", episode one: How to upgrade you 4x4 to handle a trip to the outbacks. 3D glasses - checked, nice chair/sofa - checked, a stack of six-packs - checked, popcorn - checked, I am ready.

You make an excellent point with the track car vs skill example. I've owned a ZX6R for 10 years. When I purchased it fellow riders carried on about how I should have opted for the ZX10R. "You'll be slow", etc etc. Yes I'm slower on the straights (the easy part of riding), but I've also learned I'm nowhere near the limits of the bike in the corners... and neither are those others on their litre bikes. Racing at the limit, every corner, requires skill (and big kahunas).

I dont get why everyone with 4WD drives around on road all day with off road tyres. More noise, more fuel consumption, rougher ride, less grip. OEM rims are dirt cheap on Marketplace, keep a set of off road tyres for when you need them.

Hi there John. I live in a rural area that has waaaaay more roos than people. I have completed said high level driving courses and employed said skills in environments a tad more dangerous than a rampant roo. I have written off one car and had some extensive body damage to another. I was able to avoid a multitude of roos until you find that one bugger that gives you no notice what so ever. My current car has a bull bar. So far I would say I have avoided a brazillion roos but a few of them have committed harykary on the bull bar with no damage to the car at all. Just saying - Dude 👍👍

I drive the stuart highway doing 130kmh every day and we hit kangaroos all the time. Both my vehicles have bullbars and the rule is don't try and miss, if you can try to slow then just hit the fucking thing.

Worked on one today dude, a 200 series land cruiser for a government department that points guns at folks. GMV upgrade with a winch, bullbar dual battery system and all the fruit. I work in radio com's and was contracted to go and remove the lights sirens etc. Was told it was a " salvage "' vehicle. Got to site at the auction yard to find the cruiser was missing the front gaurds and headlights but otherwise in great shape. Looked closer and the front clip had cracks everywhere to the point that the radiator support panel was actually in three pieces. These things are just cars not tanks! As a side note I often get called out to 70 series cruisers that do gas pipeline maintenance work in the red center that have basically been broken in half at the chassis. Toyota make great of road kit but everything has it's limits. At some point perhaps just buy a truck!

I was driving from Adelaide to Melbourne, on back roads at night. A roo came from the left and paced my car for about 500 metres and I just knew he was going to try to cross the road. I slowed down and stayed just behind him and a while later he went to do it and I was able to brake safely so he went across in front of me.

As a tyre fitter, wheel aligner and semi trained accessory fitter, not a single person from any of those jobs has any need to even touch those cv boots. Theyre not touched at all. Closest it gets is adjusting tierods. Love how businesses pass blame onto anyone else but them

It is ironic that Superior Engineering posted a YouTube video 1 hour after yours: to advertise the same mods: “We turned the Landcruiser 300 into an Outback Weapon”.

I’m no off-roader, but the first time i heard about these kits, i thought “how did they upgrade the frame AFTER the entire vehicle was completely manufactured?”

An automatic transmission cooler is my only mod. Because, one can also go around the boulder or puddle...

KISS principle - I've a one-owner (me) Disco 2 V8 from 2001, the one without a central locking diif option but so what? A basic 5 seat V8, albeit with ACE and SLS - bit of a special build. I went on a 4x4 trainee course, and the instructor had a full on modified Nissan Patrol, raised, big wheels etc and he couldn't get up the same course as the Disco that was just using stock 235/70x16 Michelin A/T tyres which did it with ease. Why? Axle articulation most likely as ACE removes sway bar effect below 40KPH so you get crazy wheel angles plus traction control. Also worth noting that the front spring rates vary from side to side as they take into account the weight of the engine a likely a single driver. It's the small things that make LRs so good off road. Reliability is another issue but the older ones are okay and parts dead cheap. Overall - keep the bloody thing standard! I now use 245/70x16 as more choice with Pirelli Scorpions which are a LR OEM supplier.

25y ago got my new 8 seater AWD 4x4, had tow bar and cargo barrier fitted and lost 3 seats yet effectivly gained 300kg of carrying mass which I've never fully used. After 6 month of outback Queensland driving and far too many close ecounters with Skippy an AL bar was added to the nose and a 2nd battery added for the fridge. All has been good with trips as far afield as Melbourne to Townsville and across to Halls Creek WA, but for a long period around the Quilpie and Charleville districts where 70 to 80km/hr was normal evening driving. Sadly one evening had a trailer in tow so defensive driving skills were unobtainium and collected 14 Skippys even at the snails pace of 60km/hr for that 360km trip. One AL bull bar replaced and all has been good since... Yes, still have the 4x4, nil lift needed nor any replacement CV's in 25y...

Brought a Toyota Fortuner a few years back and the dealer asked if I wanted a bullbar fitted, living in regional Queensland but not the bush I didn't see the need. Spend 2 grand on a lump of dead weight that might protect the car in the event of an impact with a roo but defiantly not a cow or just pay the insurance excess without one. The salesman was gobsmacked.

John, if you have an issue when off road, it is generally something that has been added as an aftermarket item that has failed. Aftermarket fuel tanks are a classic example..