Project Fauxverlander 200 Series Land Cruiser Build Thread

cruiseroutfit

Cruizah!
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Sandy, Ut
Does the third row still function?

Negative, it's gone (anyone need a clean pair of 3rd row LC seats?) The drawers mount to the left over seat holes in the body floor which are reinforced so they make a great mounting option. My wife and I are sans kiddos at this point and honestly the thought of 2 kids is nauseating, let along enough to occupy a 3rd row :D

It's a deal breaker for many and I can understand that. My brother really wants to buy my 100 Series but he's got 4 kids (1yo-10yo) and would need the 3rd row. The drawers could be removed and seats re-installed in an hour or two but it's not something they are designed to do and you'd end up leaving it one way or the other.
 

cruiseroutfit

Cruizah!
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Sandy, Ut
I'm glad I watched that exciting video, toward the end I finally understand what it's doing. It's not disconnecting the swaybar, it's disconnecting the swaybar mount. Pretty simple solution really. Pretty cool!

Sorry Carl, just saw this. The video I posted is pretty accurate for KDSS systems in general but not particularly the 200 Series. While their Prado (150, GX470, etc) systems the ram acts as one side sway bar mount on a traditional sway bar, the 200 one does break it up. placing the ram as a fulcrum point on a two piece sway bar. Here is what it looks like.

KDSS.JPG

If the cylinder were to act a finite member (no change in length) the sway bar would function exactly as a traditional, i.e. allowing equal up down or torsion for varied side to side wheel travel. It's a thicker sway bar than a non-KDSS application (such as the LX570 which is the Lexus version of the 200), thus when that cylinder is on lockdown, it can be much firmer than a normal sway bar can offer.

On the flip side, by allowing easy (easier) movement in the ram, the two halves of the swap bar and move somewhat independently without the torsion function, thus easier/softer movements. Clear as mud?
 
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cruiseroutfit

Cruizah!
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Location
Sandy, Ut
Next up? Time to tackle the ARB rear bumper, and boy did that take a minute.

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Boxes ready to be torn open and installed

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The parts of the rear bumper (not including carriers) laid out, inventoried and ready

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The pile of hardware, not including the hardware for the carriers

We've done a fair number of ARB rear bumper installs here in the shop but this was the first dual swing utilizing the factory park sensor system. The 4 ultrasonic sensors require not only drilling and physical mounting but more tedious, extending the pigtails on 3 of the 5 harness plugs. While the paint was drying on the new sensor holes, I made a wiring diagram as those 3 sensor plug extensions will require a total of 30 wire connections as two of leads have 6 uniquely colored wires and the other has 3. About half way through the park sensor install I started to really question the additional work to incorporate the sensors into the new bumper, I mean I had never really used them to date. The system is there and I might as well get familiar with it, so I marched on with the wiring.

Coming together, piece by piece:

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As the carrier components are universal with the 80 and 100 Series offerings, ARB still includes 12mm wheel studs and lug nuts, despite the fact Toyota hasn't used that size on a heavy-duty Land Cruiser for almost 20 years now :D Easy enough fix, we've crossed that bridge with the 100 and have a nice assortment of the needed 14mm hardware. I suppose you could use the 12mm hardware but the taper wouldn't sit right in the wheel and I like the idea of having some spare lug nuts if/when they are needed. It does require a quick re-drill of the tire carrier as well as some different lug nut hardware. I had ordered spares to match the splined lug style used with the TRD wheels, this gave me matching hardware across the vehicle, one lug-nut socket to carry and a matching lock if I end up someplace I'm worried about security.

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14mm studs in place for the 5-lug configuration

Land Cruisers have flipped-flopped on the turn signal coloring over the years, red into the 70's, amber into the 2000's, red for the tail end of the 100's and back to Amber with the 200's. The red-tail/stop & red-turn is easy to work out with a simple red lens swap, ARB provides their bumpers with a red/Amber combo but they have the red lenses available for those applications. However, the red-tail/stop and amber-turn is a bit tougher. ARB includes a plug/play harness that requires popping open the rear panels (easier said than done when drawers are installed), but, it plugs into the same place as the US spec 7-Pin trailer harness. It does have a lead for a 5 pin trailer harness but I prefer to leave the factory 7-Pin in place. So, rather than pull drawers apart, pull panels and drop lines from the L & R tail lamp assemblies, I opted for a far easier and cleaner (imo) method. I tied into the 7-Pin trailer harness and used a converter to go from the combined tail/turn (red) back a separate tail (now red) and turn (now amber). It does require mounting a small converter (this size of a credit card) under the vehicle but they come with some good self-adhesive and I've not had one fall off or fail to date. This method allows one to trim down a considerable portion of the ARB harness and really end up with a tidy and simple install with just 5 connections into the trailer harness.

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Remnants of the ARB harness and the wiring portion of the project

Another time consuming aspect of the bumper install is the OE bumper cover trimming. We used a loose variation of ARB's recommended measurements and they got us close but we fined tuned the trimming and installed a nice clean w/s edge material that offers a really clean fitment while allowing the needed flex that the bumper and cover panel will experience. This is where we could really streamline a future install as we kept some good notes on what worked for us and the w/s is something I'll have available ahead of time next go around.

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Trimmed panel with w/s in place

So, while it likely represented the longest I've ever spent on a bumper install, I'm quite confident the remaining installs will take a fraction of the time. I've since done an additional ARB rear bumper on a 200 while it was a different configuration, the trimming portion took a few minutes :D

rear_bumper_11.JPG

Finished product!
 

nnnnnate

Well-Known Member
Supporting Member
Location
WVC, UT
Those bumper sensors just beep in the cab when you get too close to something right? Where is the backup camera located? Still at the bottom of the rear hatch? Is that still usable with the tire mounted back there?
 

cruiseroutfit

Cruizah!
Moderator
Vendor
Location
Sandy, Ut
Those bumper sensors just beep in the cab when you get too close to something right? Where is the backup camera located? Still at the bottom of the rear hatch? Is that still usable with the tire mounted back there?

Yes & yes. The camera has a super wide lense so it does see a good part of the two carriers. They offer a camera relocation kit to accommodate moving it back if desired.
 

Skylinerider

Wandering the desert
Location
Ephraim
I saw a sweet 200 the other day in Manti. Full ARB everything, snorkel, awning, bumpers etc. Seriously thought it was you until I noticed the rims were different.
 

cruiseroutfit

Cruizah!
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Location
Sandy, Ut
Next stop? Skid plates

Accessory install time has become quite rare for me here in the shop the last few weeks. As such a project that should take a couple of hours (such as these skids) in fact took 4 days, 10 minutes here, 20 minutes there... I swear I spent more time remembering where I left off :D

I did spent a bit of time with a rattle can cleaning up some factory welds and light corrosion, nothing out of the ordinary but I wanted to address it before I started covering things back up with the clean aluminum skids.

I'm very impressed with the fit and finish and I'm confident they'll offer the protection I'm after. I run the Slee skid system on my 100 Series and they have taken a beating and still clean up nicely. Had they offered them for the 200 I would have given them a really hard look. With the 200, ARB has a fantastic option for a full kit, front, mid (oil pan), trans and even a beefy t-case skid, far better than the tin/plastic covers it started with.

Before, during and after:

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The factory setup

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Gone with the factory stuff

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ARB installed

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ARB installed

Next up, sliders and side rails. When? Who knows :D
 

Tacoma

Et incurventur ante non
Location
far enough away
cruiseroutfit said:
Next up? Time to tackle the ARB rear bumper, and boy did that take a minute.

Yeah, that's a thing w/ARB rear bumpers? Huh. How about that. :D

That is a bitchin', clean install-- really digging the solution for the fender edges. I'm gonna keep that in mind.
 

cruiseroutfit

Cruizah!
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Location
Sandy, Ut
If you wait until the last minute, it only takes a minute. So they say anyways.

With Cruise Moab just around the corner I had made some goals to get the some of the 200 projects finished up. It's a bit frustrating seeing 200 projects stack up with no progress and I've been spending a bunch of time on other rigs that are in reality less of a priority.

ARB Recovery Point. This thing took longer to take out of the box than it did install. Two bolts and you're done. The factory "tow hooks" are not compatible with a standard recovery shackle and are not often recommended for recovery use.

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The box of one, about 20 could realistically fit in this box

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The old

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The new

Next up was an oil change. Nothing major there but I did install the Fumoto Valve and upgraded the plastic element housing to the aluminum version. You have to swap out the element tube but it's as easy as tweaking a couple of tabs. I installed the TRD filter element at the same time. All oiled up.

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Pre-swap

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Swapped

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Installed
 

cruiseroutfit

Cruizah!
Moderator
Vendor
Location
Sandy, Ut
Next up was the ARB Step/Side Rails. I realize many don't like the look of the integrated side rails between the rockers and the front bumper and I can understand that. For me they are embraced. I've had them on my 40 Series for 15 years, my 100 for 5 and I'm sure I'll come to be glad I have them on the 200 as well. They've saved countless fenders and the look works for me personally. They are a fair bit of work to install, particular the frame mounts on the KDSS side of the frame (left). There is a bunch going on with the KDSS plumbing and ARB really had to make some interesting brackets to allow the mounting. The deck plates come with an natural aluminum finish, I had them coated in a satin black to match the deck plate on the rear bumper, all mirrors of the directions I went on the 100 Series.

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Mounting the side rails

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Mounting the side rails

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Passenger side complete, waiting for the deck plate

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Drivers side complete, powder-coated deck plate installed.

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Had a great Cruise Moab, particularly some ghost town exploring on the way home.
 

nnnnnate

Well-Known Member
Supporting Member
Location
WVC, UT
No ham installed yet, I was looking for it at CM. The Kenwood D710G is waiting to be installed though...

Interesting about that recovery point. I see ARB makes one for the 100 on the Aussie page but it doesn't show up on the US side. Are you able to source them for the 100 Kurt?
 

nnnnnate

Well-Known Member
Supporting Member
Location
WVC, UT
Kurt won't appreciate me telling everyone here this but at Cruise Moab he told me that he bought a whole outfit from Exofficio specifically to wear at expo west so the crowd would know he was one of them. I'm sure the orders will just pour in next week because of it. Mega expo points to Kurt.
 
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