Posts

Redi to Rumble

/0 Comments/in /by

Doing the big builds are what we’re all about here at Redi Cruisers and more often than not, it’s not just about what we do here but a collective effort by a number of companies working together to achieve the same end result for a customer. We’re all about collaborating with some of the best names in the business to piece together the right products and the right solutions to suit your requirements. The results always speak for themselves and this dual cab 79 is up there with the best of them!

Our customer Terry approached us with some unique requirements and a very particular criteria that he was expecting from his new 79. Firstly, it needed to have plenty of canopy space with the versatility of being able to move things around to suit his needs. Coming from a Patrol, Terry was used to the comfort and refinement of coils springs so for touring, a coil spring conversion was definitely on his list. After doing some research, there was also one last big-ticket item on Terry’s list that was a must have – an automatic transmission conversion.

We knew we had the coil conversion covered has we’ve been doing the Jmacx coil conversions for a few years now. Jmacx have designed and refined their conversion kits to perfection over the years and now, although it’s still quite an extensive process, our working relationship with these guys sees a flawless process in place that makes getting your coil conversion done an easier process than buying a new pair of shoes for the end customer!

This kit includes a GVM upgrade certification to 3900kg and is running 3″ of lift on the Kings 2.5 remote res shocks and air bags to assist in load carrying. We shoe-horned in a Brown Davis 180L long range fuel tank which has been designed by Brown Davis to suit the coil conversions. Exhaust is by Torqit which is a 3.5″ stainless steel, mandrel bent, DPF back system, custom made by Torqit to suit the unique routing requirements of the coil conversion. Torqit are another locally based company here in Newcastle that make awesome performance products.

Mits Alloy had us covered when it came time to putting together an alloy tray and canopy package that met Terry’s requirements for touring and, as always, the local Newcastle -based manufacturer came up trumps on this build with this amazing looking graphite lift-off design. It incorporates an under tray trundle draw, 35l poly water tank on the headboard, tapered tool boxes and built-in kitchen bench table.

The inside of the canopy is fitted with an Enerdrive DC and AC charging system using a 125A/h lithium battery which powers the Dometic CRX110 upright fridge and all the lighting throughout the canopy. There’s also an under-bonnet dual battery system running a Redarc BCDC charger on a custom bracket by Perth Performance Diesel powered by a Centruy Dual Force AGM battery which feeds power to the canopy system off the alternator and also works as a back-up to run canopy accessories. Hidden in one of the tapered tool boxes is a TJM HD air compressor to control airbag inflation and tyre inflation as well.

We enlisted the help of our good mates at All Four x 4 Spares for the auto conversion and after the coil kit was completed, we shipped the vehicle off to the boys over at Kotara for them to install the 6-speed Wholesale Automatics kit. The transmission is the same box used in the LC200 but using an upgraded torque converter, valve body and transmission cooler so the box is even stronger and more reliable than the standard item and is adapted to suit all the standard 70 series components and transfer case.

The difference in the way the big beast drives now is like chalk and cheese. Imagine the ride-refinement of coil springs and an auto cog swapper combined with the rugged build and durability of a bulletproof 79 dual cab ute. This is definitely the best of both worlds!

There is, of course, a lot more to this build as well. TJM bar work is the order of the day with the T13 Outback bull bar, TJM side steps and brush rails to suit. The bar work has all been colour coded Graphite and houses the TJM 12,000lbs winch with synthetic rope and there are a set of Stedi Type-X Pro LED driving lights for day-making.

There’s a Safari Armax snorkel feeding clean air into a Patrol Doctor stainless steel air box and there’s a HPD high-flow, top-mount intercooler helps keep air-flow nice and cool.

Further engine protection is helped with the fitment of a Diesel Care pre-filter on a custom-made bracket by Perth Performance Diesel which also houses the diff breather filters.

The interior was completely gutted and sound deadened using Dynomat before any mods were made.  Front and centre of the interior is an Alpine in-dash head unit with Hema maps installed, front and rear speaker pods, all fitted by House of Soundz at Broadmeadow. A Cruiser Consoles over-head console houses the GME UHF and extra storage. The centre console was fitted by the guys at All Four x 4 as part of the auto conversion and houses the display panel for transmission readings.

There’s a set of Clearview power-fold, electric towing mirrors for seeing around the canopy and a Rhino Pioneer platform up-top for extra storage. The big grey beast is rolling on a set of Pro Comp Series 74 Trilogy alloy wheels that measure in at 17 x 8” and a set of BF Goodrich KO2 All Terrain tyres that are a 285/70/17.

Building a 79 like this is like conducting a symphony of an awesome team of fitters, suppliers and accessory manufacturers to achieve the end result. Here at Redi Cruisers we are all about the customer being able to come to the one place to build their dream Cruiser. Terry is over the moon with his new 79 that is that perfect mix of refinement vs durability. Keep an eye out for his awesome rig out an about on the tracks.

Off-road Taupedo

/0 Comments/in /by

The 76 Series Landcruiser wagon is fast becoming the weapon of choice for those that want to get down and dirty, and do some serious off-roading. Add one Jmacx Coil Conversion with 4 inches of lift and 35″ tyres and you are looking at one truly unstoppable combination. Colour choice is a no-brainer for this caliber of 4WD. Sandy Taupe – is there any other colour?

After a bit of inspiration from previous builds that we’ve done and a love of the almighty 70 Series, our customer Adam approached us to build the ultimate track tackler with the Sandy Taupe theme to run not only on the top side of the wagon, but the undercarriage as well. The Jmacx coil cradle, panard rod, control and radius arms all received the Sandy Taupe treatment before they left the sunshine state and lobbed on our workshop floor.

This set-up was done on Kings remote res shocks all round with the assistance of Airbag Man airbags in the rear coils giving this big wagon a completely legal four inches of lift on 35 inch tyres with an upgraded GVM to 3900kgs. As usual the Jmacx conversion has enhanced the off-road ability of the 76 ten fold.

Setting the look of this weapon right off is the Method NV Machined face wheels which measure in at 17×8.5 inches and they’re wrapped in a set of BF Goodrich KM3 mud tyres measuring 315/70/17 or 35 inches of chunky goodness in the old scale.

Bar work is the TJM T13 Outback steel winch bar, brush bars and side steps and the bar houses a TJM 12,000lbs Torq winch for recovery and a set of Stedi Type X Pro LED driving lights for turning night into day.

A Kaymar rear bar with single wheel carrier takes care of protection for the departures off-road and also gets the weight of the heavy 35 inch tyre and wheel off the back door.

The factory two piece Toyota snorkel was scrapped in favour of the higher-flowing and better sealed TJM Airtec snorkel. A HPD catch can and Diesel Care primary fuel filter was also fitted for giving the engine the maximum protection from fuel and oil contaminates and prolonging engine life.

The standard GXL flares were colour coded to match the Sandy Taupe theme and a set of Bushranger Flexi Flares were fitted to keep the law at bay with those big boots. The chrome GXL grille and mirrors were also blacked out for a tougher look.

A Rhino Pioneer platform was also fitted with a Darche Eclipse 2.5m side awning to beat the harsh Aussie elements while out and about on the tracks. The platform is 2.1 m long, giving plenty of extra storage room up-top for all the camping gear and has a Stedi 51 inch Slimline light bar for additional nighttime off-road driving enhancement.

One of the biggest downfalls of the 70 Series Landcruiser is the factory sound insulation leaves a lot to be desired. To rectify this, we completely stripped the interior out and fitted Dynamat Xtreme sound deadening to the doors and floor dramatically reducing road noise and body panel vibration.

The centre console was upgraded to the Department of the Interior Full Length Floor Console and an overhead console was fitted with a unit from Cruiser Consoles. A GME XRS370 UHF radio was fitted with the AE4700 All-terrain series antenna to take care of communications with that neat hide-away look.

The interior was finished off with a set of Black Duck 4 Elements seat covers and some Lightforce factory style switches to keep all the lighting switches looking neat and tidy.

This Sandy Taupe 76 wagon is one weapon of of an off-roader and well set up to take on the hardest tracks this country has to offer. Keep an eye out for Adam and his beast out on the tracks.

 

 

 

Stretched 79

/0 Comments/in /by

It all started with something simple – a bare bones, plain-Jane white 79 Series Dual Cab -brand new, but looking a little on the sad side to be honest! I know – let’s chop it up and make it longer! That was the call from business owner Michael and the plans were set in place for our new shop 79 Series.

But it wasn’t as simple as that. I know we’ve said it before, but this thing turned in to the biggest build we’ve ever done…literally. The foundation of this Goliath 79 is the chassis built by Jmacx Engineering which has lengthened the wheelbase by 300mm, displacing the bulk of the loaded weight further forward of the rear axle, and making the big girl more stable on and off the road. There’s more than meets the eye with this seriously heavy duty chassis though, as it also incorporates the coil cradle to complete the coil spring conversion without the need for an additional bolt-in cradle. The beauty of this set-up is the ability to legally raise the maximum GVM to 4490kg and the towing capacity to 4t. With a lower tare weight than most yank trucks available here – this leaves the payload on the stretched 79 greater than anything else on our market.

With that in mind, we set about loading this thing up to tackle anything this country’s harshest conditions can throw at it. Michael had plans to not only build a 79 with the works, but something that met his needs for touring, work and everyday driving. The next stand-out feature is the custom built alloy tray and jack-off canopy built by Mits Alloy.

Mits Alloy are a company based locally to us, that had already been building awesome trays and canopies for some of our customers, so we got them involved in the build early on in the piece to come up with some with a solution to suit the modified chassis. The end result is capable of utilising three fridges including the custom Waeco CFX100 beer keg fridge complete with built in beer taps. Other additions include the Dometic 110L upright fridge and the Waeco CFX75L Dual Zone fridge on the Clearview ES220 Plus drop-down fridge slide. After all – you can never have too much room for beer….and food!

The fridges and all the lighting are powered by the Enerdrive 12v/240v management system running a 200Ah Enerdrive lithium battery all mounted in the canopy.  The system receives charge from the alternator via a TJM 25a DC/DC charger and Century Dualforce battery mounted under the bonnet, and there’s also solar input into the system for remote charging.

The DB Drive 36″ sound bar provides fat beats for the campsite and is controlled via Bluetooth through your phone and the canopy is finished off with Stedi work lights and LED strip lighting through-out.

There’s room in the under body lockers for the on-board air inflation kit by Airbag Man and it’s controlled via the TJM Connect accessories management system. This takes care of inflation of the air bag suspension on the fly and has flush mounted air fitting for running a hose to the tyres for inflation.

Piggy-backing the canopy is the Jmacx coil spring rear-end which uses a combination of Kings 2.5 remote res shocks and heavy duty coils with Airbag Man High Pressure airbags in the rear to assist in stabilising the load. The rear coils provide a much more refined ride, better axle articulation and the refabricated diff housing and upgraded axles provide added strength to make the rear-end bulletproof, even with the added weight. Can’t winch forward? The Jmacx chassis has its own rear mounted winch cradle which houses a TJM 12,000lbs Torq winch perfect for getting out of those tricky spots.

Power upgrades are curtesy of Streamline Automotive who preformed a remap on their dyno. This combined with a HPD upgraded intercooler, TJM Airtec snorkel and Patrol Doctor Air box have increased power by 42% and torque is up a massive 68% over the stock numbers. It’s more than enough to get the big girl up and sprinting off the mark. Exhaust gas is flowing hard and fast thanks to the Torqit 3.5 inch stainless steel system made specifically to suit the unique routing of the extended and coiled rear end of the Jmacx chassis. There’s a HPD catch can and Diesel Care Pre Filter system for better engine protection.

A heavy duty clutch is a necessary upgrade once you start adding weight, power and/or bigger wheels on the 79 and a requirement for the 4490kg GVM Upgrade. The clutch supplied with the kit is by NPC and they are our go-to supplier for clutch upgrades.

Barwork is all by TJM with the T13 Outback bar up front, brush rails and side steps, all running 63mm tubing. The bar houses a TJM 12,000lbs Torq Winch and a set of Stedi Type X Pros light up the night up- front. Giving a good spread of side lighting is two 11.5 inch Stedi light bars mounted under the headlights and two GME antennas take care of communications, with one for UHF and one as a phone booster.

A Rhino Pioneer roof platform is fitted with more lightwork from Stedi including a 41.5 inch slimline lightbar up-front and two side facing 11.5 inch slimline light bars to light up the campsite. A Rhino Sunseeker Awning is bolted to protect patrons from the elements whilst attending the beer keg fridge, and the platform also has a Rhino hi-lift jack and shovel holder for extra recovery gear storage.

The interior has received the once-over with over-head and centre consoles from Department of the Interior that house the TJM Connect control panel and a Uniden 9080 UHF radio. Seat covers are care of Black Duck and there’s a Kenwood in-dash entertainment system front and centre, running upgraded speakers and a slimline subwoofer behind the back seat. The whole interior has been soundproofed using Dyno Mat to reduce panel vibration while the stereo is cranking and to reduce road noise.


The whole package is rolling on ROH Maverick Alloy wheels measuring at 16x 8 inches and a set of 315/75 R16s by BF Goodrich which are a KM3 mud terrain tyre. If you’re in the market for an ultra-tough touring truck that has a payload unlike anything else on the market, then give us a call to find out what we can build for you. We’ve built this truck for a purpose and no matter what your purpose we can build one to suit your needs –  ready to tour, ready to work or just ready to hit all the hard tracks – Redi-built by Redi 4×4!



 

 

 

 

200 Reasons Why

/0 Comments/in /by

DSC_3570lOne of our most popular builds here at TJM Hunter Valley at the moment would have to be the 200 series LandCruiser and of course there’s a pretty good reason for its popularity. The large 4WD station wagon has always been the touring and towing vehicle of choice for legions of 4WDers offering the sort of size, space and capability that is perfect to suit most people’s needs. But the 200 series has that something extra that makes it even more appealing than most. Yep, I’m talking about that thumping twin-turbo V8 diesel that’s capable of churning out over 200kW and an astonishing 650Nm of torque from as low as 1600rpm.

In fact we like the 200 series so much that we’ve just recently taken delivery of the second one of our own, so we are becoming specialists at building these big wagons into the ultimate touring machine. There’s not much we can’t do the 200 and we are quite commonly decking these things out with Fox suspension, GVM and towing capacity upgrades, Torqit chip and exhausts, auxiliary battery set-ups, touring racks, towing accessories and we have wheel and tyre packages to suit all tastes and budgets.

DSC_3576l

 

If you haven’t already spied our own 200 running around with one of our new T13 Outback bull bars, take a look at one of our latest customer’s builds with the colour coded Outback bar fitted. Now there are plenty of bars on the market available for the 200 series at the moment but we haven’t yet come across one that makes the new facelift model LandCruiser look this good.

This one got a good working over while we had it too, receiving the Fox 2.5 Factory Series Coil-overs to handle all the off-road work and we were able to get rid of that nose-down stance that the 200 suffers from by utilising the vast amount of height adjustment that the Fox coil-overs offer. It’s not all show and no go either! We’ve also fitted twin ARB air-lockers, auxiliary battery system, Safari Snorkel, Lightforce LED Genesis driving lights, TJM sump guard, Pirahna diff breathers and communications are handled by the Oricom UHF380 unit and GME AE4750 aerial.

 

The whole package is rounded off nicely with a set of ION 18×9 alloys wrapped in AMP 305/60/18 Terrain Grippers to get that 650Nm of torque straight to the ground. Owner Simon couldn’t be happier with the results and will be hitting the tracks with full confidence knowing that his 200 will handle anything he can throw at it. We can only look on proudly as we watch another 200 series roll out of the TJM Hunter Valley workshop receiving the onceover from us.

DSC_3584lDSC_3588l

 

LandCruiser 79 Build

/0 Comments/in /by
Before we take to the 79

Before we take to the 79

DSC_3515lNeed some inspiration to build your work truck into something that stands out from the rest? Over the next few weeks we’ll be bringing you updates as we transform this sedate looking 79 series LandCruiser into a twin air-locked, fire breathing work-truck from hell.

Craig and the boys in the TJM Hunter Valley workshop will be all over this thing like a rash for the next few weeks and with owner Alex sparing no expense, the boys will be giving it their all to make sure that every little detail is covered. Not to mention the guys from Jmacx will be waving their magic wand over this truck. Yep, that’s right…I said the J word. This thing will be rolling out of our workshop with a full coil sprung rear end and GVM upgrade.

Looking for something to fulfil his work needs as well as a truck to do some serious touring and bush work, owner Alex took some inspiration from our own 79 series LandCruiser and decided to go the whole hog with the build, including the Jmacx rear coil conversion. This will be the first time a Jmacx coil conversion has been done on the new single cab 79 with the upgraded ANCAP safety rating so the boys up there at Jmacx are excited to see how the new fit goes. There’s been a few changes made to the interior of the new single cab too, so the guys at the Department of the Interior are also keen to get their gear into the new model.DSC_3507l

With a list of mods and accessories including chip, exhaust, custom snorkel and air box, dual battery, suspension, wheels and tyres, lights that will turn night into day, that awesome rear coil conversion and enough bar work to make Mad Max envious just to list a few things, this 79 series will be transformed from a basic work horse to a touring weapon.

We love nothing more than when get a bare bones project like this and take great satisfaction in handing the keys back to the owner with all the hard work paying off for the end result to put a smile on their face. So stay tuned to this page for regular updates on Alex’s 79 build, the details on the work we’re doing, the products we’re fitting and the benefits of those products.