"The Punisher" - 2016 Hilux 2.8D - Overland Build

[Hilux_Max]

Found the perfect product to mount a RTT above my tub in the new year......this is exactly what Ive been looking for. considering the 3/4 height version.

Check out the video on the Performance Suspension Facebook page below:

https://www.facebook.com/performancesuspensionracing/videos/1287875334604340/

 

[Hilux_Max]

So its been over 2 years since I updated this build thread. A lot of modifications have taken place but I didn’t think it prudent to update this thread as my focus was more on doing harder trails and not overlanding….well, that is all now changing.



Since my last update I have:

• Regeared to 4.8 Nitro diff gears with master install kits
• Chopped the front fender opening larger for more clearance.
• Fitted 35/12.5x17 Nitto TrailGrapplers on 17x9 N13 steel beadlocked wheels
• Fitted a Runva 13XP winch
• Fitted a much larger replacement starter battery
• Fitted 3” longer rear shocks to take advantage of the additional rear droop I had with the suspension.
• And last week I fitted a new Offroad Animal front winch bar with 2 x 18” single row lightbars built in.
• Had a friend built me a custom flatbed with sides, sunken rear toolbox, rear quarter under bed toolboxes, and sunken spare tyre holder at the front.

Pretty sure that takes me up to now.

My focus, as mentioned, is changing to set up in the near future for overlanding. What I am currently doing to the vehicle is the following:

• RTT rack for my flatbed is complete, to be fitted this week
• Rear brushbars to protect the rear flatbed fenders which stick out.
• Start making the front fender brushbars now that the new bar is on, which we will do later this week.
• Fit the 32” dual row lightbar that was previously on the front of my old winchbar, to the rear underside of the RTT rack.
• Getting a custom steel fuel tank skid as I punctured 2 holes in the genuine plastic one over rocks.
• Have convinced a local manufacturer to produce a 5mm thick steel rear diff skid and pinion guard which will be done later this month.
• Purchase a RTT and fit it.
• Purchase a 3m long side awning.
• Replace beadlock wheels with 17x8 P0 steel wheels for less scrub angle and better performance.

I have a friend who recently purchased the new Ford Ranger Raptor with the +3” genuine factory long travel front end. He is building an alloy flatbed on the back, a removable alloy canopy with RTT ontop and side awning, also on 35” Nitto Trailgrapplers.



He knows the Victorian High Country well and has a plpan to explore and investigate the 200 odd historic cabins located throughout the region, and get the kids out into the great outdoors now that they are at a perfect age for it.

It is a work in progress that I hope to have completed in the next 6 weeks as we come out of this scorching summer and have her ready to hit the tracks and explore again. For those interested, I also have a running build I keep updated on instagram @Hilux_Max

Thank you for reading thus far….bunch of associated images below for your perusal. I will updated onwards as things happen.

 

[Wallygator]

Your ride is ridiculously ************

 

[Hilux_Max]

Yesterday I had some time with my fabricator to catch-up and continue work on my Hilux.

1. We mounted the rear RTT rack above the tray/flat-bed. This is almost complete…there are just a couple little small items to add to finish it off in a couple weeks.
2. We remounted the rear brush-bars we almost completed last time. My friend had finished off the welding and cleaning up of the end product. We just had to fabricate some side-support brackets that go from the top inside edge, up inside the tray fenders, across the top and down to the chassis. These will be gusseted and will still provide tyre clearance for stuffing 35’s and the strength required for the hard side-on hits if required.
3. We fabricated the front brush bars. These were a bit fiddly, as there is a whole bunch of different angles involved between the front bar, the fenders themselves, and going back down to mount in front of the rock-sliders whilst maintaining clearance for door opening and fender themselves.
4. We fitted the front spare tyre mount to the headboard, to gauge final position with the 35” tyre. This will also be completed now in next 2 weeks for final fitment. It will have a front “security” plate on it with a loop through the front plate from the back carrier itself so I can padlock it. It will be seriously difficult to try and steel should anyone be dumb enough to attempt it.
5. Which leaves the fuel tank skid plate……the 5mm sheet metal only came in the other day and this will be last item after the previous one are done.

A couple photo’s of the work in progress below:
[note: I have my 'smaller' and well worn 295/70R17 Toyo's fitted]

 

[02rangeredge]

Yesterday I had some time with my fabricator to catch-up and continue work on my Hilux.

1. We mounted the rear RTT rack above the tray/flat-bed. This is almost complete…there are just a couple little small items to add to finish it off in a couple weeks.
2. We remounted the rear brush-bars we almost completed last time. My friend had finished off the welding and cleaning up of the end product. We just had to fabricate some side-support brackets that go from the top inside edge, up inside the tray fenders, across the top and down to the chassis. These will be gusseted and will still provide tyre clearance for stuffing 35’s and the strength required for the hard side-on hits if required.
3. We fabricated the front brush bars. These were a bit fiddly, as there is a whole bunch of different angles involved between the front bar, the fenders themselves, and going back down to mount in front of the rock-sliders whilst maintaining clearance for door opening and fender themselves.
4. We fitted the front spare tyre mount to the headboard, to gauge final position with the 35” tyre. This will also be completed now in next 2 weeks for final fitment. It will have a front “security” plate on it with a loop through the front plate from the back carrier itself so I can padlock it. It will be seriously difficult to try and steel should anyone be dumb enough to attempt it.
5. Which leaves the fuel tank skid plate……the 5mm sheet metal only came in the other day and this will be last item after the previous one are done.

A couple photo’s of the work in progress below:
[note: I have my 'smaller' and well worn 295/70R17 Toyo's fitted]

I love flatbeds, they're so much more useful than factory boxes, I don't get why they aren't more popular over here, any shots of your buddy's ranger? It sounds like a beautiful beast

 

[Hilux_Max]

The Ranger is only just starting to get built. He is currently working on an alloy tray/flatbed for the removal canopy to be built, and trial fitting different wheels to gauge what would be the best offset for 35s'. He wants to keep the suspension standard as much as possible as really its a 10K+ investment Ford has installed on each vehicle. Front springs may be changed to get it back to standard height with bar and winch on the front, and he is making enquiring about rear airbags to be made up to help when the canopy is loaded on the rear end.

some images below....

trial fitting 35's on the front. standard is 33" (285's) . track is +3" per side and 1.5" over standard ranger.

Trial fitment of same bar as my Hilux for Ranger

Factory Fox Suspension

 

[02rangeredge]

The Ranger is only just starting to get built. He is currently working on an alloy tray/flatbed for the removal canopy to be built, and trial fitting different wheels to gauge what would be the best offset for 35s'. He wants to keep the suspension standard as much as possible as really its a 10K+ investment Ford has installed on each vehicle. Front springs may be changed to get it back to standard height with bar and winch on the front, and he is making enquiring about rear airbags to be made up to help when the canopy is loaded on the rear end.

some images below....

trial fitting 35's on the front. standard is 33" (285's) . track is +3" per side and 1.5" over standard ranger.

Trial fitment of same bar as my Hilux for Ranger

Factory Fox Suspension

well now you have to post finished pictures for me, it's going to be so freaking awesome, and I love that bumper, especially the honeycomb cutouts, it's super clean and almost looks like it could've come stock

 

[Hilux_Max]

That time of year again here where I need to start planning and working towards preparing wood for the coming winter to keep our fireplace burning so the family is nice and warm.

Couple more loads like this over the coming weeks and should get a good amount of hard-wood to start processing and preparing for the hydraulic splitter - but damn this wood is so bloody heavy!

 

[Hilux_Max]

Small updates.....

1. Wired up the dual row 32" LED light bar on the rear.

2. Bought myself a GPS activated Heads Up Display unit. This plugs into the cigarette lighter power socket, picks up a GPS signal and lets you see how fast your really going (after calibrating) so I don't have to constantly run a GPS Speedo App on my cell phone, and look away from the road. This is more relevant to me when I fit my 35" tyres as they cause the speedo to be 10-12kph out at around 100km/h, even thou Im regeared to 4.8's. I will hard wire this into the rear of the power socket in the future-

3. This coming weekend, we will be fitting on the completed front and rear brush bars, we will fabricate the front brush bar internal supports inside the front bars wings, hidden from view and covered by the splashguards. And hopefully finalise the custom fuel tank skid.

4. The rear diff and pinion cover is just about done in development and should be good to go in 2 to 3 weeks -

Which brings me on to the "Overlanding Goodies" which I ordered yesterday:

5. Kings RTT with a 6man annexe [product image below]. This will open out sideways to the drivers side (RH) of vehicle-

6. A 1400mm sideawning which will go on the drivers side with a side cover.....this will cover the entry to the RTT annexe and will allow us to leave our shoes and anything else out the door without em getting wet if raining before entering the RTT.

7. A Rooftop luggage bag. This will sit ontop of my Rhino Pioneer platform and will hold items such as pillows, blankets, sleeping bags etc...all the bulky light stuff needed to ensure the kiddies are comfortable in their beds at night.

8. On the passenger side (LH), a 3mx3m meter side awning with a side cover as shown below. This is the perfect length to go from the back of my RTT rack to the A-Pillar at the front of the vehicle -

That should keep me busy next couple weekends. Then its equipment stocktake time to see what I need, how I will load everything and prepare for my trip away with 4 kids at the end of April......

With a harder and more full on Boys Trip to the Victoria High Country in early June before the track closures for the Winter. Hoping to do a 230odd kilometre offroad lap of the Wonnangatta Valley area over 3 days.

Details of planned route on page 3 of pdf below -
https://www.4wdvictoria.org.au/iconic4wd/images/tracks/info/info_wonnangatta.pdf

Thank you if you have ready thus far.....I appreciate your interest.

as she currently sits

 

[Hilux_Max]

Last weekend, went to my friends house where we completed fitment of the front and rear brushbars. These brushbars are supported on the innerside with bracketry to make side impacts more bearable when they occur.

Also mounted up the spare tyre mount which has a cover “lock-plate” that will have a padlock on it for security purposes. Yes, it will be a little challenging to remove the tyre when it is required, but this position allows me to consider a sub tank under the tray/flatbed where the spare tyre used to be housed for the future.

Note: That spare is my beadlocked 35" Trailgrappler....the alloys/tyres on my Hilux are my daily drivers in 295/70r17

Next weekend I will start on the awning fitment and RTT.

 

[Hilux_Max]

Last weekend I finally had an opportunity to fit/mount and test my camping/touring setup.

Saturday I spent mounting up the 3x3 m awning on the passenger side and the 1.4m awning on the drivers side, with the RTT being fitted to the rear rack/frame.

Then on Sunday morning I trialled setting everything up in the backyard to work out and understand how it all goes together. Took me 35 off minutes to setup with the kids, and less than 30minutes to pack it all up by myself. There is plenty of room - up top 1 adult and 2 kids can fit, a double air mattress fits below the RTT ladder, and on the other side of the 6 man annexe, easily fit another double air mattress and maybe another single beside it or two.

I think I will need to get the rear leaf springs reset to carry better the extra load of current setup when empty and to accommodate camp gear as well.

End of next month I have a camping trip with the kids to use it all in the bush!

For those of you that may be interested, I have a video tour of the setup on my instagram page #hilux_max

 

[Hilux_Max]

A couple photo's from last weekend away with the family.

Packing up tonight to go another couple days off-grid camping with the kids out bush. Hopefully have a few more images to share next week.