LC120 assumptions, questions and queries - please help

[Animal Mother]

Now that Mrs AM and I have taken a look at LC90/95, Hilux and Amazon, we have finally decided on a 120 for daily use and UK/Overseas camping/overlanding.

Therefore, there are a bunch of things I need to get sorted (in my head) before I stump up hard cash for an LC120, so I'm not to regret buying the "wrong one". I'd appreciate the help of the brans trust on the following:

LC5s (and some LC4 with the option) had air suspension. Is that correct? - I don't want air suspension you see.

UK spec LC120s don't come with 180l fuel tank, even if they have a rear mounted spare wheel. Is that true?

I could fit a second spare wheen under the car if I have a rear mounted spare. Is that easy to do? - I looked under one yesterday and there seems to be a cooling pipe or something under there.

Some LC120s had a 171bhp engine. What years/specs have it?

There are injector recalls for all LC120s. Is that correct?

The spec I want is as follows (I think). Any comments or guidance is recommended:

LC120 LC3/4
Rear mounted spare.
Standard radio (want to fit my own).
No sunroof.
Climate control.
Cruise control.
Leather heated seats.
Rear locker (is this on all LC120s?).
Automatic
3.0 D4d (171bhp)
<100k miles

Based on all of the above, what year/spec should I be looking at?

Where there any model changes/updates/facelifts etc?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Rob Cowell]

>>LC5s (and some LC4 with the option) had air suspension. Is that correct? - I don't want air suspension you see.

I think only LC5s have it.

>>UK spec LC120s don't come with 180l fuel tank, even if they have a rear mounted spare wheel. Is that true?

Correct

>>I could fit a second spare wheen under the car if I have a rear mounted spare. Is that easy to do? - I looked under one yesterday and there seems to be a cooling pipe or something under there.

Thats probably the stubbed fuel pipe for connecting to an auxiallry tank. There's wiring for the fuel level sender too. The rear cross member for cars with an underslung wheel is different, but not very different. Should be able to weld on a bracket.

>> Some LC120s had a 171bhp engine. What years/specs have it?

From November 2006. Remember road tax jumps a lot after March 2006.

>> There are injector recalls for all LC120s. Is that correct?

https://www.landcruiserclub.net/community/threads/120-d4d-injector-recall.131750/

>> The spec I want is as follows (I think). Any comments or guidance is recommended:

No rear locker on LC4s, they have ATRAC electronic gubbins. Rear locker only on the LC3 and LC2.
I don't think you can get a rear locker and leather seats from the factory into the UK.

 

[Rob Cowell]

>>LC5s (and some LC4 with the option) had air suspension. Is that correct? - I don't want air suspension you see.

I think only LC5s have it.

>>UK spec LC120s don't come with 180l fuel tank, even if they have a rear mounted spare wheel. Is that true?

Correct

>>I could fit a second spare wheen under the car if I have a rear mounted spare. Is that easy to do? - I looked under one yesterday and there seems to be a cooling pipe or something under there.

Thats probably the stubbed fuel pipe for connecting to an auxiallry tank. There's wiring for the fuel level sender too. There's an additional cross member for securing the wheel not on the rear door carrier models, plus a few brackets. Plus the rear cross member needs a couple of hooks adding which aren't on the rear door mount models. I don't think it's a major job but a few £'00 of parts and some welding.

>> Some LC120s had a 171bhp engine. What years/specs have it?

From November 2006. Remember road tax jumps a lot after March 2006.

>> There are injector recalls for all LC120s. Is that correct?

https://www.landcruiserclub.net/community/threads/120-d4d-injector-recall.131750/

>> The spec I want is as follows (I think). Any comments or guidance is recommended:

No rear locker on LC4s, they have ATRAC electronic gubbins. Rear locker only on the LC3 and LC2.
I don't think you can get a rear locker and leather seats from the factory into the UK. Everything else you want is an LC3.[/QUOTE]

 

[Animal Mother]

Thank you.

It's a massive shame about the 180l tank. That would be a huge benefit! I suppose a second wheel, or even a water or auxiliary fuel tank would be useful.

I'll have to look carefully at road tax/power for the 2006 year. Good to know.

Is a rear locker more favourable than the ATRAC system?

I'm going to get sheepskin seat covers anyway so leather isn't important. Can you get heated cloth seats?

 

[Trevor]

The LC5 has the climate controls integrated into the radio/sat nav which means you can't replace the radio for something different. The LC3 and LC4 don't have this setup so you could replace with a double DIN unit.

Whichever one you look at, get underneath, particularly the underbody and inner sills as they are not as robust to rust as earlier cruisers. I would add to your budget to have the underneath properly rust treated (I don't like waxoil or Dinitrol) Have a look at Krown, Buzzweld and Rustbuster as options.

 

[Rob Cowell]

Thank you.

It's a massive shame about the 180l tank. That would be a huge benefit! I suppose a second wheel, or even a water or auxiliary fuel tank would be useful.

I'll have to look carefully at road tax/power for the 2006 year. Good to know.

Is a rear locker more favourable than the ATRAC system?

I'm going to get sheepskin seat covers anyway so leather isn't important. Can you get heated cloth seats?

You can buy auxillary tanks, either OEM or aftermarket. There was a thread on this a while back. Eg https://the-overlander.myshopify.co...e-tank-suit-toyota-prado-120-series-auxiliary

I don't think the LC3 ever had heated seats.

ATRAC is pretty good by all accounts, but it's more electronics. The manual lockers seize up with lack of use, so make sure if you look for one it works. The red indicator light will flash if it's not engaging.

 

[Animal Mother]

Ok. Looking at the tax brackets and considering what is above, it's looking like the following:

Pre-March 06 LC4
Heated leather seats.
Standard radio
No sunroof (if possible)
Automatic
Rear mounted spare
Cruise control
Climate control
<100k

Based on all of the above, I think I'm looking at the £7k-£9k area.

I'd rather buy privately with a MrT FSH I think.

Thoughts?

Planned mods will be snorkel, drawer system, rear table, AT tyres, cargo barrier, radio with BT/GPS/USB/etc.

If anyone knows of a good one, please let me know.

 

[Bhutan]

Ok. Looking at the tax brackets and considering what is above, it's looking like the following:

Pre-March 06 LC4
Heated leather seats.
Standard radio
No sunroof (if possible)
Automatic
Rear mounted spare
Cruise control
Climate control
<100k

Based on all of the above, I think I'm looking at the £7k-£9k area.

I'd rather buy privately with a MrT FSH I think.

Thoughts?

Planned mods will be snorkel, drawer system, rear table, AT tyres, cargo barrier, radio with BT/GPS/USB/etc.

If anyone knows of a good one, please let me know.

Sounds like you're almost there with the spec!

Just to add a couple of 120 notes in addition to the great info passed on from others above, several Australian companies manufacture auxiliary fuel tanks which fit in the space where the under floor mounted spare wheel would potentially normally sit. This can take you up to the 180 litre capacity give or take. However, caution the below!

If you are looking for a second spare wheel, you have options. You could either buy a purpose built rear bumper with carrier for 2 spare wheels, or buy an LC4 with the under floor spare, then buy a used door from a wreckers with the spare wheel fittings, and hey presto, there's your 2 spare wheels. Or you could throw the second spare on the roof, or inside.

Of note, if you buy a 120 with the spare wheel under the floor, then go for the purpose built rear bumper for the spare wheels and remount your spare to there, the auxiliary fuel tanks from a Australia don't fit where your spare used to be! The chassis frame is different at the back end of the 120s with the spare on the door versus the spare under the floor!!

If you want a really tidy installation re extra fuel capacity and 2 spare wheels, buy a 120 with the spare on the rear door, buy a fancy rear bumper with the 2 spare wheel carriers, and buy an auxiliary fuel tank for under the floor from Australia. Spendy, yes, but very neat and tidy.

Read all the 120 threads on here for the past 3 years, there's all sorts of good info. And look at www.autotrader.co.uk for vehicle prices and spec comparisons, it gave me a really good idea of what I wanted re spec, and price expectations. You may have to dig in your wallet a little deeper for a really good one.

Good luck, and welcome to the club!

 

[Animal Mother]

Thank you Bhutan. Certainly some considerations there!

 

[stumog]

They say a 95 fuel tank works as a aux tank on the 120.

 

[Animal Mother]

They say a 95 fuel tank works as a aux tank on the 120.

Very interesting. I wonder if anyone on the forum has done so.

 

[stumog]

I read about it on south African forum and some in aus

 

[Trevor]

I ordered in the full 120 aux tank parts from Toyota for a customer. You need to replace the main fuel tank with one that has the extra gubbins to work with the aux as it's quite a complex system.

The aux tank is identical to a Colorado main, but the additional pipe work, filler tube and electricals come to an eye watering £3500 before fitting.

I honestly think the aftermarket tank route would be much better value for money.

 

[Animal Mother]

It seems easier to get an LC5 with underbody spare than an LC4 with a rear mounted wheel. Too many silver cars too.

 

[silvercruiser]

the under slung spare was an optional extra on the lc4. I was just lucky that my LC4 had this option. they do come up but not often.