March 10, 2020

So, you’re probably wondering by now where the name Arctic Cruiser came from. Well it was the name given to the build after the owner, Mike. Mike’s a geophysicist and has spent his work life exploring the deepest waters of Antarctica. I know its polar opposite ends of the planet (arctic – antarctic) but the name seemed fitting so we ran with it.

The build started off with a fresh 2019 LC-79 dual cab GXL from our local dealership. Mike wanted to feel partly involved so he arranged the Jmacx coil conversion, ARB bar work and wheels & tyres himself. The rest is us.

By the time the vehicle arrived, we already had the tray sitting there pre-fitted, plumbed & wired. This was also the first tray running our new proprietary wiring harness, which basically means we now run all wires inside the same single loom, like you’d see in a car. This keeps them all the same, the wire colours and routing identical from job to job, resulting in a more professional product overall. Our LC-79 trays all come standard now with a few little perks like under-tray electrical sub board (fuse box), twin spare tyre mounts built into the headboard, LED reverse rock light at the back of the tray and also at the front, giving a nice illuminated road or track whilst reversing.

Since our earlier model LC-79 trays, we have adjusted the headboard shape so you now have the option for removable side boards, for when the canopy’s taken off giving you the versatility from quickly transforming from a touring rig to a farm truck and not compromising the look. The hinge straps simply slip off like most utes, and you can also now remove the stainless steel pins for an even cleaner look.

This tray has a few new features we’ve never done before like upholstered toolboxes & black texture powder coated tray flooring sheets just to take the shine off it and give it that high-end feel the owner wanted. We have also updated the toolbox LED internal lighting to a full length strip LED giving a much broader even light inside the boxes which automatically turn on when opening the doors. Then there’s the fuel filling point and hidden tap box, which both have LED lights and the digital air bag controls power up when the toolbox doors opened. The air bag controls at the rear isn’t anything new for us, but we have added a digital air tank pressure gauge in there to set this apart from the standard glass gauge.

The rear tap puts out house pressure water via the 12v marine pump, and includes a pressure switch so when the taps closed the pump turns off. Again nothing unusual here but we have however installed a second pump on the other side of the vehicle for pumping water into the tank. The way its plumbed is, you simply connect a garden hose or similar at the rear of the tray and turn on the switch. The pumps we use sport a 5 chamber diaphragm which means they can pump try without damage and in turn gives you the ability to run a length of hose down to the creek, dam or any stagnant water source and suck the air pocket in the hose until the water starts pumping in without any damage to the system. Lastly, this drafting system also includes a marine particle filter at the rear of the tray where you can simply unscrew the filter bulb and clean out or replace the filter.

Up front, the engine bay’s been fitted with a 105AH AGM deep cycle auxiliary battery and Redarc BCDC1220D. This auxiliary battery runs all the fitted accessories of the vehicle so you can guarantee you’ll wake up after a night camping and still start the car in the morning. Since there’s two winches, one front, one back we have installed a 3-way isolator switch so when not in use, the winches don’t have any power and you can easily switch from front, to back, or both. To top it off we have integrated a battery link device so from in the cab, you can press a button and link the two batteries together giving you twice as many cranking amps for winching or even jump starting your own engine off your second battery without even opening the bonnet.

To keep the battery posts clean and tidy we’ve also included a waterproof fuse box to house all the extra blade and midi fuses. Its a nice way to finish off an electrical install and keep all the fuses in one spot, easy to read and understand and get rid of those little blade fuse holders with you can never remember what which one does.

The interior we haven’t touched yet and is basically standard at this stage, as we’ll be doing that when the vehicle comes back for the canopy fitment. Make sure you check back on this blog post later as ill be adding to this at a later stage.
Thanks for reading,

Shannons Engineering.

RIG RUNDOWN:

• SE Custom steel tray 1850W x 1850L
• Aluminium under-tray tapered toolboxes
• 60L stored water system with 12v commercial pump & pressure switch
• 2nd 12v commercial pump for drafting water from stagnant water source
• Inline marine particle filter installed into drafting side plumbing
• Shortened passenger side toolbox with our signature hidden tap design
• ARB twin piston compressor inside toolbox and 80A dedicated circuit.
• Twin 9L alloy air tanks with stainless steel braided lines.
• ARB quick connect outlets in both rear toolboxes for pumping up tyres
• 12v 15a USB & Cig sockets in both toolboxes
• Airbagman air bag controls inside toolbox with digital bag gauge
• Digital air pressure gauge with digital battery voltage display built in
• Under-tray electrical sub-board/fuse box
• Central locking on toolboxes using genuine Toyota key FOB
• Auto on/off internal LED lighting inside toolboxes
• Jmacx coil conversion with 4200kg GVM upgrade
• Kings racing shocks with remote bypass
• ARB large tube bull bar & side steps
• Front Warn Zeon 12 Platinum 12,000lb winch with upgraded Spydura synthetic rope
• Upgrade front winch hook to Factor55 limited edition Ultrahook & rope guard
• Rear Bushranger Revo 12,000LB winch with synthetic rope
• Upgrade rear winch hook to Factor55 Prolink
• Colour rear view camera
• Integrated rear parking sensors built into tray frame
• Colour code front flares to match vehicle
• Pressed aluminium drop sides with stainless steel fittings
• Under vehicle LED rock light x8 on dash mounted switch
• Twin spare tyre cradle integrated into headboard design
• Black Powder coated accents. Flooring sheets, ARB side step treads
• Rhino Rack Pioneer Platform
• Upholstered under-tray toolboxes in marine carpet
• Stedi LED Headlight upgrade
• Stedi 40″ slim line LED light bar with dash isolator switch
• 4x Stedi 7″ mini light bars under side eve of roof platform on external switch
• Stedi type X pro LED 9″spot lights
• Black duck canvas seat covers
• Ocam electric towing mirrors
• LED parker light upgrade
• Hayman & Reece 3500kg heavy duty tow bar
• Redarc Towpro V3 electronic brake controller
• 105ah AGM deep cycle dual battery (engine bay)
• Redarc BCDC1225D dual battery isolator
• Battery link isolator with dash mounted switch. Links your dual batteries for winching or jump starting
• Blue sea waterproof fuse box (under bonnet) for neat wiring of accessories keeping wires off battery terminals
• Bonnet gas struts