NOVEMBER, 2021

For those who have been following us since the beginning, you may remember this car. This was our first LC79 to come through the shop back in 2018 and the one which started it all, setting our benchmark in LC79 trays and canopies and the inception of the LunarLeg2000 designs.

Check out the original build here: 2018 LC79 Military GXL Its actually quite humbling to look back and read how things were done back then and admire how far we have come, even down to the use of technology and hardware available at the time, in comparison to how they are done today.

The owner wanted to put the spark back in his 4WD and instead of starting again, he decided to reinvest in his current Land Cruiser, the one he’s had since new and knows so well. He has been following us and our journey and seen how things have changed over the years and wanted that new car feeling again. He was so happy with his old set up and how it performed, he got in touch with us and we started planning his new build.

The vehicle came to us battered and beaten, definitely used, but not broken. The first step was to remove the existing tray and canopy which was sent by interstate road freight, resprayed in white and was raffled off on a LMCT+ charity giveaway. See the pics below of this process. His new tray was installed with a completely new wiring system and with a good detail, the car now resembles one of our new 2021 builds.

Throughout that build process he also installed a Jmacx replacement rear diff to correct the rear track width and upgraded the suspension for that new car feel.

The obvious feature of this build is the forward mounted spare tyre cradle, (supplied by others) which brings the weight of the tyres and cradle forward and before the rear axle. This also enables the canopy to be removed easily whilst keeping the tyres on the tray. The cradle allows for the tyres to swing out and down getting them a bit closer to the ground for easy changing.

The other stand out feature was the installation of electric lift-off rams built into the canopy framework. With use of a wireless keyring fob, one person can easily lift the canopy up off the tray and insert the LunarLeg2000 telescopic fixed canopy legs, press the button again to retract the rams, and simply drive away. No heavy cumbersome generic winding legs and a simple effortless process. I believe this will be the future of our canopy leg systems which we are now starting to roll out.

The tray is packed with features hidden away, some things include colour coded paint finish, 60L water system with pump, 12v air compressor with alloy air tanks, the air system is also integrated into his ARB Linx system which he can control the compressor and inflate/deflate the rear airbags from the driver seat.

The canopy has our latest 12v system by Enerdrive and boasts a 200ah lithium battery, AC/DC chargers, Simarine display and a 2600w inverter for using his power tools on site.

For more info, take a look at the rig rundown below and the photos and YouTube walk around.

Thanks for reading.

Shannons Engineering.