The Total Cost to Build our 76 (70) Series Toyota Land Cruiser – Stage One
Our 76 Series Land Cruiser Total Build Cost.
There is probably no better way in celebrating our 100th blog post on 4WD Adventurer with a detailed summary of the total cost of our 76 (70) Series Toyota Land Cruiser build. This is “stage one” as we have learnt a lot and made a few mistakes as we have progressed along our build. Stage two will address a few modification mistakes and issues, with these build changes planned over the next few years to our 76 (70) Series Toyota Land Cruiser.
Below we discuss what we wanted to achieve in stage one of our 76 Series Land Cruiser build, a few of the mistakes and issues we faced through the build, our total costs, areas where we could have saved more money, and some of our plans for stage two of our build. We have added a lot of content to this post so it will take a good 15 minutes to read it all.
As always, if you have any questions or feedback please comment below this post and to keep up to date on future posts please join the 4WD Adventurer Community.
Our 76 Land Cruiser Build Goals
The decision was made back in 2019 to sell our second Jeep Wrangler and join the Land Cruiser family as we wanted both an increase in payload and towing capacity. Unfortunately, wagons are the worst when it comes to payload, but the 76 Series Land Cruiser is one of the better in the bunch. Although you can get carried away with some modernisation modifications of the 70 Series Land Cruiser which will quickly eat away at that payload so be warned. If you are after a big payload then stay well clear of a wagon in our opinion.
Our main goal with our 76 Series Land Cruiser build was achieving both a reliable and versatile touring 4WD within GVM. Versatility in our build means we can comfortably go touring in Australia without our trailer and have everything we need, within reason. This has meant that there are a few luxuries we do not need in our 4WD as we have these in our trailer but still be able to travel without the DOT in tow and still be comfortable. Reliability is extremely important to us; therefore, we went down the Toyota path and have been conservative with most modifications in our 4WD build. This is not to say other vehicles are not any good, but when it comes to remote travel, Toyota’s are the most common vehicle and parts are easier to come by. Our conservative approach to our build has meant that we have not done any crazy engine upgrades, kept our 12V setup as simple as possible (although there is a bit going on here and probably more than we originally planned), and maintained our modifications within the legalities of the State of Queensland. By sticking to this approach, we believe we have maintained reliability with less things to potentially go wrong with our 4WD. We have stayed clear of massive wheels, huge suspension lifts, insane engine performance gains, and crazy 12V upgrades that do fancy things. Overall, our setup is quite simple even though it has cost an arm and a leg, but still within our original budget. Doing all of this within GVM was another key goal and has been the biggest challenge we have faced throughout this project.
Mistakes Made but A Lot Learned
During our build planning stage, we found a lot of misinformation out there. It was often biased (usually due to brand bias, sponsorships or other arrangements not disclosed), never detailed enough, benefits overstated while obvious issues ignored, and the costs involved hardly ever disclosed. As we are amateurs in the 4WD game, although we are far more knowledgeable now than we ever were before, we found it difficult at times to make the right decisions and obtain the correct information. Our naivety in a few areas caused us to make some silly mistakes which we will solve in stage two of our build. One of the biggest hurdles we faced throughout our build has been GVM and the struggles to plan a 4WD build accurately. Throughout our research we found that many companies in the 4WD industry make obtaining weight information on their products far more difficult than it should be. With what we now know, we would be able to easily distinguish any half-truths we were fed; this has come at a cost but there is only one way to learn I suppose. A couple of mistakes here and there, can derail any well-planned build which we will discuss in another post highlighting all of these in more detail.
With all the challenges we faced throughout our build we wanted to try and ensure that we provided unbiased and detailed information throughout the build process on our 4WD Adventurer blog. Our goal has always been to highlight all the great things about some of the gear we use as well as their short comings. Hopefully, we have achieved this. This goal has meant that we have only shared our thoughts on the upgrades that we have done after real-world testing. Hopefully ensuring our posts provide some decent honest feedback. Rather than fit something, do one weekend trip, then rave about how great the modification has been. Therefore, you will see our build posts taking you through the installation of a particular modification first, then a second post reviewing it 12 to 24 months later. Hopefully, this post will provide you with a great overview of what you need to budget if you plan on doing something similar with a 76 (70) Series Toyota Land Cruiser or other 4WD. As the 70 Series Toyota Land Cruiser does require some modifications that no other 4WD would ever need, we will highlight these below so that you can see the total costs for the build of a 76 Series Toyota Land Cruiser and the total costs for any other 4WD.
Cost of Our Land Cruiser Build
The below build costs of our 76 Series Land Cruiser do not include certain gear like storage bags, recovery gear, roof rack accessories, tools, spares, and our fridge. They only include vehicle specific modifications. If you follow us on Instagram, you would have seen a few recent modifications which we have not included below as these will be in Stage Two, our rear seat conversion for example.
Below we have listed all the main modifications in stage one of our 76 (70) Series Toyota Land Cruiser build. All modifications highlight what we actually paid, if we received any discounts, and the normal retail price when we did receive a discount. The few discounts we received, were either through normal negotiations, special offers, or companies we have worked with for a long period of time. From what you can see below these discounts were minimal. Most listed modifications will include links to more detailed posts we have written throughout our build. We have also highlighted sections of the build that relate only to the 70 Series Toyota Land Cruiser, so these are easily identifiable. Any modifications we did ourselves or by someone else have also been highlighted. The more you do yourself the cheaper this will obviously be. The below list of our 76 Series Land Cruiser build costs is in no order of priority or importance.
| Modifications & Additions | Work Done By | 70 Series | Discount | We Paid | Normal Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ARB Big Tube Steel Bull Bar | ARB | No | No | $2,408 | $2,408 |
| Rhino Rack Pioneer Platform | ARB | No | Yes | $1,545 | $1,900 |
| ARB Diff Breathers | ARB | No | No | $321 | $321 |
| Towbar by Speedy Towbars | Speedy Towbars | No | No | $780 | $780 |
| Redarc Tow-Pro Elite V3 Electric Brake Controller | Speedy Towbars | No | No | $615 | $615 |
| ARB On Board Twin Compressor | Self | No | No | $780 | $780 |
| BFG (BF Goodrich) KM3 Mud Terrain Tyres | Tyre Busters | No | No | $1,750 | $1,750 |
| Dynamic Wheel Co Steel Rims | Tyre Busters | No | No | $575 | $575 |
| Uneek 4×4 Rear Bar | Speedy Towbars | No | No | $3,052 | $3,052 |
| Dual Battery + All 12V Electrical Work | Speedy Towbars & Self | No | Yes | $1,900 | $3,500 |
| Redarc DCDC In-Vehicle Charger | Speedy Towbars | No | Yes | $600 | $720 |
| Redarc 1000W Inverter | Speedy Towbars | No | Yes | $850 | $1,000 |
| Fulcrum & Airbag Man Suspension Setup | Fulcrum | No | Yes | $2,950 | $3,750 |
| Just Autos Dyno Tune | Just Autos | No | No | $1,500 | $1,500 |
| Heavy Duty Clutch | Just Autos | No | No | $2,500 | $2,500 |
| Drifta 4WD Rear Drawers | Self | No | No | $2,600 | $2,600 |
| Runva Winch | Self | No | Yes | $950 | $990 |
| Drifta (Supa Peg) 270 Degree Awning | Self | No | No | $1,100 | $1,100 |
| Western Filters Fuel Pre-Filter | Self | No | No | $275 | $275 |
| Provent / Western Filters Oil Catch Can | Self | No | No | $400 | $400 |
| Oricom UHF & Antenna | Self | No | No | $375 | $375 |
| Electronic Rust Protection | Speedy Towbars | No | Yes | $550 | $750 |
| 3″ Exhaust | Speedy Towbars | No | Yes | $400 | $550 |
| TJM Snorkel | Self | No | Yes | $430 | $490 |
| 9″ LED Driving Lights | Self | No | No | $150 | $150 |
| JMACX High Clearance Mounts* | JMACX | Yes | No | $860 | $860 |
| Upgraded Sound System, Speaker Pods & Reverse Camera* | Maroochy Car Sound | Yes | No | $1,050 | $1,050 |
| Sound Deadening* | Maroochy Car Sound | Yes | No | $1,700 | $1,700 |
| Total Stage One Build Costs | $32,966 | $36,441 | |||
| Total Stage One Build Costs (excl 70 Series) | $29,356 | $32,831 | |||
From the above you can see stage one of our 76 (70) Series Toyota Land Cruiser build cost was approximately $33,000. If we did not receive a few discounts along the way this would have been $36,500. Excluding the 70 Series Toyota Land Cruiser modifications our total build cost was $29,500 or $33,000 without any discounts. These costs of course do not include the cost of the 76 (70) Series Toyota Land Cruiser. Without any dealer discounts you will be paying more than $72,000 for a brand spanking new 76 Series Toyota Land Cruiser. When we purchased our 76 Series Toyota Land Cruiser, we used a car broker to find us the best deal for a 76 in Queensland at the time and paid $69,000 drive away. This takes the total cost of stage one of our 76 (70) Series Toyota Land Cruiser build to just under $102,000. This is a significant outlay and to think we have not done any major modifications (example, coil conversion) that are common with 70 Series Land Cruiser owners.
The total cost of stage one of our 76 (70) Series Toyota Land Cruiser build = $102,000
DIY Will Save You Big
There are quite a few of the modifications throughout our build that were done by someone else that we could have done ourselves. If we had done more ourselves then we could have saved another 10-15%. If you have the skills or know a mate that does, then the more you can do yourself the far better off you will be when it comes to your total spend. On top of this, if you do it yourself you know how it was installed and how it works. If something goes wrong, you are more likely able to resolve the issue.
Where We could Have Saved
There are a few upgrades we have done in stage one of our 76 (70) Series Toyota Land Cruiser build where we believe we wasted money and would probably do it differently if we could do this over again, this would have reduced our total build costs.
We have written a detailed post on our Uneek 4×4 rear bar and why we would go another way with everything we now know. This bar is by far the most expensive for the 76 Land Cruiser. If we could start over again, we would probably go with a Kaymar or Cruiser Company rear bar and save a few dollars as well as have less issues. You can read our post here to see why we dislike this rear bar.
Overall, we are happy with our 12V setup. The one main thing we would do over here is doing all the work ourselves. We did do some of the 12V work ourselves, but we should have done all of it. This would have saved us a bit more money, but we did receive some good pricing on materials and labour from Speedy Towbars. The other change here would be simplifying our 12V setup even more. When seeing lots of crazy 12V setups you can sometimes get a bit carried away. We would significantly reduce the amount of wiring and other things if we did this all over again. Our Redarc 1000W inverter is also over kill. We should have done significantly smaller here and saved a bit more cash. We do not need 1000 Watts. At the time we thought we would rather go bigger in the event we needed this in the future, but we are not going to be running any big 240V electrical items, so this was a bit stupid. Our Redarc BCDC in-vehicle charger is a 40-amp charger and again this is over kill. We should have gone with a smaller charger and saved a few dollars here.
Drifta do make decent rear drawers and overall, they have been pretty good in our setup. This is our second set of Drifta drawers. For most people, the Drifta drawer setup will be perfect for what they need. But what they ended up costing us when you include shipping from country NSW to Southeast Queensland at just under $3k, they are not cheap. They are not the heaviest set of drawers, but they could be made a lot lighter with reductions in the amount of material used, design improvements, and a few other changes. In hindsight we would prefer to make our own lightweight custom rear drawer setup for less than half what we paid. We do have the contacts that will be able to provide some assistance with such a project so this might not be an option for everyone. Although it is not that difficult to make a carbon copy out of plywood at a fraction of the cost if you have the tools and skills. In stage two of our build, we will be addressing our rear drawers as we have plans to make some big improvements in this area.
The JMACX High Clearance Mounts that improve the lowest clearance point by raising the leaf spring mounts, are an expensive modification for the overall benefits. For a touring 70 Series Toyota Land Cruiser these are a waste of money in our opinion. If you are planning on doing a lot of rough off-roading on rutted out and rocky 4WD tracks then these would be a good modification. But for a 4WD that will mainly be touring then do not waste your money on these JMACX high clearance mounts.
Sound Deadening
We would recommend anyone with a 70 Series Land Cruiser installs sound deadening as it makes a big difference to road noise and insulation. But we were lazy here and had this fitted by someone else. This is a labour-intensive job as it is time consuming especially in the 76 wagons if you choose to apply sound deadening throughout the interior: floor, roof, and all doors. If we did this again, we would do this job ourselves and save more than 50% with only the cost of materials.
Stage Two Build Changes
In Stage Two of our build, we plan on making a few changes that will fix a few of the mistakes and issues we faced in our current build.
GVM & Government Changes
When we set out on our build, we never planned on having a full GVM upgrade. Our reasoning here was we never wanted to have high load rated rear springs well above what we needed leading to a terrible ride. On top of this we have always wanted to keep our weight as low as possible for all the obvious benefits.
As we did meticulous calculations on build weights for our payload, with what we have done so far, we knew we would be within GVM. However, we had planned on adding a long-range fuel tank and carry an additional spare wheel. To achieve this, we only needed another 150kgs in GVM. Our initial plan was to fix the rear track correction issue in the 70 Series Toyota Land Cruiser by fitting a JMACX rear diff housing and axle upgrade. At the time of planning our build, fitting a JMACX rear diff housing and axle upgrade, allowed you to get engineering approval for another 10% increase in GVM. This was due to the increase load rating of the JMACX upgraded rear axles. As we only planned to fit a long-range tank and carry another spare wheel far further down the track, we took our time in organise the JMACX diff to be fitted. In March 2021, after waiting two months, we had the JMACX upgraded diff fitted to our 76 Series Land Cruiser for about 3 hours! Unfortunately, when the engineer arrived to sign off on the modification, JMACX were advised that Queensland Transport had verbally removed the GVM increase certification that they had the week before. Typical Government bureaucracies making changes but not actually informing the affected companies and public of such changes. At the time this occurred the certifications were still showing up as approved on the State Government websites. As a result, we had the JMACX diff removed and our stock Toyota one put back in. If we had it fitted this the week before, or did not have delays in getting it fitted, the engineer would have been able to sign off on this increase.
This was extremely frustrating for us as the JMACX modification was the final part of the build that would ensure we could do a couple more modifications and stay comfortably within GVM. As this has now occurred, we are currently revisiting a few of our modifications and will most likely go down the path of a GVM suspension upgrade which we never really wanted to do. We do have a few other build changes that will be addressing weight so we might be able to get around this, but time will tell. This has been unfortunate and is going to cost us a bit more money, but hopefully our mistakes will help you not make the same ones. Although the Government changes were a bit out of our control. Our recommendation is if there is a modification that has approvals in place, get it done as quick as possible as you never know when the State might decide it is no longer allowed.
Other Planned Changes
Some of our other planned changes include replacing our ARB bull bar and Runva winch. You can read our detailed post on our ARB bull bar for more information. But basically, this is a weight saving exercise as we were provided some incorrect information by ARB at the start of our build. Our Runva winch change is also to address a reduction in weight. We really made the wrong choice when it came to our winch, and we should have always gone with a lightweight Carbon winch. This is only a 10kg weight saving but it does add up. Both our bull bar and winch have been sold so this change is happening in the next couple of months.
Other planned changes include making our own custom lightweight rear drawers, addressing GVM, fitting a long-range fuel tank, and an additional rear tyre carrier for another spare wheel. As we progress through the second stage of our build, we will continue to document it all on the 4WD Adventurer blog so keep posted on any future changes. There are a few planned in the coming months so you will see some of these updates soon.
You Do Not Need to Spend Stupid Money
Hopefully, you appreciate us sharing the total cost of stage one of our 76 (70) Series Toyota Land Cruiser build. This does highlight how expensive modifying a 4WD is with our Land Cruiser build costs more than $30,000, excluding the vehicle, and there is a lot more we could do. Where you can do modifications yourself this will have a big impact on costs. We are not very mechanical but have been able to do a few things ourselves which have been beneficial in not only saving money but also understanding how things work. Of course, there are some things that you should just leave to the experts, but the odd saving here and there can add up quickly.
You do not need to spend $100,000 on a 4WD to have a decent vehicle and enjoy everything Australia has to offer. We are fortunate to be in a position where we can do what we have done but this has taken years of saving, working good jobs, and a lot of sacrifices along the way. If you could see how we used to go camping out of the back of our cheap 4WD, basic tent (that caused many an argument), and our simple gear thrown in plastic boxes, we still had an awesome time. It might have taken a lot longer to pack and get setup, but we still got out there and enjoyed everything Australia has to offer. It is easy for us to now say this as we have a great setup, but it does not matter what you have, you just need to get out there and enjoy yourself.
If we have not covered off anything or there are certain things you might have more questions on in regards to the build cost of our 76 Series Land Cruiser, please let us know by commenting at the bottom of this post. If you want to keep up to date on all our future posts then please join the 4WD Adventurer community here and you will receive updates on all our new content. For more regular updates then follow us on Instagram.
Thanks for reading the total cost of stage one of our 76 (70) Series Toyota Land Cruiser build, we really appreciate the support.
05/08/2021 @ 8:32 AM
Guys, genuinely informative and well written. A lot of time and effort invested and it is certainly appreciated.
As I find myself awaiting the delivery of my new 76 wagon after 20 years of having (three) Land Rover Defenders, your articles have been very apt as I look to my upcoming build.
Regards,
Mike.
05/08/2021 @ 2:04 PM
Hi Mike,
Really appreciate the feedback mate. There is definitely a bit of time involved but we really felt we needed to share what we have learnt along the way. It has been a fun experience and great to hear when it has been useful to someone else. Congratulations on making the big move! The South African side of my family are Defender crazy. I believe one of them wears Land Rover underpants 🙂 . Good luck with the build and please do not hesitate to reach out if you have any questions on anything.
If you are planning on doing a thorough build with some similarities to ours, I would highly recommend looking into a GVM upgrade when it comes to your suspension setup. The payload disappears quickly in the 76 which is the one disadvantage over the 79 and Troopy.
Cheers,
Peter