Land Cruiser Build Snorkel

Why We Chose A Sealed TJM Airtec Snorkel

In this part of the Land Cruiser build we fit a sealed snorkel. We had been looking into what snorkel we would go with to replace the rubbish factory one that is not sealed, so of course this is not a snorkel. Don’t really know why Toyota waste their time, should just fit a proper snorkel at the start but I suppose they don’t want to recommend river crossings.

It looked like we were going to go with the usual Safari setup. However, the idea of having half our fender cut away just didn’t sit right with us. Land Cruisers are known for becoming absolute rust buckets as well and cutting away part of the body would just not help with this. We got a few quotes to fit a Safari snorkel as this was not something we would be attempting to do ourselves and all quotes fitted were around the $950 mark. Then one of our mates told us about the TJM Airtec snorkel that uses all factory mounting points and doesn’t require any cutting. We were a bit sceptical though as we had seen some TJM snorkels on other types of 4WD’s and they were a really weird design and shape and we just did not like the look of them. We don’t mind the look of the Safari one however it is a bit bulky. So I saw the TJM Airtec fitted on Rick’s Cruiser (@richierichsa) and I was super impressed. It looked really good, similar to the Safari snorkel but far less bulky. Pretty similar size to the factory one.

TJM were having a 10% off sale on snorkels so we decided to get one. Ended up costing $431 on sale which is really good. As I will be fitting it myself, there are no other costs so more than half the price of a fitted Safari snorkel. We also purchased a Uni Filter filter cover for the snorkel for $50 however going forward we will probably buy these online as you can get them cheaper and now we know the size.

Not many components to the TJM Airtec snorkel kit. See the photos below of what you get. You do use a few of the existing factory components as well. The fitting instructions provided are good with lots of images and super easy to follow. See my tips below as these will almost halve your fitting time. The estimated fitting time is 2 hours however I did this in under 45 minutes and could have been even quicker if I knew a few of the tips below beforehand.

Fitting the Snorkel

For fitting the snorkel all you need is the following:

• 12mm socket and socket extension.
• 12mm spanner for two of the bolts that are harder to get to.
• 5mm Allen key for the two supplied bolts.
• Flat head and Phillips head screwdrivers.
• WD40 and a nice rag to clean up after removing the factory one.
• A few band aids after you cut your fingers a few times 😀.

The instructions are fairly clear. So to start you undo the bolts holding the factory unit in place and then remove the factory one. Then undo the hose clamp connecting this to the air box and remove this section of the snorkel. This was a bit tedious and make sure your remove the hose clamp first and then take this out in the engine bay side, not as per the images in the instructions. You have to squeeze the hose together to get it out through the limited space you have here. Then remove the fender clip and then give everything a good wipe with WD40 and a nice rag. Then it is a matter of connecting the supplied hose to the air box with the hose clamps fitted loosely. Once you get that in place you then need to add the snorkel. This is fairly straight forward, line it up with the hose connected to the air box, squeeze the hose together (as the hose is round and the snorkel piece is rectangular) and then push the snorkel with your body while holding the hose. It should just slip into place. Push all the way until the snorkel is sitting nice and snug up against the body of the Cruiser. Then screw in the supplied M8 bolts with the 5mm Allen key, but only tighten loosely.

Now the the snorkel is connected to the hose, tighten up the two hose clamps using your flathead screwdriver. Using the supplied bracket and the original rubber backing, bolt (original bolts) the bracket to the Cruiser A pillar (again only tighten loosely) and then do the same bolting the snorkel to the bracket with the existing bolts. Only tighten loosely as well. Now check your hose clamps are tight and once you are happy with how it is all fitted, tighten the bolts in the following order: supplied M8’s to the fender, factory bolts to the A pillar and finally the factory bolts to the snorkel. Once all tightened you can add the snorkel head using the supplied black hose clamp. Straighten and tighten.

There you have it, a fully sealed snorkel fitted in under 45 minutes. However I recon you could do it in 30 minutes easily.

Tips to Save You Some Time

Here are some tips when fitting a TJM Airtec snorkel from what we learnt in this part of the Land Cruiser build.

• When removing the factory unit and all bolts have been removed, the unit needs to slide towards the driver side about 20mm to come off as it sits on a plastic rivet.
• After the factory unit has been removed and you remove the stainless bolt and pull the rectangular black plastic piece out of the fender, loosen and remove the hose clamp from the air box, and then remove this plastic unit in the engine bay side. To do this you will need to squeeze the round section to get out and turn the rest of the plastic piece around to get it out. Hard to explain in words but you will work it when doing it.
• When removing the plastic rivet that was connected to the factory unit, there are two notches on the inside that need to be squeezed together for this to slide out easily. I wasted 5 minutes here trying to get this off.
• When adding the TJM Airtec snorkel, line this up with the hose already fitted to the air box, and then hold the hose with both your hands and squeeze this from top to bottom as you need to fit the snorkel into this end of the hose but it is rectangular. Use your body to then push the snorkel into the hose until it goes all the way in and the snorkel is nice and snug against the body of the Cruiser.

Hopefully the tips above save you a bit of time when fitting.

Issues

Overall the snorkel is well made, seems really solid and looks like it will last. The only issue I have is with the supplied bolts, washers and bracket. The powder coating is terrible. For example, the bracket is not a nice smooth finish and there are a few chips and scratches. Also the washers look like it was someone’s first ever effort at powder coating something. I will end up getting my own and painting them myself. Mine was not a one off bad batch as my mates one was exactly the same. Little things like this annoy me but at the end of the day won’t affect the function of the snorkel.

Overall Verdict

What do we think about the sealed TJM Airtec snorkel in this part of our Land Cruiser build? Overall we are really happy with how easy it was to fit. Didn’t require any cutting so we could do this ourselves and save quite a bit of money that can be spent somewhere else on Big Betty. Overall it was more than half the price of a fitted Safari snorkel. Finally it looks really good and not too bulky.

We have been driving with the snorkel now for a few months and road noise is slightly better than the stock one. Make sure you check your clamp at the top of the snorkel as it can get loose.

If you have any questions or comments about the snorkel part of our Land Cruiser build then message us on Instagram or comment below. If you like our content then please subscribe below and follow us on Instagram. Thanks for reading legends 👍.

For more information on the TJM Airtec snorkel on their website, click this link.

For more posts on our Land Cruiser build, click this link.

The thoughts of Peter.

This is not a sponsored post, we bought this gear and it’s an honest review of what we think about it!