New 2005 Landcruiser owner

[Mark Harol]

Hello Group,
I just bought a 2005 Landcruiser so I could take my 9 Grandkids camping and off the grid. I seek advice on a few things.
I want to customize it by:
1: black custom rims, that are good for off roading?
2. Cool looking off road tires, but ones that will be good, on a road trip or for DD?
3. Grill’s front and back?
4. Can I get an after market, wood steering wheel for that year?
5. Sould the car be lifted some?
6. Want to get a nice tent and platform for the roof?
7. I live around Raleigh, NC, anyone know of any good off road drives around N.C.?

I appreciate any Advice offered.

 

[clivehorridge]

Hello Group,
I just bought a 2005 Landcruiser so I could take my 9 Grandkids camping and off the grid. I seek advice on a few things.
I want to customize it by:
1: black custom rims, that are good for off roading?
2. Cool looking off road tires, but ones that will be good, on a road trip or for DD?
3. Grill’s front and back?
4. Can I get an after market, wood steering wheel for that year?
5. Sould the car be lifted some?
6. Want to get a nice tent and platform for the roof?
7. I live around Raleigh, NC, anyone know of any good off road drives around N.C.?

I appreciate any Advice offered.

Welcome aboard Mark

First off, some photos would be good, always sparks some interest

This post is just my personal thoughts....

1. The standard LC wheels will be good for most types of medium difficulty offroading. You’ll be able to get them professionally painted if you really want them to be black. Steel rims are a good option if you prefer them to alloys.
If youre planning more serious offroading, or rock crawling, you could consider bead-lock steels, they allow you to air down more without popping a tyre off the rim. Theyre not so good on a daily drive though, heavy and hard to balance.

2. I like BFG. For road and medium offroad, the AT will be fine, the KO series, KO 2 or 3. More agressive are the mud range, KM 2 or 3. Theyre a bit noisier on asphalt and less grip in the wet, but good for what they're designed for, MUD!

3. I dont know what you mean. Light protection grilles? I’d suggest theyre a waste of time, money and effort.

4. I guess so, ebay is your friend.

5. It depends what type of offroad you're planning. If its tracks and trails, you likely wont need to lift it, unless youre going for larger diameter tyres. Do some searching on here for tyre threads, lots of info available.

6. Lots of roof rack options available, and 3 or 4 roof bars will probably be better for mounting a RTT. The tents come in all shapes and sizes, hardshell clams or full rig canvas mansions, again lots of threads to research on here.

7. I live in Romania

Seriously, find some trails and drive the truck on them before you consider what you need. From your questions, you seem to have more ‘wants’ than ‘needs’, nothing wrong with that, we all tend to do this to an extent. Mods are generally expensive so you have to give them lots of consideration, dont rush into them...

Best of luck with the 9 grandkids

 

[Jake the Peg]

This is my mates 05, there was a huge amount of work put into this with the big wheels, suspension change and big arches / steel work to make it turn!