Hey everyone! I wanted to introduce myself and document my journey with my ‘24 Trail Dust Land Cruiser.
For the past 11 years we owned a 2005 V8 4Runner (aka a Prado, in different sheet metal). We absolutely loved this truck but it became time to upgrade to a little bit more than an aftermarket backup camera and electric windows in terms of tech and refinements in a truck.
We have and tow regularly a small offroad camping trailer (sub 2500lbs) that will literally go anywhere, and wanted some more comfort on long hauls towing. More on our trailer “Hank” later.
After a year of watching and researching we determined that the New Land Cruiser was going to fit our needs. It has way more safety tech and features, more horsepower and torque then our 2UZ V8 and better MPG than what we were getting after our upgrades to the 4Runner. I researched like crazy about this new platform for a year. Our trailer is not large or heavy so the LC towing capacity was far more than we needed. I knew I was getting a “hybrid” solely for the purposes of power and had no disillusionment about its MPG performance, especially while towing, and adding wheels/tires, etc. so we took the plunge.
In September of 2024 a dealership in San Francisco was selling a Trail Dust for $4500 off MSRP so we hopped on a flight to San Francisco to purchase our new LC and put 500 miles on it in one day driving home.
After some deliberating about a name and a color for our new LC we decided on Celine Dijon (this was a name we can’t take credit for so if the other Celine is on here let me know).
Shortly after our appropriate break-in period we took a trip up to camp at Pismo Beach as its maiden voyage.
Now onto the mods:
Being an offroad designed and used vehicle in our family, it was killing me the lack of offroad tires from the factory so they were the first to go.
We went with 285/75-17 KO3’s on Black Rhino Stadium wheels with a +35 offset. With stock suspension there was zero rub even with full articulation.
Since I had all new wheels and tires to mount I took the opportunity to also install Apex Design RPV rapid deflate valve. These valves are wonderful if you regularly lower tire pressure while on the trail. A few seconds per tire is all you need. Seriously if you forget about it you’ll have a tire on the rim without realizing it. Also the OE TPMS sensors still work.
Not loving the stock Black Rhino center caps I decided to 3D print some of my own. V1 has the same color TOYOTA but I plan a V2 where I will paint the TOYOTA with a body color match of the OE Trail Dust color.
We don’t love the look and also the lack of adjustments with the OE cross bars but as snowboard fans we needed an option for our rack, so I made some myself. I took 1050 and 1020 aluminum extrusion from tnutz.com along with some RivNuts and hardware, I made my own low profile crossbars that are adjustable when needed.
I had the fortunate opportunity to help a fellow local member of a LC Facebook group out with a trade of my stock suspension and paid labor to switch both his and my suspension. Long story short Toyota was buying his truck back and he wanted to give them as much stock as possible. So I “donated” my stock suspension and 5 OE wheels and tires for his King 2.5 suspension with adjusters, King front and rear end links, Camburg Kinetik UCA, 5 Method wheels and tires, billet recovery hooks, and a few other goodies.
Not willing to pass up the opportunity but also not sure how the bronze works with the Dijon color we opted for switching back to our black wheels tire combo. Which are bigger and make the truck a bit more capable than the other set.
Next we are looking into slider and skid plate options. More updates to come later!
For the past 11 years we owned a 2005 V8 4Runner (aka a Prado, in different sheet metal). We absolutely loved this truck but it became time to upgrade to a little bit more than an aftermarket backup camera and electric windows in terms of tech and refinements in a truck.
We have and tow regularly a small offroad camping trailer (sub 2500lbs) that will literally go anywhere, and wanted some more comfort on long hauls towing. More on our trailer “Hank” later.
After a year of watching and researching we determined that the New Land Cruiser was going to fit our needs. It has way more safety tech and features, more horsepower and torque then our 2UZ V8 and better MPG than what we were getting after our upgrades to the 4Runner. I researched like crazy about this new platform for a year. Our trailer is not large or heavy so the LC towing capacity was far more than we needed. I knew I was getting a “hybrid” solely for the purposes of power and had no disillusionment about its MPG performance, especially while towing, and adding wheels/tires, etc. so we took the plunge.
In September of 2024 a dealership in San Francisco was selling a Trail Dust for $4500 off MSRP so we hopped on a flight to San Francisco to purchase our new LC and put 500 miles on it in one day driving home.
After some deliberating about a name and a color for our new LC we decided on Celine Dijon (this was a name we can’t take credit for so if the other Celine is on here let me know).
Shortly after our appropriate break-in period we took a trip up to camp at Pismo Beach as its maiden voyage.
Now onto the mods:
Being an offroad designed and used vehicle in our family, it was killing me the lack of offroad tires from the factory so they were the first to go.
We went with 285/75-17 KO3’s on Black Rhino Stadium wheels with a +35 offset. With stock suspension there was zero rub even with full articulation.
Since I had all new wheels and tires to mount I took the opportunity to also install Apex Design RPV rapid deflate valve. These valves are wonderful if you regularly lower tire pressure while on the trail. A few seconds per tire is all you need. Seriously if you forget about it you’ll have a tire on the rim without realizing it. Also the OE TPMS sensors still work.
Not loving the stock Black Rhino center caps I decided to 3D print some of my own. V1 has the same color TOYOTA but I plan a V2 where I will paint the TOYOTA with a body color match of the OE Trail Dust color.
We don’t love the look and also the lack of adjustments with the OE cross bars but as snowboard fans we needed an option for our rack, so I made some myself. I took 1050 and 1020 aluminum extrusion from tnutz.com along with some RivNuts and hardware, I made my own low profile crossbars that are adjustable when needed.
I had the fortunate opportunity to help a fellow local member of a LC Facebook group out with a trade of my stock suspension and paid labor to switch both his and my suspension. Long story short Toyota was buying his truck back and he wanted to give them as much stock as possible. So I “donated” my stock suspension and 5 OE wheels and tires for his King 2.5 suspension with adjusters, King front and rear end links, Camburg Kinetik UCA, 5 Method wheels and tires, billet recovery hooks, and a few other goodies.
Not willing to pass up the opportunity but also not sure how the bronze works with the Dijon color we opted for switching back to our black wheels tire combo. Which are bigger and make the truck a bit more capable than the other set.
Next we are looking into slider and skid plate options. More updates to come later!
Last edited:
