TAMING THE BEAST

4X4 AUSTRALIA'S NEW VDJ79 BUILD GETS UNDERWAY WITH A SUSPENSION AND GVM UPGRADE FROM TERRAIN TAMER

WE'RE extremely excited to be making a start on our big build for 2025.

Excited because we have taken delivery of one of the most iconic off-road vehicles in Australia, and one that is also one of the most accessorised and modified for specific usage. This means that we'll have a swag of great products and modifications to do on the Cruiser to tailor it to suit our needs.

Our LandCruiser 79 Double Cab is a 2024 model and one of the last of the V8 diesels to be offered, so it truly is a special vehicle and one that is sure to be coveted in the future.

While we have plenty of gear lined up to go on to the 79, the first modifications happened before we even set eyes on the vehicle; we've driven and seen enough of these to know that we didn't need to take a test drive at the dealer, so once the deal was done over the phone, the good folks at Brighton Toyota shipped the Cruiser over to Terrain Tamer in Melbourne's western suburbs.

Terrain Tamer is a Mecca for Toyota replacement parts, but this visit was for a suspension update which included a GVM upgrade. This was carried out before the Cruiser was registered as part of the Second Stage Manufacturer (SSM) program, so it is certified and approved nationally and doesn't require any further state-level certification.

We went with the Terrain Tamer kit that takes the Cruiser's GVM from the standard 3510kg up to 3950kg, adding 440kg to the vehicle's payload. Terrain Tamer also offers an upgrade that takes the GVM up to 4150kg, but we opted for the 3950kg kit as we wanted to sample the company's parabolic leaf springs after hearing such good things about them from other 70 Series users.