Our tow vehicle

Our tow vehicle is a 2019 Toyota Troop Carrier, or as Toyota describes it an LC (Landcruiser) Military. To us he’s “Neville the Troopy”

We laboured painstakingly over all the offerings in the current market of potential tow vehicles across the various manufacturers and as one by one because of their various limitations each were erased from the shortlist, leaving the Troopy as the sole survivor of the cull.

The Troopy is certainly not the vehicle for everyone, its incredibly expensive, very old school, utilitarian in every aspect, loud and rough …. but it’s also an undisputed offroad champion without comparison, and it ticks off all our requirement boxes and we are incredibly happy with the vehicle. We had quite specific requirements, and although the Landcruiser 79 (dual cab ute) was also a capable contender and the last car to fall off our list, there were a few areas the Troopy trumped it for us.

Our Troopy will tow a 3.5t van, carry our boat on the roof loader, the boat engine, the trailer, 180lts of fuel in the factorys tanks, and on top of that another 110ltrs of water or fuel or a combination of both …. and most importantly remain completely legal within its rated capacities. Many will understand the significance of this feat.

To set up Neville for our lifestyle we’ve added, subtracted, modified and tweaked him.

• Federally approved SSM 3900GVM / 6400GCM upgrade. In practical terms the upgrade increases both our GVM and GCM by 600kg each, effectively providing us with a 1600kg payload and a 7400kg GCM.
• Steinbauer plugin performance chip
• ARB steel winch bar, brush bars and full length side steps. The full length side steps double the factory options and help with easier access the vehicles cargo area via the side windows.
• A Rhino rear load roof mounted boat loader provides relatively easy storage and launching/retrieval. We carry a road registered 100km rated RealEzy Nymboida folding trailer so we can launch directly off car on the beach or riverbank, or tow the boat about including to the local boat ramp.
• A under bonnet dual battery system feeds the Engel fridge in the car, and a permanently roof mounted 160w solar panel keeps the aux battery charged.
• Kaymar rear replacement with swing out spare wheel and twin jerry can arms
• Roof rack mounted twin 20ltr fishing rod/water tubes
• Rear cargo barrier
• Custom rear storage bucket fitout
• Front roof console

There are four variations of vehicles the 70 series, Troopcarier, wagon, single and dual cab utes. In the GXL’s across the range all but the Troopy are supplied with alloy rims. The other lower spec’ed Workmake povety pack versions and all Troopy incarnations are supplied with whats akin to the old 7.50 x 16 steel rims, and very large skinny 225/95R16 tyres less affectionately know as cheese cutters.