AJ's 2017 SR5

[AJRJohn]

Hey all this is the brand spanker stock 2017 Lux... let the story begin.

[AJRJohn]

1st things first... let's fix those factory side steps... tacked onto the underbody with no real effort made to protect the door sill... not to mention the gain in ramp over clearance...

I went with Uneek4wd rock sliders:-

[AJRJohn]

Next job was the front bar... again went with Uneek4wd, single hoop.

Though I'd bitten off more than I could chew with this one... but no... got it done over a weekend. Still had a winch, lights and UHF Antenna to fit. Very proud of my effort... man I was sore for two days (muscles in my shoulders I didn't think I still had!!)

The bar is a direct replacement for the factory bumper and came with pretty good instructions on how to fit... no drilling, a little painting and very little cutting of the front plastic air dam and front of the internal underside plastic wheel arch mud shield...

Before...


During...

I hope I haven't broken it!!


A bit of spray paint to hide the visible stuff...


Thats looking more like it!!

[AJRJohn]

Next job was fitting the winch, some lights and UHF radio...
I will post some photos soon of that.

Still, have a Uneek rear bar and tyres to go... but starting to come together.

[TOYZX]

Gee them slider won't do much protecting, not for the sills anyway! Looks good otherwise man!

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk

[AJRJohn]

Hey Toyzx...
Thanks for the comment.
So love to hear more re: thoughts on the sliders? Not enough metal? Too close to door sills?
Cheers
AJ

[AJRJohn]

Lights; went with a pair of 12" light bars from Stedi, yet to get them out and road test / adjust them at night...
UHF; went with the Icom 450 and RFI 6.6dBi and 2.1dBi combo
Winch; is a Warn Tabor 10s

[TOYZX]

They should be further under the sill, to protect the welded section.

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[AJRJohn]

I see what your saying... Think it's the tread hiding the meat of them. I'll get a better photo from down low and get your feedback. Thanks.

[Cameron12]

Looks like a great start of the year for you. Will definitely keep an eye out on your build.
Are they advertised as rock sliders or side steps, that’ll tell you what they were design for I guess.
Cheers, Cam

[AJRJohn]

Sold as Rock sliders... I can see what Toyzx is saying but the pinch weld is quite high up. A fist size rock could fit up between the chassis rail and sliders... A hell of allot more protection than factory side steps though.

[CB23]

Awesome looking bar mate, top of my list at the moment (purchasing soon).
Do you have an estimate how far it extends the front compared to stock bar?

[AJRJohn]

Thanks, CB23, I love it...

It doesn't extend too much further than stock, maybe 60 - 100mm max... here is a square photo of it that might help you get a better idea.



It's pretty tight to the front end... The mounts are very solid and part of the recovery points, that said if it was bent being so close to lights and quarter panels could leave you with some damage - it would take a bloody good hit to damage it.

[AJRJohn]

Tyres and Wheels... black TRD rims fitted, 265/65/18 BFG KO2's... time to get it dirty!!



Still have a Uneek4wd rear bar to fit and a heap more electrical work, but it's getting there...

[Cameron12]

That is the meanest looking side profile picture I’ve seen for some time.
Looks bloody good.

[CB23]

It doesn't extend too much further than stock, maybe 60 - 100mm max... here is a square photo of it that might help you get a better idea.

Great, thanks for that photo mate - clears up any concern for me (my garage only has ~160mm to spare over stock)

[AJRJohn]

I'll stick a tape measure on it tomorrow and can give you distance from grill... Best to be sure! 160mm isn't allot of wriggle room!

[AJRJohn]

CB23, saw my offer to measure the bar today and realised I never did it... it only protrudes 100mm from the bottom centre front of the plastic grill, the front of my light bars are 10mm further forward, so 110mm. So I'd go as far as to say little to no additional length over the stock plastic bumper.

So dive trip to Philipines coming up, so next couple of weekends are getting gear sorted and some dives in before the trip. But on return mid-April, I have some more mods going on:-

1) The Uneek rear bar needs fitting
2) Brake controller and Anderson lead installed for the trailer.
3) BP51's that my local ARB rep. made me look sideways at... so I couldn't help it. That and stories of people riding on clouds
4) 200Ah of AGM's going in the tray with fridge and storage for recovery gear etc...
5) Reverse light, winch isolator, OEM style switches - lights, winch, battery isolation override...

[AJRJohn]

The nephew dreaming i'd let him have a drive

[CB23]

Cheers AJ, confirms my bar choice. As soon as cash available I'll have one.
Looking great, good to see it out there - Wollondilly and Wombeyan areas are one of my fave local trips!