2000 Lexus LX470 Overland Build Walk-Around

In this video, we take a full tour of our 2000 Lexus LX470 (aka 100 Series Land Cruiser) built for overland travel, and explain the reasons behind all the modifications we have (and have not) made.
If you're looking for inspiration on your own LX470 / 100 series Toyota Land Cruiser build, you won't want to miss this one!
Link to IH8Mud thread on mounting ARB Awning to factory roof rails: forum.ih8mud.com/threads/anyo...

[@jojo67c]

Nice build! Loved the Doug bit at the beginning 😂

[@WheretoNextOverland]

Thank you! Yeah .... I've watched so many of Doug's videos over the years I think it happened without me even realizing it. 🤣

[@guitar14]

Nice build sir. Everything you need, nothing you don’t. Well done.

[@WheretoNextOverland]

Thanks! Minimal / functional was definitely the goal

[@warrenhaywood8425]

I have similar model, 2001, agree with all you have said about this vehicle , one of the best I have owned, had a few. I installed a drawer system but installed a 40 litre drawer fridge called evercool, I am in Aus and they are an Aussie company, works so well and allows me to have a flat surface above the drawers which after making an extension allows me to sleep in the vehicle if I so wish. The fridge runs 24 7 from a twin lithium battery system installed under the bonnet and they are kept charged by either running the car or a solar panel installed on a ARB base rack, works a treat.

[@WheretoNextOverland]

I've seen some of those drawer fridges, they look pretty great. Especially if you want to sleep in the back like you said. Your setup sounds great!

[@M4ttj0nes]

I’d love to see a dedicated AHC video - pros/cons - your review of it after all the testing you’ve done. Also the process of fitting 285/75 tires and f5 wheels on stock AHC suspension. Keep up the awesome content!

[@WheretoNextOverland]

Great ideas! Appreciate the suggestions

[@JohnnyTrulove]

Very cool setup. Nice to hear about the AHC. I looked at a '98 LX this past weekend. 2 owners, many records from dealership according to owner an AHC rebuild...Smoky Topaz paint was already re-painted. Looking forward to bringing this home in the next 2 weeks.

[@AFKDays]

Great walk-around! Nice video. Thank you for sharing! Love the drawer system!

[@WheretoNextOverland]

I scoffed at adding a drawer system for a solid year. After our first trip with this one, I must admit how dead wrong I was 🤣

[@AFKDays]

@@WheretoNextOverland HAHA! that happens more then we want to admit! :D here is to trying new things! Cheers!

[@scottalpine]

Looks like a great set up. The recovery points will definitely work better cause they are red. Also nice and clean on your navigation and communication set up. Some folks have so many screens and radios in there rigs that I wonder if they are camping/overlanding or leading the rebel alliance to wolf 359 to battle Spaceball One. Drawer system is epic. Looks great with the logo and very well organized and put together.

[@WheretoNextOverland]

+10 for the Spaceballs reference. Haha

[@NickNothom]

Nice build! I really recommend unbolting the rear seat belts where they attach to the floor (but leave the belts in the car). The end of the belt can be tucked in the slot where the belt comes out of the interior trim (by the rear pillar). Then use magnets or clips to hold it there, and put the bolt back into the hole. Then it's totally out of the way, doesn't interfere with your wings, etc.. But can be quickly reinstalled if needed.

[@WheretoNextOverland]

Oh man, this is a GREAT tip. Those seat belts are always in the way of the wings. Thanks! I'm gonna make this a winter project for sure.

[@OJCoz]

nicely done sir!

[@NKPGarage]

Sub'd, and here to see more of your content for sure! Very well done. I have owned a few of these trucks along with many 80, 60/62, and a couple 200's. The 100 series is definitely the Land Cruiser's first real dive into competing with other luxury brands. Very well done video!

[@WheretoNextOverland]

Thanks for the kind words, and welcome to the channel! I now understand and appreciate why so many people who buy a Land Cruiser end up with 2 or 3 of them. They're just .... built different. I'm curious...if you could ONLY own one generation of LC, which would you choose? (tough question I'm sure)

[@WheretoNextOverland]

Oh, and I juuust finished editing a full long-term review of our LX. It was pretty fun to put together and should be up on the channel this month

[@NKPGarage]

@@WheretoNextOverland Nice, definitely will check it out!

[@maxdexpeditions]

We have the same concept, not our daily strictly for Overlanding and cross-country trips. I love the scs f5, my wishlist! Nice setup! We need a drawer system. We are getting tired of the tote system lol it works, but it's a hassle. We don't have cb or ham as well. We solo all the time and we use our walkie talkies to signal the driver when to go when filming 🤣

[@WheretoNextOverland]

We rocked totes for years. It'll definitely get the job done, but I must say....knowing where everything is and not having to shuffle stuff around in a tote to find what you're looking for is one of the biggest "convenience" upgrades we've made

[@createcontently]

Great work!

[@WheretoNextOverland]

Heeeyyyy! Thanks James.

[@jefferypotter6310]

Outstanding info

[@WheretoNextOverland]

Glad you found it helpful!

[@texausbbq6593]

Just stumbled across your channel, great informative videos! My wife and I are in Australia and have recently bought a 2005 lx. Absolutely love it. We are looking to upgrade the wheels and tyres and I really cannot decide on size. Right now it has stock 265/70/17, I was wondering if you had the same size originally and have any regrets going bigger? Wheels, tyres, and fuel are an absolute fortune over here and I want to know it’s worth it 😂. Thanks for your content

[@WheretoNextOverland]

Welcome to the channel and thanks for the kind words! As for wheels and tires, I had 16" factory wheels when I bought the LX. Honestly I can't remember the tire size but it's whatever the OEM tire size was. Now we've got 285/75/16 tires, which from all the research I've done, seem like the perfect size. They're about as big as you can fit without needing to do any modifications and the extra tire size is definitely beneficial offroad. If I bought another LX, it would be the very first modification I would do. Since you've got 17 inch wheels your tire size will be a bit different, but I'd recommend checking out the 100 series forums on Ih8mud.com ... there's a ton of threads about optimal tire size on there. Cheers!

[@vibolbou5903]

I'm late to the party. One of your videos popped up in my feed. I'm now a subscriber. We have an '03 LX that we call "LC". I will be binging your videos to catch up. Hope to catch your LC in the wild.

[@WheretoNextOverland]

Welcome to the channel! What have you done to 'LC' so far?

[@vibolbou5903]

@WheretoNextOverland suspension, wheels, tires, and roof rack were part of phase 1. We have a rtt that we moved over. Will look at armor & sliders for phase 2. I dig your sliders. I looked them up and they're local too. Thanks for that tip!

[@WheretoNextOverland]

@vibolbou5903 nice! Sounds like a great build. And yeah, the Metal Tech sliders have impressed so far. Can save $$$ on local pick up (vs shipping) if you're close enough!

[@OverlandPNW]

Very nice build! What do you have on your list of next mods to get?

[@WheretoNextOverland]

Next up will likely either be an aftermarket roof rack or front bumper / winch. One of my main goals with this build is to keep the weight manageable .... and that's about the only thing that has kept me from pulling the trigger on either of those mods!

[@OverlandPNW]

@@WheretoNextOverland Yep, light is good. If you do the bumper/winch you will also need to beef up the front suspension.

[@Being_Joe]

Nice walk through. I been looking for a Gen 1 Sequoia as a LX/LC alternative but I have really started looking at the LX again.

[@WheretoNextOverland]

Both are good options. The good news is that prices for LX's have started to come back down to earth again, so the price difference probably isn't nearly as dramatic as it would've been 6 months or a year ago!

[@Being_Joe]

@@WheretoNextOverland Sequoia will be a lot less but they are going to have more issues than a LX/LC. From what I have seen if you want a great deal on a Gen1 Sequoia there will be things that need to be addressed. A well taken Sequoia is going to cost more to the point where you may as well start looking at the LX/LC (though I do appreciate the extra space).

[@stephenboykin4958]

Got an lx a few years ago with 280k miles and now it has 329k. Best car I have owned and I’ve owned many luxury SUVs, such a Range Rover and Land Rover’s. Those are straight trash, comparatively speaking.

[@Being_Joe]

@@stephenboykin4958 ended up with a LX470 and happy with it. Solid.

[@brkbtjunkie]

LX/LC are built to a higher spec and every single one is made in one factory in Japan. I definitely recommend paying more for one over a sequoia

[@AI_Dentist]

Spectacular set up! Where did you get the drawers?

[@WheretoNextOverland]

Thanks! The drawers are from a company called SHW Offroad. They've been awesome!

[@cristinford8479]

Are y’all thinking about getting a rooftop tent eventually or are you set on tent camping?

[@WheretoNextOverland]

I'll never say never .... but right now it's not really on our radar. We haven't had enough of a problem with tent camping to really spend too much time thinking about other sleep setups. With that said ... I am SUPER jealous of Corey when he deploys his GFC tent in like 30 seconds. Convenience would be the thing to get us to switch if anything did!

[@Pamela_PNW]

As always, great video! Tires Question: I am leaning towards Wildpeak AT3s because more than one person has told me the KO’s suck on pavement in the rain. Living in the PNW, that’s a deal breaker for me. Your experience /opinion in the rain on pavement with the KO’s?

[@WheretoNextOverland]

I can't say I've had any issues with the K02s in rain. No hydroplaning, no lack of grip .... but then again the LX is full time 4WD, I might notice it more if it was part time. I've heard good things about the Wildpeaks too. Probably cant go wrong with either!

[@bd604]

FWIW the problems i've heard with KO2s start at about 50% life. I had them on a 4Runner and they were fine but i only kept it until about 70% life. I'm looking at a 470 for my next truck and I'll be doing Falkens for that reason (also PNW)

[@WheretoNextOverland]

We're down to about 50% tread so I guess we'll find out soon! Heard good things about the Wildpeaks though for sure

[@davidaix5771]

Look into GMRS if you get one of those radios you can run up to 50 watts of power and they will be able to talk to your little tiny radios that you have there as well and all your buddies that use those little radios but it gives you more options and you don't need to take a test

[@WheretoNextOverland]

Good tip! I wish my buddies weren't so damn cheap and would spring for GMRS compatible radios like those Midlands. But nah ... they've all got the annoyingly low range FRS ones

[@davidaix5771]

@Where to Next Overland gmrs radios can work FRS frequencies as well you can talk to all your buddies still if you have a gmrs radio so it would be up to you with GMRS you can use repeaters and also run up to 50w but yeah alot of GMRS radio also can work FRS frequencies

[@WheretoNextOverland]

@David Aix for sure! We use our GMRS on FRS frequencies (given our friends FRS radios). But we always struggle for range. I imagine if we were able to use GMRS it would increase our range a decent amount?

[@davidaix5771]

@Where to Next Overland oh yeah for sure because with gmrs you can have a removable antenna so you can get a nice car mounted antenna and you can run 50w and use repeaters you could talk to people 100miles if not more on simplex

[@ozkarconcepcion5488]

Hi Where to Overland, i really like a lot the way you just fitted all the accesories on the roof, i was wondering, if you can guide me, so i can do this options in my Lx 470 2001.. thanks a lot

[@WheretoNextOverland]

The best advice I could give is to look into Yakima Mighty Mounts, but honestly each item is mounted a bit differently, so it would be hard to explain here. The best resource our there are probably the forums on ih8mud.com. Check it out and try searching for mounting solutions on the factory roof rack. That's pretty much what I did! Hope that helps

[@ozkarconcepcion5488]

Thanks dude, yes it helps.. regards

[@overlandtowater]

Shawnee hills is great stuff!

[@WheretoNextOverland]

Couldn't agree more! We'll be adding their sleeping platform soon and creating a new 'winter camping' setup. Excited for that!

[@overlandtowater]

@@WheretoNextOverland I have built my own that works perfectly fine, but Wes is such a great guy I'd really like to support him.

[@WheretoNextOverland]

@@overlandtowater Wes is amazing to work with, that's for sure! I had one of the early "DIY" kits (which I don't think they sell anymore) and put it together myself, and every time I ran into trouble Wes was there to talk me through the plans and bail me out. Haha.

[@gokufighter21]

Just bought an 03 LX 470 with 125K kiles for $17K. Hoping i got a deal and will last me at least 10 years!

[@WheretoNextOverland]

Seems like a pretty good deal considering the low mileage. 10 years should be no problem as long as rust isn't an issue!

[@ozzy_fromhell]

Nice video seems like you’ve been watching a lot of Doug D. Though😂

[@WheretoNextOverland]

Hahaha, not gonna lie, I've watched a LOT of Doug Demuro! His videos were definitely an inspiration for me.

[@vfcoast]

I may have missed this in earlier videos, but have you ever slept inside your Lexus? I saw in a recent video that you had a tent, and being located in the PNW like me I'm curious what you'll do in the winter. Part of why I ask is because I sleep inside my 4Runner and love it - it's insulated from weather and sound far better than RTTs, which makes winter camping nice and cozy. But I'm also interested in eventually getting a fridge and I'm not sure how to make that work without lugging the fridge in and out when I make camp (which is perhaps not much worse than what I'm currently doing with my big ice chest).

[@WheretoNextOverland]

Good question. We haven't yet tried sleeping inside the Lexus, mostly for the reasons you mentioned (we've got SO much stuff, a fridge being one of them, that we bring with us .... that we'd have to move everything outside). We've camped during some pretty cold nights (into the 20's) in the tent and with an insulated air mattress, good sleeping bag, and warm base layers, it's not too bad. Haven't camped where there's snow on the ground yet though....that might be interesting. With all that said, if we didn't have so much stuff in the Lexus, I think sleeping in it would be a great way to go

[@WheretoNextOverland]

Funny enough, I'm in the process of working on a winter camping setup for the LX that will have us sleeping inside the truck. I've got it down conceptually, just waiting for a few pieces to arrive. We should have a few videos showing our setup in the coming months, so stay tuned!

[@vfcoast]

@@WheretoNextOverland Nice, I'm looking forward to seeing your winter setup! I appreciate the thought you put into your rig.

[@lucas_woods]

+10 offset would stick out less than the factory wheels. I believe your SCS's are -10mm

[@WheretoNextOverland]

Ahhh, yep good catch. You are correct

[@lucas_woods]

@@WheretoNextOverland great vid! You're greatly helping me with some upgrade info on the '02 I'm picking up this week! Thanks 👍

[@WheretoNextOverland]

@lucas_woods thanks! Glad it was helpful

[@vincedprincehowtodiy7705]

Off topic, has your door actuators ever give up on you?

[@WheretoNextOverland]

Yep, drivers door actuator is currently dead / dying. Haven't dealt with it yet though

[@M4ttj0nes]

When you had your tires mounted to your f5s - how much adhesive sticky weight was used for balancing? Just got mine back and it has a ton on the inside of wheel that I do t trust to stay attached - and also looks bad imo.

[@WheretoNextOverland]

I'm away from the truck right now, but I don't recall there being many wheel weights stuck on there. Sounds like a lazy balancing job maybe?

[@M4ttj0nes]

@@WheretoNextOverland it’s hard to find any direct info but that’s my thought. I wanted to get concrete info before going back to discount tire to complain

[@rjhein]

Oh one question - where do you sleep? I didn't see a rooftop tent, nor a spot for it - nor inside the interior either. Do you just tent it?

[@WheretoNextOverland]

When it's my wife and I, we sleep in a ground tent (Gazelle). When it's just me, I sleep in the LX. I have a more recent video where I walk through my 'sleep in the truck' setup. You can check that one out if you're interested!

[@user-wc9jt4ye9q]

Where can I buy the drawer. System and how much it cost?

[@WheretoNextOverland]

Drawer system is from SHW Off-Road. Check em out at shwoffroad.com. The drawers we have are the Expedition Series. Highly recommend them .... they are AWESOME!

[@brkbtjunkie]

Do you think if you got 275/75/16 would they still rub on stock suspension?

[@WheretoNextOverland]

I don't think that size tire would rub IF it's on the OEM wheels. My 285/75/16 tires did not rub until I put the SCS wheels on (which have a different offset)

[@brkbtjunkie]

@@WheretoNextOverland thank you for the quick reply!! I just got my first off road vehicle, a 06 LX and am researching what will work with it. From what I’ve gathered, 275/70/18 should fit and give me 1.1” of extra suspension lift

[@floridascorcher4289]

What pioneer head u it do you use? Does it tie into your climate control system?

[@WheretoNextOverland]

The head unit is an AVX-2500. It doesn't tie into the climate control system, but my LX is a 2000, so it was the model before the screen was tied into the climate control system (thankfully). I think 2001+ are a bit trickier to switch out given the climate control is integrated into the screen

[@Mr.International82]

The only thing I hate about the lx470 is the body and frame rust problem.

[@WheretoNextOverland]

Yeah, I was lucky to get a California truck with no rust .... but even just a few salt free winters in Washington and the rust is showing signs of creeping in.

[@majorawol]

Some guy forgot his dog was tied when he took off.

[@WheretoNextOverland]

Oh boy ... my wife would've killed me. Lol

[@rashodbacon]

Where do you sleep?

[@WheretoNextOverland]

If it's my wife and I, we sleep in a ground tent. If I'm solo, I've got a sleeping platform that goes along with the drawer system and fits perfectly with the 40 split rear seat folded down

[@davidhunt9692]

Really nice but the only thing I have to say is that the Hilift jack is completely pointless. You have no metal front or rear bumpers to jack from, and you can't do it off the skids you'll tear the sheet metal on the underside.

[@WheretoNextOverland]

Can use it on the sliders, can use it on the wheels (with the attachment we carry), can use it in the hitch receiver in a pinch, can use it as a hand winch in a REAL pinch. It's the tool that we hope we need to use the LEAST (dangerous), but it comes along in case things REALLY hit the fan.

[@davidhunt9692]

Like I said, if you use it on the sliders you’ll tear the sheet metal they bolt to. Their meant to support the weight of a person, not a 5200lb vehicle.

[@davidhunt9692]

Like I said, if you use it on the sliders you’ll tear the sheet metal they bolt to. Their meant to support the weight of a person, not a 5200lb vehicle.

[@davidhunt9692]

Like I said, if you use it on the sliders you’ll tear the sheet metal they bolt to. Their meant to support the weight of a person, not a 5200lb vehicle.

[@WheretoNextOverland]

Not sure if you're mistaking the rock sliders for the factory side steps, but the sliders are bolted directly to the frame, not the sheet metal. Their job is literally to hold the weight of a vehicle resting on something like a rock.

[@Richard-Reloaded]

Rug Delero

[@WheretoNextOverland]

Hahaha. Just Doug with a fake mustache over here!

[@verbalmute4873]

Never tie your dog to your truck. Yep, it happens more often than you'd think.

[@WheretoNextOverland]

Jesus, that'd be awful. I mean, fair point ...

[@verbalmute4873]

@@WheretoNextOverland I love your truck, I have exact same one.