Have you heard of the Patriot Campers? Well, these guys are magicians. If you haven’t heard about them, here’s a little brief. The company was born in 2013, but it has already taken over the world by storm. Patriot Campers is an Australian company that has diversified itself into many branches. The company’s trailers are quite famous amongst camping enthusiasts. Patriot Campers even works on creating off-road beasts. The PCOR – Patriot Campers Off RoadRoad – division handles the mods on SUVs and trucks. A staple within this is called the Supertourer, wherein the company works on the Ford Ranger, the Landcruiser 200, and the Ram truck, apart from the LC79. The company recently posted a video on YouTube where they show us a custom-built LC79 right before its handover. Will this particular LC79 be any different from the other Supertourers?

2019 Toyota LC70 Land Cruiser by PCOR

Specifications
  • Make: Array
  • Model: 2019 Toyota LC70 Land Cruiser by PCOR
  • Horsepower: 202
  • Torque: 317
  • [do not use] Vehicle Model: Array
Pros
Cons

Overview

The biggest reasons for the Land Cruiser’s success has been its durability and reliability. You can abuse the SUV as much as you want, but it will not give up that easily. There are multiple cases where the SUV has outlasted its owner. In 1984, the company replaced the 40 Series with the 70 Series that retained the off-road capabilities and longevity of the former, while incorporating modern technologies and fresh looks. Fifteen years into the production, Toyota introduced the Land Cruiser 79 as part of the series. The LC79 was essentially available in pick-up and two-door troop carrier models. Fast-forward to 2019, and the model is still popular, even though the trucks are expensive, slow, and fuel guzzlers when compared to the newer breed.

Exterior

- Blue and Black shade looks exquisite - PCOR hexagonal grille - TJM Snorkel - 35-inch tires - Wider tacks at the rear - LED light bars all around the truck - Smart storage solutions in the truck bed - 150-watt solar panel on the roof

Let me start this off by talking about the exterior shade. The blue and black is not your clichéd ‘off-roading’ color, but it does look very attractive. Upfront, the bonnet is wrapped in black with a ‘Supertourer’ decal. The bumper is the standard Supertourer equipment that comes with a winch and tow hook, and integrated auxiliary LED bars. The grille is the famous PCOR fitment that features a hexagonal pattern in full black. Given the kind of customizations made to this beast, it makes sense not to feature the Toyota logo on the grille. To wind up the appearance on the face, there’s a TJM-branded air snorkel that runs along the A-pillar.

Since the truck is equipped with massive 35-inch tires, the fender had to be altered as well. Patriot Campers has customized them by adding metal guards instead to accommodate the wider tracks and bigger tires. This is a non-extended version, so the cab seems quite small on the onset. Supertourer decals run parallel to the TJM-sourced side steps. Patriot Campers has given its own touch to these side steps by adding a layer on top of the side steps with its own logo. Even the wing mirrors have been swapped with extendable mirrors. These mirrors will prove to be immensely helpful when you have a trailer hitched behind. The headboard on the truck bed in made of aluminum and weighs about 485 pounds. The right-hand side features the fuel filler and LED lights that projects lights on the sides. This will come in handy when you are camping in the night and need some light on the sides of the truck. The Supertourer LC79 comes with Central Locking as part of the standard equipment. The side also features a twin compressor on board for your emergency power needs. At the edge of the truck bed, the company has installed some Patriot Campers Off-Road gear as well.

Move to the rear and scenes are similar to the front. Another interesting thing is that the truck bed can store 70 liters of water in it, and Patriot Campers has also placed an electric water pump. The storage solutions in the truck bed raise the height quite high. It will be difficult if you have to load something like mountain bikes in there. You will certainly need a ramp to do so.

At the top, Patriot Campers has installed a roof rack with a 150-watt solar panel, megatourer-styled roof rack, and twin X-Ray 1200 light bars. The light bars emit enough light to blind you. The two light bars are held by a PCOR double bracket. That’s the kind of attention-to-detail the company has given on this vehicle. Underneath the vehicle is a Brown-Davis fuel tank. Actually, not one. There are three fuel tanks that can accommodate up to 290 liters of fuel so that you never run out of diesel at any point. But, given the mods made to it and the LC79’s natural fuel-guzzling abilities, don’t expect it to deliver a long-range despite the 290-liter capacity.

Interior

- Radio and Navigation available - Alpine touchscreen unit on the dash - Amplifier, Sub-woofer, and speakers complete the sound system - A namesake-rear seat - Poor NVH levels

There is a lot of laborious work involved, but it does not change the dimensions and dynamics as much when compared to the exterior and the drivetrain. There are radio and navigation, to begin with. The company has installed a new Alpine-sourced touchscreen unit. Surprisingly, the Supertourer comes with a very efficient sound system. There are speakers and tweeters on every door, an amplifier and a 20-inch sub-woofer behind the rear seats. You can just flip open the doors, and the sound system will work flawlessly to help you listen to music while camping. These are enough to reduce the noise, vibrations, and harshness levels from the Landcruiser.

I should have put this as a disclaimer before I began this section – no Landcruiser is known for good aerodynamics, just like the Mercedes-Benz G-wagon or Jeeps. Their looks and stance are what define these legendary monikers. But, Patriot Campers worked around this too. The company ripped apart the doors, roof, floor pan, and the rear firewall to insulate them and not let the noises from outside creep inside the cabin. The dash, however, remains untouched. Coming to the comfort and space, the Landcruiser 79 is a mixed-bag in the Supertourer avatar. As a driver, you will be very happy as the driving position is commanding and you get an idea of what’s happening around on all the corners. But the rear is meant strictly for kids – actually, just two kids. Seat more than two kids only if you hate all of them. The rear bench is flat, seats are upright, and the cabin itself is narrow. So, it’s safe to say the LC79 Supertourer is not a family tourer.

Drivetrain

- Stock 4.5-liter, turbo-diesel engine - 202 horsepower - 317 pound-feet of torque - Clutch assembly replaced - All fuses are placed together - Marks 4WD portal axle increases the rear track by 90mm - Truck raised using differential; not a suspension lift kit - This helps tackle obstacles even better - Handbrake not placed conventionally

The stock engine is a 4.5-liter, turbo-diesel engine that makes 202 horses and 317 pound-feet of torque. Patriot Campers has literally changed everything else with respect to the drivetrain. For starters, the company has changed the notorious clutch assembly itself. The LC79 can relate to this. The clutch is very unpredictable; it lasts up to 50,000 miles in some Land Cruisers, and in some cases, it gives up at 5,000-mile mark itself. The exhaust and the ECU have also been changed to make things better in the respective aspects. There are two batteries placed in the engine bay; a standard-sized battery and a smaller 80-amp battery. The latter is there to share the load of the power sucked on by the additional power-consuming equipment. An alternator is installed that helps to crank the first battery in case of power loss, which can be expected to happen more often than not. Since the location of things in the engine bay is completely messed up, the company decided to put all the fuses together. At least this way, you won’t be fiddling around to find the fusebox.

Now, let’s get to the bigger changes. The front track is 90 mm wider than the back; so, the rear tires struggle to create a new track. Wonder who was the smartass who thought this would be a good idea! Patriot Campers fixed this by sourcing a Marks 4WD Portal Axle kit with Diff Correction. With this installation, the rear also becomes wider by 90 mm, thus being the exact same as the front track. Not a lot of companies have adapted Portal Axles yet, and it is a fairly new technology. To put it in simple words, when you upgrade the size of the tires on your vehicle – 35-inch set in this case – the gear ratios tend to get messed up. This also leads to a loss of power. However, with the portal axles, there are a couple of advantages. The axle doesn’t drive the wheels directly. A small gearbox of sorts is attached at the end of each wheel that transfers moves the wheels without the loss of power as the gear ratios remain close to the factory configuration. This helps you capitalize on all the power available at your disposal to move the vehicle effortlessly. The second advantage is explained below.

Generally, this is done by a lift kit, but here, the portal axles take care of that. In case of a lift kit, it is the body that is lifted, but the differential below stays at the same place. So, the other advantage of portal axle here is that the differential itself is raised off the ground; by four inches in this truck. You are benefited with extra ground clearance without worrying about the obstacles hitting and damaging the differential. This also helps increase off-road stability immensely. If you are into hardcore, technical off-roading, portal axles are the way to go. It will burn a hole in your pocket initially, but you will reap the benefits in the future. Thanks to this lift setup, the 35-inch tires can be used ‘officially and legally.’ The only disadvantage is that the handbrake cannot be used on the rear wheels. To get around this, Patriot Campers has installed drum brakes at the front that take care of the handbrake duties.

Final Thoughts

This LC79 Supertourer is one of a kind beast. These are not the level 1 mods that you do to make your truck look butch and muscular. Patriot Campers is known to cater to hardcore off-road aficionados, and this Supertourer shows us why. The company built this truck for a customer and decided to shoot a video before handing it over. When you have a mod of this caliber, there’s nothing much you can complain about. The price of this particular model is not mentioned anywhere, but the company has quoted a starting price of $118,000 AUD (Approximately USD80,000) on its website. The price is justified because the portal axles are not a piece of easy-on-the-pocket equipment. So, despite the high price, we think the PCOR LC79 is worth the money.

Further reading

Read our full review on the 2018 Toyota Land Cruiser.