Our Hilux Setup
Here you will find information about the setup of our vehicle for camping, 4WDing and long term living for touring around Australia. Our touring vehicle is a Toyota Hilux 2007 SR5 dual cab manual 3L turbo diesel D4D. To see why we chose this vehicle, click here.
After Market Add-ons and other Camping / Touring Stuff
Our Fishing Setup for Touring / Camping
outbackjoe 
Hi Joe. Is that a fibreglass canopy? If it is, I am glad to see it can take the weight of the roof-top tent!
Hey Johan yes it’s fiberglass but it doesn’t take the weight of the roof top tent. There is internal bars that penetrate through the canopy to support the roof top tent. Check out my article on canopy roof racks.
Hey Joe, I am thinking about installing a long rang fuel tank in my Hilux. The upside being greater flexibility in where to purchase fuel and greater range. The downside being slightly less clearance and driving about with a perpetually half full tank when not using the Hilux on long range camping trips. I have looked through your site and you don’t mention anything about long range tanks. What are your thoughts on their value?
Hey Nicholas I wrote a bit about my long range tank about 2/3 down this page:
https://outbackjoe.com/macho-divertissement/our-hilux-setup/hilux-after-market-components/
It’s a good thing. Saves you money since you fuel up at major centers and allows you to confidently go further into remote areas. When tackling really remote offroad tracks you need extra fuel anyway. Long range tank is better than jerry cans.
Hi Joe,
Really enjoyed your articles on performance upgrades and exhausts. Good to have solid facts behind these things. I was wondering what your thoughts were on engine longevity mods such a pre-filter kits etc for newer common rails. Worth it or better just to keep up with regular maintenance? I have a catch can and have been glad to have it after seeing some of the crap thats been caught in it.
Hey Charles I don’t have an extra fuel filter. Extra filtering must put more stress on the pump, so that’s a negative. Also the filter costs money which is another negative. Could it help protect fuel system? Maybe I dunno. More filtering might help in rare cases but the manufacturer isn’t going to leave easy gains to be made from something as simple as extra filtering. If they thought insufficient filtering was contributing to excessive failures then they’d put more filtering in. So I think the benefit is marginal but really I don’t know.
I’ve got a catch can but even that isn’t all beer and skittles. It increases crankcase pressure and if not drained could cause engine to blow seals. Or even something could break free from it and get sucked into engine. Everything has pros and cons.
Hi Joe, what are your thoughts on torque converter lock up kits ? I’m told by the manufacturer/ installer best thing since sliced bread .
Cheers Russ
Hi Russell I’ve never looked into it I’ve only ever had manual transmissions. But I’m fairly certain nearly every modern auto has lock up straight out of the factory?
Hi outback joe I just want to tell you your expertise is very much appreciated I am in the process of buying a new 2019 Hilux extra cab and have been contemplating over what conceivable extra I can afford and what I really need. After reading your most informative articles on what’s best or not best on after market 4wd add ons marketed by unqualified sales people I have just crossed of %90 of my wish list. My wish list is as follows ( fyrlyt luxsis 5000 spot lights got them already 40mm lift kit Bilstein B60 shocks king coil overs 500kg rear springs not sure if overdoing it but I’m a tradie and carry a lot of weight black duck elements seat covers arb summit bull bar bushranger 5.5 single row led bar my reverse light Bocar delux Ute tray tow bar windshields tripple locking aluminium trundle tray steel roh rims 17 BF Goodrich tyres Lt arb hi output on board air compressor maybe 9500 winch gme XRStm radio arb bash plates raptor rustproof paint few tow points may add a few things later when finished will post photo I forgot to add I used to have a 1992 Hilux duel cab 230thouklms towed a 19ft boat every weekend up and down the coast I changed oil every 5000klms washed out my air filter every 3 months replaced every 50000klms never changed my fuel filter just emptied the water out of the bowl primmed it 1 clutch & it didn’t miss a beat yes I did look after it owned it for 15years and it was stock other than after market shocks will treat my new one the same but will replace fuel filter as recommended by Toyota once again thx for your information cheers josh
Hey Josh glad some articles were useful wow that’s a big list is that the culled list?
Love the articles and information, very informative thank you. Just purchased 06 Hilux with tub , low km at 110k and in process of getting canopy and setup for touring around Oz. Heard the 3.0 diesel is susceptible to injector seal problem, have you any problems ?
Hey Ash the injector seal issue was fixed with a recall many years ago. The new seals don’t have a problem. Might be worth checking that your car had the recall done. Also check oil pick up every oil change.
Hi Joe check for recall on Toyota website and could not find a recall for 2006 https://www.toyota.com.au/toyota-recalls for injector seal. Will contact Toyota dealers direct to find out more.
I think coz it wasn’t a safety issue it wasn’t called a recall. It was some customer service exercise or something.
Hi Joe , reading your post with great interest and enjoyment , many thanks for your sharing your experiences. With your setup did you need to increase GVM and what works did you do or recommend ? I plan to add canopy, rooftop tent, solar panel, fridge, kitchen, ofcourse tools , additional fuel water, food etc so worried will be over the limit and want to ensure its safe, legal and much more enjoyable in my 2006 Hilux.
Hi Ash no I didn’t do GVM upgrade and I’ve never weighed the vehicle although I suspect when fully loaded for long term living it would be around max GVM. I would guess many highly modified touring vehicles would be well above gvm.
The best approach is to avoid unnecessary weight. You don’t need 35 inch tyres and 400Ah worth of batteries and rock sliders and a rear bar and 3 million lumens worth of LED lighting and the most shiny stainless steel gold plated canopy and a kitchen full of all the fanciest cooking contraptions.
If you do that then there’s a good chance you stay under gvm, or might go slightly over when you’ve taken on maximum fuel and water but that is quickly consumed so only for small duration which reduces the risk.
Or if you really need to have all those things then gvm upgrade might be something to look at, I don’t know much about it. Even better get a vehicle designed from the factory to do the job you need it to do.