By this point, it’s safe to say that the J250 Land Cruiser has been a bit of a hit so far. While it’s not a full-sized J300 Land Cruiser, it has the rough-and-tumble looks, the capability, and the right sort of price tag to give the people what they want. However, what if you want to cruise more land than the stock clearances and articulation will let you? While you could start bolting on some aftermarket parts, the dream is to send it to Arctic Trucks.
You might be familiar with Arctic Trucks if you ever watched “Top Gear,” where you might’ve seen this Icelandic outfit’s macho Hilux pickup trucks made it to both the North Pole and the mouth of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano. It’s a firm that built its name on expedition vehicles meant to tackle this pale blue dot’s least hospitable terrain, keeping ground pressure low and ground clearance high to not get bogged down in feet of snow. Of course, they also have a proven track record over other diabolical landscapes, but the firm’s Land Cruisers have largely been forbidden fruit until now.
The most visually obvious differentiator of an AT37 from a standard Land Cruiser is a set of 37-inch tires from BFGoodrich, either all-terrain T/A K03s or mud-terrain T/A KM3s, depending on what terrain you’ll be pounding. For context, the Ford Bronco Raptor also uses 37-inch tires, so these are some enormous circles. Of course, if you run out of sidewall displacement, you’ll probably want a strong set of wheels, so this Land Cruiser features Arctic Trucks’ own forged alloy wheels with two valve stems, one for a tire gauge and one for an inflator chuck.
Of course, 37-inch tires wouldn’t fit on a stock-height Land Cruiser, so Arctic Trucks lifted the suspension by 1.6 inches, then tapped R53 Suspension, the same people who make dampers for Dakar teams and Gordon Murray’s T.50 hypercar, for two-way adjustable monotube dampers and hydraulic bump stops.
If a small lift doesn’t sound like enough to fit 37-inch tires, you’d be right. The changes go much, much deeper than that. Arctic Trucks has reworked the frame of the Land Cruiser, going so far as to alter its wheelbase, and it’s bolted on a seriously chunky set of fender flares with built-in tire pressure guides. Speaking of functional design touches, the side steps have easily replaceable plastic end caps, and a stealthy two-inch hitch receiver ought to be plenty useful while staying largely hidden when not in use.
It all sounds absolutely awesome, however the best thing about the Arctic Trucks AT37 is that the company states it will be available in North America, both as a conversion to a Land Cruiser you already own and as a fully built brand-new vehicle. I wouldn’t be surprised if these start trawling the mean streets of Bellevue, Wash. soon, because for anyone looking for the most badass modern Toyota SUV, this has to be the one to have, yeah?
(Photo credits: Arctic Trucks)
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The engine bay wires and mess is off putting.
I will take an Arctic Truck IZUZU D MAX over this, but I cannot get one….
I spent some time in Iceland about 20 years ago and saw Arctic Trucks conversions all over the place. So cool to see them coming to North America!
This looks so righteous.
This.
Was not expecting to hear Bellevue mentioned
Soon to be seen tackling the rugged offroad terrain of the 520 HOV lane…
Microsoft bonuses land every August/September.
so it seems as though the have a USA office and do GX 2010-23 for $20k?
https://arctictrucks.us/at37-lexus-gx460/
by the way it wasn’t that hard to find. google GX AT37. video’s too
These conversions are everywhere in Iceland and they are so cool. Love to see the company opening up a new market.
I wish Toyota would at least option the V6 from the GX in this but that would likely push it to $100k+
Now this is a Land Cruiser. Call the other ones 4Runners, and offer this as the Land Cruiser. One trim, no options, no compromise.
And also stuff the right engine into it. The one from the GX.
I like it.
Coming to a media influencer near you.
I can’t imagine what the price will be OUCH. I did like those 2 TG episodes 🙂
Will it be offered on the GX? I can’t imagine how glacially slow this will be on the 4-cylinder hybrid.
People put 33+ in tires on old Toyota pickups with the 22R in them and did not care how slow.
Lemme know when I can buy it at Costco; right next to the 12# bag of potato chips and 8-pk of crunchy peanut butter.
And 5 pounds of pancake mix.
On a trip to Iceland, I crawled under more than a few Arctic-style trucks, many with 44s on the and remote tire inflation. I was shocked at the lack of lift and stock axles. I asked around and the owners said that they are not meant for rock crawling so the stock axles often hold up. They do mostly body modifications to fit the giant tires and they are on ice and sand so there is no need for articulation.
The giant busses were super cool too. Didn’t crawl under any, though.
I could not help myself. I even saw a 71-73 jeepster commando diesel running 475/70R17s (not a typo)
I imagine the price will be astronomical. Some lucky Overlander/off-road will get one of these used once they finally go into the used market, years and years from now, and only a small number because only so many people will be able to choose to spend this kind of coin.