Here are some considerations for additional vehicle equipment:

• Suspension
  • Shock absorbers and suspension
    • The basic decision is first of all whether payload capacity has to be increased or not:
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      • Permitted payload:
        • A Hilux has a permissible payload of 985kg.
        • The Fiftyten cabin comes expanded to approx. 450kg.
        • plus the weight of the people traveling with you (70 to 250kg depending on the number of people)
        • Weight of water in water tank
        • Weight with possibly larger fuel tank
        • Weight of luggage
        • Weight of tools, spare tires etc.
        • Don't fool yourself. The maximum payload is quickly reached. Then you have to think about increasing the payload.
    • Depending on whether an increase in payload is necessary, you have different suspension options. This requires detailed advice and research.
      Suspension modifications can cost up to €6000 or even more.
  • Tires and rims
    • Standard tires for off-road travel are the BF Goodrich A/T (=All Terrain)
    • 17" rims are common and recommended by everyone for off-road use of the Hilux
    • Rims and tires must fit the suspension and any possible payload. An increase in the payload usually also results in adjustments to the tires and rims, as the standard rims and tires do not have a corresponding payload index.
    • If you want to have uniform rims on the spare wheel, then you have to check whether the rim also fits on the spare wheel mount under the vehicle (Hilux and some others).
    • If you have to replace tires and rims, you can quickly expect to pay €3500.
• Underbody protection
  • After modifications to the chassis and the platform, cavity and underbody protection should be applied. The costs for this vary depending on the provider, but you should probably estimate around €2000-2500. TimeMAX seems to be something of a standard here in Germany.
  • Mike Sanders' underbody and cavity protection is also well-known in the off-road sector.
• Snorkel
  • Not only helpful when crossing water, it also ensures cleaner intake air, especially if a cyclone filter is used.
  • If necessary, the rear axle ventilation should be set higher for driving through water
• Underrun protection
  • If you seriously want to go off-road, you should think about it
  • There are variants
    • Steel 3mm: cheap, but rusts, can also be welded
    • Alu 4mm: a little more expensive, a little thin, not rusting
    • Alu 6mm: most expensive solution, does not rust
  • Costs approx. 1100-2000€.
• Larger fuel tank
  • Depending on the vehicle, fuel consumption and planned routes without a fuel station, you should think about a larger tank or an additional tank. Fuel consumption increases very quickly, especially in off-road operation
  • Variants are:
    • Replace standard tank with larger tank
    • install an additional tank
      Both variants can quickly cost between €1700-3500, but usually have the advantage that the tanks are installed in the chassis and no additional space is required.
    • The cheaper but somewhat less convenient alternative is a corresponding number of 20l canisters. But you also need the space for them.
• Cable winch bumper
  • depends on where you want to go and how hardcore you want to be on the road
    Cost > 3500€, even more with a winch
    Significant additional weight on the front axle, which should be taken into account for the suspension
• Rock slider
  • to protect the sills in hardcore use
    Costs around 1500-2000€, 50kg extra weight
• Water filtration
  • The cheapest solution is an external water filter for filtering when refueling the water tank
    • From Senegal on there's no water pressure at the taps anymore, so filling up the water this way is not possible without an own water pump, which allows you to get water filtered from jerry cans.
  • When getting water from the tank, an activated carbon filter should be used
• High lift
• Fan heater
  • If you don't have a heater installed, a small fan heater can be a solution to bring some heat into the cabin
• Camping table and chairs

In short: on top of the actual vehicle, another 15,000-20,000€ of modifications, etc. can easily be added.

There's no getting around a suspension conversion. The only thing that can be decided here is whether you need and carry out a legal load or whether you run the risk of being caught with too much load. But if you want to drive a lot off-road, you need an adapted suspension. A rear air suspension with a payload is only a solution if you occasionally carry a cabin and otherwise travel without it.

Everything else can be decided and retrofitted individually.

With the cabin on the Hilux it becomes necessary to install a different suspension. After much consideration, we decided to implement a legal solution, i.e. to increase the payload on the Hilux.

You will quickly reach the maximum payload with a cabin on the Hilux, especially if, like us, you want to install a larger diesel tank, a water tank and a lot more.
Although the likelihood of being caught in a weight check and receiving a fine for overloading is not very high, we didn't want to take any risks and therefore opted for a legal option. We want to have an EFS suspension installed with a payload report. However, that also means that we need new rims and tires.

The order of the work was unclear to me from the conversations with Stefan Decker. He said that it would probably be better to change the suspension first so that there would be no problems when checking and registering it because of the conversion from the normal platform to the tray. However, the conversion workshops have another (opposite) opinion.

So far, Offroad-Weigler has made the best impression on us when it comes to advice, commitment and knowledge. We will probably work with him to convert the vehicle.