JUSTIN WORKED WITH MARKS 4WD TO FIT A SET OF PORTAL HUBS TO EACH OF THE AXLES
THE BUILD
PATRIOT started the build with a brand-new 2017 Land Cruiser 79 GXL. When the car rolled off the truck in Melbourne it had less than 100km on the clock, and when we met the guys for our drive it had done just 400 kays.
The rear of the Toyota ute was stripped and the back-end of it effectively cut off. This allowed the complete JMACX 6x6 system to be installed in place of the factory rear axle and leaf springs. The JMACX set-up replaced the back part of the chassis with new rails mounting the coil spring suspension and trailing arms; however, the Patriot truck uses adjustable airbags in lieu of the coils, with prototype TJM remote reservoir shocks.
The airbags were supplied by Airbag Man and are heightadjustable up to 100mm to allow easier access to the cab at their lowest and provide better off-road clearance when cranked up. Plus, the system is self-levelling when driving. Both of the rear diff housings are made by JMACX; the rear-most one retains the factory Toyota locking diff, and the first one is fitted with a Detroit soft locker.
The JMACX 6x6 set-up is designed and engineered to work with up to 35-inch tyres, but, as usual, Justin took it to the next level and fitted 37-inch Mickey Thompson MTZS. This simply required tweaking the adjustable links that are part of the JMACX set-up. However, even a 6x6 79 on 37s wasn’t enough for Justin. No, he had to go further and worked with Marks 4WD to fit a set of its portal hubs to each of the axles. The portals not only add an extra 150mm of clearance under the diffs, but the gear reduction in them helps to compensate for the power losses associated with fitting larger diameter tyres, which is especially needed when running on 35s (or in this case, 37s).
Pushing all that weight and rubber requires extra power, and there’s no doubt GSL Fabrications is the king of tuning single-turbo 1VD engines. Patriot has used GSL upgrades for a few of its Super Tourer builds, including for its own cars, and Justin had no hesitation in turning to them again.