Lazy rear axle for Landcruiser

We've had several 6x4 Cruisers in the past at work & while they certainly allowed a much heavier load to be carried, the four wheel drive performance was terrible as the lazy axle took too much weight off the drive wheels requiring the front axle to be engaged regulary even when crossing shallow table drains etc.Tyre wear too was appauling lucky to get 20,000km & always seemed to be picking up punctures as well. Fuel consumption was well up but of course we were carrying far more weight so hard to compare with an equivelant 4x4.
I'd be more inclined to fit one of the lighter low profile alloy slide on campers to help keep the weight within GVM & not compromise offroad ability.
Cheers Craig..............

No personal experience, but friends confirm Barry's assessment.
Stay light or buy an OKA :-)

Cheers,
Peter
OKA196 Motorhome

Hi Barry,

You might like to contact 6x6 Australia as their second axle is a driving, rather than 'lazy', axle.

Cheers,
DickyBeach

Gday
Put an air bag on top of the driving axle to increase traction .

Barry pending on what type of lazy axle you go, if its just a straight lazy it will be crap & will hang you up all the time, but fit a 60/40 share with the weight of your camper & you will find it will go better than a straight 4x4 with the extra weight, empty & you will find that in some situations it will be detrimental & you will have to lock in the 4wd as others have stated but loaded you will drive on sand heaps better as the weight is spread over 6 wheels, I could go on for pages on the pros & cons but if your near Jervis bay nsw I could show you, have owned several, But the big BONUS is that you will be LEGAL as most wagons & utes are over there GVM when loaded on big trips & most 6x4 have a 4500GVM mine have been all over oz, Simpson,cape etc if you what more info member msg me phone email etc
good luck

Check out this business:

http://www.creativeconversions.com.au/

They may do what you need.

They say that by using airbags they can dump the air from the lazy axle if necessary to put more weight on the drive axle to get traction offroad.

I am only guessing here but I would say the fuel consumption would be a bit less than towing a trailer and not having to tow would be more convenient, however you can drop a trailer whereas the lazy axle is with you all the time.

If you do a fair amount of load carrying the rest of the time when not camping, I would go for the lazy axle, otherwise maybe a camper trailer would be better.

Toyota 6X4

Hey Barry,
Have you thought about buying one already converted rather than doing your own. I had a quick look on car sales and there are a few 6x4 (Toyota and Nissan) for sale. The point is the aftermarket resale is probably less than the value of the vehicle + conversion. And if it doesn't work out you can probably resell without a big loss. Prices on carsales range up to $40,000 but above is a link to the cheapest Toyota I can see ($13,999):

Cheers