Editor's Forewords: Hey Guys! Welcome back to the Lasfit Off-Road Column.🥳 Today I would like to introduce a very special and important friend to Lasfit for you guys. There are so many tags to describe him, such as:
#A deep off-road enthusiast
#A loyal supporter of Lasfit
#A Senior Member of the 4Runner Forum
#A creative modder with hands-on solid ability
#An inventive content creator and authentic sharer
......
Yeh! Our beloved friend is none other than Isaac@mrblah79! Recently, Isaac sent a feedback email to our Lasfit Team. The content of this email is comparable to an academic paper, which made our each team member amazed. We were moved by his professionalism and dedication and also impressed by his off-road spirit. Some screenshots of the content of the email Isaac sent us are shown below👇:
(As rich as an academic paper. Amazing!🤩)
In this email, he told us a lot about his off-road stories, his unique insights on off-road lighting strategy, his plans for 4Runner to build, and his story with the Lasfit brand and review of product experience. I can't wait to show all of you guys his content!
Since the content is very rich, I decided to divide it into two articles to share his story with all of you. The first article mainly introduces Isaac's off-road story, his unique insights on off-road lighting strategies, and what builds he wants to do to his 4Runner. The second article mainly introduces the story between him and the Lasfit brand and his review of the Lasfit off-road lighting products.
Now, let's concentrate and read the "academic paper" shared with us by Isaac!🤓
Hi guys! Isaac is here! First I'd like to share my story about off-road.
I always had a thing for modding vehicles, from Honda's, Nissan's, and Toyota's to go faster. As I grew older, I become more active in outdoor sports, such as rock climbing, and snowboarding. After a few close calls traveling to remote areas, I decided I needed a reliable vehicle that can get me to my destination safely, so I ended up trading my Toyota tundra for a 4runner and never looked back. Over the years, I was lucky to meet like-minded individuals, who introduced me to offroading and then overloading (before overloading was a thing).
Over time, overloading became a passion for me because it allowed me to escape from my day-to-day job as a healthcare professional, especially during COVID when we weren't allowed to escape from our duties in healthcare.
First, I tried the local trails around San Diego, California, then I started to explore Mammoth and Big Bear California. Over time, I ended up camping in remote destinations in Utah, Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico. As the challenges and offroad obstacles grew harder, I ended up modifying the vehicle to protect my investment, get myself and my loved ones home safely, and make camping easier and more fun.
Offroading and overloading is not only an expression of my personality, but it's a lifestyle choice and it truly embodies freedom. The freedom to get away from our day-to-day lives and responsibility and explore places that we not only enjoyed as children but now we can as adults.
*Editor's Reaction: Cool! That's probably why Isaac has always had a passion and love for off-roading!👍
The proper lighting solution is quite important for the road and the trails.
My lighting set-up suggestions for the same vehicle owners are, to be honest with yourself in regards to expectations and pricing. People tend to forget that lights are only designed to get you safely from one destination to another destination, and it is easy to overspend or focus on lighting performance that their vehicles will never be fully capable of utilizing.
Also, when choosing what kind of light to buy, it's important to take into consideration what kind of road or environmental conditions that vehicle spends most of its time in. If you spend most of your time on the road, there is no point in purchasing lights that cannot be used legally or safely on the road. I run SAE/DOT-approved fog lights while on the road.
If your vehicle spends most of its time offroad or you plan on only using the lights in an offroad setting, then look for a combination lens, or mount different lights with different lenses in different areas of the vehicle, such as the upper grill, lower grill, or on the roof. You will maximize your light coverage more efficiently but it is definitely not the most cost-effective way to do things.
Now for lens color, I tend to gravitate to amber or yellow lenses over white light. Amber and yellow tend to work better in fog or dusty conditions, such as when traveling in a convoy. Amber also causes less eye fatigue and offers more contrast in rocky terrain. Ideally, if your budget can swing it, I would mount amber lights down low, such as in the fog or bumper area, and white light up high in the A-pillars or up high on the roof. I really heart my Lasfit lighting products. 40 inch, 30 inch, and 20 inch Lasfit light bars and Lasfit ditch lights w/ lamin-x yellow film.
Lastly, look into chase lights or auxiliary reverse lights. Trying to back up at night to a campsite or in the wilderness is pretty difficult because your OEM reverse lights are not bright enough to make up for the lack of ambient lighting. I run pods in the rear, either on their own switch, or wired into my reverse lights.
*Editor's Reaction: Isaac's off-road lighting solution is really practical and meaningful! What's even more creative is that he put multiple sizes of Lasfit Light Bar on his 4Runner! (Including 22", 32", 42"). We will detail his build process in the next article and sincerely hope this will help more off-road/overland enthusiasts with better set-up choices and optimal trail experiences. Please stay tuned......⏰
Finally is my 4Runner future build plan for reference:
I need to upgrade the brake system when the OEM system wears out. Looking into either a cross drill setup or big break kit. Otherwise, my vehicle is fully built to my specs as follows:
- Drivetrain:
> Twin Locked (ARB) 4.88 reduction gears.
- Armor:
> Demello aluminum front bumper
> Shrockworks rear bumper w/ tire carrier and dual jerry can holder RCI full aluminum skidplates, gas tank, and shock skids.
> Rago rear shock armor and rear lower link skids
> BuiltRight spindle gussets and cam gussets.
> White knuckle offroad rock sliders.
- Suspension:
> 34 inch Yokohama MT SCS F5s Kings Suspenion
> Metal tech upper and lower rear links
> Total chaos Upper and lower front control arms
> Icon panhard bar
> Icon rear hydraulic bumpstops
> Timbren bumpstops
> EIMKEITH Panhard correction kit
> KDSS spacers and electronic disconnect
- Interior:
> Rago Molle panels and shelf
> Velox gullwing windows
> Rago front dash mount
> Dobinsons dual drawer setup
> ARB fridge
- Lighting interior:
> Lasfit bulbs in doors, and vanity.
- Lighting exterior:
> Lasfit license plate light
> Lasfit 3inch HP pods
> Lasfit 42", 32", 22" light bars
- Miscellaneous:
> Safari Snorkel
> Prinsu Roof rack
> ARB awning Kickass shower tent
> Maxtrax holder/maxtrax
> Smittybuilt winch
> Factor 55 fairlead
> Factor 55 prolink
> Gobi Ladder
Many thanks to Isaac for sharing his off-roading experience and lighting strategy with us, hoping to inspire more off-road beginners. So finally leave a "homework" here🗒️: How did you get into overland & off-road build? Can you share your story with us below the comment?🤗
*Update: The second article has been launched>>> Review: A Creative Off-Road Lighting Build With Lasfit 22"& 32"& 42" Light Bar On The 2016 Toyota 4Runner
Questions or Comments? Leave them below!
