clearmysix

Hi everyone,

I went ahead and performed another crazy project. The Prado 150 door swap.

Now, its not easy to ship a real Toyota OEM Prado 150 door to the USA. If anyone knows how - please tell me as I'd love to have a real one. However, all it takes is some $$$ to buy a Chinese made version on Alibaba.

For 500 dollars plus around 500 in shipping you get..


2 months later its dropped off at your door (no order tracking, no phone call)

clearmysix

No instructions are given. However, the first thing you need to do is take off your old door.

1. Remove all the interior panels
2. Disconnect all of the wires
3. Unscrew the old door
4. Find a friend to hold it while you unscrew it



And then your journey begins

clearmysix

Now go and put the new door on the car (4 bolts)



In order to use the door latch you also need to install the black panel on the left with your old door latch. In order to make the lock/unlock buttons work you need to bend and add new screw holes to the OEM Lexus metal bracket

clearmysix

Then you realize that the wiring harness is not long enough to reach these buttons or the latch...


Time to splice some wires...

clearmysix

Then you need to install the window (had a professional do it)


Then you to install the rear spoiler and wiper motor/mount ***NOTE THE SUPPLIED CHINESE MOUNT IS POOR QUALITY BUT WILL WORK***

clearmysix

Then, go get the window tinted to look similar to the OEM tint and buy a new lexus emblem for the rear (or re-use your old one)

clearmysix

Lastly, I re-routed the backup camera to the site of the license plate after deciding I didnt want it on the tire mount (OEM location). ***NOTE: THE CHINESE DOOR DOES NOT HAVE THE OEM HOLE FOR THE CAMERA TO GET TO THE TIRE MOUNT ANYWAY***

clearmysix

And then the rains came... The chinese door is misshapen it seems - I added some additional weather stripping on the door itself to eliminate this gap at the top which would allow the free flow of water into the car.

clearmysix

It should be noted that the pearl paint on the door is similar enough to the GX pearl that I didn't even paint it. It is covered mostly by the tire anyway but you can't tell and the chinese paint job is actually pretty good.

Hope that helps someone else who wants to do this mod. It is great to have this while also having the LRA tank to extend range and still bring the tire with you!

tntcandy

Wow, crazy project, hats off to you for doing this. I love the "Prado" conversion.

Have you ever considered import from South America, the Prado is sold and used there, might even be able to get the gas tank so have the double capacity.

John00

really nice!

clearmysix

I could be wrong but I don’t think the South American prado 150 got the aux tank or back door with tire. When I was in Nicaragua I saw plenty of Prados - none with a tire on the back.

I did install the LRA 24 gallon tank on this one so I carry 48 gallons.

mike202

A simple question, what is the motivation for this swap? Are you installing the aux fuel tank?

I always thought that any vehicle with an aft mounted spare is unattractive.

clearmysix

Yes I carry 48 gallons of fuel with an aux tank and my tires are too big to fit in the OEM spare location.

John00

i like the door mount tires. mostly because ive experienced many times i needed to use the spare when it was rainy, muddy or snowy. i carry 2 blankets and a poncho just because of the spare location.

was the misshaped door something that seems to be inherent to the door design or manufacturing? or could it have been due to packaging or shipping?
could it be put into a large press with some fixturing to straighten out or would that introduce other fitment issues?

maybe i will consider this swap. i can take one of these to where i have access to huge presses if that looks like it will work.