Toyota Troop Carrier (78 Series) Upgrade Guide

The 78 Series Troop Carrier is the long-wheelbase, three-door wagon member of the Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series family. It shares its dash, switchgear and much of its drivetrain with the 76 Series wagon and the 79 Series ute, but the long body, rear barn doors and bench or forward-facing seating give it a cabin layout of its own. This guide organises the most common Troopy upgrades by area, so you can plan a build in a sensible order rather than buying parts piecemeal. It covers multimedia and head units, audio and speaker pods, lighting, steering and controls, mirrors and interior, with notes on what is specific to the 78 Series.

Throughout, the emphasis is on parts that suit the 70 Series platform and fit the factory locations, so the cabin stays usable and the work stays reversible. Where a modification touches a safety system or the vehicle's construction, we point you to the relevant compliance reading rather than glossing over it.

Why the Troop Carrier Needs Its Own Plan

Most 70 Series parts are shared across the range, but the Troop Carrier has features that change how you approach a build. It is a three-door vehicle: two front doors and a single side cargo door, with the main rear access through the barn doors at the back. That means there are fewer door cards to work with for speakers than a dual-cab, and the rear of the cabin is a large open space rather than a fixed rear seat row.

Seating varies enormously between Troop Carriers. Some are fitted as bare two-seat work vehicles, some carry the factory rear bench or side-facing seats, and many touring builds replace the back entirely with drawers, a fridge slide and a sleeping platform. Because the rear is so often re-purposed, audio and lighting decisions usually centre on the front cabin and the cargo area separately. The dash and instrument binnacle, however, are common 70 Series, so head units, steering wheels, mirrors and switch upgrades that suit the 70 Series platform apply to the Troopy as well.

Troop Carrier Upgrades by Area

The table below is the quick map for the rest of this guide. It groups the common 78 Series upgrades by area, notes the Troopy-specific consideration for each, and points to the relevant collection.

Multimedia and Head Units

The factory head unit in a 78 Series is modest, and replacing it is usually the first upgrade people make. Because the Troop Carrier shares the 70 Series dash, the same vehicle-specific head units that suit the 76 wagon and 79 ute fit the Troopy in the factory aperture. A vehicle-specific unit replaces the original head unit in its original location, so the screen sits low and central rather than being mounted on top of the dash.

The practical wins from a modern unit are wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, a reversing camera input, and far better audio output to drive a speaker upgrade. On a touring Troopy, the navigation and hands-free calling that CarPlay and Android Auto provide are genuinely useful on long remote drives, and they reduce the need to handle a phone behind the wheel.

Browse the full range in the head units collection. The 70 Series specific options are grouped under LandCruiser 70 Series head units, which is the relevant family for a 78 Series Troop Carrier. To add wireless smartphone integration to a compatible existing system, the AutoKit CCPA wireless CarPlay and Android Auto interface is a lower-cost path than a full unit swap.

Audio and Speaker Pods

The Troop Carrier's three-door layout is the main thing that shapes an audio upgrade. A dual-cab has four door cards to work with; the Troopy has its two front doors and a single side cargo door, so the front doors carry most of the sound stage. This is where speaker door pods earn their place. The factory speaker locations in a 70 Series are shallow and poorly positioned for sound quality, and a moulded pod relocates the speaker into the door card properly, giving a larger driver a better mounting surface than the factory aperture allows.

PVS makes vehicle-specific door pods for the 70 Series that suit the Troop Carrier's front doors. For a front-only upgrade, the PVS front speaker door pods for the LandCruiser 70 Series add a clean, factory-look mounting for a quality front pair. If you are running speakers front and rear, the PVS front and rear speaker door pods for the 70 Series cover both, though note the rear pods are designed around the 79 dual-cab and 76 wagon door layout, so confirm suitability for your Troopy's seating and door configuration before ordering.

The full range of speakers, pods and audio gear is in the audio collection, with head unit and speaker pairings grouped under car audio. Plan the head unit and speakers together, since the head unit provides the output that makes a speaker upgrade worthwhile.

Lighting

A Troop Carrier earns its keep on long, remote drives, and forward lighting is one of the higher-value upgrades for that use. The 78 Series shares its front end with the rest of the 70 Series, so headlight upgrades that suit the platform apply directly. Improved headlights give a better beam pattern and output than the original lamps, which matters on unlit country roads where the standard lighting can feel marginal.

Browse the 70 Series specific options in the 70 Series headlights collection, part of the broader headlights range. Any lighting upgrade should comply with the relevant Australian Design Rules for headlamps, and auxiliary driving lights have their own mounting and aiming requirements, so check that what you fit is road-legal for your state.

Steering and Controls

Steering wheel and control upgrades on a 70 Series touch the airbag system, so this is an area where compliance, not just fitment, drives the decision. A replacement steering wheel must work correctly with the vehicle's airbag and the clockspring that carries the wiring through the steering column. Getting this wrong can disable the airbag or the horn, which is both a safety problem and a roadworthy fail.

Because the Troop Carrier uses the common 70 Series dash and column, the same considerations apply as for the 76 and 79. The key point is to match any steering part to your build year, because airbag and clockspring arrangements changed over the model's life. When you fit a vehicle-specific head unit, retaining the factory steering wheel control buttons for volume, track and phone keeps the controls you already know within reach of the wheel.

For how steering wheels, airbags and clocksprings are handled compliantly, read the guidance on our ADR Compliance hub before buying steering parts. We mention steering and controls here as a planning area; the safety detail belongs with the compliance reading.

Mirrors and Vision

The Troop Carrier's long body and rear barn doors make rear vision a real consideration. Reversing and manoeuvring a long-wheelbase wagon, often loaded for touring with gear stacked behind the front seats, is harder than in a shorter vehicle, and a reversing camera feeding the head unit is one of the most useful aids you can add. Most modern head units include a reversing camera input for exactly this reason.

Mirrors themselves are a regulated item: factory rear vision mirror requirements still apply, and a reversing camera supplements rather than replaces them. If you tow or carry a load that blocks the rear glass, that changes what rear vision aids are appropriate. The relevant standards and how a camera display interacts with the factory mirror requirements are covered on the ADR Compliance hub.

Interior and Integration

Interior upgrades on a Troopy split naturally into two zones because the rear is so often re-purposed. The front cabin is where the head unit, steering controls, switch panels and audio live, and it is common 70 Series, so off-the-shelf integration parts apply. The cargo area behind the front seats is build-specific, whether it carries the factory seating, a drawer system, a fridge or a sleeping platform, and that is where you plan amplifiers, accessory wiring and lighting separately from the dash.

For tidying up the front cabin and getting the most from a head unit, the head unit add-ons collection covers the cameras, harnesses, interfaces and accessories that complete an install. Planning the wiring once, with the head unit, audio and accessory loads thought through together, avoids the rework that comes from adding things one at a time.

A Sensible Build Order

If you are starting from a stock 78 Series, the upgrades stack in a logical order. Doing them in sequence avoids buying twice and keeps the wiring sane.

1. Head unit first. It sets the foundation for audio output, reversing camera input and phone integration, and the harness you run now serves later additions.
2. Front speaker door pods. The single biggest audio improvement on a three-door Troopy, driven cleanly by the new head unit.
3. Reversing camera and vision aids. Cheap to add at head-unit time and genuinely useful on a long, barn-door wagon.
4. Lighting. Improved headlights for the long remote drives a Troopy is built for.
5. Steering, amplifier and cargo-area integration. Build-specific items added once the front cabin is sorted.

If your specific variant or build year is not obvious, or you are unsure whether a rear-door part suits your seating configuration, contact our team before ordering so fitment can be confirmed for your Troop Carrier.

Related Guides

For the compliance side of any of these upgrades, from head unit installation and displays to steering wheels, lighting and mirrors, start with the ADR Compliance hub. To go straight to parts, the most relevant collections for a 78 Series Troop Carrier are the head units and LandCruiser 70 Series head units ranges, the audio and car audio collections for speakers and door pods, the 70 Series headlights range, and the head unit add-ons collection for the parts that finish an install.