Long Overland Trip in a 2000 LX - Opinions Sought. (1 Viewer)

[sean257]

Opinions please.

New to the LC world. The wife and our two kids (11 and 7) have reluctantly agreed to take a trip with me, off pavement, from Missouri to the west coast this summer. While mapping our route I began to search for a vehicle suitable to the task of mild off road journey while carrying us and all of our crap.

I watched craigslist for any number of suitable vehicles for a couple of months and didn't pull the trigger on anything. A meeting for work came up in Phoenix that happened to fall in the kids spring break, so I decided it would be fun to buy 4 one-way tickets and find a rust free AZ vehicle by the time we had to come home.

The overall plan was to get a decent deal, fix whatever needed fixed, take the trip and sell it.

We ended up with a super well maintained 2000 LX470 with 140k miles. The owner was nice enough to take it to Discount Tire for me, so I could have some BFG KO2's put on, and a shop to repack the wheel bearings as well as remove the running boards and throw them in a dumpster.

We did a little off roading around Sedona, and enjoyed a week of warm AZ before driving it home to St. Louis.

After getting home I noticed the inner passenger CV boot is torn and slinging grease around, and that the drivers side, while fine, is a NAPA brand replacement. After reading about the reliability of the NAPA shafts here, I have ordered new OEM toyota shafts for both sides and will be having them swapped out soon. The timing belt and water pump were done at 95k, and the T's were done last year.

Here is where I would like some your experienced thoughts - I have read a lot about AHC and it seems that there are at least several with lots of miles that are still working just fine, and my thinking was that if I don't add bumpers etc, the AHC may be just fine for me too. The more I think about driving through the remote areas on our trip, the more I wonder if I should be replacing the suspension with a non hydraulic system? What do you all think?

Are there any other things that I should be worried about?

Thanks,
Sean

 

[Mike6158]

Timing belt? Water pump?

Good place to start - 100-series FAQ

 

[guerasfj60]

with 140K your control arms, u-joints should be fine, maybe lube the drive shaft. A proper coolant flush is a good idea. After that, if it ain't broke...

 

[BillZ260]

For one trip, you are pretty much ready to go.

 

[Tanner H]

Sounds like you have a pretty maintained vehicle. 140k with a documented timing belt at 90k is rock solid.

If you're looking for just a few more items to replace for piece of mind...the starter would be something that would leave you stranded if it failed. Also, I would recommend carrying a couple oem coil packs in your gear just in case. easy to replace.

Since you'll be in the back country, maybe consider a few recovery items to carry with you. tire repair kit, snatch strap, even traction boards.

 

[BEG]

Regarding AHC, you would notice fairly quickly if something were very catastrophically wrong with it. I would recommend, at the very minimum, baselining your AHC system. Flush the fluid, get Techstream or an iCarsoft TYTII reader, adjust cross-level, check height, read pressures and adjust t-bars/shim or replace rear springs as needed to get pressures within spec. You should be good to go.

 

[Ager Venator]

Heater Ts Heater Ts Heater Ts Heater Ts Heater Ts

 

[slacker24-7]

Op noted timing belt and t,s have been done recently

Heater Ts Heater Ts Heater Ts Heater Ts Heater Ts

 

[Spike555]

You're good to go mate. Change the trans fluid, diffs and t-case and power steering fluid for peace of mind.
As for the AHC...I'd dump it.

 

[Somebodyelse5]

Keep it from rusting. Then when you go to sell it, sell it back in AZ, so it won't rust.

 

[mmbirtcher]

Nice ride, fellow St. Louisan here over in Richmond Heights. Just picked up a 2004 LX in January at Plaza. Planning to run a good section of the TAT this summer. Ran the Arkansas - Colorado sections last summer in a 2000 T4R. I’ll shoot you a PM with my contact info if you want to talk more off-line about your LC and Long off-road trip planning. I’m still learning a lot, and would dig sharing info.

 

[rroverbkk]

Looks great. I think you and the family will be fine. I love ahc but that’s just me. Coil packs some said Yes. Starter/alternator can leave you stranded but are they really PM? I had my alternator go the day I brought my 2nd kid home from the hospital. Freezing cold. Cost me 800 at the dealer to get it done ASAP. That sucked but been rock solid.

 

[geanes]

Don't even sweat the AHC. One of the BEST and MOST comfortable suspensions ever made. My 98 LX went ALL over Colorado and Big Bend on exceptionally tough terrain and the AHC handled perfectly. Even if you add a bumper, sliders, roof rack and a drawer system like I have, the AHC works fine. If you add more stuff, you could certainly consider putting in King Springs in the rear. I'd only do that if I were adding a bumper. I LOVE my AHC. But, I'm swapping out to a ToughDog setup. Reason being is that my plans for my LX have changed dramatically. What was once meant to have only a few upgrades (front bumper, sliders, rack and drawers) has become a LOT more. If your planned upgrades are minor, then the AHC will serve you very well and will serve you for a very, very long time (as long as you flush the system every 30k and don't grossly overweigh it).

1st pic is of my LX this past September on TinCup pass west of Buena Vista, CO. Pass is very rocky. My AHC handled it with no issue whatsoever. I was running relatively heavy as well (IronMan Bullbar, OPOR sliders, Gamiviti roof rack, KISS drawer system, 100qt loaded YETI cooler, miscellaneous camping gear and trail spares plus my dad and me with our luggage).

2nd pic is at the top of Mosquito Pass (highest continuous pass in CO) 13,185 feet. My AHC equipped LX handled it with zero issues.

All of the above can be summarized as follows: you bought a damn nice vehicle that will take you and your family anywhere in comfort and with fewer issues than ANY other vehicle on the roads today. Go forth and see the world.....your rig can handle it.

 

[fooldall1]

LOve it!

 

[Ohthetrees]

Just go. Take a spare coil, spare plug, basic tool kit, and one of those $20 obd2 Wi-Fi readers to help diagnose problems. I bet you don’t have any.

 

[codertimt]

I hadn't been on expo for awhile and so didn't reply to your thread there, but I really wanted to post that I felt you picked the perfect vehicle for your situation. As an owner of a 100 series and a 2013 suburban I just couldn't quite understand the people recommending you pick up a 'burb to go run shelf roads in Colorado...sure, you could get by on most of them, but if you want to go play around Ouray/Silverton in a stock Suburban and come back with all bumpers/etc is just expecting a bit much in my opinion...anyway....I'm an AHC apologist, so If there isn't anything evidently wrong there I definitely recommend to leave it be. There is always the whole "slightly greater than other model years possibility" of the 2000 model year transmission failure(search here if you want to become a transmission hypochondriac on the matter). For the most part is literally a 4% vs 1% chance on that model year versus others. Seems bad, but it's pretty normal among vehicles in general...I would say if you hear a abnormal "roaring" sound while puttering around slow speeds(40-45mph) in overdrive, the perhaps you should at least be prepared to deal with a catastrophic failure...but chances are you should be A-OK...really and truly 96% chance your are good as gold...

The only thing I would really and truly consider thinking about is the ignition switch. It seems to break a bit more often than normal. At the very least take a look at busted ignition, it will get you prepared for the possibility. Best case, you go ahead and replace the part that is likely to break...worse case you know what's going on and can disassemble the offending pieces and start the vehicle with a screwdriver and limp through to where to you fix the problem fully.

Otherwise, you really and truly should be good to go. Take a couple more trips to verify everything seems good and then go travel and have fun.

There is always stuff that can go wrong, but your are definitely ahead of the game, planning ahead and trying to figure out the problem issue with a specific vehicle...so good luck and have fun out there...

 

[cmck]

Ditto on most of the above. Your on the right track.

Here is a link to a collection of routes you might consider. Idaho Backcountry Discovery Route (IDBDR) I have not done any of them yet being a mostly back east guy right now. Enjoy!

 

[rockcruiser915]

I know this has been mentioned, but it’s worth repeating...

CHANGE THOSE HEATER T’s.

Blow one of those 30 miles from civilization and it’s gonna be a bad day

 

[Live to Ski]

Well, I see the word "kids" which is most excellent in my opinion. But I would want to lower the risk with that precious cargo.

Rent an InReach satellite gizmo. 2 way affordable text communication with web based tracking that a trusted one back home can follow. If you do go down and can't fix per the above suggestions, and out of cell range (likely), you can text out for help, set up the tent, and wait it out w minimal worry.

If the s*&t hits the fan (medical emergency), hit the panic button and watch the calvary arrive.

 

[sean257]

Thank you for the replies!!!

The T’s were done last year, and I double checked them while I was trying to see if there was an air pocket in the heater core.

I did buy an inreach just in case.

Will change out the AHC fluid and run through the checklist on here. Also grab a handful of coil packs.

As far as the Napa CV, I don’t have anything to compare it to as far as how it is relative to OEM, other than what I have read on here. I do see in the service history that they have been changed twice by an independent shop, so I assume that is telling.