LX_Plore Build (1 Viewer)

[LXPlore]

Good afternoon everyone!
I'm fairly new to the IH8mud forums. So early June of 2018, I pulled the trigger and purchased a moderately used 2002 Lexus LX470. The rig had approximately 177K miles, the Carfax checked good, and the AHC was disconnected and replaced with a stock height suspension system. The exterior has a few dents and the interior is super clean with some rips to the front leather seats. The previous owner gave me receipts for a recent timing belt and water pump replacements. Overall I think I walked away with a pretty good deal.

So of course this vehicle had a slight and yet very distinct old man smell emitting from it, so my wife purchased an air freshener from Arotags.com . Man what a difference it made, plus the air freshener is in the shape of the United States, with an American flag embedded on it.

I drove it around to ensure that it would be road worthy and reliable for the wife to drive, all the while looking for rims and tires. The stock rims were chrome, however the chrome was beginning to flake off and the tires were old, bald and cracked. I've always loved the look of Method Wheels and decided to go with the MR305 NV 17x8.5 in bronze. I knew that the rig would see more asphalt than dirt so I went with an all-terrain tire. Those wheels were wrapped with 275 70 R17 Nitto Terra Grappler G2 tires.

Now I understand that I can't install the front dust caps, however I found out that they can be installed with a slight modification to the caps. Thanks to @PalmoftheWild Also found out that I needed to modify the front wheel well pinch welds and fender liner. They were easily modified and the rig has taken on a new look.

I've taken this rig off road and I'm super impressed with its performance. I can tell you I'm not impressed with the fuel mileage though. LOL

This is a great community with a ton of knowledge, super happy to be here.
Thanks

More photos and mods to come...
@LX_Plore

 

[LXFAM]

Welcome! I love those wheels on a white LX.

 

[Biga27110]

Welcome home. You actually follow me on instagram i remember your name. Our trucks are brothers.

@lx.adv

 

[LXPlore]

Welcome! I love those wheels on a white LX.

Yeah me too. So many different options and I haven't seen too many 100 series with this wheel.

 

[LXPlore]

Welcome home. You actually follow me on instagram i remember your name. Our trucks are brothers.

@lx.adv

Why yes they are.... twinning! hahaha

 

[jsigone]

welcome to Mud!
<--- I'm on the gram as the same tag

 

[LXPlore]

Thank you!

welcome to Mud!
<--- I'm on the gram as the same tag

 

[LXPlore]

There's so many things to do to these vehicles, especially if you want to use it as a daily driver/ over landing rig. So far to ensure that its road worthy and reliable, I've gone over what the previous mechanic fixed and replaced. They did a good job, however I noticed that the heater T's weren't replaced. I purchased two factory heater T's and and OEM heater hoses. I figured the T's lasted 177K miles, they'll probably last another 177K.

So next on the list to remove all of the remaining AHC components. I'm sure it'll save a ton of weight and from what I've seen on the mud, it'll be at the expense of my patience and my knuckles. Here's a photo of us wheeling in Big Bear a couple of weeks ago.

 

[Biga27110]

There's so many things to do to these vehicles, especially if you want to use it as a daily driver/ over landing rig. So far to ensure that its road worthy and reliable, I've gone over what the previous mechanic fixed and replaced. They did a good job, however I noticed that the heater T's weren't replaced. I purchased two factory heater T's and and OEM heater hoses. I figured the T's lasted 177K miles, they'll probably last another 177K.

So next on the list to remove all of the remaining AHC components. I'm sure it'll save a ton of weight and from what I've seen on the mud, it'll be at the expense of my patience and my knuckles. Here's a photo of us wheeling in Big Bear a couple of weeks ago.
View attachment 1772335

where did you go, trail? Id like to drive up there and check it out. I got some metal T's from amazon they did the trick.

 

[LXPlore]

We spent a couple nights at Crab Flats campground, which is just north of Green Valley Lake. I'm not a big fan of campgrounds, but this one was pretty good. From the campground there's several trails that splinter off with marked trail ratings. Here's a video with trail numbers on the lower left...
youtu.be/cd2C8Guy_Zc

 

[LXPlore]

Got this cool performance upgrade from Cruisergear.com It's at least a 50 HP upgrade.

 

[Biga27110]

We spent a couple nights at Crab Flats campground, which is just north of Green Valley Lake. I'm not a big fan of campgrounds, but this one was pretty good. From the campground there's several trails that splinter off with marked trail ratings. Here's a video with trail numbers on the lower left...
youtu.be/cd2C8Guy_Zc

If you want another lx to caravan with you guys im down.

 

[LXPlore]

If you want another lx to caravan with you guys im down.

Absolutely, I think @PalmoftheWild has scheduled a trip with a few other rigs to the Big Bear area on Sept 9th. I think it's a day trip on a Sunday. I'll get more details and let you know.

 

[Biga27110]

Absolutely, I think @PalmoftheWild has scheduled a trip with a few other rigs to the Big Bear area on Sept 9th. I think it's a day trip on a Sunday. I'll get more details and let you know.

excellent

 

[LXPlore]

Went out exploring with the wife ( @josie_jeep ) yesterday. She didn't want to ride with me so she drove separately. Found a few fun trails and had lunch up in the Lagunas. Love it that my wife loves to offroad. Should have a video off trip up soon.

 

[LXPlore]

I put together a short video of our trip to Mt. Laguna... check it out and let me know what you think.

 

[LXPlore]

So these Micro Pods from Element LED arrived today. Super excited to mount them to the Coghlan Design ditch light brackets. I hope to post a review on the lights and the brackets soon

. Stay tuned for more.

 

[LXPlore]

So after a lot of research and countless minutes of reading reviews on snorkels, I dove in and purchased one off of EBay for roughly $65.00. Of course I was super apprehensive of even purchasing something off of EBay, but even more afraid of drilling a 4 1/2 inch diameter hole in my fender.

The snorkel arrived promptly and everything was in the package except instructions. There was a template included, however the template was garbage. So I made another template and matched it up to the template provided. Slight discrepancies and adjustments were made.

I covered the fender with green frog tape and transferred all of the points. I seriously measured about 7 times and began to drill.

 

[Biga27110]

godspeed

 

[LXPlore]

godspeed

Thanks!