Builds Not really a build thread 2009 GX470 Sport (1 Viewer)

[Adventurelife]

Not good at taking progress pics, or write ups, or build threads... but she's been getting a little attention lately, so I wanted to capture all the info in one place. Hopefully I will update this with more info as a make some upgrades / updates this spring.

Happy to answer questions.

So this is where she stands.
2009 Lexus GX470 Sport 170K
Wheeled in: Hawaii, California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee.
It's gone through essentially 3 phases. 33's / 35's / 37's

Front: Eaton locker, Camburg +2 LT, Fox 2.5 DSC Coilovers, Marlin LCA Brace, NTK body mount
Rear: Dana 60, OX locker, Dobs v701 w/ 14” Fox 2.5, JKS panhard, califab 3 Link, Barnes 4wd truss

Maxxis RAZR MT 37x12.5
4.56 Yukon Gears
FJ Tcase w/ NWF Eco Crawler (106:1) - Triple stick
Tom Woods drive shafts
TH long tube headers and Y pipe
Magnaflow muffler, custom tubing
12 hole injectors (CS performance)
LRA 24 Gal Aux tank
Coastal off-road front and rear bumpers
Custom low profile sliders
Smitty 10k XRC winch
Victory skids
Midland GMRS
Aux light 8 button switch
VSC switch mod
onboard compressor (due for an upgrade)
Snorkel
Shifter pin replaced
Shifter shortened with LX knob
Phenix Android radio
Front and rear camera (anytime operation)
MPC remote start
Renology DC to DC charger, 100ah house battery for fridge and inverter
KDSS delete

Next on the List:
Cut cabin to move rear shock mounts behind the second row seats. ( So the lower shock mounts are level with the axle)
Fiberglass fenders or Arctic fender flares
Tundra Steering Rack
Big Brakes
TC lock up
Nomad valve body
Hydro bumps
Rear winch??

 

[xcmountain]

Finally someone with 37's and 4.56's. Do you want questions on the forum or through DM, I have questions.

Thank You

 

[Adventurelife]

Finally someone with 37's and 4.56's. Do you want questions on the forum or through DM, I have questions.

Thank You

Happy to answer here.
If it's about the gear to tire ratio. 4.56 is about 1% off of the stock final drive ratio with 37's, I thought they were a bit deep when on the highway with 35's, but I will note that since I have the eco crawler I have much deeper gears to use off-road, so the slightly lower ratio for off-roading isn't a concern for me.

 

[Jstawgn]

Nice build list JC
How is that 12 hole injector treating you? Worth the upgrade? Is the 1% tolerance makes a worthy upgrade or the normal 3-5% tolerance good enough?

 

[Rednexus]

Very sweet rig. Have a set of those 12-holes from CS waiting to go in myself - hard to argue when they were basically the same price as sending my 4-holes off to get rebuilt.

Nomad valve body is a great upgrade, you'll love it with a big GX like that.

 

[xcmountain]

Happy to answer here.
If it's about the gear to tire ratio. 4.56 is about 1% off of the stock final drive ratio with 37's, I thought they were a bit deep when on the highway with 35's, but I will note that since I have the eco crawler I have much deeper gears to use off-road, so the slightly lower ratio for off-roading isn't a concern for me.

I came from low power and deep gears. I calculated that with 35’s and our 5 spd needed 4.30’s , and 4.56 with 37’s was where it’s at. I was aware of the FJ box but not the low range option (that’s awesome). Can you tell me if there is a certain FJ case and how you went about yours. Forgive my ignorance the reduction gears add another chunk and the FJ case is the donor, twin sticks for this application happen how?

Thank you

 

[Adventurelife]

I have no idea if the 12 hole really make a difference, I had planned to do injectors as part of regular maintenance, and they are about the same price as regular 4 hole, so why not give it a shot.

 

[Adventurelife]

I came from low power and deep gears. I calculated that with 35’s and our 5 spd needed 4.30’s , and 4.56 with 37’s was where it’s at. I was aware of the FJ box but not the low range option (that’s awesome). Can you tell me if there is a certain FJ case and how you went about yours. Forgive my ignorance the reduction gears add another chunk and the FJ case is the donor, twin sticks for this application happen how?

Thank you

This is the thing I get the most questions about, so I hope it helps make sense of it.


The FJ case I used is from an automatic transmission FJ. Things start to get a bit confusing with the VF boxes as they are so similar, the automatic transmission FJ came with a lever operated part time 4wd transfer case, while the manual transmission FJ came with a full time 4wd that is somewhat similar to the GX box.

There are several crawl boxes on the market, I went with the NWF (Northwest Fabrication) Eco Crawler. But there is the Marlin TacoBox, the lefty, the atlas, and probably many more.

My reasoning.
The GX is limited on space in the tunnel, I knew I wanted a part time system, and I like the reliability of lever operated systems. I would have loved to go with an Atlas 4 speed, but well that would be overkill for this build and my pockets aren't that deep.

The FJ case was the easy answer at that point for the main transfer case, also it is an inch shorter than the GX box, which is super helpful for packaging, and without needing an actuator (lever operated) it comes out to be 5 inches shorter near the gas tank.

Marlin is well known and well respected, I'm not throwing any shade at them, but NWF had 4 major benefits for me. 1 Marlin was not building complete units at the time, 2 the Eco Crawler is 1 inch shorter (easier packaging), 3 NWF has a super clean shifter set up, 4 I got in on the presale while they were still in development.

Unlike the Marlin TacoBox the NWF Eco Crawler only has one gear option, it uses a set of donor gears from another VF transfer case for the gears. so you get 2.57 in your main case, and another 2.57 in your crawl box. Marlin uses a different gear setup that allows you to run 2.57 in your main case and up to 4.7 in your crawl box. For my build, I'm going slow enough with a total of 106:1, but having over 200:1 might make sense for others.

So I bought two FJ cases, got a deal at a local junk yard at $150 each, chain tension was good on both. The first one was stripped for its gears, which were used to build the eco crawler

Then the Main box was gutted, inspected and the output shaft was swapped for the one used by the eco crawler, at this point you also take out the pin that links 4wd to low range so they are independently controlled.

Then finally the two are bolted together in to this massive box.

Then swapped with the one in the GX.

I was afraid the electronics would be complicated, but the electronics are WAY easier to trick than I expected, I can happily talk anyone through it, I've coached a few people who just did the FJ swap.

The GX uses a front mounted shifter, and the FJ and the eco crawler both use a top mounted shifter. This is the FAR MORE tricky problem to solve if you want it to look good. NWF came up with a set of shifters that work amazing. Guys have been cutting holes in their cup holders and through the tunnel on Toyotas for years, but their kit uses a stout shifter linkage to make everything line up damn close to the stock location. I still need to get around to making some shifter knobs for them, but from left to right they go, H-L / H-L / 2wd-4wd.

 

[xcmountain]

@Adventurelife this solves a problem I did not know I had, and pretty reasonably I might add. I would be curious to hear more about the electrics trickery / black magic. I added FJ cases to my search list. 106:1 would have good manners.

Oh also, the front diff is still spinning because it isn't ADD equipped, has that been an issue with the t-case. Not sure if if would back feed but just curious, I know this was a concern with just the FJ case swap but seems like it would be irrelevant with a crawler case attached. Maybe.

 

[Adventurelife]

@Adventurelife this solves a problem I did not know I had, and pretty reasonably I might add. I would be curious to hear more about the electrics trickery / black magic. I added FJ cases to my search list. 106:1 would have good manners.

Oh also, the front diff is still spinning because it isn't ADD equipped, has that been an issue with the t-case. Not sure if if would back feed but just curious, I know this was a concern with just the FJ case swap but seems like it would be irrelevant with a crawler case attached. Maybe.

The electronics are pretty easy, you bypass the 4wd ecu because you are no longer using the center lock button, but the switches on the case are the same, so you can just run the leads up for the 4wd light, and connect the 4wd and neutral light just like they were. It's one of those times where the old tech in our trucks is very beneficial, the gear reduction basically just slides in line and operates with out bothering any systems, the electronics issues are only from the manual case swap, if you kept the GX box all you would have to do is extend the harness a few inches.

I have a schematic, if I haven't found and posted if before you undertake the project, DM me, I have it somewhere.

The front diff is spinning. The ADD thing has been discussed to death all over, but has been essentially been solved as a null issue, or actually a benefit. It is considered a null because the oil pump in the VF box functions so that nothing runs dry, so you aren't going to damage anything, but you are going to have the parasitic drag of the front rotation. It can be considered a benefit because the ADD is weak, you actually are seeing the Tacoma and T4R guys swapping to our front shaft from the ADD once they go to 37+ because the ADD is a weak spot that likes to break.

 

[Adventurelife]

Interior is out of the rear, now to mount the rear shocks properly… by properly, I mean so the lower mount doesn’t hang under the axle and so they can later be swapped with coilovers.

Cutting the wheel wells so the mounts can come off the frame straight up giving nice linear travel.

Reallllllllyyy thought about just going right to a trailing arm, but I’m committed to keeping the rear seats, not sure why, they don’t really get used.

Update with pics this week.

 

[xcmountain]

View attachment 3233091
Interior is out of the rear, now to mount the rear shocks properly… by properly, I mean so the lower mount doesn’t hang under the axle and so they can later be swapped with coilovers.

Cutting the wheel wells so the mounts can come off the frame straight up giving nice linear travel.

Reallllllllyyy thought about just going right to a trailing arm, but I’m committed to keeping the rear seats, not sure why, they don’t really get used.

Update with pics this week.

Oh boy!

 

[Adventurelife]

And they are tacked in the right place.
The work continues.

 

[2UZ 120]

Very Cool Build Sir! I'll be following.
I have the full time diff and a manual T-Case on my 4th gen 4Runner. Several thousand miles on it with no issues. There is a theory circulating that the myth about the Case incurring damage was started by someone looking to capitalize on a conversion kit for the ADD diff.

 

[Adventurelife]

Sheet metal work isn’t my favorite, but looks like things will fit well… after I burn through every single weld

 

[2UZ 120]

Good Stuff Sir!
I have some bypasses I wanted to do this with, but I didn't have the balls when it came to actually hacking into it.
Went back to a 10" smoothie for now.
What coils you using? 80 series?

 

[Adventurelife]

Good Stuff Sir!
I have some bypasses I wanted to do this with, but I didn't have the balls when it came to actually hacking into it.
Went back to a 10" smoothie for now.
What coils you using? 80 series?

I'm still on dobs v701's for now, I can unseat them, but I made a spring holder for the axle side so I don't drop them

 

[2UZ 120]

I'm still on dobs v701's for now, I can unseat them, but I made a spring holder for the axle side so I don't drop them

I'm on the MT medium load which are the same length as the 701s, so I'm going to have to capture the spring or find an alternative. I have no complaints with the MTs though, they've taken some serious abuse over the years.

CaliFab has a 3 link that he captures both ends of the coil. I think he's using an 80 series medium with the 4" lift C59-309 and mentions if you cut into the fender well, you can stuff a 14" bypass in there. He makes a 12" work without cutting.

Also curious if you're going to tie the towers together? or do you need the cargo space?

Sorry for the brain picking, I been wanting to do this for awhile. Pretty much over my head with a project like yours, but I'm determined to get it done one day.

 

[Adventurelife]

I'm on the MT medium load which are the same length as the 701s, so I'm going to have to capture the spring or find an alternative. I have no complaints with the MTs though, they've taken some serious abuse over the years.

CaliFab has a 3 link that he captures both ends of the coil. I think he's using an 80 series medium with the 4" lift C59-309 and mentions if you cut into the fender well, you can stuff a 14" bypass in there. He makes a 12" work without cutting.

Also curious if you're going to tie the towers together? or do you need the cargo space?

Sorry for the brain picking, I been wanting to do this for awhile. Pretty much over my head with a project like yours, but I'm determined to get it done one day.

I have the califab 3 link, I changed up the lower capture a little, and haven't put the upper in place. The MT or 701 is perfect for a 12", just a little short for 14.

I had the 14's stuffed in there for a bit using just a hoop that connects higher than the califab upper bracket. Their kit is awesome, but to fit without cutting even for a 12" you need to lower the lower mount another inch. After wheeling like that a bit, I decided I didn't want anything hanging any lower than the lower arms. So I just decided to go big and get to cutting.

I'm not tying them together yet, I have left the option to do it later. It's not really necessary for shocks, but would be for Coilovers. I'll post a few update photos tomorrow with the work I got done over the weekend. Shows where I'm going with it a bit better.

 

[Adventurelife]

Couple days worth of work down.
Got a little happy with the seam sealer

Still need to make some bolt on caps for the towers, but she's almost ready to get back after it.