Builds 2001 LX470 build LEGUSY (9 Viewers)

[Odyseuss]

There is definitely some amazing scenery out here in the west. Fortunately we had good access as most of the road damage from the previous years flooding had been restored to an operational condition despite delays. We passed the Tetons on our way back through Wyoming with several stops to spend quality time with family river rafting, horse back riding, mountain biking and kayaking.

Fortunately we survived each others company for the long hours in tight quarters trying our best to get along and cruising home without any mechanical issues.

 

[Odyseuss]

Next upgrade, was another set of new tires.

Then came a door lock repair. For some time, there had been an intermittent failure of the drivers door lock via remote and switch in some cases. I replaced the door lock actuator motor by removing the actuator and replacing the motor inside. Then I also replaced the key battery. Since the drivers door lock gets so much more use than the rest, hopefully the others still have much life left in them. It is nice to have reliable door locks cause it bothered me to not be able to trust the remote operation for locking the doors.

This method of repair is much cheaper than replacing the entire lock actuator and its not that hard to do with epoxy to reseal the actuator. There are threads on MUD about how to do this repair. The motors can be found relatively cheap online and I carry a spare. I have a little box of spare parts that I try to remove from the truck whenever I work on it and put back in whenever I go places. It also had a replacement battery for the key and these small bits are so handy to have on hand. Its easier to replace the used part and keep the spare that way I always know which one fits.

 

[bucfl]

Next upgrade, was another set of new tires.
View attachment 3450746

Then came a door lock repair. For some time, there had been an intermittent failure of the drivers door lock via remote and switch in some cases. I replaced the door lock actuator motor by removing the actuator and replacing the motor inside. Then I also replaced the key battery. Since the drivers door lock gets so much more use than the rest, hopefully the others still have much life left in them. It is nice to have reliable door locks cause it bothered me to not be able to trust the remote operation for locking the doors.

This method of repair is much cheaper than replacing the entire lock actuator and its not that hard to do with epoxy to reseal the actuator. There are threads on MUD about how to do this repair. The motors can be found relatively cheap online and I carry a spare. I have a little box of spare parts that I try to remove from the truck whenever I work on it and put back in whenever I go places. It also had a replacement battery for the key and these small bits are so handy to have on hand. Its easier to replace the used part and keep the spare that way I always know which one fits.
View attachment 3450754

I purchased the motors a few months ago. Now that cooler weather is here ill be doing all the actuators as well.

 

[Odyseuss]

For National Public Lands Day, I organized a service project in American Fork Canyon to do some maintenance on the Miller Hill trail area. This trail has been adopted by one of our local clubs Expedition Utah. For this project, we were able to get friends from Wasatch Cruisers to help coordinate and contribute service hours. As you may have seen on this thread, both groups have done several projects up there in the past. After this last long winter with heavy snow, the canyon sustained significant damages including a complete washout of the main 085 road that would not get repaired this season. The road damage made access to the area more complicated by requiring a round about route to the area.

We made a couple trips up there to scout the trail and assess its conditions and needs. Last year we focused on some maintenance on an interpretive kiosk floor that was replaced. This year there were many indicators of heavy snow damage resulting in tipped over posts and the entire kiosk was toppled against a guard rail. Some of the interpretive panels were bending under the stress. There were several downed trees on the trail making access to the top in my 100 very tight. In fact, on the way down a log rubbed up against my sliders for a bit as it got pushed out of the way. 4 wheel driving is a contact sport sometimes.

 

[Odyseuss]

For the service project I was able to coordinate the service hours with the forest service. We were able to clear the debris on the trail, repair and repaint Tyngs grave, salvage the interpretive panels and stabilize the kiosk. Further repairs at the kiosk will have to wait for another occasion.

 

[Odyseuss]

The dawn of a new trasharoo.

It was put to good use on another family trip as we went exploring, kayaking and mountain biking. We tried to get away from the crowds found a nice secluded place to camp right near the water and chill. I think a capable 4wd is key in getting out to the less travelled areas and being self sufficient. its nice to be able to explore even further on the water and on a bike, and this trailer is really useful for that.

of course, we had to earn it to get there and deal with the local population of thorns and carnivorous flies.

but when it all calmed down there were incredible and expansive night skies. We had a great time and tried to clean the place up for the next folks that find the place cleaner than we did. Fortunately we were able to pack that trash out instead of the convenient excuse that there is no room.

 

[Odyseuss]

I am behind on updating this thread and that has given me more time to test some of the upgrades before posting about them. I had some experience with a fuel vapor odor particularly on hot days driving long distances at higher altitudes and slower speeds. Otherwise, the condition hasn't been too prevalent and this is a somewhat known condition that has accompanied pressure build up in the fuel tank system. This has not been much of a problem and I haven't had much issue in quite some time since the repairs. The fuel vapor smell seemed to be coming from the driver side under the hood near the charcoal canister. I realized that there is a drain line that vents from the canister right into the open frame rail in the left front wheel area. I do not like the idea of venting fuel vapors into the open air.
This is tube I removed and the cover I replaced to get access to it.

I also intended to add more fuel carrying capacity in the form of an auxiliary fuel tank and wanted to try and improve fuel vapor management prior to adding that capacity. I decided to create a closed system that would combine any excess vapors from the canister with fresh air into the engine. To do this, I drilled a hole near the bottom of the air filter housing and installed a metal valve stem with out the valve core. Then I ran a hose from the canister drain to the air intake housing. Any vapors coming through still has to pass through the air filter. My housing already had a damaged clip so it is holding together well enough with 3 clips for now.

Initially, I tested it like this for some time and found that rarely, under warm high altitude conditions there were enough vapors in the air box to create a no start condition from intake air too rich. If I disconnected the hose, then the truck would start. To prevent this, I added a vacuum switching valve that was powered with the key on so that vapors would not build up in the intake with the engine off. I realize that this eliminates an actual drain, but after over a year of use I haven't had any issues with this setup and no pressures significant enough to push the hose of. I sourced power from an exhaust gas sensor located near the front grill designed to prevent exhaust vapors from entering the climate control system, which seemed convenient and appropriate.

 

[Odyseuss]

I installed an auxiliary fuel tank to add 20 gallons of fuel capacity to increase my range. I found particular inspiration from @I Lean using his write up and advice. Big thanks goes out to him for the ideas he developed in his thread here.

DIY 20 gallon auxiliary fuel tank

One of my favorite additions to my 80 is the extra fuel tank--I really enjoy not carrying fuel cans. :) I constantly missed having that functionality on my 100, even just for around-town driving. So, I duplicated the setup I did under my other truck. It's a fuel tank for an '87-'95 (ish) S-10...

forum.ih8mud.com

I put together a tech night with the local club and received some help with a few adjustments to achieve some clearance that worked for me. I moved the tank to the drivers side an additional inch or so to gain a bit more clearance from the exhaust. I also trimmed the filler line and moved it a bit forward to allow more room for the tank to be raised without denting it.

This shows the original hole that I drilled and welded a captive nut in and the additional location for the relocated mounting hole. I also welded a plate over the oval factory hole to fill it in and add some strength there.

It has been a great design and has worked well on numerous trips so far allowing me to save time and money on more convenient fill ups. I like the increased capacity so much that I was motivated to buy a larger 62 gallon S&B diesel tank for my Silverado.

Here are a couple more pictures of the process. I used 3/8 stainless tubing for the fill line from the rear tank and used stainless filler rod with a purge to get it welded. The last inside corner was a bit tricky. I still used the fuel resistant epoxy just in case and have not had any leaks.

I welded short pieces of tubing to the supports under the tank where the thread rods pass through to help with alignment and provide a flat surface for the fasteners.

 

[SmoothLC]

Nice work! Sorry I missed your install. Would have liked to assist/learn.

 

[Odyseuss]

This rig has been useful for hunting too, as I expect to see more of that type of use. I went pheasant hunting with some friends and we got a bunch of birds and smoked them for dinner at the station.

 

[Odyseuss]

We made another trip down to Washington county UT, and did some wheeling in reds canyon to the Peekaboo slot canyon hike with a friend that lives down there.

I got a rock chip in the windshield and didn't have the time to take it in to get repaired so I tried a quick kit and repaired it myself. It was a big improvement and has held up well for months now.

I may end up keeping one of these kits in the rig just in case as a field fix.
I also did a bunch of biking while down there hauling bikes and kit with the trailer.

 

[Odyseuss]

A friend and I went cow elk hunting up near Vernal and encountered some treacherous icy roads. My friends 4Runner slid off the road and could not get any traction, even with maxtrax. I didn't have my rig or chains, so I used a Hi-lift and a strap off a nearby tree to pull him back on track. We were limited in our access and could not locate any cow elk. I got a couple sets of chains for the future so I can chain up all 4 tires and hopefully get better access.

 

[Odyseuss]

There is a lot of catching up to do in this thread. We made another trip down south of Zions national park to do some camping, driving and biking. A piece of road debris took out the vent lid to the trailer, but we stayed dry using a tarp in camp. It was a bit wet on the way down, but we were rewarded with views of snow in the peaks. I was able to use the emtb to tow the kids on their bikes up the main road so they could shuttle the trails.

The vent lid was an easy replacement. The blower fan motor had been making some squeaking noises, so it got replaced with a new set of cabin air filters. I also replaced the set of rear lift gate struts.

 

[Odyseuss]

Much of the year was spent exploring in other vehicles, so Legusy got spared a ton of miles. It was ready to be put to use on multiple trips scouting and hunting for Elk in the La Sal mountains. We started early in the season with a scouting trip that covered a lot of area getting to know the roads, trail, and land ownership boundaries in the area.

We explored several of the vistas and points of interest including dinosaur tracks, though we were not able to locate any Elk on the public land.

Fortunately, I was able to take advantage of the opportunity to ride TWE The Whole Enchilada bike trail down from around 11,000 ft a distance of over 27 miles and over 8,000 feet of decent in just under 4 hours. It was a rather technical ride with amazing views.

 

[Odyseuss]

After several days at elevations around 10,000ft and temperatures above 80F we experienced some persistent fuel vapor conditions. I decided it was time to replace the charcoal canister. The local dealer informed me that the OE replacement was no longer available. After some search on MUD, I found a replacement Tundra canister that others had been successful using. So I ordered that part and modified it to fit. Basically, I cut off the mounting tabs that interfered with the mounting and then installed it in place of the factory unit. It has ben performing well and seems to have much less of an issue with vapors.

Here are a few pictures of the units side by side.

 

[Odyseuss]

For National Public Lands Day last year, I helped organize another service project coordinated with the forest service for Expedition Utah and Wasatch Cruisers to perform maintenance on the adopted Miller Hill trail up in American Fork Canyon. We repaired and remounted some signage as well as some trail cleanup and removal of downfall. It was a great time to get out and on the trail and appreciate our public lands.

 

[Odyseuss]

I had tried some alternate line choices through the main obstacle on miller Hill and bent the rear sway bar a bit. I did not notice any damage to the Auxiliary fuel tank, though I did notice a very slight fuel leak coming from a spot weld on the bottom of the tank. It would not drip, but the dust from dirt roads accumulated in a damp spot and I was able to notice it after returning home. I did not have time to replace the tank before leaving on another trip to hunt for Elk in the La Sal Mountains. I used some JB Tank weld, designed specifically for fuel tanks and it worked great. I carried a spare stick of it just in case, though it has not leaked. I will continue to keep it on hand though I have acquired another tank and will replace it when I get a chance.

 

[Odyseuss]

I put a lot of time and effort into the Elk Hunt last year hoping to acquire some good protein to feed the family. Some friends also drew tags for the area, so with the support of family we teamed up and covered as much area as possible. I got to know the layout of the hunt area in great detail pouring over maps, driving, hiking and biking the trails. We covered a ton of terrain and glassed and hunted hard, but were unable to locate much Elk, let alone get a decent shot at one. I was determined to stock the freezers and feed the family, so I lined up a purchase of some local quality beef and was still able to bring home some cow meat, (I guess the elk can F off).

 

[Odyseuss]

Once again, it was time for another registration. I took the opportunity to take the wife out to lunch and do some wheeling at elevation before the snow set in and enjoy the views. Looking back, I've had this rig for around 10 years and its been a great vehicle to explore in. We have a lot of good memories getting around in this 100 series. It just turned over 200,000 miles, so its still got a lot of use left in it.