2006 GX470 Sport - from Chicago (1 Viewer)

[CarGuyCarl]

Ooo where did you camp?

I was camping at Tubb's Island in Central Michigan and I loved it.

This looks like mine. Probably a little better than mine (upstate NY vehicle). I've been using Fluid Film for years and it's done a good job slowing down the rust. I hear Woolwax is better (thicker). It comes in black and doesn't smell awful like FF. I'm going to try it soon.

Yes, I need to try some Woolwax as well. The FF smell, especially after the vehicle gets nice and hot, is gross lol It was stinking up my whole campground experience Hahaha

In other news, I ended up just finding some motivation yesterday and fixed the KDSS. This may look like a ghetto fix to some, but I did not want to open up the system if I could help it. Happy to report the light is gone, and the handling is super impressive. I've never experienced KDSS before, but the lack of body roll and body control is so cool in a truck like this. Feels a lot more confidence inspiring. Huge thanks go out to Edes300 as they were the primary reason I got this done. Interestingly, the front seems to sit a little higher than before!

The solenoids after some clean up with a Dremel and wire brush. I have one broken bolt in the bottom right corner, that I decided to leave for now.

The electronics swapped onto the solenoids from my used unit, and new contacts crimped onto the wiring.

For testing purposes, slid the connectors on, fired up the car, no KDSS light!

The mating surface was so uneven, there was no way the factory plastic cover and gasket were going to do anything. Had to use silicone. Not pretty, but it did the job!

 

[edes300]

Glad I was able to help but the real credit goes out to others who initially helped me. I hope these posts help others in the future.

KDSS is really a nice feature to have when it’s working well.

 

[CarGuyCarl]

Happy New Year to all!

The GX got a few presents this year. I got a used aFe intake off of a local GXOR member, and my Dobinson's Nitro Comfort lift just arrived. It is a 1.5 inch lift, mainly to help ease issues with the KDSS and honestly, I don't wheel much in this thing. I am really just after an improved and more controlled ride.

Will likely install this sometime next week. Excited to see how it rides.

 

[CarGuyCarl]

Finally got everything installed on the GX! It is amazing how much the ride quality improved. The driver front shock was also oozing fluid which wasn't noticeable unless you had it up in the air. Despite all this, I still have the same tinny clunk sound coming from up front.

Got everything from Kyle Fogle at Treaty Oak Offroad. Amazing customer service! Was able to help me with all of my questions.

Was happy to see my upper control arms and tie rods were all in fine shape as well at nearly 110k miles, so I chose to leave them alone for now.

I was worried for so long about the ride being too stiff, but stiffness is no different from stock, it just moves around way less and feels a lot less wallowy. The rear needs to settle a little bit, but overall I like how much more beefy it looks this way.

Some take aways from the install:
- Opening the KDSS shutter valves is a must, and so is completely disconnecting the sway bars. With the shutter valves open, they are very easy to get back into place. A good time to change the bushings as well!
- I chose to try and save all of the OEM bits in case I wanted to return to the air ride and electronically controlled suspension. The rear air lines are easy to understand once you watch a few videos on them. A small but sturdy pick can definitely help there.
- For KDSS trucks, the clip holding the top of the driver side air bag is extra hard to reach as the KDSS lines block your access. I tried to unbolt the lines, but my bolts were starting to round out, (she's rusty captain). I chose to pry at them gently upward to make some room. The brackets have some give and I was able to get access. The little holes in the clips are great for getting a flexible wire or pick through to extract them. Otherwise a long set of needle nose pliers, especially angled ones, should make quick work of these clips.
- The allen bolts holding the front ride control actuators on seem to be impossible to take off without vice grips due to access. To get the inner one, you can grab (with gloves) that whole bracket the actuator sits on and spin it around to access the inners. It takes some force, but it isn't too bad. By doing this you can also hopefully bust the nut loose holding that bracket onto the top of the shock. Just like the nuts on the top of the rear shocks, they are a tight fit. Your average tools may be a little bit too thick to get in there.
- PB blaster is your best friend if you have a salt belt truck like mine. I coated everything in it a few days in advance of this install. I did the rear first, and then the front. A helping hand is awesome to have to help push the axle or the control arms down.
- The install instructions for the Dobinson's air ride delete say you should get the spring cups installed onto the axle first and then put the spring on. I found it was easier to put them onto to the spring and then get the whole assembly in there as a whole, then tighten it down to the axle.
- I chose to leave all of the air pump connections connected and just pulled the fuses.
- The front sway bar shifted to the passenger side on me for some reason, I think it was due to the fact that I turned the steering wheel perhaps, but I am not sure. I loosened the connection at the passenger side control arm and was able to use a floor jack to get it re-centered. I would say you probably want to get the rigid links connected before the KDSS piston to avoid this.
- Disconnect the e-brake lines from the rear control arms, otherwise you axle will be pulling on those and limiting your droop.

Here are some photos!
Front and rear installed, a few miles on it. A few hundred miles later, it is leveling out some. This lift was set up to be raked like factory.

Goofy looking with just the rear on. Cheetah mode! Eat your hearts out Tesla lol

Was trying to get the springs in with spring compressors before I just completely disconnected the KDSS sway bar and had no issues from there.

This addition is one of my favorites, no more saggy net!

 

[CarGuyCarl]

Well folks, not a lot of exciting stuff so far this year. I am planning to take the GX around Lake Michigan and do a modified Lake Michigan Circle Tour with some car camping along the shore of Lake Superior.

Just got some cheap traction boards for it, planning to add a drop down table to rear hatch, and to clean up the throttle body and install a new PCV. Other than that, the main issue I have is this rust on the frame looks to be advancing rather poorly which makes me sad. I found it when I did the Cruiser Garage AC drain relocation. I'll have to look into a repair sometime this year before winter. I should probably also remove the rear bumper to take a peek back there. I've always wanted to tow my S2000 with this thing but not if it's gonna break the truck in half... Midwestern car problems...

In other news, there was a crazy windy day and the passenger front door got ripped out of my mom's hand and got forced open pretty hard. Now it is hard to open fully and the window doesn't go all the way down. Need to figure that out. Already got a new door strap, but sounds like I will need to try and re-bend the window track as well.

 

[CarGuyCarl]

Fixed a couple of things this weekend including my window and the shockingly original brake light bulbs lol
The window track was horribly bent after it was forced open by a strong gust of wind. I used some pliers and vice grips and did the best that I could and now my window is back in business. Keep in mind that the door strap enters the door when the door closes, so if you are dealing with this, make sure you check for clearance with the door closed.

I also cleaned my throttle body and had a very high idle that would not go away afterwards without disconnecting the battery. The truck got an oil change, a wash, some quick and dirty rust reformer touch up, and I'm slowly prepping it for a trip to Michigan's UP next month.

Additionally, I find the AC performance to be a little bit on the lackluster side but it seems to be kind of moody. I hear there is a TSB for this? Does anyone have any info? I have an autoparts store gauge but it mostly just dances around and seems to be on the useless side.
Finally, I strapped a canoe on top of it with my best friend and did a nice 14 mile ride down the river. Got a lot of stares with the canoe!

 

[iwantoffroad]

congrats on getting the kdss fixed and the lift installed looks great

 

[CarGuyCarl]

Thanks man! It was easier than I thought, and it makes a HUGE difference versus not having the KDSS on at all.

I ended up recharging the AC and it seems to have restored its performance. The AC TSB still makes me curious though. Has anyone here done it?
I also greased all the drive shaft zerks.

With the departure to the UP coming up, I am going to be reinstalling my sleeping platform inside, putting the awning on, and I got some cheap traction boards to attach to the roof as well.

 

[CarGuyCarl]

UP trip was an amazing success. Saw my greatest MPG cruising in the 45-50 mph range, 19.7MPG! Also overall, with slower speeds all around the mileage was very good and the trip average was over 17MPG.
Visited Two Hearted River Campground, Sugarloaf mountain, copper harbor, High rock bay, some copper mines, and the Porkies. The bugs were savage in the porkies.
The Dobs lift has really broken in and it feels supple and absorbs a great deal more off road and especially handles washboard roads better. Since the lift is only 1.5 inches, and with KDSS the handling was a lot better than you'd think from a truck like this going through the tunnel of trees. I love doing stuff like this and it makes me want to go all over the country. We had a pretty good system going and were able to set up and break down camp within 30 mins. If I were to do the again, I would definitely return to the Paradise area and the Porkies. I would also need to explore the Huron mountains some more. Love the UP. It is remote feeling, quaint, and close enough to Chicago to have a good time without driving too far. Total trip was about 1400 miles.

Thought the shape of this thing was cool in the moonlight lol

The dog was getting rocked by the skeeters

 

[Rednexus]

Great trip!

Were you by any chance driving along US 2 near the WI/MI border last weekend? I remember seeing a lifted silver GX in one of those small towns as we were on our way to Pictured Rocks. Otherwise I saw very few GX's in the UP on our trip.

 

[CarGuyCarl]

If it was Saturday the 16th, then it very well could have been us!

 

[Rednexus]

If it was Saturday the 16th, then it very well could have been us!

Yes it was on the 16th! We were in our green GX pulling a camper down US 2.

 

[VSPro9]

If it was Saturday the 16th, then it very well could have been us!

If you want to go up again I’m leading a group around paradise on Labor Day weekend

 

[D1ESEL]

Sick truck man!

Did you have any issues with rubbing before at stock suspension height with those Methods?

 

[CarGuyCarl]

I would love to go up again but with work and family stuff, I don't think I can manage any longer trips this year.

I had no issue in the rear. In the front, I needed to trim my side steps and heat the front bumper splash shields to push them forward and out of the way. With no modifications, the Methods and the 265/70/17s did rub at over half lock.

 

[CarGuyCarl]

Took a quick adventure down to the Appalachian mountains, also ran the dragon, which I was surprised how capable the GX was on. So glad I went through the effort to fix the KDSS. Felt my lift was a little too raked so I removed the Dobs spring conversion in place of an All Dogs one to even out the rear end. Also found a used roof basket. Still chasing a weird front end noise. Overall, loving this thing more and more every trip. It is so capable and so versatile and can also act as a house, off road machine, fake sports car, and even has respectable fuel economy on the open road.

 

[CarGuyCarl]

Small update here for the new year. Been chasing lean codes for both banks since thanksgiving. Did a lot of testing which I had laid out in a separate thread. Looks like some component in the AFE intake was the culprit, I'm betting on the clamps. Back to the factory intake system for now. I'll likely reach out to AFE to see if they have an advice or are willing to send any replacement components my way.
Had a nasty squeaky ball joint as well. Ironically, the lean codes and the ball joint appeared at the same time! lol
Being a KDSS 470, whole lower control arm options are very limited and expensive. I opted to install a cheap-o Carquest ball joint so that the vehicle could continue to be used for work in the mean time. Pressing the old one out was not as bad as I thought, just required some patience and my impact. This inspired me to rebuild my factory arms rather than order new ones. Should hopefully be able to rebuild all 4 for less than the price of a new single LCA. It helped that I was able to get a Black Friday deal through NAPA on all 4 front ball joints from 555. Hope to install those pretty soon here on a free-er day. Sometime later this year I'll replace the bushings on the all the control arms as well. I realize I'll likely have to cut out the LCAs which is fine by me. I also need to patch up a nice little muffler hole that has developed. I might just opt to replace the whole exhaust since it took a decent hit years ago.
At the end of February I have a trip planned to the UP in the L'anse area for my 11th anniversary with the lady, so I am slowly preparing the vehicle for that. It'll be a cabin based trip, so no camping this time around but I still hope to get out and wheel in the Huron Mountains and hit Mt. Arvon.

 

[VSPro9]

Small update here for the new year. Been chasing lean codes for both banks since thanksgiving. Did a lot of testing which I had laid out in a separate thread. Looks like some component in the AFE intake was the culprit, I'm betting on the clamps. Back to the factory intake system for now. I'll likely reach out to AFE to see if they have an advice or are willing to send any replacement components my way.
Had a nasty squeaky ball joint as well. Ironically, the lean codes and the ball joint appeared at the same time! lol
Being a KDSS 470, whole lower control arm options are very limited and expensive. I opted to install a cheap-o Carquest ball joint so that the vehicle could continue to be used for work in the mean time. Pressing the old one out was not as bad as I thought, just required some patience and my impact. This inspired me to rebuild my factory arms rather than order new ones. Should hopefully be able to rebuild all 4 for less than the price of a new single LCA. It helped that I was able to get a Black Friday deal through NAPA on all 4 front ball joints from 555. Hope to install those pretty soon here on a free-er day. Sometime later this year I'll replace the bushings on the all the control arms as well. I realize I'll likely have to cut out the LCAs which is fine by me. I also need to patch up a nice little muffler hole that has developed. I might just opt to replace the whole exhaust since it took a decent hit years ago.
At the end of February I have a trip planned to the UP in the L'anse area for my 11th anniversary with the lady, so I am slowly preparing the vehicle for that. It'll be a cabin based trip, so no camping this time around but I still hope to get out and wheel in the Huron Mountains and hit Mt. Arvon.

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If you’re gonna be wheeling in that area, find the mulligan truck trail and put a big ole
X across it on your map.

Trail is a winch fest even if you’re on 35s-37s.

 

[10sec]

Came across this thread looking for an answer to a question I had and couldn't help but notice we both have the same color s2000 and GX. And we're both from Illinois.

 

[FeastorFamineMoto]

*Just noticed you resolved the problem on Page 2*
Did a post on replacing the solenoid valve body a few months back, working well ever since.

DIY KDSS Component Replacement/Service

Successfully replaced a failed KDSS Stabilizer Control Valve and on my 05 Sport using a cobbled together service tool. Its a simple system once you understand how to interface with it. Recipe for the service tool is linked in the youtube video description.

forum.ih8mud.com

Let me know if I can provide any info.