Builds 2010 LX 570 -AHC Delete, Tundra Swap, 4.5" BDS Lift (1 Viewer)

[GJamisonUT]

I bought this 2010 LX 570 to be my wife's daily driver/family vehicle, with the intention that it would eventually end up being the replacement for my lifted 2004 Sequoia. We purchased a GX 460 this spring, freeing up the LX for me to start playing with.

I made the decision to go with a BDS lift after a lot of consideration, discussion, research and heartburn. In addition to the straight up BDS lift I considered and researched 2 other options:

1. Icon Stage 6 Kit for LC 200. Would have done the Tundra swap with this as well along with 315/70/17 tires, which I run on my Sequoia with 5" of lift. My main concern is that this type of lift changes the angles of the UCAs, LCAs, steering arms and CV axles. This adds stress and wear to those components and others, among other potential issues. I've been running a more extreme version of this lift on my Sequoia and have seen what steep angles can do to otherwise reliable CV axles. A full-time 4WD vehicle like the LX 570 is going to be much harder on CV axles than a part-time 4WD system as well. I almost pulled the trigger on this lift...twice actually...but I kept coming back to the decision that I wanted to try something else. Been there, done that when it comes to standard coil-over lifts.

2. Keeping the AHC and pairing it with the BDS kit up front and a custom fab solution for the rear end. I'm sure you've all seen the 2011 LX 570 in Colorado that is set up this way. I think the concept is awesome...I just don't have the tools or skills to fab a solution for the rear end on my own, but I do have a couple friends that could. After discussion with these friends I decided it just wasn't worth the effort. It would have been super rad to have 4.5" of lift AND the option to go up another 2" with the flip of a switch. Cool...just not worth the amount of work to do it properly, especially so when you can't do much of the work yourself.

I've lifted several trucks over the years but this will be my first drop bracket lift. I've looked at drop bracket lifts from other manufacturers in the past and it was obvious that they wouldn't hold up to my use. Cheap strut spacers and scary weak adapters to connect the steering knuckles to the UCA's. That's a deal breaker. But the BDS kit includes new machined steering knuckles that are twice the size of the factory part...paired with custom Fox Factory Series coilovers to fit the 4.5" drop bracket. That solves 2 of my biggest reasons to avoid a drop bracket lift. I plan on welding the drop bracket into place to prevent any movement and associated issues.

Here is an overview of what I have purchased for the project:

Front:

• BDS 4.5" Kit w/ Fox DSC Coilovers
  • 4.5" 2007-2015 Toyota Tundra 4wd & 2wd Fox CoilOver Lift Kit by BDS Suspension
• SPC UCA's, Tundra 2007+
  • 25490 - SPC Adjustable Upper Control Arms (07+ Tundra/08+Sequoia)
• OEM Tundra LCA's
• OEM Tundra CV Axles
• Nitro 4.88 Ring & Pinion
  • Toyota 9" IFS Clamshell, 4.88, Nitro Reverse Ring & Pinion
• ARB Locker
  • ARB Front Air Locker for LC 200

Rear:

• Fox 2.0 Shocks (came with the BDS kit)
  • Tundra 2007-2020 Toyota (w/4.5-7" lift) - Fox 2.0 Performance Series Shock (REAR)
• ARB Old Man Emu Coil Springs, 2423
  • ARB Old Man Emu Coil Spring - 2423
• Icon Billet Rear Lower Links
  • 54000 - Icon Billet Aluminum Rear Lower Link Kit
• Ironman Adjustable Rear Upper Links
  • Rear Adjustable Upper Trailing Arm for 200 Series Land Cruiser
• Dobinsons Adjustable Rear Panhard
  • Dobinsons Rear Adjustable Panhard Rod Track Bar for Toyota Land Cruiser 200 Series(PR59-1421)
• Nitro 4.88 Ring & Pinion
  • Toyota 9.5", 4.88, Nitro Ring & Pinion (32 Spline)
• ARB Air Locker
  • ARB Rear Air Locker for Toyota 9.5" Differential

Misc:

• Slee Sliders w/ LED Kit
  • SLEE- Formed SliderSteps - '08+ Land Cruiser / LX 570 - Slee Off Road
• RLC Rear Bumper and Tire Carrier
  • Toyota Land Cruiser 200 Rear Bumper With Tire Carrier
• Dobinsons Dual Rear Drawers
  • Dobinsons Rear Dual Roller Drawer System for Toyota Land Cruiser 200 Series 2008-2019 with Fridge Slide
• Slee Secondary Battery Tray
  • SLEE – 2nd Battery Tray Kit – ’08+
• Sherpa Air Compressor
  • Sherpa BIG Air Compressor
• Rhino Hide Body Armor
  • Suitable for LandCruiser 200 Series - Original.

The first thing I did was to disable and remove the AHC system, following the great thread started by @turbo8 (thanks!)

I also removed the third-row seats during this step. The drivers-side third-row seat has to be removed at least temporarily in order to access and disconnect the AHC controller, but I removed both as I have a set of Dobinsons drawers on the way.

I then installed the Slee Sliders...mostly to get them out of the way since I am doing this work in an "oversize" single car garage.

And I then started the process of removing the front suspension & differential.

 

[GJamisonUT]

Removing the diff is done so that the cross member can be cut and removed. Taking a saw to the frame was a very stressful process to go through...there is no coming back! You know the saying...measure twice, cut once? It is a must here.

I also started removing rear suspension components to get the axle sitting on the ground. I needed room for one of the more complicated parts of my build, which I will go into more detail about later in the post.

 

[TeCKis300]

Awesome that you're pushing the limits as to what we commonly see.

Taking a front row seat for this exciting build.

 

[GJamisonUT]

As of today I am preparing to weld in chop plates where I cut out the cross member. I have to rely on friends for welding, but I should have this part done in the next week or so and will then start installing all of the front end components of the lift. I want to have the front end fully installed and sitting on wheels/tires before I start on the rear lift install.

Here are some pics of OEM vs aftermarket parts for reference.

 

[Mogwai]

This is awesome. What is the thought process behind wanting so much lift (vs say going for more droop)?

 

[GJamisonUT]

This is awesome. What is the thought process behind wanting so much lift (vs say going for more droop)?

More lift = bigger tires. Bigger tires = more clearance both under the axles and, more importantly to me, the combo of lift and tires provides more clearance between the frame/body and the ground. Having a Sequoia lifted at a similar height I have the ability to take on larger rocks, logs, etc. without worrying about coming down onto the obstacle and damaging anything. I also just wanted to do something different.

 

[afgman786]

I'm guessing you'll be making custom skids or running no skids?
Definitely going to be a fun read to see the outcome and how you wheel it. When I think drop bracket I think of trucks running massive rims/show trucks.

 

[Rigger]

Nice going! Keep up the good work on this LX. And keep the updates and pics coming.

(Please post up a pic of your Sequoia, too.)

 

[GJamisonUT]

I'm guessing you'll be making custom skids or running no skids?
Definitely going to be a fun read to see the outcome and how you wheel it. When I think drop bracket I think of trucks running massive rims/show trucks.

The BDS kit comes with a skid plate, and I plan (hope) to modify the transmission skid rails/plate to fit.

 

[GJamisonUT]

Nice going! Keep up the good work on this LX. And keep the updates and pics coming.

(Please post up a pic of your Sequoia, too.)

Thanks @Rigger

Here's a couple pics of my Sequoia.

 

[grinchy]

More lift = bigger tires. Bigger tires = more clearance both under the axles and, more importantly to me, the combo of lift and tires provides more clearance between the frame/body and the ground. Having a Sequoia lifted at a similar height I have the ability to take on larger rocks, logs, etc. without worrying about coming down onto the obstacle and damaging anything. I also just wanted to do something different.

So... 37? 38? 40?

 

[GJamisonUT]

37s on 17s

 

[grinchy]

.

 

[Atwalz]

@Ohnoitsbreaux you need to do this.

 

[Atwalz]

Rear shocks for LC and Tundra are different. One is designed for leaf spring setup and the other is for the coil. I was told by a local offroad shop that don't mix the shocks for rears. Also, rear shocks on LC are different bottom eyelets than the tundra. I would imagine LX is the same as LC. For rear spring option, maybe look into Tough Dog Tour Flex heavies. @TRAIL TAILOR sells these rear springs.

 

[GJamisonUT]

Rear shocks for LC and Tundra are different. One is designed for leaf spring setup and the other is for the coil. I was told by a local offroad shop that don't mix the shocks for rears. Also, rear shocks on LC are different bottom eyelets than the tundra. I would imagine LX is the same as LC. For rear spring option, maybe look into Tough Dog Tour Flex heavies. @TRAIL TAILOR sells these rear springs.

I figured I'd give the Fox shocks a go in the rear if they fit, since they came with the kit and I really don't know how the truck is going to handle until I get it on 4 wheels again. If they don't work out well, rear shocks are an easy swap.

 

[GJamisonUT]

I mentioned earlier that one of the more complicated parts of this project was related to the rear suspension. As I was removing the rear AHC shocks it became apparent that the amount of lift I wanted would cause the passenger-side upper arm to come in contact with the fuel tank as the right-rear wheel drops. The only way around this is to build an extension to raise the axle connection point upwards to keep the arms in their stock angles.

While I don't have the ability to do any metal fabrication on my own, I do have some experience with drafting and 3D modeling and it's something that I really enjoy doing. So, I decided to design the extensions on my own and then have a fab shop cut, bend and weld them using 3/16" steel plate.

To make the design process easier I wanted to make 3D renderings of the existing mounts. I did a bit of research and decided to use a photogrammetry software solution called 3DF Zephyr. 3DF Zephyr imports photos of physical objects to build a 3D mesh that can be exported and used in common 3D modeling programs like Solidworks & AutoCAD. The free version of 3DF Zephyr will process up to 50 photos per project, so I went with the "Lite" version which supports up to 500 images; more images means a more accurate model.

I used some cheap LED lights and zip-ties to ensure that I had even lighting with no shadows and took about 200 photos using a 16MP phone camera. Even with the axle on the ground it was difficult to get all the right angles. After removing photos that were blurry or otherwise flawed I ended up with 110 photos to feed into 3DF Zephyr Lite.

After some cleanup, here is the resulting 3D render of the right/passenger side mount. The blue pyramid shapes represent the "camera views" used to build the model i.e. the photos that I took. 3DF Zephyr used 108 of the 110 pics that I fed it, so there were two that it did not like for some reason.

Imported to Solidworks with a little more cleanup. The corner area that looks missing or rusted out is due to light reflecting off of that corner. Luckily it didn't interfere with my intended design, or I would have had to adjust the lighting and take a new batch of photos.

One more note about creating the 3D render. I also purchased and tried out a handheld 3D scanner from XYZPrinting. I did this after I had already created the render & mesh shown above. My hope was that the scanner would make the process easier for future projects, but it was actually harder to use than simply taking a bunch of photos and the resulting 3D mesh wasn't even close to what I got out of 3DF Zephyr in terms of accuracy and detail.

More to come...

 

[radman]

Amazing.
what are your plans for all them AHC parts?

I might be interested in buying your pump - Wouldn't mind having a spare one on hand.

not sure if you've found a "fix" to disable all the dash lights regarding the missing AHC, or are you just going to put black tape over them?

 

[turbo8]

Amazing.
what are your plans for all them AHC parts??

not sure if you've found a "fix" to disable all the dash lights regarding the missing AHC, or are you just going to put black tape over them?

I sorta figured out how to disable everything without warning lights. There is only an internal fault code, that I haven't got around to figure out.

 

[TeCKis300]

It's for the better that you're going to have to extend the upper mount. Keeping the trailing arms close to stock angles is going to make a much better handling end product. There would be some significant axle displacement in wheelbase and rotation running at the extreme angles. Panhard bar is going to want the same treatment.

Are you going to do anything to relocate the lower trailing arm? Looks like the pickup point may interfere with the axle housing trying to raise it any. May be more straightforward the lower the mount at the frame rail?

Cool stuff with the 3D modeling!