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

[GJamisonUT]

Hey all. I am happy to say that I have a lot of progress to share. I was finally able to take my LX out for a "shakedown" trip after completing the planned modifications to the panhard and upper trailing arms.

I am still working on the RLC rear bumper...as you can see I only have it partially installed. At the moment I cannot close the swingout completely without it hitting the rear hatch, and I'm not happy with the fit and alignment of the bumper if I drop the rear end of it enough to allow the swingout to close and latch. So, I am going to make some modifications to the tire swingout portion so that it fits and lines up the way I would like.

I am also still working on the onboard air system, so I did not get to test out the ARB lockers on this trip. I purchased a Sherpa Big Air compressor and a 3 gallon air tank so I can make short work out of inflating 37" tires. Both the compressor and air tank will be mounted on a custom cross member that will bolt into the frame where the factory tire carrier used to live. I'll post some pics of that setup when I have some progress to share.

After countless hours obsessing over the designs for my panhard & trailing arm brackets, I finally pulled the trigger and had the pieces cut and bent by OSH Cut. Their online app makes it really easy to upload your designs, select a material and specify the bends. In order to get the bends that I needed I had to add 10mm to one end of every part containing a bend. This is to give the press enough material to make the bend without deforming the part. I had that 10mm line etched into each part so that it could be easily trimmed to the proper length before assembly.

The "pieces" of my custom brackets, as received from OSH Cut:

The fully assembled brackets: 1x frame-side panhard correction, 1x axle-side panhard correction, 2x upper trailing arm correction:

The completed frame-side panhard bracket (Right) next to my 3D printed version for test fitting (Left):

The axle-side correction bracket welded in.

 

[GJamisonUT]

The frame-side correction bracket welded in:

Upper trailing arm correction bracket welded in:

The angle of the panhard and the vehicle roll center can be modified by utilizing different bolt hole combinations between the two correction brackets. The way it is set now is close to stock for an LC. I am extremely happy with the ride and handling of the vehicle after correcting these angles. There is no nose dive during braking, no "boaty" feeling when cornering.

I also had a custom rear drive shaft built with a double cardan joint. The shaft angle and the amount of travel was just too much for the stock drive shaft.

 

[TeCKis300]

Wicked engineering work going on there! Something new we haven't seen applied to this platform yet!

That chassis side panhard relocation bracket alone could be applied to just about everyone doing an aggressive 2.5"+ lift. With pretty large benefits to handling and stability. I think you have something with a lot of potential there.

I haven't tried to outsource laser cut and formed brackets before. May I ask what kind of typical cost you're looking at?

 

[GJamisonUT]

I also added some gussets to reinforce the already welded in and reinforced drop bracket up front. It's not going anywhere.

 

[GJamisonUT]

Wicked engineering work going on there! Something new we haven't seen applied to this platform yet!

That chassis side panhard relocation bracket alone could be applied to just about everyone doing an aggressive 2.5"+ lift. With pretty large benefits to handling and stability. I think you have something with a lot of potential there.

I haven't tried to outsource laser cut and formed brackets before. May I ask what kind of typical cost you're looking at?

Thanks man! I think OSH Cut is pretty reasonable price wise. I was able to pick up locally (they're about 35 minutes from my house) so that was a bonus for me as well. There is a "setup" fee, which is basically their labor to setup the machines for each job required to cut and bend your parts. Whether you order 1 of each part or 1,000 of each, the setup cost is the same. For a small order like mine setup ended up being about 43% of the bill. If I broke the total cost down evenly between the 4 completed brackets the price for each was about $90. The more parts you order at once the cheaper it gets.

 

[GJamisonUT]

@turbo8 Here are the Crown Performance brake lines I purchased.

Front:

Rear:

 

[turbo8]

Good to know the Tundra rear lines fit.

Thanks!

 

[xhrix123]

Not looking for this aggressive of a setup, but complete admiration of the work you did. Congrats. I am chucking my ahc and going with kings. But the line is long!

 

[Cruisin911]

Not looking for this aggressive of a setup, but complete admiration of the work you did. Congrats. I am chucking my ahc and going with kings. But the line is long!

The wait is worth it.

 

[GJamisonUT]

Not looking for this aggressive of a setup, but complete admiration of the work you did. Congrats. I am chucking my ahc and going with kings. But the line is long!

I think you'll be happy with that setup, kings are really nice.

 

[GJamisonUT]

Bumper wrapped up and looking good! Still need to reinstall the backup sensors, but have to order a few things from the dealer to make that happen.

 

[Alvaro1810]

@turbo8 Here are the Crown Performance brake lines I purchased.

Front:
View attachment 2704062

Rear:
View attachment 2704063

Are these the same as the 2207-2016 Toyota Tundra that crown performance offer in their website??

 

[GJamisonUT]

Are these the same as the 2207-2016 Toyota Tundra that crown performance offer in their website??

No, unfortunately. That is what I originally ordered, hoping they would work...but all 4 came with the threaded connectors instead of banjo style connectors on 2 of the lines. I had to call and request banjo style connectors. They are super helpful if you call and tell them what you want....and since they make every line to order it won't take any longer.

 

[TeCKis300]

No, unfortunately. That is what I originally ordered, hoping they would work...but all 4 came with the threaded connectors instead of banjo style connectors on 2 of the lines. I had to call and request banjo style connectors. They are super helpful if you call and tell them what you want....and since they make every line to order it won't take any longer.

They may be the trick to making drop in Tundra BBK conversion brake lines.

I assume you're still running stock LX brakes? As you're running monster truck tires, have you given any thought to BBKs?

DIY Tundra Brakes (BBK)

Time for bigger tires and with that, need a big brake kit (BBK). Thanks to the pioneers @TexAZ, @bjowett, and others before me, it's been known that upsized Tundra front brakes, rotor and caliper, largely bolt in. Here's my attempt to simplify the install for others that may want to tackle...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[Omsok]

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.

View attachment 2395387

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.

View attachment 2395340

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.

View attachment 2395409

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.

View attachment 2395420

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...

Interesting. One of my performance automotive clients uses a 3D system to map engine bays and clearances on new model vehicles so they can design parts for them. It seems to work well, but I am interested in checking out this photo mapping software for personal use.

 

[GJamisonUT]

(Part 1 of 3) - I thought I'd share some photos of how I've been using my build. A lot has changed since my last update.

I did a lot of camping through 2021 sleeping inside the LX. At first I lust folded the third-row seats down and used a piece of plywood cover the gap between the seats and my Dobinson's drawers. Not the best solution since the seats don't sit completely flat. So, I removed the larger section of the 60/40 split seats and a friend of mine built me a nice platform to extend the sleeping area and provide additional storage space.

This provides a much better sleeping experience for sure. I can get into the rear passenger seat and change clothes/get ready and then easily hop up into bed. We've been camping at least 2 nights every month with only a few exceptions, and I use a standard heated blanket to stay warm on the cold nights.

 

[GJamisonUT]

(Part 2 of 3) - I also completed the onboard air system. The compressor and 3 gallon air tank are mounted underneath the truck where my spare tire used to live. The solenoids for the ARB lockers and all of the electrical connections are housed in a waterproof box. I don't have any pics of the fully completed/sealed up system handy...but you can see the general setup.

 

[GJamisonUT]

(Part 3 of 3) - While the sleeping platform is much better than what I was originally sleeping on, I did not like having to pull everything out of the truck in order to setup my bed to sleep. In the morning I have to pack up my bed and all my gear before moving on to the next camp site, and then repeat the whole process again. So I did something I promised myself I would never do: I bought a roof top tent.

I definitely wanted a hard-shell capable of keep my bedding inside when closed to keep me from having to setup and then pack up all my sleeping gear. I looked at a bunch of different options; Roof Nest, iKamper, 4x4Colorado, FSR and others. Then I stumbled on the Roam Adventure Company Rambler RTT. It was the corner "panoramic" windows that really sold me, along with the overall style and fit. They show a 200 series with a Prinsu rack in their marketing video, and I could see the Rambler and Prinsu were a great match for each other, so I also got myself a Prinsu as well.

I'm heading up to the Uinta mountains tonight to put this setup through a shakedown. I'll post some pics and a review of the tent next week.

 

[TeCKis300]

Great to see you out there enjoying your truck and build.

Reading through some details makes me re-assess my own rear brake lines. I just added 1" more droop. Do you think that amount needs the help of extended brake lines?

 

[GJamisonUT]

Great to see you out there enjoying your truck and build.

Reading through some details makes me re-assess my own rear brake lines. I just added 1" more droop. Do you think that amount needs the help of extended brake lines?

Thanks man! I'm having fun with it for sure. You *should* be OK with an extra inch of droop, but you might want to double check (I know it would make my brain happy if it were me). Put her up on jack stands, remove those rear wheels and let the axle hang. You know the drill