37k mile 2003 LX 470

[Girl Dad of 3]

Last month we bought this beautiful low mileage LX 470. It has about 37,000 miles on the clock and is generally in very good condition. The guys at Tandem Offroad in Fort Worth did the PPI and posted a really cool TikTok about it. We just got it back with its new tires and a few repairs (replaced front shocks, power steering rack, and coolant tees). Freaking love this thing. Rolling down the windows and cruising on a beautiful day is a dream. We can’t wait to hit the mountains in it this summer.

 

[excessive]

incredible score, whats the story behind it?

 

[Girl Dad of 3]

incredible score, whats the story behind it?

Bought new in Dallas from Sewell Lexus in 2003. It was owned by a family that kept it at their Aspen vacation home for about 20 years. They had it serviced at an authorized dealer in Colorado every May/June, presumably at the start of summer vacation. They put about 1,500 miles per year on it. The first owner was reportedly Carl Sewell himself, but that may not be true according to some info I got from a Mud member. A second owner bought it in 2020 or so from Sewell Lexus in Dallas. They put pretty low mileage on it too and kept it in good shape. I wasn’t really in the market to get another truck but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. We paid $43,500 for it.

 

[97 AZ LC]

Beware of the shop that would replace front shocks at 37k.

 

[Girl Dad of 3]

Beware of the shop that would replace front shocks at 37k.

my understanding is that it wasn’t something that had to be done right now. But we were baselining, they were already bleeding the AHC lines, and I’m going to be moving the truck out of state soon so it will be a pain to bring it back in. So I went ahead and did it. Hopefully that wasnt dumb of me.

 

[2001LC]

Congrates. $45K is decent, for 03LX with those miles & appearance.

"replaced front shocks, power steering rack, and coolant tees" Those services, you had done. Being from Aspen CO, serviced each spring. Are signs, of prolonged periods of being parked and age related issue.

We see other issues, that may need addressing. So be fair warned, age takes its toll, as does being parked. It was likely service at Bighorn Toyota in Glenwood Sp., CO. Which is was said to be a good shop. But when Dealership do timing belt service. They often, only replace the belt, and only sometimes the water pump. Rarely anything else, like bearings & tensioner! It may have been stored in climate controlled, garage in Aspen. Which would be great. As rubber and foam would be in decent condition. But I'd not count on it. I'd drill down into service history, for parts used. It may sound silly. But if tensioner & idler pulleys of timing belt along with fan bracket and fan belt. Likely need replacing. I'd likely redue T-belt service and replace most all during assembly. Even a great looking fan belt, is suspect. Age has its effect on rubber. The 03 uses Toyota LL (red) coolant. Which requires flushing each 2 years. Wheel bearings and axle bearing and bushing service and lube each 30K. I see most dealership, mess up wheel bearings service and never do they lube axle bearing & bushing.

Very likely they saw leaks at front shock and output shaft of steering rack. Why, rubber seals. So this tells us to be on the lookout, with respect to rubber.

Fuel injectors and fuel pressure regulator, need a close look. Fuel will often leak down from them, while stored. We can then see their needles rust. MPG and performance suffer.

You may have seen a post recently of an 06LC w/21K miles.

Disaster strikes

forum.ih8mud.com

I'm writing up an 07LC case study here. Which I've more I'll be writing about as I get time:

Low mile case study, 24K 07LC (2025)

How many saw the Thunder Cloud, 24K miles 2007 Land Cruiser, on BAT. Winning bid of $62,500 Dec 22 2024. WOW! :eek::clap: The lowest miles I've seen on BAT or every had my hands on.;) Here's someone else post on their 2006 21K miles, engine blowing up...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[Girl Dad of 3]

Congrates. $45K is decent, for 03LX with those miles & appearance.

"replaced front shocks, power steering rack, and coolant tees" Those services, you had done. Being from Aspen CO, serviced each spring. Are signs, of prolonged periods of being parked and age related issue.

We see other issues, that may need addressing. So be fair warned, age takes its toll, as does being parked. It was likely service at Bighorn Toyota in Glenwood Sp., CO. Which is was said to be a good shop. But when Dealership do timing belt service. They often, only replace the belt, and only sometimes the water pump. Rarely anything else like, bearings & tensioner! It may have been stored in climate controlled, garage in Aspen. Which would be great. As rubber and foam would be in decent condition. But I'd not count on it. I'd drill down into service history, for parts used. It may sound silly. But if tensioner & idler pulleys of timing belt along with fan bracket and fan belt. Likely need replacing. I'd likely redue T-belt service and replace most all as I came out. Even a great looking fan belt, is suspect. Age has its effect on rubber. The 03 uses Toyota LL (red) coolant. Which requires flushing each 2 years. Wheel bearings and axle bearing and bushing service and lube each 30K. I see most dealership, mess up wheel bearings service and never do they lube axle bearing & bushing.

Very likely they saw leaks at front shock and output shaft of steering rack. Why, rubber seals. So this tells us to be on the lookout, with respect to rubber.

Fuel injectors and fuel pressure regulator, need a close look. Fuel will often leak down from them, while stored. We can then see their needles rust. MPG and performance suffer.

You may have seen a post recently of an 06LC w/21K miles.

Disaster strikes

forum.ih8mud.com

I'm writing up an 07LC case study here. Which I've more I'll be writing about as I get time:

Low mile case study, 24K 07LC (2025)

How many saw the Thunder Cloud, 24K miles 2007 Land Cruiser, on BAT. Winning bid of $62,500 Dec 22 2024. WOW! :eek::clap: The lowest miles I've seen on BAT or every had my hands on.;) Here's someone else post on their 2006 21K miles, engine blowing up...

forum.ih8mud.com

Thank you so much for this information! I will keep a close eye on these things. I really appreciate you taking the time to share these insights.

 

[Exiled]

So cool to stumble across a true survivor like that, makes me wonder how many other Cruisers are tucked away under similar conditions?

 

[Girl Dad of 3]

So cool to stumble across a true survivor like that, makes me wonder how many other Cruisers are tucked away under similar conditions?

I thought the same thing. I was amazed when I saw it listed and that it happened to be right in my area. Then when I checked it out, I realized this thing is in amazing condition. It was a lot to pay for a 20 year old truck but I think it’s worth it. Honestly I think they could have gotten more if they listed it on BaT. We are going to keep the miles low by basically doing the same as the previous owner. My mother has a small condo in Colorado with a garage space that our family basically shares. We are going to keep the truck there so it can be used by whoever is visiting the condo. So we will use it in the mountains where it was made to be used, but we will be able to keep it low mileage. Hopefully we will have one of the only sub-50k mile 100 series known to man a few years from now.

 

[onemanarmy]

I'm sure you've done this, but get 'stated value' insurance on it.

no way Alstate or whoever will insure that thing properly

 

[jsloden]

Hopefully they replaced the globes and not the shocks. The shocks never really go bad on the ahc system. They're not even really shocks. The untrained would want to replace one when they saw them leaking. This isn't usually the case. It's usually a case of the pressures being out of whack. The only way to correct this is to adjust and check the pressures using techstream. If the pressures are adjusted correctly they will stop leaking. You do this by adjusting the torsion bars in the front and replacing the springs in the rear. Even if you replaced the shocks it's a good possibility that they will leak in short order if the pressures aren't correct. By checking the number of gradients on the fluid reservoir between low an high you can determine if the globes need to be replaced. You either need to find someone that knows ahc specifically or learn to work on it yourself. Most places that say they know how to service ahc really don't. You also need to have the timing belt and water pump replaced if they didn't do it. There are several really good threads here about working on your ahc. My 01 has 460k miles on it and the only items that have ever been replaced on the ahc system are the globes and the rear springs.

 

[Girl Dad of 3]

Hopefully they replaced the globes and not the shocks. The shocks never really go bad on the ahc system. They're not even really shocks. The untrained would want to replace one when they saw them leaking. This isn't usually the case. It's usually a case of the pressures being out of whack. The only way to correct this is to adjust and check the pressures using techstream. If the pressures are adjusted correctly they will stop leaking. You do this by adjusting the torsion bars in the front and replacing the springs in the rear. Even if you replaced the shocks it's a good possibility that they will leak in short order if the pressures aren't correct. By checking the number of gradients on the fluid reservoir between low an high you can determine if the globes need to be replaced. You either need to find someone that knows ahc specifically or learn to work on it yourself. Most places that say they know how to service ahc really don't. You also need to have the timing belt and water pump replaced if they didn't do it. There are several really good threads here about working on your ahc. My 01 has 460k miles on it and the only items that have ever been replaced on the ahc system are the globes and the rear springs.

Thank you for this information. The prior owner did replace the timing belt about 10k miles ago. Not sure about the water pump though. I'll have to ask about the replacing globes vs springs issue because I don't know.

 

[Exiled]

I thought the same thing. I was amazed when I saw it listed and that it happened to be right in my area. Then when I checked it out, I realized this thing is in amazing condition. It was a lot to pay for a 20 year old truck but I think it’s worth it. Honestly I think they could have gotten more if they listed it on BaT. We are going to keep the miles low by basically doing the same as the previous owner. My mother has a small condo in Colorado with a garage space that our family basically shares. We are going to keep the truck there so it can be used by whoever is visiting the condo. So we will use it in the mountains where it was made to be used, but we will be able to keep it low mileage. Hopefully we will have one of the only sub-50k mile 100 series known to man a few years from now.

If you compare it to what any new POS SUV goes for, I think you got a great deal for it. As the rate it's been used and the expect use you are planning, it should outlast all of us!

 

[rexington14]

Sweet! Are you running new Defenders or new Wildpeaks? Hard to tell.

How's the interior?

 

[Rhetoric]

Cool truck.

When can I visit the condo and drive it?

 

[Girl Dad of 3]

Sweet! Are you running new Defenders or new Wildpeaks? Hard to tell.

How's the interior?

Wildpeaks. Some of the photos are before we put the wildpeaks on. The interior is spotless. It does have an aftermarket screen installed with CarPlay which is nice to have.

 

[chuckscap]

Amazing find!

 

[Girl Dad of 3]

Sweet! Are you running new Defenders or new Wildpeaks? Hard to tell.

How's the interior?

Here are some shots of the interior.

 

[gtex]

Sharp Ride....

Also a Dallas father of 3...girls.

My 16 Year old gets her first ride this Thursday...2006, 2nd owner. I put some new sneakers (265/70/18 Terra Grappler G3) and some FJ40 Gray powder-coated Tundra wheels on it today. Also front and middle Escape Gear covers and Cruiser Design and Manufacturing Cyclone LEDS throughout...now I want to hold onto it.

 

[Girl Dad of 3]

Sharp Ride....

Also a Dallas father of 3...girls.

My 16 Year old gets her first ride this Thursday...2006, 2nd owner. I put some new sneakers (265/70/18 Terra Grappler G3) and some FJ40 Gray powder-coated Tundra wheels on it today. Also front and middle Escape Gear covers and Cruiser Design and Manufacturing Cyclone LEDS throughout...now I want to hold onto it.

View attachment 3880546

View attachment 3880547

Excellent dadding, Gtex. Heckuva first rig for your daughter.