Adding an LX integrated hitch to an LC (1 Viewer)

[Andrew S]

I like the integrated receiver hitches that were an available option on LX470s. My 2007 Land Cruiser unfortunately did not come with the integrated receiver, this seems to have been an option only up to 2005 LXs. (edit: available on 08.2002 - 05.2005 LX470s)

I purchased an LX rear crossmember from a wrecking yard in Oklahoma, and retrofitted it to my LC over the last few days. This is fairly major surgery, and felt more so when the car is a daily driver, rather than a "project"!

Follow along if you're interested in the process.

The receiver crossmember is significantly heavier duty that the standard crossmember: fully boxed, and has some additional stamped reinforcements inside the frame rails, as you'll see shortly.

I chose to cut out the inner frame rail channel, mostly because it was (barely) accessible, and that gave me nearly 45 inches of weld bead to hold the new crossmember back in place. No concerns at all about strength or longevity.

Removal was much easier by taking out the crossmember in pieces:

There was almost zero tension on the frame when I made the last cut. I expected much worse, and debated bracing the frame rails before cutting, but ended up with no issues.

Eventually you'll end up with an area to fit the receiver crossmember into place.

Prep the new crossmember the same way, but make sure to remove the other half of the frame channels...

You can see the inner reinforcement plates here, these are not included in the original crossmember arrangement.

And after a couple cutoff wheels worth of work, voila:

I tried to work around the rear muffler/exhaust, but finally gave up and split it at the joint behind the main muffler. Expect that clamp bolt to break off and need replacement.

 

[Andrew S]

The inner frame rails have some tabs, and the outer rails have matching dimples to make locating the crossmembers nearly foolproof. With square cuts and careful measuring, fit up was great. A couple vise grips and a little tension from a bar clamp were all it took to pull everything back into position.

This is the point you find out how accurate your measurements were. The other side wasn't quite as good, but still easily weldable.

I wire brushed and treated all the rusty areas with phosphoric acid, and then gave it all two coats of POR-15.

I then reinstalled the plastic bumper cover, and traced around the inside of the receiver tube opening, thinking this would be necessary to accurately locate the trim ring cutout. Turns out this was completely unnecessary.

If you wipe all the dust off the inside of the bumper cover, you'll see there is a faint line that is exactly where you need to cut for the trim ring opening:

Follow that line, and the opening is ready for the trims:

Inner trim ring: 51776-60020
Outer trim ring: 51777-60040
Rivets: 90269-05059
Plastic snap in cover: (not shown, and only fits with the bolt in receiver sleeve removed) 52169-60060

 

[Andrew S]

After reassembling all the pieces, and test fitting the bolt in sleeve:

Just like factory. With a few scraps left over:

And then you realize that you never bought the stinger (PT228-00380) that's made to fit this application...

Hopefully this will be helpful to anyone else contemplating the same project. I'm happy to answer any questions.

 

[LJE]

Good work and write up! That's quality content right there.

 

[Coin]

Damn that makes me glad I bought an lx with the receiver!

Good work though, love the hustle!

 

[Andrew S]

Damn that makes me glad I bought an lx with the receiver!

Good work though, love the hustle!

I'd prefer an LX as well, eventually I may have one with enough upgrades to the Land Cruiser!

 

[MongooseGA]

Damn this is great! If I'd known, I woulda kept mine from my LX instead of trashing it for someone else to retrofit.

 

[Andrew S]

Damn this is great! If I'd known, I woulda kept mine from my LX instead of trashing it for someone else to retrofit.

I searched for over a year to find a crossmember, not expecting it to be that difficult to track down. Several leads here that ended up not panning out, and finally eBay saved the day.
Apparently the hitch crossmembers were still available new from Toyota Canada until just before I started searching.