Builds Arailt's GX (2 Viewers)

[Arailt]

Hey everyone! Figured I’d share my very mild 2008 GX470. I bought it a couple years ago with 49k on the odometer and have been using it for mild wheeling and camping ever since. Prior to the GX, I had a 2nd gen Tacoma, a TJ, XJ, and CJ.

2008 GX470:
Stock suspension
SSO sliders (weld-on)
T4R TRD Pro wheels in graphite
275/70r17 Cooper S/T Maxx tires

Day I brought it home

Having the SSO sliders welded on

Not the best picture, but I pushed the front wheel well liners forward approx. 2” to accommodate 275/70r17s without a lift. Took about 20 mins and you’d never know it wasn’t that way from the factory. Used this video for reference: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tOIp0qX_Gh

After the TRD Pros and 275s were mounted (yes, apparently I like to take pictures on garbage night)

I scrape the 6’5” clearance warning thing at my garage with the bigger tires. I’ll have to find a new place to park if I lift it haha

 

[Merlin2111]

Really nice looking ride. I am trying to get one myself. I found a very well maintained 04 with 92k for a decent price but I will have to fly out and get her and that is a little daunting.

 

[e28]

Whats the US market like for these things? Around here you can get a 04 for under 10k USD with round 130k Miles. I managed to find a 06 with 42k for under 13 but it has a rebuilt status.

 

[Arailt]

Really nice looking ride. I am trying to get one myself. I found a very well maintained 04 with 92k for a decent price but I will have to fly out and get her and that is a little daunting.

Thanks! Good luck with your hunt!

I drove 5.5 hours one way to pick mine up and it was not a great experience. I did a good bit of negotiating over the phone, but when I arrived at the dealership I learned the salesman had left out quite a lot of details. I ended up wasting more time than I anticipated negotiating again. The whole transaction felt rushed and I missed some dings and scrapes on the paint that I'm kicking myself for now. Being over five hours away, I can't return to the dealer to let them fix the damage and they wouldn't cut me a check to have a local body shop do the work. Outside of a collector car or something along those lines, I'll never travel more than an hour to purchase a vehicle again.

Whats the US market like for these things? Around here you can get a 04 for under 10k USD with round 130k Miles. I managed to find a 06 with 42k for under 13 but it has a rebuilt status.

That seems about right. Older model years are pretty cheap with over 100k around me (Northeast US). 2007 - 2009 GXs with 80k-90k in great shape seem to list for $18k - $22k here. I saw some with ~30k and ~40k on them listed as high as $28k. I paid just under $20k for mine (listed at $23.5k). An R or S Title could easily knock 50% off.

 

[h2oskikrazy]

Very nice looking truck!

 

[JLee]

Thanks! Good luck with your hunt!

I drove 5.5 hours one way to pick mine up and it was not a great experience. I did a good bit of negotiating over the phone, but when I arrived at the dealership I learned the salesman had left out quite a lot of details. I ended up wasting more time than I anticipated negotiating again. The whole transaction felt rushed and I missed some dings and scrapes on the paint that I'm kicking myself for now. Being over five hours away, I can't return to the dealer to let them fix the damage and they wouldn't cut me a check to have a local body shop do the work. Outside of a collector car or something along those lines, I'll never travel more than an hour to purchase a vehicle again.



That seems about right. Older model years are pretty cheap with over 100k around me (Northeast US). 2007 - 2009 GXs with 80k-90k in great shape seem to list for $18k - $22k here. I saw some with ~30k and ~40k on them listed as high as $28k. I paid just under $20k for mine (listed at $23.5k). An R or S Title could easily knock 50% off.

That's unfortunate. I've flown out of state for my last three trucks - from Phoenix to Reno for my LX450, Phoenix to Albuquerque for my first GX, and NJ to Phoenix for my second GX. I had friends check out the last one before I went out to get it, but the other two were private party / sight unseen. They all worked out well.

 

[Scat Adams]

Yo lemme get that interior

 

[Arailt]

Hey everyone, quick update after four years:

I moved to Texas and traded the 2008 GX470 for a 2019 GX460 Premium.

Out with the old.

In with the new.

 

[Arailt]

New wheels and tires - Motegi Tralite 17x8.5, 0 offset and 275/70r17 Falken Wildpeak Load Range C. Stock suspension. Zero rubbing (even at full lock) on-road after following the steps below. 275/70 does not fit in the spare tire location, so I'll have to figure out a solution to that.

I had to move the front fender well liners forward like I did on the 470. On the 460, I removed one bolt (green) and two screws (red). I pushed the fender well forward, drilled a hole in the fender well plastic, and reinstalled the green bolt to hold it together.

I also had to zip tie back the running board at the rear of the front fender wells (blue). I removed the screw and retainer (pictured last photo), used an 11/32" drill bit to make the round hole on the running board larger, and put the zip tie through the square hole in the fender well diagonally. I used two 24" 175lb cable ties from Lowes on each side. I have seen write-ups that show to install a screw with a washer and nut that holds the zip ties in place of the screw that was removed from the running board. I skipped that step and looped the zip tie directly around the running board/fender well liner. I think the black zip tie looks cleaner than a silver screw and if/when one of the zip ties breaks, I won't have a metal screw rubbing against my tire.

Shot of the zip ties from underneath. The second zip tie wraps around the forward-most running board mount. I plan to carry spare zip ties because it seems like vibration and rubbing on the running board mount over time could cause them to eventually fail.

The screw and retainer (blue) is from the running board, and the screw and retainer (red) is from the front fender well (2 blue and 4 red total). All 6 were not were not reinstalled.

 

[r2m]

What other plans do you have?

 

[Arailt]

Probably not much for a while. Maybe a roof rack. My kids are just getting old enough take camping, so hopefully we do some road trips to Colorado, New Mexico, or Utah next spring/summer. If the kids and wife enjoy it, might open up some more possibilities for bumpers, lift, etc.

 

[Arailt]

I disabled the TPMS notification on my dash today. I found lots of how-to videos and posts showing how to do this on a 2010-2017 GX, but Mr. Toyota decided to consolidate the TPMS receiver and ECU into a single module in the 2018-2019 GX models. That module is located in the headliner, left of the dome light.

2018-2019 Diagram

To access behind the headliner, I used this tutorial from GX Bob.

After I did that, I simply unplugged the wire from the unit and jumped the Green and Yellow wires (I zip-tied the jumper in place so it didn't fall out before I finished). I did NOT plug the wires back in the unit, nor did I try to see if it worked after plugging it back into the unit. I just tucked the wire back into the headliner and put everything back together.