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[BNuts]

Aloha Mudders!

Ive been a lurker for almost a year now. Like everyone else says, thank you to IH8MUD for the vault of priceless information.

I bought my 2003 LX470 when I was living in Phoenix Thanksgiving 2010. It had around 120k miles on it. Very clean. Ive been a landcruiser enthusiast since I was a kid. My best friend's family had an 80 series and that thing was a tank. 20 years later, i finally got my own. Ive been 4-wheeling/off-roading since the 90s way before the word "overlanding" became popular. Im originally from Los Angeles so, I started off doing the fire roads and mountain passes in Valencia/Gorman, California. Over the years Ive had a lifted silverado, a lifted WJ Grand Cherokee, then the LX. I brought the LX to Maui with me in 2012. She stayed in stock (and very capable) form most of the time I had her. Funny story.. Around 2013, gas prices on Maui reached over $5/gal and a few events happened in my personal life so, I decided to sell the LX and I moved to NYC. 3 years later, I returned to Maui and bought the LX back from the same guy lol. I had to practically beg him but I harassed him for a few months and he finally gave in. The truck wasnt in terrible shape but it had some wear/tear and a few things I realize had been neglected after educating myself on all the important maintenance from this forum. Also he had a young child so there where a few melted crayons here and there. But w/ 190k miles I knew she had a lot of life left in her not to mention a lot of nostalgic value. It felt great to have her back. I wanted to refresh the look/vibe of the truck toward a more aggressive offroad look/feel. I started obsessing over the IH8MUD forum (landcruiser bible) and acquired the itch to get some more ground clearance and aggressive rubber.

The day I brought her home 11/2010

As she sits today 6/2018

 

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The truck has always been very capable in stock form with a set of Silent Armor 276/65/18s and AHC hi mode but, I decided it was time to jack her up a bit. I started off baselining all the basics.. Thanks to MUD, Ive addressed the most important maintenance items on this truck: flushing the AHC fluid, transfer case/differential fluids, changing the heater T's, fixing valve cover gasket leak, timing belt/water pump, plugs, and steering rack.

AHC fluid was well overdue for a change..

 

[BNuts]

When it came to the lift, I debated for a while about whether to do the Slee override, sensor lift, or rip out the AHC and go standard suspension. Thanks to @DirtDawg , @PADDO , @hoser , and all the other resident forum gurus, I saved countless hours and dollars of guesswork and trial/error. I decided to start with the sensor lift. I sourced an old windows laptop with techstream preinstalled from ebay, the ahc shock spacers from Japan 4x4, and King ktrs-79 springs from ebay. I was never looking to jack the truck sky high. I just wanted an inch or two to give it a better stance and go up a tire size or two. First, removed the running boards and cut off the rear mud flaps flush with the bumper. I installed the King springs. At stock height the springs significantly firmed up the ride. The neutral pressures were around 5.4 in the rear and 6 in the front so I basically had no AHC damping. I drove this setup for a few days because I kinda liked the novelty feeling of how firm the suspension was. Next, I maxed out the height sensor sliders and that gave me about 21 in front / 21.75 in rear measured hub center to fender. I used Techstream and adjusted my torsion bars to get me pretty much in spec with 7.1 front / 5.4 rear. My truck is completely stock with no bumpers, racks, drawers, or other heavy accessories. The King springs kept my rear pressures a little under spec with no weight. Like I said, I didnt mid the firm ride. Before alignment, the truck toe was way of and the handling was terrible. After alignment, she drove pretty good. My general mechanic did not do the best alignment job. I knew it could be better but the AHC was fully functioning and I enjoyed driving at the new raised height. I drove like this for a little over half a year.

View attachment 1722183

 

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I could tell I had globed failing because I had uneven damping on bumps. I did the reservoir gradient test and got about 7 lines (really hard to get an accurate reading through my stained reservoir. One day I developed a AHC fluid leak from one of the lines near the pump. I had told myself from the beginning that I didnt want to go chasing AHC issues down the rabbit hole so, once the leak developed I decided it was time to pull the hydraulic rams and go standard suspension. From the recommendations on the forum, I decided to talk to Jason @reevesci . He was very helpful. I told him my setup and driving needs and he set me up with the Tough Dog 1.5 in coils/torsion bars w/ 41mm foam cells in all four corners. Excellent customer service from Jason and his wife getting the parts shipped out to me quickly. I highly recommend working with them. The lift came out just as I wanted. Great stance and great ride with no additional weight accessories on my truck. So far Im loving it. I threw on some 285/65/18 KO2s sourced from the almighty Costco. The tech gave me the "I dont think these are gonna fit" talk but I assured hm they would be fine. My local 4wheel shop did a much better alignment than my general mechanic and the truck tracks str8 and smooth. Its sitting about 21.25 in front / 21.75 in rear (center hub to fender). Right now, Im loving my setup. I do miss the active damping and leveling when I throw the truck into corners. I know the "its never gonna be a race car" speech but, I drive my truck aggressively and it handles confidently. Btw, I still avg 14mpg. With the added 1.5 in, I dont think Ill ever be lacking in clearance for the "overlanding" and camping I like to do. This isnt a boulder crawler. Its my daily driver / weekend warrior tank and at 200k miles shes sexier than shes ever been. Mahalo, MUD.

Tough Dog 1.5 inch lift with fresh set of 285/65/18 KO2s

 

[05JLX470]

Looking good !!!! It's amazing the difference in looks with just removing the running boards. It gives it the looks of a nice lift in itself. So glad you were able to get your baby back once you returned to the island. Enjoy........