Build: 2000 LX470, Our first foray into off-roading and Cruisers (3 Viewers)

[KCoverland]

We were not in fact ready for Windrock Park, on day one, we were on the trail helping another 100 series swap their broken passenger side CV with one of our spares, when my alternator started to lose voltage, so I tried to high tail it out of that trail to get back to camp to do our alternator swap, but ended up having to do the swap on the side of the trail.

Unfortunately, that was not the bad part about this trail, the obstacle we were stopped before to do the swap ended up blowing our front diff. Thankfully, we had @patchagan, Garret, and Ben all there to assist with getting the front flanges pulled and getting off of the trail. Somehow, with as much skinny pedal I gave it, I never needed any help getting towed out of that trail. If you have not seen the wheelie video yet (it is on our instagram @patchagan was the one who caught it on video), that was the preferred method for getting over the ledges on the way out of that trail.

 

[KCoverland]

On our way home from COTR2 we saw that the CVT location in Chatanooga was closing, and we had been thinking about moving to a hardshell tent for a while, so after seeing that they had 2 different options for the slim side or end opening tents, we decided to drive the hour and a half south to go check it out.

We ended up meeting the previous owner/founder of CVT Bobby Culpepper, he was the one who was working to liquidate that location's inventory, as the new owners were downsizing their brick-and-mortar stores. Long story short he ended up giving us an incredible deal, and we ended up leaving with a CVT Mt. Triumph RTT for us, a Mt. Triumph RTT for a friend back in KC, and a Dometic CFX55 for less than the original price of one of the tents.

Once we got back into town, we had a tent mounting party at our house, and got both new tents mounted up.

 

[KCoverland]

We had a slight issue that popped up right at the beginning of December when the first cold snap happened, ended up with an intermittent super long crank hard start, so after cleaning the MAF, throttle body, and checking spark, I swapped out the fuel pump for a Orilley's unit, and we are back in business. Waiting for a Denso to come back in stock anywhere and I'll switch to one of those, because there is some kind of short with this Orilleys pump, as it drains the battery overnight if the EFI/Fuel pump fuse is left in.

Also our 4.88 Nitro gears, ARB air lockers, and ARB Dual compressor have arrived, so now just got to find some time to get those installed.

The only other thing that we've done is drop the rear bumper off to Garret T (Valleytech Fab) for some sweet updates and changes before our first big trip in March.

That brings you all up to date! Let me know if you have any questions about anything! We will be shipping out the second batch of our Baja Design S2 MultiFunction Chase Lights this week and next. Let me know if you want to get in on the preorder for the next batch!

 

[suprarx7nut]

Here is the wiring that had gotten some severe corrosion from having the back driver’s corner of the LX flooded when we got stuck in a pretty deep mud hole. This was part of the AHC issues we were having, the other half was a failing pump.

Also my key was falling apart around this time, and needed a battery change, so with the special edition UZJ100 group key release from @suprarx7nut, it was high time we upgraded.

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I like all of this.

 

[cruiserpatch]

 

[KCoverland]

The next step is underway! Spent the weekend at the cruiser guru @cjmoon's shop getting our 4.88's, and ARB airlockers installed!

The carnage was real in the front diff! Had completely locked the passenger CV into the diff, so that had to come out in one piece to disassemble. Also realized our transfer case crossmember and skid plate were pushed up around 2 inches, causing a pretty annoying vibration, so there will have a solution for that coming up soon as well.

Need to get through the 500 mile gear break in period, swap fluid, throw some diff bushings in up front, replace a rear wheel bearing and axle seals, swap in some fresh or potentially just beefed up rear lower control arms, get the ARB dual compressor installed, and then we will be ready to test out the new air lockers on the trail!

 

[ClassyJalopy]

Wow! Great build and excellent documentation. I love how instead of wasting your money on frivolous beauty updates, you have spent all your time and effort on making the rig more capable and comfortable.
I do have a few questions. would appreciate any insights you could share:

• Were the rear wheel bearings and axle seals causing trouble or were they replacement as PM?
• With your front fenders cut, are you still able to run the fender liner? Did you have to relocate the washer bottle
• Are you running the LC front TBs because the pressures were too high? Mine is similarly built as yours (minus the RTT but I have dual batteries and heavier winch etc.) and the LX TBs are able to handle it.
• When you broke the rear drive shaft, did it affect the rear diff flange too? How much the did the re-sleaving cost?
• I love the limb risers - they save windshields! Are you concerned about snorkel and the ditch lights being outside the limb risers? I have broken off the top part of the eBay snorkel on tight forest trails!

Thanks again for sharing you adventures.

 

[KCoverland]

Wow! Great build and excellent documentation. I love how wasting your money on frivolous beauty updates, you have spent all your time and effort on making the rig more capable and comfortable.
I do have a few questions. would appreciate any insights you could share:

• Were the rear wheel bearings and axle seals causing trouble or were they replacement as PM?
• With your front fenders cut, are you still able to run the fender liner? Did you have to relocate the washer bottle
• Are you running the LC front TBs because the pressures were too high? Mine is similarly built as yours (minus the RTT but I have dual batteries and heavier winch etc.) and the LX TBs are able to handle it.
• When you broke the rear drive shaft, did it affect the rear diff flange too? How much the did the re-sleaving cost?
• I love the limb risers - they save windshields! Are you concerned about snorkel and the ditch lights being outside the limb risers? I have broken off the top part of the eBay snorkel on tight forest trails!

Thanks again for sharing you adventures.

That was the main goal of this truck! I want to see what this vehicle is capable of on the trail, rather than making a show truck.

1. I had a total failure of the rear passenger wheel bearing, it was making a horrible grinding noise, and had quite a bit of play.
2. I do not have front fender liners at this point, once the final bit of body line changes are done, I would like to make some new fender liners, but alas, I haven't gotten around to that just yet.
3. When I cranked the factory T-bars all the way, they were able to get my pressures close, but not ideal. I was able to source these LC T-bars for free, so I figured it was a worthwhile and fairly easy upgrade. That was of course very wrong, as I had to cut everything off, and even had to drill a hole in the back of the T-bar adjustment arm so I could use an air hammer to knock the end of the T-bar out.
4. Thankfully there was no damage to either flange after the driveshaft pretzeled. The re-sleaving was fairly reasonable, my local custom driveshaft shop did the work in 2 days after dropping it off, and it was $200 out the door to bump it up to .090 wall DOM.
5. Unfortunately my windshield is already seriously cracked, but these have absolutely saved it from being completely shattered. I have taken some pretty good hits so far on the snorkel head, as well as the ditch lights, and haven't had any issues thus far. I was originally concerned about the snorkel head as well, but have been impressed with the abuse it has withstood.

Keep the questions coming! I’ll have another update here in the next few days about what I just finished up.

 

[chamyota]

This build is incredible. I'd never thought buying a 4800 cruiser would evolve into what it is now lol

My 2005 Tacoma is built up so my 2007 is going to stay pretty stock but i really enjoyed the hidden winch mount, def going to try putting that in.

Also, i saw you went to top of the world. Could a stock cruiser with no armor make it there? Summertime ideally.

 

[menancyandsam]

So after 5 alternator replacements. What is your preferred way to remove. Through the top or bottom?

Great rig BTW.

 

[dubdub20003]

using it the way intended… Impressive.

 

[KCoverland]

This build is incredible. I'd never thought buying a 4800 cruiser would evolve into what it is now lol

My 2005 Tacoma is built up so my 2007 is going to stay pretty stock but i really enjoyed the hidden winch mount, def going to try putting that in.

Also, i saw you went to top of the world. Could a stock cruiser with no armor make it there? Summertime ideally.

I would suggest that a stock cruiser will end up with body damage at the very least if you tried to get to the Top of the World unfortunately. I think it is doable without lockers, but you need some clearance, and for sure some kind of rock sliders.

 

[KCoverland]

So after 5 alternator replacements. What is your preferred way to remove. Through the top or bottom?

Great rig BTW.

For me, out the bottom is easiest! No need to drain coolant or anything, it’s a little bit tight, but it fits just fine!

 

[KCoverland]

Well after 6 months, a few things have changed on the rig, and we have spent a bit more time on the trails, rocks, and highway to learn even more about this awesome machine!

To pick up where I left off, we had just got the ARB air lockers, and nitro 4.88’s installed in the rig at @cjmoon’s shop, as well as the new transfer case crossmember/skid, the passenger rear wheel bearing, and fresh SPC rear lower links.

 

[KCoverland]

After stealing space and time on his lift for a week straight, it was time to get to work getting the ARB air lockers working with the ARB twin compressor on an Owl Expeditions mount under the hood, and all of the plumbing associated with that system! I ended up mounting an auxiliary air tank directly behind the rear axle, tucked up high to avoid any rocks. It allows me to air up significantly faster, and activate lockers a few times before the compressor needs to kick on, which is a nice quality of life improvement from having to listen to a compressor ALL the time.

After getting everything hooked up, it was time to go see if the lockers worked, so in some fresh snow I made it out to a pretty cool spot to lock things up and see how it felt, and man did it feel good.

Lockers make all the difference!

 

[KCoverland]

Our next stop in January was back off at Valleytech’s shop to pick up our refreshed and updated rear bumper!

Updates on the rear bumper included changing to the new adjustable tire carrier, traction board mounts, rotopax carrier, propane mount, and a fold down table, plus upgrading to dual shear spindles and the bigger beefier latches.

A few days later it was time to really put the new upgrades to the test and hit the trails at our new OHV park just outside of KC, Ray Rocks with Garret.

 

[KCoverland]

Unfortunately February wasn’t that protective for Lexus work, but the next time I got to wrench on the truck, it was fixing another broken beadlock wheel.

As the month progressed I also was able to get my diesel heater finally assembled after having all of the components sitting in the garage for almost a year

Also picked up an Ecoflow River Pro to power the Dometic fridge and the new diesel heater during our Utah trip that was quickly approaching.

 

[KCoverland]

With all of the new gear, I needed to figure out a way to keep the new Ecoflow tied down and secure while we wheel, as well as making sure the new (to us) Dometic CFX55 didn’t bang around in the cargo area either.

So I built a new fridge slide to work with my existing tilting fridge/cooler slide area in my cargo drawer system, it allows the battery to stay plugged in, and gives everything plenty of tie downs so in the event of jumping, or flipping the truck, everything stays firmly in place.

Also in preparation for spending some time in the dunes of Sand Hollow, I grabbed a light up buggy whip, just to flex on the side by sides.

After wiring up the new whip, it was T-Minus 3 hours before we needed to hit the road for Utah to link up with a great group of other Land Cruiser owners.

 

[KCoverland]

That night at about 10:30pm my wife and I hit the road, headed west towards our friends in Colorado, and then Utah. Unbeknownst to us, just outside of Abilene KS on i70, we would lose our drivers rear wheel. We did atleast one full spin and ended up in the center grass median facing oncoming traffic, which is about the worst possible way to wake up from a nap

Thankfully my wife Gigi kept her head on straight, and kept the LX on its wheels, even in a 60mph spin across the highway.

This is how the trip started, which got my brain into “solutions” mode right away. But first, we needed to get off the highway. We were loaded up onto a rollback and taken into the thriving town of Abilene KS at about 3am, parked the truck in the Orilley’s auto parts parking lot, popped the tent, fired up the heater, and finished off that nap.

Once they opened it was time to get to work, damage report was shockingly minimal: 5 wheel studs, lug nuts, brake rotor, pads, and the bottom half of the lower mount for the shock.

It wouldn’t have been a big issue, aside from the fact that we are still on AHC, so the shock is not an easily replaceable component without taking the whole system down. We got the other pieces of the puzzle figured out relatively easily, but what took some thought was how we were going to make this now very broken shock work for the trip we had just started.

I made some calls to a friend in KC who was able to go get some tubing that was the correct inner diameter for the shock bushing, had them drop it off at my house, then had Sam Prokop (who was in KC getting his new Valleytech rear bumper installed that day) pick up that tubing, my 110v welder, and some other basic metal fab tools from my house and deliver them to us in Abilene. About 2 hours later, after borrowing Orilley’s extension cord for my welder, doing some trimming and fab work on the shock mount, we had fixed all the issues, and we’re back on the road headed West.

 

[KCoverland]

After that honestly horrifying way to start a trip, it got better very very quickly. We made good time through Colorado and joined our friend Robert Albino in Denver headed for Moab where our other friends were already, waiting for us.

We made it into Moab, got some lunch, and it was time to get onto the rocks.

We ran Hells Revenge that afternoon into the evening, and had an amazing time. It rained on us as we were approaching Hells Gate, which turned the whole landscape into something out of a sci-fi flick, and of course, this being my first time on Hells Revenge, and being newly triple locked I knew I had to tackle the gate, rain or shine.

Our friend Sam Prokop was on the radio, and Christopher Price was behind his camera and he captured this stunning climb.