Build: 2000 LX470, Our first foray into off-roading and Cruisers

[KCoverland]

After Moab, we headed farther into Utah towards Alstrom Point. That was a mistake.

They had some record setting rains a few days before we got into the area, which made the mostly tame country road some of the worst heavy, sticky mud I’ve ever driven in.

After it was all said and done, every rig in our group had a tow strap on the front and back of our rigs, because we were either pulling someone out, or getting pulled out.

Long story short, we ended up getting a hotel that night, after spending a combined $800 or so at the car wash.

That next morning it was time to figure out what was making a horrible clunk in my front end; it ended up being my front diff front mount had pulled out of my frame from that insane mud, basically allowing my front diff to smack the cross member every time I hit the throttle. The fix was drilling out that weld nut in the frame, and putting a bolt and nut in its place, trapping a wrench in my front cross member, that you will see in lots of pictures going forward

 

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Our next adventure with this crew in Utah was Barracks trail, which ended being a fun 2 day adventure after the water levels rose overnight, trapping us until the river receded enough for us to push through about 30 hours later.

 

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After that it was just a small group of 4 of us that went on to Sand Hollow to play around for a few days, also completed The Chute on Milts Mile, but I guess I don’t have any stills of that!

More awesome pictures from @ChristopherPrice

 

[KCoverland]

After Sand Hollow, Gigi and I went on to Grand Canyon National Park, Petrified Forest National Park, and then all the way back home to KC. We did have to deal with 2 more broken beadlock wheels on the way home, really driving home the point that I needed to find a solution for these wheels breaking bolts as often as they do.

I knew I had some things to fix after this trip, like the original starter that completely gave up the ghost, as well as putting some serious camber wear on my front tires, after absolutely roasting my alignment by jumping the truck in the sand dunes.

 

[KCoverland]

After getting back from that trip at the end of March I was t able to get back to focusing on the LX for a couple of weeks when I got cracking on the starter swap.

Thankfully it went smoothly, including cleaning the intake manifold, having the injectors cleaned, resealed and flow tested, and installing a remanufactured starter unit.

 

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As soon as that was wrapped up I jumped back on the road for a quick jaunt down to the Ozark National Forest to hang out with some friends from the Des Moines 4x4 Club.

 

[KCoverland]

After seeing the 37’s on my buddy Cullen’s f350, I knew it was time to make the jump. So on the way home I started scheming; it didn’t take long before a friend sent me a listing on Facebook Marketplace for a set of Nitto Trail Grapplers in 37x12.5x17’s, and that was that.

It was time to get the truck cleaned up and start prepping for the operation.

Ended up doing an interior detail, paint correction, and ceramic coating, just to get a nice baseline for when we started cutting, and taking things off.

 

[KCoverland]

The next step was removing our Trail Gear el-cheapo sliders, and the updated Valleytech bumper to make room for our new high clearance sliders (boat sides-ish), and the brand new Valleytech high clearance frame chop rear bumper. Thankfully they both went to a great home on GretatheHundo’s rig!

Time to start cutting!

 

[KCoverland]

All of the trimming over the next few weeks accomplished a few things, it eliminated most of the rust on the body of the LX, allowed me to raise the sliders up about 3.5 or so inches, and allowed me to stuff 37’s at full flex and at full lock when turning.

The rockers were by far the most time consuming, but I think they turned out fairly well in the end! Here’s a ton of pictures on how I went about it.

 

[KCoverland]

more pictures of the rocker/fender trim

 

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This was how far I got before Garret and I headed down south to help Sam Prokop with a transmission swap in his LX470, I was pretty happy with how it was turning out, but man alive it was taking forever.

 

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After I got back into KC, it was time to get cracking on the driver’s side fender to get it clearanced.

 

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Next step was to get the old wheels and tires broken down, and get the 37’s mounted up with 14oz’s of balance beads in each tire, this took a while as well, but installing them with good USA grade 8 hardware, and beadlock ring spacers gave me a little more confidence in how these will hold up in the long run.

 

[KCoverland]

And here it is sitting on all 4 37x12.5x17 tires, flexes out great, and handles highway miles great. We went up for a short week in Iowa for my family’s fishing trip, and we were very impressed with how the 37’s felt on the highway compared to the 35’s.

 

[KCoverland]

Got the drivers side rocker cut out and patched back up, next step was getting the new rear bumper installed, the sliders/boat sides installed, and packing for the shakedown run with Garret out in Colorado!

 

[KCoverland]

The sweet new hardware, all ready to get jacked up on rocks!

 

[KCoverland]

The last step before we left for Colorado was getting the pinch weld area cut out completely and plated back in, this would allow me to turn while at mostly full stuff without rubbing to bad.

Honestly this was fairly easy, but quite nerve wracking when you are welding so close to things that are as flammable as that foam behind the sheet metal.

All of the welds are going to get cleaned up and seam sealed, but this works for now.

 

[KCoverland]

We zipped out to Colorado as soon as I was done with the pinch welds, made good time, and got to see Disturbed with Breaking Benjamin in concert before we hit the trails.

First stop was Red Cone, then onto Wheeler Lake the next day.

 

[KCoverland]

After Wheeler Lake we headed out towards Holy Cross Trail, and camped near the trailhead.

When we woke up we joined a group of Jeeps from the Big Horn Jeep club of Denver and ran Holy Cross all the way to Holy Cross City!

Garret ended up busting a CV on the third major obstacle, but so far no trail CV swaps on my rig!

 

[KCoverland]

After a hard day of wheeling, we camped on Mt. Antero and went up the summit, but when we talked to people about running Holy Cross, everyone suggested we go hit Chinamen Gulch while we are in Colorado, so that was next on the list.

Knowing that trail was going to be fairly rowdy, I figured now would be a good time to swap out a CV that was starting to seize up, as well as a loose lower ball joint on the driver’s side while we were at camp.