Builds DRANGED's GX470 build/ownership thread (4 Viewers)

[CO_Hunter]

The step is handy, I climb around the way you described but sometime you just need a step there. Also comes in handy for tying out dog, leaning a shovel, shotgun, or rifle.

 

[Rednexus]

I had the same problem with the captives on my GX. I cut a small access hole in the back of the framerail (very end) and removed the spun captive nuts. Then welded 2 new nuts to a piece of 1" steel flatstrap, set that inside the frame (with the nuts obviously in the same location/spacing of the factory captive nuts), welded the flatstrap at the very back, then welded the the rear of the frame back together. It was maybe an hour of work for a novice welder like me. Should be NBD for the body shop to fix.

 

[DRANGED]

@fourleggedfish
How deep is the victory receiver, from center of pin hole to back of insert? I think stock was right @ 4". The bike hitch I'm going to get needs minimum 3 3/8" . . .

Also... Did you need to remove the vent dust covers (like metal tech install video suggests... The Victory install video didn't mention that in detail...

 

[DRANGED]

update:

Victory bumper installed by local body shop...that installs LOTS of aftermarket bumpers on LOTS of rigs. He said this one was particularly unique and challenging, most others just bolt right up.

I don't know if there were instructions or tips and tricks included, as the item came delivered wrapped but not on a palate (all mounting hardware and spacers were present). Don't know if it was on a pallet and the freight co. removed it for space-saving in the truck or if it was never on a board.

I think the Finish is great, welds look good (Jimmy said they look better than some he sees), and it's overall a good design.

Fit is a little less than ideal.
Caveat: I'm not an engineer or manufacturing designer or steelworker, but an end-user and auto-enthusiast consumer with an eye for detail and posit that form should follow function.
I understand these are probably build from a jig spec'd from a small selection if not just one or two GXs, and that assembly line manufacturing imparts some variability in product. I think this Victory Bumper is well thought out and could use a little refinement to afford a tighter fit in a couple dimensions and think it would benefit from more attachment points and maybe a couple select gussets for further structure w/o compromising additional weight.

Jimmy fought it on install. At first, with the spacer plate against the frame it had like an inch or more gap in front and like a half in towards the rear of the quarter panel, then they put the bumper tot he frame and spacers below to shorten that then it sat questionably close to allow body flex when off road.

 

[DRANGED]

He messed with it more and got a 1/4" thick washer between the bottom mounting holed and the frame, to get a little more even line and more space at the rear,

but it's a bit off horizontally matching the body lines, but probably not to other people, my friends assure me... ATD is my curse (attention to detail), or is it OCD?

Installer said it's maxed down in the mounting holes (ovals to allow left-right fitment), and to me it's just a scosh off to the driver.

And speaking to the fit part, the opening for the door could be brought in 1/4" to 1/2" inch on each side. This may better cover the body pinch seams and just make it a little tighter to the door lines.

So...I may try to see if I can mess with fitment some (or maybe not ... Try slipping the spacer plates between the bumper and the frame to nudge it down a little in the rear, but then the 4 mounting holes may not align with the threaded hole in the frame. There are braces which bolt to the frame rail and support the forward sides by the wheel wells, but I think those will limit left-right movement, they determine placement of the forward sides of the bumper and would be the pivot point for any potential downward adjustment in the rear. I think that's limited by the rear mounting holes in the frame, but the bumper's holes could be wobbled I suppose, but then that would effect the underside mounting firmness to the frame...

The hitch design looks strong (I wouldn't say to the same rating as a factory frame-mounted hitch, and arguably not even a factory frame rail-mounted pintle hitch) but it's awfully shallow! It's too shallow for my bike rack (requires 3 3/8" depth from center of pin hole), but with the barn door I kind of need a swing-out anyway.
I also question the style over function design of the hitch reinforcement. it's a vertical plate rather than a flat plate of steel wrapping the edge of the receiver opening. With flat plate, it would slide better on departure angle, I fear with this vertical design, it'll catch and bend. Plus this vertical design effects the use of standard anti-rattle devices...

I'm considering welding on another 3/4" to 1" of tube to the insert it deeper, and I don't think that would appreciably effect departure angle...plus I could wrap that lip with flat plate like standard hitches.

The shallow receiver supported a 250# worth of bike rack shenanigans (Rak Attach swing-out 55#, Velocirax rack 100#, and 4 bikes circa 100+#) well enough on a 2000+ mile road trip but there is slight up-down movement in the swing-out and there's some twisting movement because of the weight of the rack (plus bikes).
I modded the Rak Attach to have a threaded clamping pin, but the shallow receiver allows for some up-down slop in the insert even with my clamping receiver pin mod, so movement gets amplified by the swingout, bike rack's mass and weight of bikes on local trails.

blahblahblah,

This isn't intended as a gripe rant, it's a collection of observations leading back to one of the great mottos: "things come okay, but we can make them better!"






sweet exhaust tip!

 

[kbahus]

Victory is pretty close to me and their products are intriguing, but I have not heard many praises of their products. The Tundra guys have had various issues with them including winch bumpers bending. Pretty sure the company was even banned from the Tundra forums. This isn’t some Chinese bumper off Alibaba so don’t blame your ocd, it doesn’t fit right. I would love to drive up there and pick up some armor, but so far I just can’t get on board. As far as the hitch I will measure my oem hitch depth later today, but I think it is roughly the same. I have found it to be too shallow as well.

 

[DRANGED]

Victory is pretty close to me and their products are intriguing, but I have not heard many praises of their products. The Tundra guys have had various issues with them including winch bumpers bending. Pretty sure the company was even banned from the Tundra forums. This isn’t some Chinese bumper off Alibaba so don’t blame your ocd, it doesn’t fit right. I would love to drive up there and pick up some armor, but so far I just can’t get on board. As far as the hitch I will measure my oem hitch depth later today, but I think it is roughly the same. I have found it to be too shallow as well.

I was on the fence with Victory vs Coastal's diy. It has more mounting points and closes off the bottum a bit more, but time for fitting, welding, finishing, and coating was just out of the ballpark for me at this time...

So parsimony and convenience won the day, and another victory sale.

I'm not full of regret (as I often am ) I like it well enough just have observations.

My dealer-installed receiver hitch is 5.5 deep and 4" from center of pin to stab depth.

I think Victory has a bunch of greeat stuff and shey came into the market pretty hot and have expanded their offerings HUGELY, and maybe could stand for a little retooling and fine tuning of some products..? I get it that takes time and money and if people keep buying things as-is, there's no incentive to change or revisit designs. I I hope they don't go the way of Pilfrey, but with the parent jeep backbone I think Victory is pretty solid, so it's nice having the variety of products @ the price point they can meet.

Honestly I don't peek too far out of my hole into other models and products or follow much stuff so I haven't heard the reports of Victory products otherwise, though there is some chatter about the install and fitment on the GX alone.

 

[BigNick]

He messed with it more and got a 1/4" thick washer between the bottom mounting holed and the frame, to get a little more even line and more space at the rear,
View attachment 3379210View attachment 3379211


but it's a bit off horizontally matching the body lines, but probably not to other people, my friends assure me... ATD is my curse (attention to detail), or is it OCD?

Installer said it's maxed down in the mounting holes (ovals to allow left-right fitment), and to me it's just a scosh off to the driver.
View attachment 3379214


And speaking to the fit part, the opening for the door could be brought in 1/4" to 1/2" inch on each side. This may better cover the body pinch seams and just make it a little tighter to the door lines.

So...I may try to see if I can mess with fitment some (or maybe not ... Try slipping the spacer plates between the bumper and the frame to nudge it down a little in the rear, but then the 4 mounting holes may not align with the threaded hole in the frame. There are braces which bolt to the frame rail and support the forward sides by the wheel wells, but I think those will limit left-right movement, they determine placement of the forward sides of the bumper and would be the pivot point for any potential downward adjustment in the rear. I think that's limited by the rear mounting holes in the frame, but the bumper's holes could be wobbled I suppose, but then that would effect the underside mounting firmness to the frame...
View attachment 3379216 View attachment 3379217

The hitch design looks strong (I wouldn't say to the same rating as a factory frame-mounted hitch, and arguably not even a factory frame rail-mounted pintle hitch) but it's awfully shallow! It's too shallow for my bike rack (requires 3 3/8" depth from center of pin hole), but with the barn door I kind of need a swing-out anyway.
I also question the style over function design of the hitch reinforcement. it's a vertical plate rather than a flat plate of steel wrapping the edge of the receiver opening. With flat plate, it would slide better on departure angle, I fear with this vertical design, it'll catch and bend. Plus this vertical design effects the use of standard anti-rattle devices...

View attachment 3379222
View attachment 3379225
View attachment 3379223

I'm considering welding on another 3/4" to 1" of tube to the insert it deeper, and I don't think that would appreciably effect departure angle...plus I could wrap that lip with flat plate like standard hitches.


View attachment 3379221

The shallow receiver supported a 250# worth of bike rack shenanigans (Rak Attach swing-out 55#, Velocirax rack 100#, and 4 bikes circa 100+#) well enough on a 2000+ mile road trip but there is slight up-down movement in the swing-out and there's some twisting movement because of the weight of the rack (plus bikes).
I modded the Rak Attach to have a threaded clamping pin, but the shallow receiver allows for some up-down slop in the insert even with my clamping receiver pin mod, so movement gets amplified by the swingout, bike rack's mass and weight of bikes on local trails.

View attachment 3379224



blahblahblah,

This isn't intended as a gripe rant, it's a collection of observations leading back to one of the great mottos: "things come okay, but we can make them better!"






sweet exhaust tip!

I had the same thing happen with my rear bumper from metal tech .. went on there twisted. I had to tweak shim and jack to get it on there halfway straight. It's not right so I used rubber seal material to hide it. This is a complaint.. when one considers the cost of the bumper.. and then the work involved with install. If the manufacturer would consider "normalizing" (look it up) after build up. We would not have such issues.. anyway.. thats my rant for today. Thanks for reading.

 

[Rednexus]

I recently splurged on one of these after my HF cheapie crapped out. After reading the reports of poor fitment on the Victory and MT options, I'll be going DIY (Coastal Offroad or these guys if they offer a DIY kit for the front) when I eventually put bumper(s) on my rig. If it fits poorly I'd rather have only myself to blame

 

[kbahus]

I measured my factory hitch today and it was 4.25” deep so pretty close to the Victory. I have a hitch rack that I have a similar issue with, but also have a spare tire under there so there is not much room for extra depth.

 

[DRANGED]

I measured my factory hitch today and it was 4.25” deep so pretty close to the Victory. I have a hitch rack that I have a similar issue with, but also have a spare tire under there so there is not much room for extra depth.

View attachment 3380233

Ditto. But now better DA that with the bolt-on receiver. Lol

Yeah, the factory pintle is pretty good.
I think I'd go with that to marry with Coastal if i was to do it again.



And also now I gotta mod a mount for my trailer plug....

 

[DRANGED]

Filing for reference.
1up 1st gen Rak Attach modded with tightening receiver pin.

Victory receiver abrasion after 2 WK road Trip and 55# Rak Attach, 100# VelociraX 5x, and 100+#s of mt bikes.

 

[DRANGED]

Airbag cracked the sad (as they eventually will) at just over 139K miles.

July 1, we started a 2 week road trip to southern Oregon then S central Idaho (spending a week @ each locale).
We loaded typical car camping stuff, plus gear for new mt biking passion (related to older son, now 13, being on the middle school team, started his second season las t month. The rig now has a victory 4x4 rear bumper (circa 100#), but no full receiver (circa 60#), a 1st gen 1up Rak Attach (because need swing out for full hatch access), and a Velocirax 5x (100#), plus 4 mt bikes (circa 120#). So standard camping crap plus a new 450# of weight.

The airbags got a solid work out levelling the rig on the initial load!!

All travelled well to destination one. We unloaded and commuted around town there for a week fine. Then, July 8 we reloaded for the biking portion near Ketchum, ID. Passenger bag couldn't inflate enough to level the rig.

it was close, but not quite to the N level position and I trusted the compressor would get it sorted and levelled while driving...

It did not improve and we drove (sub 60mph) for like 6 hours through eastern OR (stapping at a roadside scale, I weighed in @ 6850#... , count it, 550# OVER GVWR) effectively the L position with some riding on the bump stop and overnighted near the OR-ID border.

. . . . .

 

[DRANGED]

In the morning of July 9, we gathered up for the final push to Ketchum area, rolling through Boise (when I flew the HELP flag in Mud) and @GXO shared location and part beta where I secured an airbag en route! Thanks Dan!!!
Coincidentally enough , I picked up a new Arnott air spring on Overland Rd!!

After passing through Bliss, ID and leaving the interstate, for the last couple hours the ride improved as we climbed elevation.

Upon ariving to our destination (7200') things had self-corrected and I had a working pair of airbags!

I contemplated off-cambering on that rock in camp to install the airbag, but I held off on the inexperienced install, while in the field, on vacation.

The airbag and compressor worked fine for the week, the commute home on July 15 (@ 75MPH for 9 hours) and this last week at home.
The 'lift' after unloading is always fun to see

Then Monday, July 24 it cracked the sad and did NOT revive, threw a code (airbag OFF flashing) and the compressor wouldn't fire so BOTH bags were deflated riding on the axle!!

BUT, there is a happy ending... sadly, NOT the one we all want to see though...

Through time in anticipation of this moment I have accumulated other folk's take-off air springs and have 3 pair and one compressor in wait!! SO many people say bags WILL fail (which is true, see the rubber dry-rot pic below). Many even say at like 60k miles they'll go out, etc.etc. I've run these (stock? since my Lexus Driver report has no mention of air suspension/spring replacement, just rear shocks at some point) bags for nearly 6 years and 90k miles, in a used vehicle with 240K now.
I've been quite impressed with the stock suspension in this rig and am considering if/when I lift, just do the front and put a spacer on the bags to keep their auto-levelling functionality, but with a longer shock (here's Scott Brady's demo inspiration)

Tonight, in about a half hour, I swapped it out and she's sitting pretty again and all things work normally!!

Now I know what an airbag change involves, and what a coil conversion would be like. I WAS originally concerned the compressor was fried, and did the OBDII 4-13 jump (then you press the brake like 15-20 times and get a beep and some clearing/reset effect) and when I fired the rig up the compressor engaged and aired up to H, I shut off the engine then restarted and it levelled off to N so I pulled out of the garage and drove around town to settle everything in (like the funny fold the bag took when I popped it in place).

One thing to report: I wasn't able to get the retaining clip in place back on top so hopefully it doesn't fall out the next time I go flexing out on Elephant Hill!

 

[GXO]

I told you it was easy!

 

[HomersCanyonero]

So, you swapped both rear air springs with new Arnott bags?

Or you went with used ones from others take offs?

I didn’t quite get how strong your faith in factory old bags was.

 

[DRANGED]

So, you swapped both rear air springs with new Arnott bags?

Or you went with used ones from others take offs?

I didn’t quite get how strong your faith in factory old bags was.

I swapped the failed one with a used stock takeoff.

I'm impressed with he stock airbags.

My experience is the stock bags have been great.

I have one new arnot and may get a second to swap new in when I do a lift, retaining auto levelling capability.

 

[DRANGED]

I told you it was easy!

YDM!

But I'm gonna need little kid/Subaru sparkplug tech hands to slip that clip back on.

 

[DRANGED]

Spontaneous FnT (fims n things)!
Thanks for the invite @MoaByte and for reaching out while you were in the hood @kurtp!

Good times, good Peeps, good location!!!
(Even if it was 105 )

 

[MoaByte]

Your camera and your eye did a great job of showing the true beauty. Something that's easy to overlook when sweat is in your eyes.
Thank you and @kertp for that experience.