| From new to old | A slow LX470 build thread (2 Viewers)

[CGreene]

Hello mudders,

Just gonna start with a little background. Been a Toyota guy for some years now. I work as a parts guy at a Toyota dealership, and generally just love Toyota 4wd’s. I’ve owned 2 other 4wd Toyotas including a ‘94 LC80, an ‘07 FJC, and those are what made me want to stick with Toyota 4wd’s. Last October I ordered a new TRD Off-road Tacoma 6MT in lunar rock. It was so special because it was my first new vehicle and I enjoyed it until this June when a large doe ran out in from of me when I was running 70 mph and ultimately ended up totaling it.

After struggling with insurance for 2 months, they finally paid me, and I took my positive equity to purchase this! It’s a 2000 LX470 with right at 282k on the clock. It’s had a good bit of important maintenance done recently (t-belt, water pump, alternator, etc) and it also looks to have a fresh brake booster/master cyl on there but with no paperwork to confirm. No rust to speak of, the underside is very clean, it’s been southern its whole life here in Tennessee. It needs tires, an output shaft seal is seeping fluid, axles have been or currently are slinging grease, and some misc small parts on the interior. It’s been well taken care of overall, I looked at another 100 a few days ago and it was rolling around still totaled basically. The very worse condition 100 I’ve ever seen in person, but anyway.

So the point of this thread is to show my progress (no matter how slow) on the ol 100. Documenting what’s went right, what’s went wrong, and what my thought process was behind the choices I made. Pictures will come soon, including plans and ideas I have. Hope you enjoy!

 

[CGreene]

So I’ll give you all a little overview of what I’ll plan to do to the truck, and how I’ll be using it.

This will be used as an 80% daily duty, and 20% off-roading rig. I don’t get as much time as I’d like to, but I always like to go out into the woods and do a little adventuring. That being said, I do like to be prepared and will modify this LX to suit my needs. The plan is a simple one. A 1.5”/2” lift, front armor, tires, and some QoL items like perhaps some cargo area drawers and a roof rack of some kind to maybe one day house a rooftop tent. That’s a ways down the road though for me, as this will be my main vehicle for at least a few years, so I have to keep it as practical as possible for now.

Like I mentioned before, I work in a Toyota parts department so I’ll have a whole bunch of oem maintenance items like filters/oil change/fluids/heater t’s/etc to install tomorrow. Just to get a good baseline idea of the conditions of vital components. I actually already changed the oil even though the oil that was in it was still gold. After doing that I assessed more in depth things and found a few items that will need attention.

1. The axles are/have been slinging grease. It doesn’t look super fresh, but that’s something I’d like to look into further. I noticed this upon my initial inspection when I was looking at the truck to buy it.

2. The output shaft seal is starting to seep fluid, it wouldn’t take much time to install a new one and let it go for another 282k, that’s on the list for immediate fixing.

3. While the AHC works, the shocks have seen better days and give an overall bouncy feel to an otherwise quiet and easy ride. I’ve ordered an Ironman nitro gas lift to rectify that issue.

4. The front seats are not in the greatest shape like a lot of these trucks. I’ll end up shopping around the various sites that sell reupholstery for these and end up getting some leather to put back in there. The foam is still in shape and not crumbling so it shouldn’t be too bad of a fix. My neighbor is a retired upholstery man, so his expertise will come in handy when I get around to this!

5. The tires are destroyed. I knew this when I bought it, and that’s fine and dandy because I’ve got 5 Mickey Thompson Baja Legend EXP’s in the shop waiting to be installed tomorrow! Pictures will follow.

That’s it for now, more to come soon!

 

[Rhetoric]

Another AHC rig bites the dust for 20% off road duty…

Are the shocks just rusty? They are cheap hydraulic rams. Maybe you can get a deal on globes since you work behind the parts counter?

Neat truck and best of luck.

 

[GTV]

99% likely that the AHC just needs a fluid flush and pressure adjustment. And as a bonus you can lift it for next to nothing. It's your rig though, have fun with it!

 

[CGreene]

Got the Mickey’s mounted today, they balanced out great and ride nice as well. I went white out this time, and I think it looks pretty sharp!

 

[CGreene]

More things showed up!

Undertaking the rest of the fluid changes, heater t’s, spark plugs, and possible front pads and rotors this weekend. Swapped the cheap air filter for an OEM one, put some new blades on it, and gave the engine bay another good look over. Very impressed with the condition of this 100!

The bumper install will happen this weekend, I’ll be sure to post up pictures of that when it’s happening.

 

[CGreene]

The bumper is physically mounted up, but I didn’t have time to do the fogs or turn signals tonight. Overall it was a very easy install. The hardest part was lining up the crush sleeves really. Gives the 100 a totally different look and I didn’t notice any huge difference in how it drives either, I’m sure that would change with a winch installed in there as well but I digress.

Pleased with the outcome so far, hope to get the lights wired up tomorrow and move on to the next thing!

 

[Keowee]

Welcome to your new addiction.
Working in the parts department will fuel it nicely.

 

[CGreene]

The upgraded LED spots I got from Ironman should be here today so hopefully by Wednesday I’ll have time to install those. No point in wiring everything up twice. I also still have my heater t’s to do, as well as drivetrain fluid/grease changes. I have a small think when accelerating from a stop, so I’ll need to look into that as well.

 

[CGreene]

The upgraded LED spots I got from Ironman should be here today so hopefully by Wednesday I’ll have time to install those. No point in wiring everything up twice. I also still have my heater t’s to do, as well as drivetrain fluid/grease changes. I have a small thunk when accelerating from a stop, so I’ll need to look into that as well.

 

[CGreene]

Got the 7” spots in the mail, mounted those up, and wired up the fogs on my lunch break today. Gotta finish up the heat-shrink on that tomorrow because I ran out halfway through the job. The fog lights ended up being pretty much just as bright as the headlights, if not brighter. Pleased with the outcome on the bumper overall, I’d buy another Ironman bumper for sure!

As for the spots, I have an oem style switch coming in the mail to wire those up too. The Ironman bumper came with a driving light wiring harness/kit but the switch in it isn’t the style I’d prefer, so once the other switch shows up I’ll tackle that job and post up the results. Here’s a few pictures of the LX for now with its new lights!

P.S. if anyone has a center cap for the these factory 16” Lexus wheels I’ll PayPal you $20 for it

 

[Kuzushi]

Nice! Bumper with the spots looks really good.

I just started with an ‘01 LX In similar condition to yours, so I’ll be following this thread closely. I’m about finished with the Ironman foam cell pro install on mine. I’m no mechanic but the youtube video from Ironman walks you though the entire thing, which is nice.

So far I’ve had to replace the alternator and a tie rod, did SPC UCAs while I was futzing with the suspension because why not, and gotta do a CV next, got grease all over one wheel wells too lol. Gonna do the Ironman front bumper too, maybe some sliders, and a roof rack of some sort. But I’m trying not to get too ahead of myself and take care of all the maintenance type stuff first.

 

[CGreene]

Another small update!

Got the 7” driving lights wired up tonight, although I was running short on time. They ended up being fairly easy to wire in with the supplied harness, and 80% of the work is routing cables to where they’re safe and neat in the bay. The light output is really good, they’ll definitely come in handy out in the smoky mountains back country

I’ll update this with pictures of the beam and brightness.

 

[CGreene]

No real updates besides putting in new spark plugs. The old ones were indeed denso plugs but they’d been in there a while and it was time to change them for sure. I’ve been extremely sick with a chronic illness that’s left me unable to work and pretty much just bed ridden for 3 months. I think I’m on the downhill now though, so hopefully soon I can share more pictures of adventures and parts installs!

 

[zgfiredude]

Heal fast and good!

 

[CGreene]

Heal fast and good!

Appreciate that, I’m trucking along still so hopefully I’ll be back 100% sooner rather than later!

 

[Land Shark]

Nice rig! But please replace your profile pic with the LX

 

[CGreene]

Nice rig! But please replace your profile pic with the LX

Thank you! And you’ve got a good point, I’ll get right on that!

 

[excessive]

Lookin good man!

 

[CGreene]

Well a small update.

Since both my CV boots are starting to sling grease, I started to buy some oem boot kits to redo them… but upon further investigation, OEM reman axles are only $100 a piece with the employee discount so I just ordered two of them. As of this writing there are only 4 left in the country (part # 43430-60040-84) as Toyota has discontinued the reman axle program. If you need affordable oem axles for your 100 act fast!

The axles I’ve got now are oem, so I’ll take them out and store them for a reboot later on, as they’re still in working order/don’t make noise.