So as some of you know, I was in Glamis, CA this weekend dunning with the LC. Call me crazy, but I did it and loved every moment of it.
By all surprises, the LC handled fantastically. I regret to say that I don't have any pictures because we never stopped to take any, but if any of you know Glamis I can say that I climbed Oldsmobile hill without any issue. In fact, I passed many vehicles going up it. Youtube videos do not do this climb any justice. It's WAY steeper than it appears.
Through the dunes, this vehicle is simply amazing. I was easily keeping up with everyone. With low bumpers, however, I had to watch the apexes carefully as I was afraid if slamming the front end into a 90-degree bowl.
I aired down the stock tires to 14PSI, which is about as low as I would want to go with these. Again, they handled much better than anyone expected. All of our crew were running between 35 and 38" tires on 17" rims down to 8-12psi. Most had BF A/Ts.
The whoops were the hardest part as a newer dune driver becuase speed is critical and brakes need not be used. I was consered with beating on the suspension too much, so I braked for the whoops, which was a mistake. Had I just layed off the pedals I would have been fine.
Crawl control is a useless feature out there. I was running most everything in 4H with the steep climbs in 4L. Momentum is critical, which crawl control doesn't provide. In order to climb Olds, I used 4L with the center locked and in 2nd gear bouncing off the 6000RPM rev limiter. We made it up and down several times, even with 8 passengers at one point.
Man I love this 380+ HP beast! Not once did I even come close to getting stuck.
My main concern, however, is with the design of the airbox. Toyota really fxxxed up on this one. The airbox sucks in air between the sheet metal of the body and engine bay. Right below is the plastic tire flares, which have gills in them to pass air from the tire well. The problem with this is that sand is kicked up into the airbox. No joke, when I got home and examined the airbox, it was a sandbox instead. An inch of sand remained in the bottom of the airbox. I sure hope that filter worked damn well!!!! I vacuumed out all the sand and replaced the filter (as well as the cabin filter which was also FULL of dust and sand).
I sure wish that Toyota designed the airbox with at least a pre-filter system to avoid sand from getting in the airbox. Also, on a supposed off-raod vehicle, air should be taken in from a front air damn and not from a tire well.
I would be consered with water getting up in the airbox as well. I am working with Toyota on this issue and have a case opened with them.
Anyways, I was sure impressed with this vehicle last weekend. I was nervous and how it would handle, but it did so without a hitch. I got some very strange looks this weekend, especially from those guys who think that adding 14" lifts onto a stock F150 makes them bad ass. I showed up a lot of people!!!
Oh, I saw another LC200 there!!! It was white. Does anyone on these boards own a white LC200 that was in Glamis per chance this weekend???
Enjoy your LC's guys! Just check those air filters if you're in dusty environments!!!
P.S. >> I'm thinking about adding a snorkel. Maybe I can get Toyota to take care of this since they really kinda messed up on the airbox design.
[FONT="]http://www.tjm.com.au/Portals/0/xmod/packages/webedit/attachments/08_139_200sSnorkel.pdf[/FONT]
By all surprises, the LC handled fantastically. I regret to say that I don't have any pictures because we never stopped to take any, but if any of you know Glamis I can say that I climbed Oldsmobile hill without any issue. In fact, I passed many vehicles going up it. Youtube videos do not do this climb any justice. It's WAY steeper than it appears.
Through the dunes, this vehicle is simply amazing. I was easily keeping up with everyone. With low bumpers, however, I had to watch the apexes carefully as I was afraid if slamming the front end into a 90-degree bowl.
I aired down the stock tires to 14PSI, which is about as low as I would want to go with these. Again, they handled much better than anyone expected. All of our crew were running between 35 and 38" tires on 17" rims down to 8-12psi. Most had BF A/Ts.
The whoops were the hardest part as a newer dune driver becuase speed is critical and brakes need not be used. I was consered with beating on the suspension too much, so I braked for the whoops, which was a mistake. Had I just layed off the pedals I would have been fine.
Crawl control is a useless feature out there. I was running most everything in 4H with the steep climbs in 4L. Momentum is critical, which crawl control doesn't provide. In order to climb Olds, I used 4L with the center locked and in 2nd gear bouncing off the 6000RPM rev limiter. We made it up and down several times, even with 8 passengers at one point.
Man I love this 380+ HP beast! Not once did I even come close to getting stuck.
My main concern, however, is with the design of the airbox. Toyota really fxxxed up on this one. The airbox sucks in air between the sheet metal of the body and engine bay. Right below is the plastic tire flares, which have gills in them to pass air from the tire well. The problem with this is that sand is kicked up into the airbox. No joke, when I got home and examined the airbox, it was a sandbox instead. An inch of sand remained in the bottom of the airbox. I sure hope that filter worked damn well!!!! I vacuumed out all the sand and replaced the filter (as well as the cabin filter which was also FULL of dust and sand).
I sure wish that Toyota designed the airbox with at least a pre-filter system to avoid sand from getting in the airbox. Also, on a supposed off-raod vehicle, air should be taken in from a front air damn and not from a tire well.
I would be consered with water getting up in the airbox as well. I am working with Toyota on this issue and have a case opened with them.
Anyways, I was sure impressed with this vehicle last weekend. I was nervous and how it would handle, but it did so without a hitch. I got some very strange looks this weekend, especially from those guys who think that adding 14" lifts onto a stock F150 makes them bad ass. I showed up a lot of people!!!
Oh, I saw another LC200 there!!! It was white. Does anyone on these boards own a white LC200 that was in Glamis per chance this weekend???
Enjoy your LC's guys! Just check those air filters if you're in dusty environments!!!
P.S. >> I'm thinking about adding a snorkel. Maybe I can get Toyota to take care of this since they really kinda messed up on the airbox design.
[FONT="]http://www.tjm.com.au/Portals/0/xmod/packages/webedit/attachments/08_139_200sSnorkel.pdf[/FONT]
