Build GW Nugget's Budget Daily Lx450 build

[GW Nugget]

Mud-n-Yer Eye Frolic at Hollister.
That looks intresting...
ih8mud, but the rest looks fun.
Do you think it would be a good 1st never been wheeling family outing?
Those V gullies look narly.

 

[GW Nugget]

Hitch pin pulled & sway bar disconnected...

I did the hitch pin mod on the LX450 this morning to see if what they say really works & this is what I found out:
I disconnected the sway bar & it did help with more up travel than it did down. I had smaller tires on at the time & it only maybe dropped a half a inch, not worth the effort.
But today I pulled the bolt out of the front drive control arm ("hitch pin mod").
This also was just acting like the sway bar with same results.
But here is the good part.
With both disconnected created a tremendious results.
The coil released out & dropped by 3" the shock went to full drop of 29".
This is a 3" improvemnt of drop.
This created a whole bunch of other rubbing issues with the tie rod hitting the control arms.
Heres a video, click it & enjoy the ride.

As for now...I'm putting it all back, pulling the pin created more other rubbing problems than I'm ready to deal with... I will work on this later down the road... It's good to know there are more options for a more extreme results.

 

[GW Nugget]

I was able to put on the Slee rear sway bar brackets tonight. The best part was my girls helped me wrench on them. I took longer with them but I enjoyed every minute of it. They seemed to like it also.

 

[GW Nugget]

I installed front bump stops pucks today. It is something I have been needing to do for awhile. They are 1.5" which leaves 19" compressed & with 18" compressed shocks mathematically it works. Hopefully fiscally it works also. Here are some pics.

 

[GW Nugget]

I bought some Rancho RS999234XLs for the rear but I was curious of how they compare to the Doetsch Tech 812SS that I have had up front so I made some U brackets & slapped them on. They measure out as 16.5" to 27" & with the 1.5" U bracket its 18" to 28.5"

 

[RhinoFZJ80]

MAN CAN I GET A SET OF THOSE U BRACKETS? FOR THE FRONT AND THE REAR?

 

[GW Nugget]

MAN CAN I GET A SET OF THOSE U BRACKETS? FOR THE FRONT AND THE REAR?

Your messing with me right?
I just read your build thread.
From what I have seen you have the skills to make the brackets.
BTW I like your vids...

All I did was cut and drill some square tubing. I think Ruff Stuff sells U brackets.
The back doesn't need a bracket, just the correct bottom bushing.

 

[GW Nugget]

Passenger side hitch pin pulled

I pull the front passenger side arm bolt with sway bar connected. It did not have the extreme drop that was like the drivers side which was the result I was after, the less drop was most likely due to the front panhard bar. The front end did feel more free. The negitive was it was into the passenger side tie rod. The drop out measurements was 27".

That is only a .5" more drop from it all connected this is measured at the shocks.
Once the coils start releasing there is nothing left to push the axle down. I also belive as far as the tie rod, the caster bushings & arms might have different results with bind if you play with maybe lowering the aft part of the arms via something like the Man-a-fre caster brackets. Just a thought.

I'm pretty much done playing with swaybar & pin mods for now. Another thought is to raise the fenders via body lift to allow the more up travel that the disconnected mods have to offer.
Again, all these results are from a 3" OME 851+25mm/860 lift w/ 315s tires.

 

[GW Nugget]

RS9000XL Rear 999234 install on my LX450

I sold the 265s tires so I was able to get another set of the Rancho RS9000XLs for the rear of my tight little ride. With the 16.5" to 27" measurements they fit perfect.
The only mod I had to do was change out the bottom bushing to a fatty size, 14/32" inside demention to be exact. They have a 4.5" up 6" down travel.
~~~~3-31-15 update~~~~
After testing the up travel my test zip tie on the shaft is pushed all the way up, so I will be installing a 1.25" bumpstop in the rear.

 

[GW Nugget]

My tight little ride suspension update...
As of lately I have been trying to maximize & get the most of what my LX suspension can give me. Learning the capabilities & limitations of my suspension has been a huge learning curve for me. I have realized I really can't go to far "outside the box" on what works & has already been done by the many 80 owners that have been there & done that years before me. I now know that OME did a good job with the compressed & extended length of the "L" shock for the reason is the front suspension doesn't want to drop out much past the L shock ext. length of 26.5" measured at the shock. Anything more than that will start releasing coils & hitting tie rod to control arm on full flex.
I did try the sway bay & hitch pin mods & on my set up it started having problems around the 27" drop out mark.

This is with OME yellow CC bushings. Getting 11.3" of travel out of a shock that compresses to 15.25" is also a big deal. The only negative I have herd is they are very stiff... this is why I have stayed away from getting them. As far as the OME 2.5" coils, they flex very well to that certain point. The coil springs offer a ride that a leaf spring will never offer, but In my opinion the front suspension can't even compare to the leaf spring over full axle fj40 I use to have. It's a tradeoff, ride or flex.
At this time I am very happy with my LX450 & what it can do.
There are only a couple things I can do later to increase flexibility. One is to do a body lift & go back to the stock bumps stops, this would allow more room for up travel. The reason is the hitch pin & sway bar disconnected mods want to offer more up travel than down. A body lift will give the extra fender clearance needed for more front tuck.
The 1st pic here has a pulled hitch pin, sway bar connected & stock bump stops. See how the driver tire is stuffed more compared to the 2nd pic which has the 1.5" bump stops.
I also just wanted to add that I'm looking forward to getting the LX out on the trail this summer & getting some seat time, I'm long over due.
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[GW Nugget]

Pfran LED backup lamps for the LX
I can see now when backing up.
The stock reverse light are not very bright, in fact they are terrible. To see I had to apply the brakes. I came across these LEDs on the web so I snagged them. They are Pfran 7 watt. I installed only one for the pictures, there is a definite difference.
http://www.pfranleds.com/land-cruiser-80-series-lx-450-fzj80/

 

[084runnerltd]

Ha, mine started like yours and j said I was just gonna put bigger tires on it....then the lift came, then the bumper, then the winch, then the snorkel...

Get your wallet out!

 

[GW Nugget]

Nice,
I like the black out look of the rims.
Thanks for the share...

 

[GW Nugget]

Interior LED lighting for the LX

The stock interior lighting is not the brightest. I came across these LED lights while doing another search & was amazed how bright they where. The price was also very low cost. I've seen others that where to bright, these are just right. They where very easy to install & have sticky tape on the back, in fact it was a perfect fit so I didn’t need to peel the backing off.
They came as a kit so I didn't have to worry about getting the wrong one's.
http://www.pfranleds.com/80-series-interior-led-kit-1/
Enjoy!

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[GW Nugget]

Another cup holder post...

Well, I got tired of the leaking water bottles rolling around in the back seat so, I did a lengthy search on the web for cup holders & only one looked worthy of purchase. I have the LX so sorry "musthave". BH3D is the name. I can tell a lot of hrs have gone into these things. It wash a good purchase, my kids where actually excited to get them.
http://www.bh3dprinting.com/

 

[GW Nugget]

Hollister Hills, CA family day trip...
The family made the 2 hour jurney to the Hollister Hills SVRA here in California. It was our first family road trip adventure besides the many trips to the local sandy creek bottom just 2 minutes from the house.
I have done a lot of wheelin back in my younger days & know if the rig you're in is not set up it can be a very misrable trip. Of course I have been doing my best to get the LX all dialed in & comfy.
Well, I can humbly say it was a successful day trip & the family had a blast.
They are asking when the next trip will be.
We didn't take many pics, but I did a video walk through of the McCrayZ man made course, it was absolutely insane, you just have to see it.



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[GW Nugget]

I'm finally working on my P0401 EGR ristricted issue, I'm not having fun.
I'm also attempting to get the valve cover gasket off and realize part of the throttle body has to go. I need longer arms & skinnier fingers.

 

[GW Nugget]

All back together...
Wow this thing really ZINGS...
Hope this gets better gas milege now.

 

[GW Nugget]

A full tune up... Bigtime mpg jump!

A few days ago I did a full tune up (plugs, cap & rotor) since I had to take all of it off to change out the leaking valve cover gasket & the EGR valve. Before this time my mpg went from 12 down to 10 since check engine light came on.
Well I'm happy to report an amazing jump in mpg. I was able to trip 300 miles on one tank of gas. This is with 4:10 gears & 35s. I added 15% which came to 345 miles with 23 gallons of gas... that's 15 mpg. AMAZING!

 

[GW Nugget]

Airbag light after battery replacement.

I had battery problems months ago & ever since I had the air bag light on. I have been playing with it for a while with the paper clip AB to Tc thing not getting anywhere very fast, but today I got it! My problem was the test light I was using... DO NOT USE A TEST LIGHT, IT WON'T WORK! I changed to a clamped piece of wire & got it on the 2nd try. Hope this helps.