Build GW Nugget's Budget Daily Lx450 build

[GW Nugget]

Kick ass! I bought mine back in April, had it three days and the PS pump went south, and the pwr brake booster a day later. I was furious, and 350 bucks lighter in the wallet, but been OK since. PS pump wasn't bad, but a pain to get one. Brake booster I got at the same time, and both lifetime warranty. Had to special order both from Napa

Thanks for your share. Spending money on PMs & failures is no fun... I think we all rather put our money into lift kits, tires & cool mods. But we also all knew we where purchasing 15 year old plus vehicles. So that's the nature of the beast. The positive of all this work I hated doing makes me understand my vehicle & less worried when on the next time on the trail in the middle of nowhere.

 

[half k cruiser]

Thanks for your share. Spending money on PMs & failures is no fun... I think we all rather put our money into lift kits, tires & cool mods. But we also all knew we where purchasing 15 year old plus vehicles. So that's the nature of the beast. The positive of all this work I hated doing makes me understand my vehicle & less worried when on the next time on the trail in the middle of nowhere.

There's also that satisfied feeling you get when your 15 year old vehicle doesn't leak or burn a drop of anything !

 

[GW Nugget]

Monday, June 22, 2015
A look back on the head gasket repair...

Now that I have time to think about the head gasket replacement, I’m glad that I did the repair rather than having a shop do it. I did a lot of while I’m here replacement stuff as follows: All vacuum lines I could find, cleaned upper & lower intake tubes out. Replaced water pump, thermostat, all belts & heater hoses, drivers idler pulley, fuel filter, plugs, wires, cap rotor, rubber intake tube & several other things I can’t remember right now. These items would of not been replaced on a shop HG repair. I also feel much more solid with it now because I now know how everything works & had my hands on it. This thing is ready for another 100K!

I did make some modifications since I was there. The biggest change was I rerouted the wire loom behind the intake so I could completely remove the lower intake to clean it.

I did a rap around the brake booster PHH bypass & also remounted the VSV in an easier place rather underneath the upper intake.

Oh! One more thing, I some how missed one gasket on my original order & had to make one to getRdone.

So, back to my trailer hitch mod & getting the old race trailer ready for service.

 

[GW Nugget]

I've been working on getting the old race box trailer going for camping & one of the things that was needed was to cut, flipped & tuck the factory tow hitch... here some pics.

I haven't used this trailer in 11 years. My girls have used it as a play house since. It feels good to put it back in service. Got some new tires & where golden. Let's go camping!!!

 

[Phildoh]

I've never been keen on big drop hitches, but your idea of flipping the hitch is pretty rad! I still can't afford said super mega badass swing out bumper for a while, so I've been looking at the detours knucklebone drop down tire carrier. Looks well made and will work great for my application for now, and they have a pintle mount version, which will yield more ground clearence after I remove the factory hitch since I don't plan on towing with my rig. Do you still have the factory x-member behind your bumper or has it been removed? Hard to tell in your pic, I'm assuming no, but if you do then damm, you did some careful work to get all of that together. Props either way, great idea and work!

 

[GW Nugget]

Yes I had to cut out the rear cross member to get the bumber in. It's on my build thread...
It came out pretty good, it will do the job.
I don't like big drop hitches either, It's a old one from my big Ford I had. It's actually 2" to low. I need to get one of those fancy non aluminum adjustable ones.
But thanks for the compliment.

 

[Phildoh]

This pic gives me ideas, and now I'm rethinking my idea and considering all the possible options, thanks!

 

[GW Nugget]

I picked this up today it's 3" shorter. It's a 5" to 7" adjustable, I like adjustable stuff...

~~~~~~~~~~~
Also just to add for notes:
6.29.15 @ 173,199 I got the oil changed along with a radiator & tranny flush. So, this completes all fluids changed. Transfer & diffs got it 2K ago. Purchased LX @ 168,500 ish...

 

[GW Nugget]

After 3 months of waiting... look what just came in the mail. A Duiser 1" body lift. It's like Christmas. Check it out all aluminum pucks.

 

[GW Nugget]

I checked my VSV as per this thread. Fail.
https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/checking-vsv-for-egr-easy-way-p0401.211364/
I just got this from C Dan, it took a whole 10 minutes once I putt this silly phone down... the hardest part was trying to figure out the harness clip. I'm so glad I remounted this when I did the HG replacement.
Check engine light be gone!

 

[GW Nugget]

Tuesday, July 7, 2015
Bald Mountain Family trip.

The 1st family camping trip has been a success. We made to the mountain & back down. The Cruisers performed well & did the job it was asked to do. I'm really happy with it. With the 4:10 gears & 315s as was expected it had a tall gear feel... I had to give it a bit more gas to climb over obstacles. It has been 18 years since I was last on this mountain... It looked different, more tore up & rutted out from what I remember. Having the lockers made it a dreamy ride. It hardly even spun a tire.

I asked my girls when we got back if all those hours spent in the garage working on the Lx was worth get to go camping. The answer was a definite "YES!!!"

I will post up more pics later... I'm having phone issues.



I did a short video to show the tower & lake...


Here is V Rock... (I was corrected by ToyotaDon its BumperBuster) the video is not impressive, but the Lx does flex very well... the OME medium springs are a bit sloshy... they have a right, left sway. I did have the Rancho shocks set on 3 of 9 though, maybe I could set them a bit firmer???

 

[1973Guppie]

Tuesday, July 7, 2015
Bald Mountain Family trip.

The 1st family camping trip has been a success. We made to the mountain & back down. The Cruisers performed well & did the job it was asked to do. I'm really happy with it. With the 4:10 gears & 315s as was expected it had a tall gear feel... I had to give it a bit more gas to climb over obstacles. It has been 18 years since I was last on this mountain... It looked different, more tore up & rutted out from what I remember. Having the lockers made it a dreamy ride. It hardly even spun a tire.

I asked my girls when we got back if all those hours spent in the garage working on the Lx was worth get to go camping. The answer was a definite "YES!!!"

I will post up more pics later... I'm having phone issues.


I did a short video to show the tower & lake...

Here is V Rock... it's not very impressive, but the Lx does flex very well... the OME medium springs are a bit sloshy... they have a right, left sway. I did have the Rancho shocks set on 3 of 9 though, maybe I could set them a bit firmer???

View attachment 1104282

fyi, I have owned those rancho shocks before, IMO I did not like them, I kept them on the highest firmest setting as anything else was sloshy like you mentioned. If I were you I would set them to firmest and then adjust from there. HTH

 

[GW Nugget]

Reserving... BLANK for future.
Pics where never recovered.

 

[NLXTACY]

Reserving...BLANK for witty retort

 

[GW Nugget]

Reserving...BLANK for witty retort

I'm not witty by no means & I think of good comebacks hours later.
I was saving it for pictures...

 

[NLXTACY]

I'm not witty by no means & I think of good comebacks hours later. Allways have. I'm just a guy that can't spell, thinks & worries to much.
I was saving it for pictures...

I figured. It was funny in my head. Keep the updates coming. I'm enjoying your build.

 

[GW Nugget]

I figured. It was funny in my head. Keep the updates coming. I'm enjoying your build.

Well thank you... I would like to think I have added to this forum rather than taken. I hope people will learn from my mistakes. (15" rims & tires on a fzj don't work all that great)

 

[ToyotaDon]

Here is V Rock... it's not very impressive, but the Lx does flex very well... the OME medium springs are a bit sloshy... they have a right, left sway. I did have the Rancho shocks set on 3 of 9 though, maybe I could set them a bit firmer???

View attachment 1104282

I thought that was "Bumper Buster". V Rock is over by Hollywood Hill, and I ran it for the first time on Saturday. Only had to back up once at the bottom.

 

[GW Nugget]

Ooooops.. Your Correct, Now I see it on that map. I wish I was there to watch you go up Hollywood Hill. I've seen several jeeps roll there at the bottom. It's a perfect storm for CJ5 ish wheelbase. I found the same picture that blows up better.

 

[ToyotaDon]

My post was a little confusing. I have run Hollywood twice before during Moonlight Madness, and had no problem. I watched a Jeep get the front end pretty high and have to take a winch, though. This time, my buddy Jose didn't want to do Hollywood with his 4Runner, so we just ran V Rock. He got a little tippy/sliding about halfway up, and had to work his way over to the correct line. Then he spotted me right up with hardly any trouble.