GX460 & GXOR B.S. thread (16 Viewers)

[Roody]

I may have a few years ahead of you (6 and 3 yo). Kids were the biggest factor when it came to buying a GX and considering the lift/tire size for me. Letting the kids climb into the vehicle at a young age was an important step in my view...and they love to tell me how they did it by themselves. Long term, this means no sliders for 3 more years. Additionally, I don't know how tall you (or anyone else who would be seating the kids) are but it's not fun to lift a kid or occupied convertible into the back seat...more so when lifted. This gets old. Our WRX was far easier for kid loading until there were two.

I use my GX for family vacations with some trails for and towing our camper. @JEFFKISTHENAME does things to the next level and I like it. @r2m does them more to my style. @BigSwede has another great example of what I would like someday. @Acrad is like the librarian of GX truths and reason. The GX may not be the best answer. Sometimes it is.

Crazy how it happens, isn't it?

I bought my GX when we were expecting our first, and now it's a few years later... Kid #1 is almost 3 y/o, Kid #2 is 2 months old. Time flies. My first loves the GX and I hope to introduce her to off-roading with it in the coming years.

I joined the Toyota 4x4 community coming up on 10 years ago when I bought my first 4Runner and that kicked off the saga of how I ended up here, both with the GX and on Mud. The communities and friends I've made along the way make it almost impossible to leave. The vehicles themselves don't hurt, either; if anything, they're almost "too good." I distinctly remember all of the breakdowns my dad had with his YJ Wrangler (the vehicle that got me into off-roading from basically the day I was born), and that's (hopefully) just not going to be the case behind the wheel of a Lexus/Toyota. The most fun vehicle is the one that always works...

& agreed re: lifting kids into a lifted GX. Sub-optimal. So is the GX's door opening. It's fine, but there's much, much, much easier vehicles out there. The sliders on my GX don't make it drastically worse, but I do have to remember to not smash my shin into it when reaching across a car seat or the likes. Very different from my dad buckling me into the front seat of the aforementioned YJ as a young kid (and only the front seat because it didn't have air bags), but memorable nonetheless.

 

[rav8]

Good on you to use chaps. I learned to run saws in the forest service where chaps were mandatory. That was a long time ago but I still use them. I have six saws for my heavily wooded 20ac, four runners and a couple projects.

My understanding is that most if not all battery saws can be stopped by good chaps. Corded chainsaws maybe not as well, and that might be where the rumors started. I can't find any references to real tests (not youtube) right now but I think they are out there.

Can't recall but I think it may be limited to corded. Found this from the manufacturer:

But yes, I use them all the time. I've seen too many crazy things happen around trees to play fast and loose.

 

[Cold Iron]

So...I've got a nice gas Stihl and a managable Craftsman with nice chaps to boot. I understand there is a safety concern when using electric chainsaws with traditional chaps because the electric units will not choke out with interference the way gas units do. That the saws just continue to pull through the the fibers/cloth/tissue both interest and terrify me. Has this been your experience @Acrad? I like having dangerous things, I just want to understand them.

In the early 70's a farmer that I worked for had a kickback and it laid his face open down to the bone. He grew a beard to cover part of it up but did some real damage. Now they all have anti kickback handles. We used to wear tennis shoes, cutoffs and sunglasses back then.

Chuck Hermann lived at the end of the road I live on about a 1/4 mile away. Great guy that let me run the dogs on his land. Just an all around great guy. Like many in Mn. and Wi. heated the house with an outdoor hot water heater he kept fed with wood from his property. 14 years ago he was felling a tree that was a widow maker and didn't know it. He had cut thousands of trees and never had a problem. It was hollow and kicked back and pinned him against another tree and he died.

Fire Department Battalion Chief Charles "Chuck" Hermann was killed in a logging accident Thursday afternoon.

Got my attention. Was soon after that I got an electric saw and now I was looking at safety gear including chaps. The US still doesn't have a standard for chaps and electric saws, Europe does though. At the time most recommended Husky chaps. Even today most of the Amazon chinamart chaps are Husky knockoffs. And not ASTM compliant or UL classified.

I wear them cutting around the house. And steel toed boots and face shield. I've come a long ways.

On the trail I do not carry them or any other PPE. Except for safety glasses if you ever followed a dog through the bush with no trails you know why. Getting poked in the eye with a sharp stick is no joke. No one carries PPE that I know does, yet they all carry saws and when a tree blocks the road they jump out and clear it then move on. At least the locals and many that spend time there. Many of the trees in the Borrel Forest are smaller spruce and birch and often just drive over them. Then you get a huge honker blocking the road. They get cut and moved then move on. If a local family gets to it first then the whole family will jump out and start bucking it to take home.

I don't even put bar and chain oil in my saw on the trail until I go to use it. It is only a matter of time before it leaks once you add it. I carry a large trash bag to put the saw in because it is only a matter of time after getting bounced around. But I don't miss carrying gas oil mix plus bar and chain oil.

 

[r2m]

Can't recall but I think it may be limited to corded. Found this from the manufacturer:

View attachment 3905833

But yes, I use them all the time. I've seen too many crazy things happen around trees to play fast and loose.

I guess the only other option would be chain mail!

 

[Roody]

Revisiting this-- anyone have a preferred brake pad/rotor kit? Trying to not break the bank. PowerStop has what I'd usually buy in different times but the Z36 kit is more than I want to spend at the moment.

 

[rav8]

I guess the only other option would be chain mail!

A long time ago...I was wearing what @Cold Iron described minus the tennis shoes. I sliced through a bunch of damaged trees after a hurricane and a few of them had a vine climbing around them...poison oak. The chain sprayed me with those juices in a way that I'll never forget.

 

[GrizzlyClint]

Revisiting this-- anyone have a preferred brake pad/rotor kit? Trying to not break the bank. PowerStop has what I'd usually buy in different times but the Z36 kit is more than I want to spend at the moment.

I strongly recommend that PowerStop kit. It really is worth the money. The performance is phenomenal especially for me up in the mountains. I have zero brake fade and it bites very well when wet. As a bonus the zero brake dust is something I've grown to greatly appreciate.

 

[OCGX]

I replaced my powerstop rotors with these amazon ones. ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0BVHQ2SSP
I replaced the pads with the same Powerstop Z36-976B pads.
They don't stop quite as fast as the Powerstop rotors I had, but they are still better than stock.

 

[evolute]

Revisiting this-- anyone have a preferred brake pad/rotor kit? Trying to not break the bank. PowerStop has what I'd usually buy in different times but the Z36 kit is more than I want to spend at the moment.

I used the raybestos kit off of rockauto for the last 40k. Brake dust is low, but I also keep my car clean and don’t let it build up. They have been a little noisy, but not horrible. I got the corrosion resistant set and they did do a very good job of that. The car is in FL, but sees a lot of mud and water crossings in North GA. All in they were $250 shipped for the front and rear.

 

[rav8]

Revisiting this-- anyone have a preferred brake pad/rotor kit? Trying to not break the bank. PowerStop has what I'd usually buy in different times but the Z36 kit is more than I want to spend at the moment.

I can no longer view the thread where I posted about those or I'd link it (PS Z36 kit) but they are pretty solid. Good braking with heavy loads though a little squeal at times. I expect to get 40k out of mine as they are wearing very well at 20k. About 1/3 of my yearly mileage is pulling a 4k lbs travel trailer so yours may last longer.

Funny story. I ordered my last set individually (the package deal was out of stock). 1 each of front pads/rotor and 1 each of rear pads/rotor. I got exactly that. I lost my planned brake day and had to reschedule while waiting for the two remaining rotors. Stuff happens.

 

[Hiluxforever]

If you dont mind some noise, the EBC ED+ pads are legit. They are rated to high enough temp to be track-able and seem to be nice to my Brembo Blanks. I put on 4k miles a month now so I will keep folks posted. The 4runner is gently driven and has green stuff pads, but I glazed them in my GX on I25 between Loveland and Cheyenne, ironically, and not in the mountains.

With 5.1 fluid I am happy.

You could descend a mountain pass in the Rockies with the ED+ pads and they won't fade, just get nicely warmed up where they have epic stopping power. The cold stopping power is better than average, but not as aggressive of bite as with thr green stuff pads. Atrac is working more effectively, as well.

 

[rav8]

In the early 70's a farmer that I worked for had a kickback and it laid his face open down to the bone. He grew a beard to cover part of it up but did some real damage. Now they all have anti kickback handles. We used to wear tennis shoes, cutoffs and sunglasses back then.

Chuck Hermann lived at the end of the road I live on about a 1/4 mile away. Great guy that let me run the dogs on his land. Just an all around great guy. Like many in Mn. and Wi. heated the house with an outdoor hot water heater he kept fed with wood from his property. 14 years ago he was felling a tree that was a widow maker and didn't know it. He had cut thousands of trees and never had a problem. It was hollow and kicked back and pinned him against another tree and he died.

Fire Department Battalion Chief Charles "Chuck" Hermann was killed in a logging accident Thursday afternoon.

Got my attention. Was soon after that I got an electric saw and now I was looking at safety gear including chaps. The US still doesn't have a standard for chaps and electric saws, Europe does though. At the time most recommended Husky chaps. Even today most of the Amazon chinamart chaps are Husky knockoffs. And not ASTM compliant or UL classified.

View attachment 3905870

I wear them cutting around the house. And steel toed boots and face shield. I've come a long ways.

On the trail I do not carry them or any other PPE. Except for safety glasses if you ever followed a dog through the bush with no trails you know why. Getting poked in the eye with a sharp stick is no joke. No one carries PPE that I know does, yet they all carry saws and when a tree blocks the road they jump out and clear it then move on. At least the locals and many that spend time there. Many of the trees in the Borrel Forest are smaller spruce and birch and often just drive over them. Then you get a huge honker blocking the road. They get cut and moved then move on. If a local family gets to it first then the whole family will jump out and start bucking it to take home.

I don't even put bar and chain oil in my saw on the trail until I go to use it. It is only a matter of time before it leaks once you add it. I carry a large trash bag to put the saw in because it is only a matter of time after getting bounced around. But I don't miss carrying gas oil mix plus bar and chain oil.

Sorry to hear about your friend.

 

[Roody]

I strongly recommend that PowerStop kit. It really is worth the money. The performance is phenomenal especially for me up in the mountains. I have zero brake fade and it bites very well when wet. As a bonus the zero brake dust is something I've grown to greatly appreciate.

Know it's worth the money... hopefully can find a deal.

I replaced my powerstop rotors with these amazon ones. ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0BVHQ2SSP
I replaced the pads with the same Powerstop Z36-976B pads.
They don't stop quite as fast as the Powerstop rotors I had, but they are still better than stock.

Good to know, thanks for the recommendation

I used the raybestos kit off of rockauto for the last 40k. Brake dust is low, but I also keep my car clean and don’t let it build up. They have been a little noisy, but not horrible. I got the corrosion resistant set and they did do a very good job of that. The car is in FL, but sees a lot of mud and water crossings in North GA. All in they were $250 shipped for the front and rear.

Is there an actual kit or just a separate front and rear that you boughts?

I can no longer view the thread where I posted about those or I'd link it (PS Z36 kit) but they are pretty solid. Good braking with heavy loads though a little squeal at times. I expect to get 40k out of mine as they are wearing very well at 20k. About 1/3 of my yearly mileage is pulling a 4k lbs travel trailer so yours may last longer.

Funny story. I ordered my last set individually (the package deal was out of stock). 1 each of front pads/rotor and 1 each of rear pads/rotor. I got exactly that. I lost my planned brake day and had to reschedule while waiting for the two remaining rotors. Stuff happens.

Hahahaha that sounds like something I would do

If you dont mind some noise, the EBC ED+ pads are legit. They are rated to high enough temp to be track-able and seem to be nice to my Brembo Blanks. I put on 4k miles a month now so I will keep folks posted. The 4runner is gently driven and has green stuff pads, but I glazed them in my GX on I25 between Loveland and Cheyenne, ironically, and not in the mountains.

With 5.1 fluid I am happy.

You could descend a mountain pass in the Rockies with the ED+ pads and they won't fade, just get nicely warmed up where they have epic stopping power. The cold stopping power is better than average, but not as aggressive of bite as with thr green stuff pads. Atrac is working more effectively, as well.

Trying to avoid noise if possible, have had good experiences with EBC in the past but not going that route on the GX

 

[Arailt]

Crazy how it happens, isn't it?

I bought my GX when we were expecting our first, and now it's a few years later... Kid #1 is almost 3 y/o, Kid #2 is 2 months old. Time flies. My first loves the GX and I hope to introduce her to off-roading with it in the coming years.

I joined the Toyota 4x4 community coming up on 10 years ago when I bought my first 4Runner and that kicked off the saga of how I ended up here, both with the GX and on Mud. The communities and friends I've made along the way make it almost impossible to leave. The vehicles themselves don't hurt, either; if anything, they're almost "too good." I distinctly remember all of the breakdowns my dad had with his YJ Wrangler (the vehicle that got me into off-roading from basically the day I was born), and that's (hopefully) just not going to be the case behind the wheel of a Lexus/Toyota. The most fun vehicle is the one that always works...

& agreed re: lifting kids into a lifted GX. Sub-optimal. So is the GX's door opening. It's fine, but there's much, much, much easier vehicles out there. The sliders on my GX don't make it drastically worse, but I do have to remember to not smash my shin into it when reaching across a car seat or the likes. Very different from my dad buckling me into the front seat of the aforementioned YJ as a young kid (and only the front seat because it didn't have air bags), but memorable nonetheless.

I have a 5 and 7 year old now. They love any time we go off road. I really want to buy an old TJ or LJ to mess around with. Especially now that my son is 5 and really into cars/tools/etc. *Tim Allen grunt*

My dad had an old full size blazer when I was growing up. Some of my best memories are 4-wheeling with him around the reservoir near our house in PA.

 

[Rednexus]

I have a 7 and 10 year old, and I lifted my GX when they were 3 and 6. They haven't had too many problems getting in the rig. They usually put a knee on the rock sliders and climb right in. The only problem I've had is with my son who for some time liked to open the door handle by pulling down on it from the talk. After a few many "don't hurt Dad's Lexus" talks and me reminding him that door handle replacement is a bit of a pain, he now opens it from the bottom.

But, with a toddlers and an infant, it would for sure be a harder. Still, it's a comfortable enough rig that they would often zonk out in the back while 4-wheeling when they were smaller.

 

[r2m]

I have a 5 and 7 year old now. They love any time we go off road. I really want to buy an old TJ or LJ to mess around with. Especially now that my son is 5 and really into cars/tools/etc. *Tim Allen grunt*

My dad had an old full size blazer when I was growing up. Some of my best memories are 4-wheeling with him around the reservoir near our house in PA.

Tim Allen, "Rrr"
A suggestion of something simple, yet more reliable would be a mid 1980's 4x4 straight axle Toyota truck.
Just a thought.

 

[GrizzlyClint]

I have a 5 and 7 year old now. They love any time we go off road. I really want to buy an old TJ or LJ to mess around with. Especially now that my son is 5 and really into cars/tools/etc. *Tim Allen grunt*

My dad had an old full size blazer when I was growing up. Some of my best memories are 4-wheeling with him around the reservoir near our house in PA.

My 6 year old girl has loved the outdoors and offroady stuff for quite a while. I'm already teaching her to drive (at her request) so she can wheel too as soon as she can. She's very good at it already. Turn indicators and all vehicle controls are second nature already. She's also good at keeping her eyes on the road which is important.

My goal is to have her drive me 2mi down to the gas station by 9 years old.

 

[r2m]

My 6 year old girl has loved the outdoors and offroady stuff for quite a while. I'm already teaching her to drive (at her request) so she can wheel too as soon as she can. She's very good at it already. Turn indicators and all vehicle controls are second nature already. She's also good at keeping her eyes on the road which is important.

My goal is to have her drive me 2mi down to the gas station by 9 years old.

View attachment 3906998

I did that also with my daughter when she was a wee bit younger than yours. She'd sit on my lap and steer. What ever direction she turned her head, the steering would turn also, meaning is something caught her attention, left, she was headed into on coming traffic. If she saw something right, she's headed into a parked car.
Note, I only let her do this in our old condo community street, or off roading.

At the rate your daughter is going, you'll need to get some blocks for her feet like Short Round used in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

 

[GrizzlyClint]

I did that also with my daughter when she was a wee bit younger than yours. She'd sit on my lap and steer. What ever direction she turned her head, the steering would turn also, meaning is something caught her attention, left, she was headed into on coming traffic. If she saw something right, she's headed into a parked car.
Note, I only let her do this in our old condo community street, or off roading.

At the rate your daughter is going, you'll need to get some blocks for feet like Short Round, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
View attachment 3907022

Where can i get a pair of those shoes? Lol I started her off driving around 4.

It's good we live in the sticks away from ... well everything.

 

[Roody]

Love hearing and pretty cool that so many of us "regulars" have kids of similar ages