GX460 & GXOR B.S. thread (14 Viewers)

[Acrad]

@MeefZah - Budbuilt has trap door.. they were designed for a 460 and not simply a 4R retrofit

BudBuilt Off-Road

budbuilt.com

 

[Hiluxforever]

@MeefZah - Budbuilt has trap door.. they were designed for a 460 and not simply a 4R retrofit

BudBuilt Off-Road

budbuilt.com

Yep, that's what I am getting once the ARBs are mangled

 

[Super]

Looks like Black Friday sales are starting early. Ordered an auxiliary fuel tank for my ‘03 from LRA this week.

 

[MeefZah]

Is there a front engine skid plate with a trap door to change the oil filter without having to remove the entire plate? I was planning on getting an RCI as I've had previously on my 4Runner - but their website indicates you still have to remove the entire plate to access the oil filter and the trap door is not useable for the GX models.

Any other brands that offer a useable trap door? Looking for 1/4" aluminum.

@MeefZah - Budbuilt has trap door.. they were designed for a 460 and not simply a 4R retrofit

BudBuilt Off-Road

budbuilt.com

Yep, that's what I am getting once the ARBs are mangled

Warning: rant follows

Well, disregard my question on the skids with trapdoors. I did my first oil change today with the factory plate, and I was already hating life since I assumed it would be as much of a PITA as the 4Runner. TLDR: it was. It is. I may as well just keep the factory skid since honestly I don't think the trap door will make my life a whole lot easier, and certainly not at the cost of like $500 for a non-RCI skid.

Crawled under, immediately noticed that two of the 4 skid plate bolts were SS replacements with a larger-than-12mm head, so I assumed the holes were stripped and that the stripper of said holes had installed upsized SAE bolts via the ham-fisted method. Also the oil drain door was AWOL, but if I'm being honest I don't really care about that since I planned on leaving it off anyway.

Fortuitously, those replacement SS bolts turned out to be metric and the correct thread, and the nuts were not stripped. I replaced them with 12mm head bolts I had in my parts box just to keep the head size correct and reduce number of tools required.

Dropping the skid actually wasn't as horrible as I remembered it. Once off, I cut off the front hooks because while I understand the purpose behind them, I cannot get those stupid things to release the plate easily and I don't want to hang it from them, if I gotta unbolt it I want the whole thing to be removed since hanging it really doesn't give you good filter access anyway. Plus, why are there 5 10mm bolts on the plastic dam but 1 press clip? Just make it 6 of the same bolts. And why design it so the skid can't come off without removing the plastic dam?

8.2 quarts? JFC. About 7.1 of that blew all over the driveway courtesy of wind that picked up right as I was dropping the drain plug into the scalding hot pan of oil. Scrap t-shirt deployment time.

Usual internal filter mess and s***show requiring more scrap T-shirts to soak up more spilled oil. The filter wrench also wouldn't release without me inventing new curse words. Plus, this filter is sideways from the orientation of the 4R, and gravity is not your friend in getting the wrench off the filter, so it's even more aggravating.

Whole thing took like an hour and every second of it I was thinking how user friendly my wife's Outback is to service and how I can hammer that out in about 10 minutes without spilling a drop, and how Toyota engineers suck ass.

Thank you for your time. I feel better.

 

[185]

The one oil change that really is easier done by someone else.

 

[MeefZah]

The one oil change that really is easier done by someone else.

Indeed. I have the CPO service plan but despite my above rant, I really do prefer to do it myself so I know it's done right, even at the expense of some of my patience...

 

[Hiluxforever]

I need to cut another one but I did cut a 1 gallon windshield washer bottler as a catch for oil when doing the filter.

 

[185]

I need to cut another one but I did cut a 1 gallon windshield washer bottler as a catch for oil when doing the filter.

If you can find it, a form a funnel is an excellent thing to have.

 

[Acrad]

Amazon.com : Form a funnel

 

[Hiluxforever]

You guys take away all my fun...

 

[JDUB fab]

I have a funnel that attaches to the oil filler threads, best technology out there, also a fumoto valve will help underneath, I put them on all my cars.

 

[Acrad]

I’ve used this same funnel since I got my 460 back in early ‘17.

Amazon.com

 

[Hiluxforever]

I don't fully remove my front skid in either the GX or 4Runner, they both have ARB skids, so i jam a cut 1 gallon bottle up there and it catches everything in both trucks when I change the oil filter and then dump it in the drip pan. If I did remove the skid then the form a funnel would be great.

 

[r2m]

Warning: rant follows

Well, disregard my question on the skids with trapdoors. I did my first oil change today with the factory plate, and I was already hating life since I assumed it would be as much of a PITA as the 4Runner. TLDR: it was. It is. I may as well just keep the factory skid since honestly I don't think the trap door will make my life a whole lot easier, and certainly not at the cost of like $500 for a non-RCI skid.

Crawled under, immediately noticed that two of the 4 skid plate bolts were SS replacements with a larger-than-12mm head, so I assumed the holes were stripped and that the stripper of said holes had installed upsized SAE bolts via the ham-fisted method. Also the oil drain door was AWOL, but if I'm being honest I don't really care about that since I planned on leaving it off anyway.

Fortuitously, those replacement SS bolts turned out to be metric and the correct thread, and the nuts were not stripped. I replaced them with 12mm head bolts I had in my parts box just to keep the head size correct and reduce number of tools required.

Dropping the skid actually wasn't as horrible as I remembered it. Once off, I cut off the front hooks because while I understand the purpose behind them, I cannot get those stupid things to release the plate easily and I don't want to hang it from them, if I gotta unbolt it I want the whole thing to be removed since hanging it really doesn't give you good filter access anyway. Plus, why are there 5 10mm bolts on the plastic dam but 1 press clip? Just make it 6 of the same bolts. And why design it so the skid can't come off without removing the plastic dam?

8.2 quarts? JFC. About 7.1 of that blew all over the driveway courtesy of wind that picked up right as I was dropping the drain plug into the scalding hot pan of oil. Scrap t-shirt deployment time.

Usual internal filter mess and s***show requiring more scrap T-shirts to soak up more spilled oil. The filter wrench also wouldn't release without me inventing new curse words. Plus, this filter is sideways from the orientation of the 4R, and gravity is not your friend in getting the wrench off the filter, so it's even more aggravating.

Whole thing took like an hour and every second of it I was thinking how user friendly my wife's Outback is to service and how I can hammer that out in about 10 minutes without spilling a drop, and how Toyota engineers suck ass.

Thank you for your time. I feel better.

And hence, someone else does my maintenance...
I look at how long I would spend on such a project and how much my billing time is worth if I were working, and I bill out at a lot higher $$$ than it costs to get it done by a mechanic. Yeah, if I had a lift and was as fast as a mechanic, I could justify doing it myself, but I don't have a lift and I'm not fast.
I only like to fiddle with fun stuff, like adding mods or??

 

[K Dub]

And hence, someone else does my maintenance...
I look at how long I would spend on such a project and how much my billing time is worth if I were working, and I bill out at a lot higher $$$ than it costs to get it done by a mechanic. Yeah, if I had a lift and was as fast as a mechanic, I could justify doing it myself, but I don't have a lift and I'm not fast.
I only like to fiddle with fun stuff, like adding mods or??

I do the same type of math myself, but on the other side of the equation is the probability that they'll mess it up or simply not do the labor they were paid to do. I caught my Hyundai dealership claiming to have done work without ever turning a wrench. Took it in for a tire rotation and got it back with all 4 tires right where they started. That's after they kept my car for two days! As for the Lexus, I've never gotten my truck back in less than 4 hours when I have a service appointment. So if I'm stuck in Van Nuys for 4 hours, my clock is ticking the whole time. If I do it myself, I'm only out 1 hour and I have confidence that the job was done right and I wasn't just scammed on top of overpaying.

 

[r2m]

I do the same type of math myself, but on the other side of the equation is the probability that they'll mess it up or simply not do the labor they were paid to do. I caught my Hyundai dealership claiming to have done work without ever turning a wrench. Took it in for a tire rotation and got it back with all 4 tires right where they started. That's after they kept my car for two days! As for the Lexus, I've never gotten my truck back in less than 4 hours when I have a service appointment. So if I'm stuck in Van Nuys for 4 hours, my clock is ticking the whole time. If I do it myself, I'm only out 1 hour and I have confidence that the job was done right and I wasn't just scammed on top of overpaying.

I have a great certified mechanic that I've posted on here several times. Absolutely trust him. Been with him for over 30 years.

 

[Hiluxforever]

Yea, I do as much as I can and only punt when it comes to anything that touches coolant or fuel.

I have serious trust issues from a couple.of bad mechanic experiences almost 25 years ago.

 

[Acrad]

Yep… too many bad apples in my years so I do it myself. I’d gladly pay the price if I knew it was going to be high quality work every time. I’ve paid for services not rendered in my younger years.

Frankly easier on most of the maintenance stuff to do it at my leisure in my garage and finding a trusted mechanic these days seems like harder work.

 

[Hiluxforever]

Since upgrading the front brakes one of the trucks new party tricks is having the rotors smoke after big stops.

 

[ZIOI]

My "upgrade" on the front brakes was just putting on new calipers since the originals were too seized in the pins to remove the pads non-destructively. The replacements had zinc plating all over (Raybestos IIRC) so hopefully should be more serviceable in the future. If would have helped if the prior brake jobs had properly greased the pins and such.

I don't know what Toyota makes the knuckles out of, but it is some pretty stout steel. Here's the story of how I learned this:


OEM calipers on my 2011 were rusted to bits and pin-seized something fierce (likely related to the prior 12 winters being in Chicago). The pad replacement therefore became a caliper replacement.

If course, removing the calipers requires removing the brake lines from them and that requires removing the bolts that secure the lines to the knuckle where the lines transition to softline from hard.

Starting on the driver's side, the brake line bracket bolt snapped off with very little input. No worries, I'll just grab a bolt extractor after grinding flush, center punching, drilling, etc. Extractor snaps off (OF COURSE) so now I have a broken off rock-hard extractor that I cannot drill out. No worries, I have an welder, I'll just weld a nut to it. Nope, the nut keeps breaking off the stud (6010 stick should penetrate fine) because the extractor steel will not weld.

McMaster to the rescue with the appropriate solid carbide burr. I hogged out the hole using the burr almost like a drill bit and a mere 3 hours later, successfully re-tapped the hole to M10. Back in business. Enlarged the bracket hole enough to handle the larger bolt and installed the new caliper and pads and such on the driver's side.

Forewarned now, I moved to the passenger side. Knowing now how fragile the brake line bolt is, I gently heated it with the propane torch, sprayed some penetrating oil, and hit the area of the knuckle near it with an air hammer to vibrate loose any frozen rust. No way was I going to repeat that nightmare again.

Grabbed a box end wrench so I could feel the bolt and gently move it back and forth. It wasn't moving. Moved to the flex handle/breaker bar with a shallow socket. Took a bit of torque to move but finally got it moving. SNAP! AAARRRRGH.

Thankfully I already had the carbide burr and M10 tap so I didn't have to wait for the McMaster shipment and was able to skip ahead to the hours of hogging out, drilling, retapping etc.


And that's how it took three days to replace the front brake pads on my GX.