Builds GX470 reborn (2 Viewers)

[Brake Weight]

That's said, I pulled the OME coils and installed the OEM coils using the 3rd of 4 settings on the 5100 struts. Third from the bottom and second from the top to clarify.

Height dropped from a solid 24" hub to fender down to 23" coming off of the jack stands. With the 887 coils I could jack it up under the A arm and there was no flexing. The suspension was very rigid, but rode OK. Now with the stock coils there is a fair amount of flex. I made about a 5 mile spin through the countryside flexing the suspension with the brakes and curvy roads and when I made it back home it was at 22".

 

[Brake Weight]

So, I'm currently at 22" in the front and 23" in the rear(center of hub to fender). The rear now has a spare tire.

The 275/70-17 spare tire does indeed fit. It's tight like gnat booty, but it fits. It's a hair's width from the panhard bar and touching the receiver hitch mount. I'll get pics in the daylight hours.

 

[Brake Weight]

Daylight pics.

 

[Brake Weight]

The spare tire. I weighed it on my digital bathroom scales at 84 lbs, IIRC. I'll ask my wife because she was asking WTH I was doing rolling a tire through the house.

There's potential for contact against the tow bar edges. I'll drop the spare and check it out after I make a few trips and check it.

Literally a hair's width here. Another location to inspect later. Just so happened the tire sticker landed out right there when I winched it up.

Tow bar mounts to frame clear on each a side.

I left the air pump on because I got lazy towards the end. I'll make a date next month to remove all that. For the record it clears, too.

For the gratuitous rear end shot. The spare is tucked as high as everything else under there. My Tacoma's spare is up out of sight inches from the bed. This one does hang down a little lower towards the front and I'll drop it to see why soon. But should you high center on something it'll likely snag there, too. Seems that a rear mount or inside the cabin would be the best location for any hard wheeling.

 

[Brake Weight]

I did a heat gun treatment with a snip and tuck on the front plastics around the wheel wells. No more rubbing after putting the 1.25" SpiderTrax on. Only one set showed up today and the other is scheduled for Monday.

I'm done for the weekend.

 

[lndshark]

Looks good on the 275's.

 

[Brake Weight]

I got the rear spacers on after my morning coffee. Dropped the ice cream maker and ice at my parents. I like the GX now.

 

[Brake Weight]

I'm out of town a few days and get a text from the wife that someone drove into the yard and hit our GX. It was parked at least 80 yards from the pavement and about 15 yards from the driveway next to the garden. She moved it for the guy to mow grass a few days earlier. So I tell her to call the LEO and file a report. When he gets there she shows him the tracks in the grass and hole in the bumper and he shows her the ran over running board and smudged door panels. They apparently rammed the ass-end, backed up and then ran over the side as they left. I've got 3 kids of various ages in 3 different schools. She's involved in every PTO for some reason and this happened during the day. I'm dropping the coin on an IR camera system this weekend, that will double as a game cam for deer, and watch out for whom ever may do this again.

'Ol dad here ain't a happy camper. I could never imagine something like this would happen. I've got an idea as there was yellow paint on the running board from the wheel rubbing it. The ice cream man and a JD Gator have yellow wheels.

 

[Brake Weight]

 

[Cannon88]

Time to go hunting...

 

[Brake Weight]

New problem. I charged the battery overnight and it seems good. So I fired the ol' girl up and the battery light is on. I put my multimeter on the battery and watched the voltage falling a tenth every 10-15 seconds or so. Looks like the alternator may be toast. I poked around for a fuse or something and found one and a relay. Both appeared to be good. Can't win for losing this week.

 

[Brake Weight]

Swapped in a new parts house alternator today and the ol' girl is back on the road.

No leads on the vandal but I do have a LEO report and will claim it this week at the insurance place. With the price of Lexus repair work I may be able to swing something more solid.

 

[Brake Weight]

Battery ended up dropping a cell or two. It wouldn't hold a charge past 10.4v or so no matter how long it charged. I swapped in another and now she's back running. I also removed the aftermarket TV and reinstalled the OEM ceiling light since it had a parasitic draw when the truck wasn't running.

Let this hurricane pass and I'll see what the insurance man says next week.

 

[Jo Santi]

That's said, I pulled the OME coils and installed the OEM coils using the 3rd of 4 settings on the 5100 struts. Third from the bottom and second from the top to clarify.

Height dropped from a solid 24" hub to fender down to 23" coming off of the jack stands. With the 887 coils I could jack it up under the A arm and there was no flexing. The suspension was very rigid, but rode OK. Now with the stock coils there is a fair amount of flex. I made about a 5 mile spin through the countryside flexing the suspension with the brakes and curvy roads and when I made it back home it was at 22".

Hey, how many miles did you have on you OEM front coils when you swapped them back in? How was the ride quality of the OEM coils and 5100 combo in the front? I'm wondering if i should stay OEM with 5100s or other lift coils with 5100s.

 

[Brake Weight]

Hey, how many miles did you have on you OEM front coils when you swapped them back in? How was the ride quality of the OEM coils and 5100 combo in the front? I'm wondering if i should stay OEM with 5100s or other lift coils with 5100s.

I didn’t note it I guess. Somewhere around 74,000 miles on them. The Old Man Emu have maybe 40 miles on them. I knew almost as soon as I installed them they were way too stiff.

As for the 5100 struts. I feel they are slightly undervalved for the weight of the v8. The Lexus 2UZ-FE 4.7 weighs 502# whereas the 4Runner 1GR-FE 4.0 weighs 366#. That’s 136# more plus any additional tranny weight. Doesn’t seem like much but it’s as much as a plate bumper would be.

 

[Brake Weight]

Flushed the tranny. I watched a few YouTube videos of various ways to do it and made up my own.

7/16” OD tubing from a hardware store, hand pump from Harbor Freight, and two paint buckets.

Pull the upper tranny cooler hose, insert tubing into hose, walk around to the driver’s door and set down a paint bucket, kneel down and hold hose in bucket while cranking Lexus under steering wheel, fill bucket until it spits then turn off Lexus. Fill second bucket with exact amount as first bucket and hand pump into open hose barb on tranny cooler. Let idle until primes good and run through gears. Be sure to 2nd start and stall the Tq converter some. Pump out and pump in as needed. I did 3qts two times and then did another 1.5qts to leave a little extra to top off if needed. Didn’t need it though. Used a laser temp reader on the tranny housing prior to pulling the full plug.

1 for 1 displacement and replacement.

First flush on left. New on right.

Hose used.

Last flush looked good in the tubing.

 

[HomersCanyonero]

I hadn’t seen your build thread until now, but great details when you initially installed your shocks and springs.

how are the rear 5125 shocks holding up?

 

[Brake Weight]

So far so good. In the end I think the valving is a little too light for the front to dampen the weight of the v8. Whenever they get replaced it’ll be something beefier like what the Tundra or Sequoia runs. The stock springs are wanting to sag slightly. the rear springs and shocks are nice though and still solid. Hauled about 400# of gear all the way across TX last month and couldn’t tell it was loaded.

 

[HomersCanyonero]

I’m surprised your old front oem coils didn’t sag much earlier.

In terms of the rear oem shocks, what would you estimate their compressed and extended lengths to be? I’ve always wondered and your comparison photos make them look pretty big like close to 15”/24” which is more than I expected on both ends.

This puts them rear oem shocks at the same level as the Bilstein 5100 33-187174 14.91/23.5 which are considered 0” to 2” lift on the 4Runner but stock for the GX470.