This is a great thread to bookmark when I’m ready for a 460. Thank you very much for documenting your build here. Now that the 200 replaced the wife’s 460, what are the plans for the Kaymar rear?
Builds His and Her GX 460 Builds (2 Viewers)
- Thread starter TX GX460
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TX GX460
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- #62
Glad to be of help, and I'm looking forward to seeing your eventual 460 build.
I am planning on removing my MetalTech bumper and replacing it with the Kaymar, which I believe is much better designed and built, and I will sell the MetalTech to someone in search of a deal.
TX GX460
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- #63
Interior.
I added a few items to the interior that I have been very happy with. The first is Husky floor liners, which have been fantastic. They don't seem to have the same heat warping issues that the Weathertechs get over time, and they fit just as well.
In the picture below, along with the floor mats, you can also see the Wits' End fire extinguisher mount. It fits and works great. I purchased a Halguard fire extinguisher for this location, and am using a quick release mount. I can provide ordering information for all of it if anyone asks. I mounted on the drivers' side, and it does not get in the way of the seat or my legs/feet at all. The mount required me to cut a few notches in the floor liner, but it did not lessen the functionality of the mats at all.
I also purchased Raingler nets for both GX 460s. For my rig, I chose the GX 460 full ceiling net. I think that Raingler just advertised a 5th Gen T4R net for the 460, because it did not quite fit as designed/advertised. As you can see below, I ended up using some bungee cords to hold up the netting in a few places, and the third row grab handles were too far away to be able to connect the tie-downs. In the rear, the top of the corner trim by the third row seat belt locations is much lower in my vehicle than what they show in the pictures. Also, Raingler's instructions say to cut the headliner and screw in new mounting locations at the rear corners, which I was not prepared to do. So instead I created some loops coming from the top of the shoulder seat belt mounting location that allowed me to connect the straps behind the trim panel and not cut the head liner. This results in a slightly lower rear part of the net, but it is no lower than the top of the rear window so it does not obstruct the view (once the bungee was put in place). I provided feedback to Raingler but never received a response or indication that they were concerned with the fit/installation issues.
In my wife's GX, which had the second row captain's chairs, we needed to be able to keep the dogs out of the second row. So I ordered a Raingler seat barrier divider. This one worked much closer to as advertised. The bottom connection points in their installation instructions did not match either my 2015 GX or her 2017 seat designs, so either there was an interior change in 2014 or they once again were using a T4R. It didn't matter though because I attached the bottom to the Dobinsons drawers. Overall we have been very happy with the divider. I don't think I will add it to my vehicle, so if anyone is looking for a net for a T4R or GX make me an offer.
You may also notice the video screens / DVD players in my rig. I have tried out several different versions from Amazon, and have found these to work extremely well. They can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LZK6P1C/
They are a much better option than headrest screens. The screens are large and clear, they can either connect together or work separately, and the best part about this particular brand is that they maintain a memory of your previous settings, so that you don't have to keep switching the second screen to its auxiliary input every time you want a movie to show on both screens.
I added a few items to the interior that I have been very happy with. The first is Husky floor liners, which have been fantastic. They don't seem to have the same heat warping issues that the Weathertechs get over time, and they fit just as well.
In the picture below, along with the floor mats, you can also see the Wits' End fire extinguisher mount. It fits and works great. I purchased a Halguard fire extinguisher for this location, and am using a quick release mount. I can provide ordering information for all of it if anyone asks. I mounted on the drivers' side, and it does not get in the way of the seat or my legs/feet at all. The mount required me to cut a few notches in the floor liner, but it did not lessen the functionality of the mats at all.
I also purchased Raingler nets for both GX 460s. For my rig, I chose the GX 460 full ceiling net. I think that Raingler just advertised a 5th Gen T4R net for the 460, because it did not quite fit as designed/advertised. As you can see below, I ended up using some bungee cords to hold up the netting in a few places, and the third row grab handles were too far away to be able to connect the tie-downs. In the rear, the top of the corner trim by the third row seat belt locations is much lower in my vehicle than what they show in the pictures. Also, Raingler's instructions say to cut the headliner and screw in new mounting locations at the rear corners, which I was not prepared to do. So instead I created some loops coming from the top of the shoulder seat belt mounting location that allowed me to connect the straps behind the trim panel and not cut the head liner. This results in a slightly lower rear part of the net, but it is no lower than the top of the rear window so it does not obstruct the view (once the bungee was put in place). I provided feedback to Raingler but never received a response or indication that they were concerned with the fit/installation issues.
In my wife's GX, which had the second row captain's chairs, we needed to be able to keep the dogs out of the second row. So I ordered a Raingler seat barrier divider. This one worked much closer to as advertised. The bottom connection points in their installation instructions did not match either my 2015 GX or her 2017 seat designs, so either there was an interior change in 2014 or they once again were using a T4R. It didn't matter though because I attached the bottom to the Dobinsons drawers. Overall we have been very happy with the divider. I don't think I will add it to my vehicle, so if anyone is looking for a net for a T4R or GX make me an offer.
You may also notice the video screens / DVD players in my rig. I have tried out several different versions from Amazon, and have found these to work extremely well. They can be found here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LZK6P1C/
They are a much better option than headrest screens. The screens are large and clear, they can either connect together or work separately, and the best part about this particular brand is that they maintain a memory of your previous settings, so that you don't have to keep switching the second screen to its auxiliary input every time you want a movie to show on both screens.
TX GX460
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- Thread starter
- #64
Wheels and Tires.
Like many of us, I spent a lot of time deciding on wheels and tires and did a lot of research on the matter. My rig is a daily driver, and I have a daily 30 mile commute each way. I also spend a good time of my commute on the phone. So quiet was important, and it focused me on All-Terrain tires rather than more aggressive MTs.
I was originally looking at BFG KO2s, but decided against it after seeing a significant amount of negative feedback about out of round tires that could not be balanced. I know that they sell a lot of KO2s, and that there is likely only a small percentage of tires that had problems, but the feedback was significant enough that I did not want to take the risk. After analyzing a number of tires, I settled on the Toyo Open Country AT IIs in 285/70/17 with an E load rating.
The E rated tires are definitely heavier, which unfortunately increases unsprung weight, but the extra peace of mind that comes with the thicker sidewalls was important to me. I tried to make up for some of the weight by choosing as light of rims as possible (among the ones I thought looked good). I settled on the SCS Ray10s in Gunmetal gray. I originally bought two wheels when they were available online, then I emailed Vuth at SCS using the website to request purchasing an additional 3 tires. Vuth was great, and let me order the additional wheels from the next shipment and shipped them all to me at the same time. He also inspects each wheel personally before they go out. I have scratched them up some, but have not seen any chips or breaks due to offroad use to date.
Overall the ride with this combination has been surprisingly good. I keep them aired up to 40 psi on-road for better performance, and go down to about 17-18 psi off-road for a gentler ride. They have been good to me in all weather, although I have not yet tried them in snow/ice. No chirping when braking hard, surprisingly quiet on the freeway, able to handle most terrain with great traction. I rotate them out, including the spare, every 5k miles and to date (about 15k miles later) have seen little impact on tread, noise or performance.
Like many of us, I spent a lot of time deciding on wheels and tires and did a lot of research on the matter. My rig is a daily driver, and I have a daily 30 mile commute each way. I also spend a good time of my commute on the phone. So quiet was important, and it focused me on All-Terrain tires rather than more aggressive MTs.
I was originally looking at BFG KO2s, but decided against it after seeing a significant amount of negative feedback about out of round tires that could not be balanced. I know that they sell a lot of KO2s, and that there is likely only a small percentage of tires that had problems, but the feedback was significant enough that I did not want to take the risk. After analyzing a number of tires, I settled on the Toyo Open Country AT IIs in 285/70/17 with an E load rating.
The E rated tires are definitely heavier, which unfortunately increases unsprung weight, but the extra peace of mind that comes with the thicker sidewalls was important to me. I tried to make up for some of the weight by choosing as light of rims as possible (among the ones I thought looked good). I settled on the SCS Ray10s in Gunmetal gray. I originally bought two wheels when they were available online, then I emailed Vuth at SCS using the website to request purchasing an additional 3 tires. Vuth was great, and let me order the additional wheels from the next shipment and shipped them all to me at the same time. He also inspects each wheel personally before they go out. I have scratched them up some, but have not seen any chips or breaks due to offroad use to date.
Overall the ride with this combination has been surprisingly good. I keep them aired up to 40 psi on-road for better performance, and go down to about 17-18 psi off-road for a gentler ride. They have been good to me in all weather, although I have not yet tried them in snow/ice. No chirping when braking hard, surprisingly quiet on the freeway, able to handle most terrain with great traction. I rotate them out, including the spare, every 5k miles and to date (about 15k miles later) have seen little impact on tread, noise or performance.
r2m
Richard
Never seen one of those RadFlow jacks before. I just have the ol' trusty HiLIft that I've had for the last 20 years and 2 previous expo rigs.
I looked it up and love it! I may have to part ways with my HiLift and get me one of them RadFlow jacks.
r2m
Richard
Can you do a photo that's shows a little more of the fire extinguisher area? Zoomed out a little to see the orientation in relation to the where it's mounted?
Thank you and nice build.
I'm looking at using a type of "pallet" to go on top of my 3rd row seats. The area between the rise of the pallet will be a drawer on one side and the other will have a 3000 watt inverter and 110' extension cord.
Why?? Because when I go camping I like to cut and chop my own fire wood. I am done with gas chainsaws. E-chainsaws are cheap, clean (no oil (except chain lube) or gas leaking/spilling inside the rig and no pull start! Just pull the trigger and Brrrr, Brrrrrr, or is it Wizzz, Wizzz... with electric?
Also the inverter is powerful enough to do light welding, and power literally any household item should we have a blackout where I live.
Back to the pallet, Then on top would go all the other stuff, like fridge, etc.
But... What I want to do to make it unique, when my wife and I are not out in the wilderness, I want to be able to tilt up the "pallet" with the drawer (without the fridge or anything straped on top), inverter and cord so I can use my 3rd row seats. Then the pallet would be in a vertical position when the 3rd row seats are deployed and flat when the seats folded down. I need the 3rd row seats on weekends when I pick up Marines from BRC at Camp Pendleton for church on Sundays. They're not allowed to drive during the BRC program.
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TX GX460
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TX GX460
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- #68
That seems like an interesting idea. It might be possible. The main issues will be: 1) finding a mounting location that it can firmly attach to and pivot on; and 2) whether there is enough room behind the rear seats in upright position and in front of the rear hatch. The seat backs are leaned back a little and the inside of the hatch trim and glass slopes towards the front of the vehicle, so space back there is at a premium. If you are able to create a solution I would love to see it. As far as issue #1 is concerned, my best guess solution is to remove the trim covering the rear seats, use the seat attachment locations (there is also a metal cross-brace that goes across the rear of the seat assembly as show below in screen captures from the following video: ). You would have to make holes in the trim for mounting or leave that piece off entirely and create a replacement trim piece, but at least it woud provide a stable mounting location. The metal trim itself may be too flimsy for what you are trying to do, but if you can build from the seat bolt locations they are solid.
TX GX460
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- #69
They are definitely worth looking into if you can bear the expense. Made in the USA, very light (12 lbs), and great for trail repairs. I had no problem lifting my rear tire from the sliders with it on the trail. ARB makes one that has twice the capacity now, but it is also about twice as expensive as the Radflo. The only negative is the lack of other uses for a HiLift that the lack of ratcheting won't provide you, but given the weight difference and the fact that I have a good winch and other equipment, it isn't a big deal to me.
TX GX460
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- #70
One more issue on the wheels and tires: rubbing and body mount.
I did experience some rubbing with the wheel/tire combination above, even with a 4+ degree caster setting on my front suspension. However, rather than do a mody mount chop I elected instead to hammer in the body mount at the rub location as much as possible. Although this greatly reduces rub, it still occurs every once in a while.
Why do I put up with this? The reason for this is safety. The purpose of the additional length on the body mount beyond the mount location is to prevent ingress of the wheel/tire into the driver compartment in the event of a partial-overlap front-end crash. The extended body mount stops the tire or requires it to go outside the body. Now I understand that the addition of a metal front bumper and metal sliders may also significantly reduce the chance for intrusion into the footwell and body compartment, but I prefer to take the "rather safe than sorry" approach to safety issues. Just my $0.02. I know a lot of people chop the body mounts without knowing their designed purpose, so if you are considering doing it please think of safety in addition to function when making that decision.
I did experience some rubbing with the wheel/tire combination above, even with a 4+ degree caster setting on my front suspension. However, rather than do a mody mount chop I elected instead to hammer in the body mount at the rub location as much as possible. Although this greatly reduces rub, it still occurs every once in a while.
Why do I put up with this? The reason for this is safety. The purpose of the additional length on the body mount beyond the mount location is to prevent ingress of the wheel/tire into the driver compartment in the event of a partial-overlap front-end crash. The extended body mount stops the tire or requires it to go outside the body. Now I understand that the addition of a metal front bumper and metal sliders may also significantly reduce the chance for intrusion into the footwell and body compartment, but I prefer to take the "rather safe than sorry" approach to safety issues. Just my $0.02. I know a lot of people chop the body mounts without knowing their designed purpose, so if you are considering doing it please think of safety in addition to function when making that decision.
Did you have any issues with TPMS when you got your SCS wheels? I have my eyes on some but it seems sometimes they have issues with the TMPS lights? Idk if that is people that are switching up from steel wheels though. The stock wheels are alloy so I think I will be alright.
Thanks for the feedback! I am really considering the Stealth 6 wheels. I think I might go 17s though. Idk how much difference 1 extra inch of sidewall will make, but in my mind it would help when running low pressure.
TX GX460
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- #75
Nick, I went out to Barnwell Mountain this past weekend with the goal of trying out MTS for you, but unfortunately as soon as we got there my wife sprained her ankle pretty badly and we ended up spending our time in the urgent care center and back at the hotel so the kids could swim while she put her leg up. So the next opportunity to try it out will probably be December/January.
HitchCrack
Supporting Vendor
I used the MTS and Crawl when we were on Imogene and it is not a noticeable difference but it does help with how the traction control reacts to wheel spin. The Crawl was nice for the technical areas, I didn't have to concentrate on throttle control just keeping an eye on wheel placement.
Where are we going in Dec/Jan Jared?
TX GX460
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- #77
I used the MTS and Crawl when we were on Imogene and it is not a noticeable difference but it does help with how the traction control reacts to wheel spin. The Crawl was nice for the technical areas, I didn't have to concentrate on throttle control just keeping an eye on wheel placement.
Where are we going in Dec/Jan Jared?
It looks like some of the NTX GXOR crew are going to Barnwell, so I was hoping we could tag along (hoping this link works).
Reid Graham
Sorry to hear about your wife! That is horrible luck. Ankle sprains take a long time to heal. My wife sprained hers running about a year ago and it took a while to rehab. No rush on the info. I bought my wheels and am just waiting on tires to go on sale. Your Toyo recommendation is in the mix.
TX GX460
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- #79
I finally finished up installing my SwitchPro and re-running my wiring for my Baja Designs LP9 Pros this weekend.
The SwitchPro installation is pretty straightforward. Only a few things to know. First is where to hook up accessory input. I used an add-a-fuse and installed it in the open accessory fuse location shown below. Because it was an open location, I did not populate the lower of the two fuse spots on the add-a-fuse.
The second is where to run the "trigger" wire for the switch panel backlighting. The instructions are to connect to headlight wire, but I didn't care if the backlighting stays on so I just connected the trigger to the same accessory as shown above.
Running the control switch wiring was really easy. I just ran it up behind the front door molding and out above the dash.
I installed the panel to the grab handle using some metal strapping. It stays in place very well and should not be in the way of any airbags in that location. The metal is stiff enough that I can press the buttons but it was pliable enough to work with and not be too much of a pain. Not the prettiest mounting, but I didn't have to drill any holes anywhere.
The Powertray setup with the Blue Sea terminals makes installation really clean and easy. My wiring is probably a little longer and messier than it needs to be, but I like to leave some room for error and reinstallations, if necessary.
I re-ran my wiring for the LP9 Pros using 14 gauge wires, with separate runs to each light to reduce the resistance heat issues I was seeing before. So far it seems to be working better.
The SwitchPro installation is pretty straightforward. Only a few things to know. First is where to hook up accessory input. I used an add-a-fuse and installed it in the open accessory fuse location shown below. Because it was an open location, I did not populate the lower of the two fuse spots on the add-a-fuse.
The second is where to run the "trigger" wire for the switch panel backlighting. The instructions are to connect to headlight wire, but I didn't care if the backlighting stays on so I just connected the trigger to the same accessory as shown above.
Running the control switch wiring was really easy. I just ran it up behind the front door molding and out above the dash.
I installed the panel to the grab handle using some metal strapping. It stays in place very well and should not be in the way of any airbags in that location. The metal is stiff enough that I can press the buttons but it was pliable enough to work with and not be too much of a pain. Not the prettiest mounting, but I didn't have to drill any holes anywhere.
The Powertray setup with the Blue Sea terminals makes installation really clean and easy. My wiring is probably a little longer and messier than it needs to be, but I like to leave some room for error and reinstallations, if necessary.
I re-ran my wiring for the LP9 Pros using 14 gauge wires, with separate runs to each light to reduce the resistance heat issues I was seeing before. So far it seems to be working better.
TX GX460
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- #80
I also wanted to provide a few updated photos on other things that I failed to post earlier.
The first is the bracing behind the grill. As I mentioned in an earlier post, because of the LP9 wiring harness locations I had to cut out the bottom lateral grill row on both sides behind the lights. This means that the grill can move and pivot in the wind, because it has no bottom support on the sides. So I added a cross brace I made (rather hurriedly) that supports the grill in the center behind the logo out of wood, foam insulation and electrical tape. Almost two years later and it's still working well so I haven't bothered to fix it.
The second is the location for the external antenna for the Warn winch. I really like the functionality (and more importantly winch speed) of the 10S Platinum, but the wireless functionality concerned me at first. I especially wanted to be able to control the winch in a water hazard situation, but the wireless transmitter on the winch does not transmit through water. So I added the signal enhancement kit and ran the antenna up into the engine compartment and mounted the magnetic base antenna on the underside of the hood. It has stayed up there without moving. The range is excellent, although I have not tested the full boundaries yet.
Another photo I needed to provide is the one below, which shows the cuts to the sides of the transfer case skid necessary to fit on the 5th Gen T4R cross member. You can also see that there are spacers between the skids and frame. They did not come with the kit. The reason they were added was because I was getting a slight rattle from the exhaust shielding against the skids. This fixed it with minimal clearance loss.
The first is the bracing behind the grill. As I mentioned in an earlier post, because of the LP9 wiring harness locations I had to cut out the bottom lateral grill row on both sides behind the lights. This means that the grill can move and pivot in the wind, because it has no bottom support on the sides. So I added a cross brace I made (rather hurriedly) that supports the grill in the center behind the logo out of wood, foam insulation and electrical tape. Almost two years later and it's still working well so I haven't bothered to fix it.
The second is the location for the external antenna for the Warn winch. I really like the functionality (and more importantly winch speed) of the 10S Platinum, but the wireless functionality concerned me at first. I especially wanted to be able to control the winch in a water hazard situation, but the wireless transmitter on the winch does not transmit through water. So I added the signal enhancement kit and ran the antenna up into the engine compartment and mounted the magnetic base antenna on the underside of the hood. It has stayed up there without moving. The range is excellent, although I have not tested the full boundaries yet.
Another photo I needed to provide is the one below, which shows the cuts to the sides of the transfer case skid necessary to fit on the 5th Gen T4R cross member. You can also see that there are spacers between the skids and frame. They did not come with the kit. The reason they were added was because I was getting a slight rattle from the exhaust shielding against the skids. This fixed it with minimal clearance loss.
