Just rescued/adopted a 2005 LX from doing hard time in the Hills of Beverly.

[therealdutch]

Ok, so rookie question here so forgive me, but do you happen to have a part number for that hitch? Our 06 doesn't have one, and I don't want to mess with putting on a full size hitch to just pull it next summer when we will probably be replacing rear bumper

 

[trizzo]

Ok, so rookie question here so forgive me, but do you happen to have a part number for that hitch? Our 06 doesn't have one, and I don't want to mess with putting on a full size hitch to just pull it next summer when we will probably be replacing rear bumper

SUPPORT ASSEMBLY, TOWING - Part # 51990-60010

Should be around $130, and includes the 4 bolts.

 

[therealdutch]

Gracias.

 

[trizzo]

Installed the integrated hitch tonight. That took 2 minutes. Easiest hitch install Ive ever done in my life.

Tossed on new Rain-X wipers all around. Ready for winter!

Also installed a BT45-TOY bluetooth unit from USASPEC. Getting the fascia around the radio loose was a pain in the ass. Finally got it opened up, connected the BT45-TOY unit, paired it with my iPhone and things looked good. Set it up on the dip switches as MD player. Snaked the wire for the unit thru the dash and down into the glove box. Buttoned it all back up and things look and sound great. Surprisingly plug and play, very impressive.

Tomorrow, I tackle the AHC flush.

 

[SNLC]

Grabbed a quick underbody shot. Can someone tell me if this much rust/corrosion makes the LX unsafe?

Nice, my 2000 looks like that too. It came from down in SoCal also. I love a clean chassis, it was super easy to remove the running boards, no rust rocks hard. I will take shopping mall rash and a clean chassis any day over a rusty chassis and a super clean body.

I enjoyed your first post in the thread. Way to go on purchase, like a BOSS. That is how I generally roll too when buying a truck I want. I did about the same thing on my 2000 I bought about a month before you bought this truck. Price though has a lot to do with a truck being listed for awhile. I was really really eyeballing a 99 in Glendale with 85k on it, super duper clean truck. But they wanted $15k and wouldn't budge on price, it was listed for at least three weeks. IMHO due to price not condition of the truck.

Cheers

 

[trizzo]

Let the projects begin! My new torque wrench finally arrived. Decently priced, and included a calibration certificate. 7-100ftLbs should be good for most of my baselining activities and normal maintenance.

 

[trizzo]

Brown Santa aka Mr UPS Man delivered a large box of parts for my baselining over the next week or so.

Whats in the box? Cabin air filters, engine air filter, oil filter, fuel filter, random fill and drain plug gaskets for front/center/rear diffs and oil drain plug, plastic T's, spark plugs, PCV, valve cover gaskets, oil filter, and a lens for my passenger side marker lamp (cracked, should be easy to replace). Also have 2 cans of AHC fluid, 10 quarts of Mobil 1 oil, and 8 bottles of gear oil ready to go! Definitely going to be a busy week!

 

[shanester]

Nice man! Looks like a ton of fun. One day I want to get to a place skill-wise where I can order a box full of s*** and know what to do with it. I'll do my first oil change ever in a few weeks to get my feet wet then I'll hopefully graduate to tackling bigger jobs.

Keep us posted

 

[trizzo]

Nice man! Looks like a ton of fun. One day I want to get to a place skill-wise where I can order a box full of s*** and know what to do with it. I'll do my first oil change ever in a few weeks to get my feet wet then I'll hopefully graduate to tackling bigger jobs.

Keep us posted

Believe it or not, changing oil and brake pads was one of the very few things I learned in high school and still remember how to do it today. I just changed the oil and filter on my wifes Accord the other night. Will be much nicer later this week doing an oil change on the LX while in "high" mode and having a ton of space to work in!

Seriously, oil changes are pretty simple. Just make sure you wear rubber gloves to keep your hands clean. Very rewarding doing your own maintenance and knowing it was done 100% right. You will do fine on your oil change, and likely immediately dive into more projects!

 

[Copenhagen1]

Congratulations on your purchase! I am also very methodical when it comes to buying used vehicles. I consider it like hunting. The fun is in the preparation, anticipation, and the details. Once it all comes together and you pull the trigger, all that is over and it is on to the next 'trophy'.

Let the projects begin! My new torque wrench finally arrived. Decently priced, and included a calibration certificate. 7-100ftLbs should be good for most of my baselining activities and normal maintenance.

A word of caution on that torque wrench... I used an old Craftsman dial and click type for 20+ years. I finally broke down and bought myself one very similar to this one you bought. I loved it every time I used it but probably a year after purchase, I opened the battery compartment and found the batteries had corroded everything inside there. It was ruined and became a $100+ piece of garbage. I am back to using my old Craftsman. Learn from my mistake. Pull the batteries when you are storing it.

 

[trizzo]

A word of caution on that torque wrench... I used an old Craftsman dial and click type for 20+ years. I finally broke down and bought myself one very similar to this one you bought. I loved it every time I used it but probably a year after purchase, I opened the battery compartment and found the batteries had corroded everything inside there. It was ruined and became a $100+ piece of garbage. I am back to using my old Craftsman. Learn from my mistake. Pull the batteries when you are storing it.

Thanks for the tip, will definitely yank the batteries when not in use!

 

[trizzo]

Spent some time wrenching over the holiday break and knocked out a few odds and ends on the LX. I filmed some video of some of the projects and will have it edited/posted soon.

Oil / Oil Filter change
Fuel filter replaced
New engine air filter
New cabin air filters (video)
Drain / fill transfer case (video)
Drain / fill rear diff (video)
Install of USA SPEC BT adapter

Whoever put on the oil filter before I owned this rig must have been an angry, angry person. Was very difficult to remove even with an oil filter wrench. Finally got it off and wrapped it up.

Hoping to knock out the front diff, heater T's, AHC flush and greasing u-joints/driveshaft over the new few days.

 

[trizzo]

Replaced my PCV valve tonight (super easy) and all spark plugs with OEM plugs. Passenger side was pretty easy once I removed the big intake piece blocking access. The drivers side was definitely an exercise in patience, especially the rear plug closest to the driver. Got them all swapped out, buttoned up, and the truck started successfully.

Pics of the original plugs below. Truck has 92k miles. Any concern over the discoloration of the ceramic or the tips of the plugs??? :

 

[trizzo]

Knocked out two quick items on my punch list tonight - cleaned the TB and MAF. Before and after pics of the TB below :

 

[PabloCruise]

Congratulations on your purchase! I am also very methodical when it comes to buying used vehicles. I consider it like hunting. The fun is in the preparation, anticipation, and the details. Once it all comes together and you pull the trigger, all that is over and it is on to the next 'trophy'.



A word of caution on that torque wrench... I used an old Craftsman dial and click type for 20+ years. I finally broke down and bought myself one very similar to this one you bought. I loved it every time I used it but probably a year after purchase, I opened the battery compartment and found the batteries had corroded everything inside there. It was ruined and became a $100+ piece of garbage. I am back to using my old Craftsman. Learn from my mistake. Pull the batteries when you are storing it.

Did you contact the battery manufacturer? Duracell and Energizer provide some remedy for damage done by leaking batteries. Not sure if they would spring for a brand new torque wrench, but some $ is better than no $. Check their websites. And yes, for a weekend warrior who might use the torque wrench for an occasional tire rotate, I would go with the clicker type wrench. If I were a Pro, using it every day, then the electronic wrench would be worthwhile...

 

[Copenhagen1]

Did you contact the battery manufacturer? Duracell and Energizer provide some remedy for damage done by leaking batteries. Not sure if they would spring for a brand new torque wrench, but some $ is better than no $. Check their websites. And yes, for a weekend warrior who might use the torque wrench for an occasional tire rotate, I would go with the clicker type wrench. If I were a Pro, using it every day, then the electronic wrench would be worthwhile...

I wish I would have thought of that back in 2011 or '12. I bought the wrench from a vendor here on MUD. They were called Brownline Metal Works. I can't remember if it came with the first set of batteries or if I supplied them so I am really not sure who the battery manufacturer was. I found it corroded up and tried to clean it up and put in a fresh set of batteries but to no avail. I will remember your suggestion for next time this happens to me.

 

[trizzo]

I wish I would have thought of that back in 2011 or '12. I bought the wrench from a vendor here on MUD. They were called Brownline Metal Works. I can't remember if it came with the first set of batteries or if I supplied them so I am really not sure who the battery manufacturer was. I found it corroded up and tried to clean it up and put in a fresh set of batteries but to no avail. I will remember your suggestion for next time this happens to me.

I was looking at getting the Brownline torque wrench but opted for the Eastwood as it shipped with a calibration certificate. Both around the same price.

 

[therealdutch]

Congratulations on your purchase! I am also very methodical when it comes to buying used vehicles. I consider it like hunting. The fun is in the preparation, anticipation, and the details. Once it all comes together and you pull the trigger, all that is over and it is on to the next 'trophy'.



A word of caution on that torque wrench... I used an old Craftsman dial and click type for 20+ years. I finally broke down and bought myself one very similar to this one you bought. I loved it every time I used it but probably a year after purchase, I opened the battery compartment and found the batteries had corroded everything inside there. It was ruined and became a $100+ piece of garbage. I am back to using my old Craftsman. Learn from my mistake. Pull the batteries when you are storing it.

Ha! I was just at lowes buying a torque wrench and came to this very decision on the extra cost of digital vs analog. Saved the $$$ and will never have to worry about the batteries.


Sent from my iPhone

 

[trizzo]

Completed an AHC flush this evening and am now reviewing Techstream data. Ride quality improved roughly 30% although the AHC fluid wasnt near as dark as some of the photos of fluid from other members.

Used a MityVac to make quick work of the reservoir and then captured around 12-18oz of fluid per globe and the same on the accumulator across multiple bleeds.

Techstream data isn't too horrible now, although I do need to crank those torsion bars to lower the front pressure a bit :

Hub to fender measurements :
Front Left - 19.5
Front Right - 19.5
Rear Left - 20.5
Rear Right - 21

Front Pressure 7.8Mpa-g (before AHC bleed - 7.9)
Rear Pressure 6.6Mpa-g (before AHC bleed - 6.8)
Accumulator 10.6Mpa-g (before AHC bleed 10.6)

FR Height Control Sensor -0.2inch (before AHC bleed -0.1)
FL Height Control Sensor -0.2inch (before AHC bleed -0.2)
RR Height Control Sensor -0.1inch (before AHC bleed -0.1)

FR Height Adjust -0.1inch
FL Height Adjust -0.1inch
RR Height Adjust -0.0inch

FR After Height Adjust -0.0inch
FL After Height Adjust -0.1inch
RR After Height Adjust -0.0inch

If my target for the front is 6.8-6.9Mpa-g = 5 clockwise turns on both sides (7.8-6.8 = 1 = 5 * 0.2Mpa-g)

​

 

[trizzo]

Replaced the BT45-TOY bluetooth device with a VaisTech SL3B-L. The BT45-TOY device was causing all sorts of hell on my controls inside the truck. Would randomly switch the MD when listening to FM, would lock up the entire center console and prevent things from working and would also randomly disconnect from my iPhone and just go dark for minutes/hours on end. USA-SPEC was less than helpful, pushing me back toward the authorized retailer because of the channel I purchased the device through. I also didn't like how the BT45-TOY presented itself as a handsfree device to my phone without being able to deactivate that feature in the unit. Calls would randomly flip between the integrated handsfree and the BT45-TOY driving me nuts. I should have known scoring the BT45-TOY for $130 was too good to be true!

Just programmed the SL3B-L, pulled the wire thru to the glove box, enabled warning bypass mode, and things are good to go! Calls work as expected since there are no other competing handsfree devices in the truck, and audio is crystal clear.