Wanted to document the mild build of my '15 GX460. I plan on doing a few extended trips in it this year, but its main job is to continue to be my wife's daily. The first thing she told me after we purchased it was to make it look "less like a soccer mom SUV". Challenge accepted.
We had plans to use it to haul a small camper behind it for the entire summer traveling, but those plans had to be postponed due to our first kid on the way. She still wants to do a shorter overland trip so the modifications have begun.
We'll be sleeping in the GX so a platform will be built to accommodate for that, but I need to get into our new house first to get my shop organized before I can start fabricating again.
First I'll focus on the exterior and all the things I can "bolt on" to help make the trip successful.
Here it is fresh from the dealer where we purchased it. Looks like a "soccer Mom's SUV" apparently.
First order of business was to add a platform for carrying items outside of the vehicle. For that, I scoured FB marketplace and found this Rhino Rack Pioneer Platform for a Jeep Wrangler for dirt cheap. $75 to be exact. I ordered some LFD Offroad Ruggedized Crossbars to mount the platform to and voila, a large platform to kill my fuel mileage!
The next step was to fit the rig with some decent all-terrains for when we boondock out in the national forests and the roads get mildly treacherous. For that, I had a set of 275/65/18 KO2's installed on the factory wheels. It's the biggest I wanted to go as I have no intention to lift the vehicle aside from a set of 5100's to level the front out. She rides well with the E-rated tires on but I do feel the unsprung, rolling weight that was added. There is a little rub when reversing at full lock, but I'll either get the heat gun and fix that, or ignore it. My average fuel mileage feels it too sadly. I'll gladly compromise for the reliability of this motor and transmission from Toyota for fuel mileage though.
I'm installing an ARB awning onto the rear of the Pioneer Platform this weekend with brackets I have fabbed up using basic hand tools. Stay tuned for pictures of that install. Is it pretty? No. Will it work well? Certainly.
Stay tuned.
We had plans to use it to haul a small camper behind it for the entire summer traveling, but those plans had to be postponed due to our first kid on the way. She still wants to do a shorter overland trip so the modifications have begun.
We'll be sleeping in the GX so a platform will be built to accommodate for that, but I need to get into our new house first to get my shop organized before I can start fabricating again.
First I'll focus on the exterior and all the things I can "bolt on" to help make the trip successful.
Here it is fresh from the dealer where we purchased it. Looks like a "soccer Mom's SUV" apparently.
First order of business was to add a platform for carrying items outside of the vehicle. For that, I scoured FB marketplace and found this Rhino Rack Pioneer Platform for a Jeep Wrangler for dirt cheap. $75 to be exact. I ordered some LFD Offroad Ruggedized Crossbars to mount the platform to and voila, a large platform to kill my fuel mileage!
The next step was to fit the rig with some decent all-terrains for when we boondock out in the national forests and the roads get mildly treacherous. For that, I had a set of 275/65/18 KO2's installed on the factory wheels. It's the biggest I wanted to go as I have no intention to lift the vehicle aside from a set of 5100's to level the front out. She rides well with the E-rated tires on but I do feel the unsprung, rolling weight that was added. There is a little rub when reversing at full lock, but I'll either get the heat gun and fix that, or ignore it. My average fuel mileage feels it too sadly. I'll gladly compromise for the reliability of this motor and transmission from Toyota for fuel mileage though.
I'm installing an ARB awning onto the rear of the Pioneer Platform this weekend with brackets I have fabbed up using basic hand tools. Stay tuned for pictures of that install. Is it pretty? No. Will it work well? Certainly.
Stay tuned.