Build My Woodland Pearl LX470 progress thread

[benznotmercedes]

Got the wheels and tires on.

17x9 +58 Lodio Drive Cinq
285/70/17 Kenda Klever AT2
25mm spacers

I’m sure this is obvious to most on this forum, but I didn’t know that the front hub bolts foul the hub centric lip on most spacers. I didn’t want to go to a 1.5” spacer because that would have been too much poke. Ended up having a buddy machine some relief cuts, and it worked great. For anyone wondering, you actually can fit a 17x9 +58 with 285/70 tires in the front with no spacers. It's very close to rubbing on the control arm area but it doesn't.

I did break a front wheel stud removing the stock wheels. Getting the hub/rotor off and separated and pounding out the old stud on a 368k mile truck from Wisconsin was a bitch! Took me most of an afternoon. I had to drill the old stud out almost completely before it would come out.

Anyway, here she is. I'm pretty happy with the fitment and how it looks. The Kendas definitely hum on the highway. These are my first AT tires ever. I've heard that they quiet down a little once they break in?

I don't mind how the running boards look right now. Maybe once I go wheeling for the first time that will change.

 

[benznotmercedes]

It's been a while since I last updated the thread. We decided to take a road trip all the way from the Atlanta area up to Acadia National Park in Maine.

Before we left, there was some maintenance to do.
- Outer and inner tie rods, to resolve play in steering
- Oil change
- Air and cabin filters
- Front brake pads

Long story short, what started out as a simple pad slap became a nightmare. When I tried to retract the caliper pistons, I noticed one was frozen. Oh well, I thought. I'll just go grab some reman calipers. I replaced the actual bad caliper and thought "what the hell, I should replace both." The caliper bolt on the other side snapped off flush with the knuckle. I got an extractor in it and snapped that off too, the bolt was frozen so badly.

After several days of fighting off and on and countless drill bits, I got the knuckle drilled out and tapped using a Helicoil kit. I had thought about buying an aftermarket knuckle online, and probably would have, but didn't have time before we left on the trip.

Anyway, the truck did great on the 3350 mile trip. We started in Atlanta, stayed with a friend in the DC area for a night, then drove from DC to New Haven CT. Stayed there a night, visited a couple small towns my fiance saw on tiktok (lol), then went to Mt Washington NH. Drove up the mountain, which was beautiful. Stayed in Portsmouth and Portland for a while, then went to Acadia. Acadia was amazing if you've never been. We finished up by driving from Acadia to Vermont to stay with some friends, then NC with family, and finally back home.

Current mileage: 373,500.

Couple pics:

 

[Super77]

Dark green and silver are the two nicest colors for a 100, IMO. Great find.

Lose the running boards, you’ll have an instant “lift.” One of other reasons is that the leading edge of the running boards catches and holds literally pounds of mud and debris that eventually backs up into your quarter panels. I could not believe how much came out of mine. I added a set of OEM front mud flaps to help divert future crap being slung up there.

 

[benznotmercedes]

Dark green and silver are the two nicest colors for a 100, IMO. Great find.

Lose the running boards, you’ll have an instant “lift.” One of other reasons is that the leading edge of the running boards catches and holds literally pounds of mud and debris that eventually backs up into your quarter panels. I could not believe how much came out of mine. I added a set of OEM front mud flaps to help divert future crap being slung up there.

Thanks -- I'd really like to take off the running boards but after nearly 400k miles in Milwaukee I'm not sure how much would be left if I removed them. I halfheartedly tried one of the bolts and it rounded off. I'd rather not sawzall the brackets off for now.

 

[LexusX470]

Nice to see you slowly making the LX your own and slowly fixing it up . I really should do the same once I get a chance.

 

[benznotmercedes]

Not a lot to report about the truck mod-wise.

My fiancée’s 200k mile cayenne crapped out so I actually gave her the LX470 to be her daily. She does medical sales so the idea of her pulling up in this thing is pretty funny. I’d like to take it back in a few months since obviously the gas is expensive, but it’s reliable and will work for now.

We just got back from a road trip to visit family.

Current mileage - 380k.

 

[Just a Ninja]

That trip sounds like a blast - enjoying seeing you slowly transform this rig!

 

[benznotmercedes]

Current mileage - 381,600

Fan clutch is on its way out. Lots of roaring. Bought the part, looking for the time to do it. I hear with the skid plate removed, you can wiggle everything out of the bottom without messing with the AC lines and upper rad hose?

Also - she called me saying the transmission felt like it didn't want to go. Check/VSC/Trac. Told her to go to autozone and get code scanned. Cyl 7 misfire. Got it in the garage that night and realized the #7 coil was totally loose and rattling around. Tightened it but no luck - coil was shot. Went to a parts store that was open til midnight, bought a coil (s***ty duralast, but the other 7 were anyway) and it's purring again.

 

[Gartenmeister]

I've been watching your progress as I have the same car, also with 300k+. Just did all the plugs and coils on mine.

So there is no transmission problem, right? Also what does the bad fan clutch sound like?

 

[excessive]

Lookin ' Great !

 

[benznotmercedes]

I've been watching your progress as I have the same car, also with 300k+. Just did all the plugs and coils on mine.



So there is no transmission problem, right? Also what does the bad fan clutch sound like?

Nice!

And no, no transmission problem. The misfire just made her think the trans was slipping or something. The bad fan clutch - when you start the truck and it's not warmed up, the fan will still be roaring.