New Guy from Alabama (1 Viewer)

[UncleBS]

Hello All,
I recently inherited my wifes 2011 460 when we got her a new one. It has 157k miles but we have owned it since new, have always serviced it at Chattanooga Lexus, and I feel its in pretty good shape. I have watched u guys for about a year and have been slowly pushing her to get a new one so I could have hers as a project. I sold my rubicon to take this on. this will be my daily driver (except on sunny days I am normally in my 72 scout) so I dont plan to go too crazy but i love your builds and am really excited. so far i have installed weathertechs, a tesla style screen, and removed the side steps. I have purchased and plan to install this week a set of sliders, mickey thompson 33 x 10.8 tires, Fuel zephyr wheels, and a Fabtech kit that my mechanic talked me into trying. it makes me a bit nervous that I have not seen you guys using this kit, its made for a forerunner, but he had it at a bargain, so hopefully it turns out well. we are installing it today. I have also ordered a tire carrier, roof rack, cubby and tag holder from JW offroad, those have yet to be delivered. Anyway hello from Mentone Alabama, thanks for all the good information, I am extremely excited about this project!

 

[rex in bama]

Hello All,
I recently inherited my wifes 2011 460 when we got her a new one. It has 157k miles but we have owned it since new, have always serviced it at Chattanooga Lexus, and I feel its in pretty good shape. I have watched u guys for about a year and have been slowly pushing her to get a new one so I could have hers as a project. I sold my rubicon to take this on. this will be my daily driver (except on sunny days I am normally in my 72 scout) so I dont plan to go too crazy but i love your builds and am really excited. so far i have installed weathertechs, a tesla style screen, and removed the side steps. I have purchased and plan to install this week a set of sliders, mickey thompson 33 x 10.8 tires, Fuel zephyr wheels, and a Fabtech kit that my mechanic talked me into trying. it makes me a bit nervous that I have not seen you guys using this kit, its made for a forerunner, but he had it at a bargain, so hopefully it turns out well. we are installing it today. I have also ordered a tire carrier, roof rack, cubby and tag holder from JW offroad, those have yet to be delivered. Anyway hello from Mentone Alabama, thanks for all the good information, I am extremely excited about this project!

Our stories sound pretty darn close! Modifying my wife’s hand me down 2010 with 160k, but drive the old 80 series on nice days. Live in ATL, but every other weekend I am up your way - we have a place on the East Fork. Still trying to talk my wife into a permanent move up there. Hard to beat life on Lookout Mtn

 

[UncleBS]

Cool, we are on the west fork just north of desoto falls. We moved up here this summer from fort payne. We could not be happier! the next time you drive by the falls look for a white lexus and a big orange international scout. stop by and we can swap stories.

 

[UncleBS]

My Lift is on! the truck is still in the shop, he was putting the sway bars back together when i left. tomorrow its off to the alignment shop then I can get it back. I put the android screen in the morning my lift kit showed up so I still have a lot of work to do to finish that job, gotta run new cable for the backup camera, wires for the front camera, work on the airbag light that stays on now. I also have a multi terrain module to put in when i pull it all back apart. the tesla screen plugs into the original amp for sound, but it also has rca jacks hanging off the back. i am going to try a sub on the rca jacks, hopefully thats an easy way to add some base to this system.

 

[Tex68w]

Congrats on the new to you GX. Looks like a great start and some nice additions on the way. You're definitely the first I've seen with a Fabtech lift, hell I haven't even heard that name in years, they were huge in the HD truck world 10-15 years ago and 4WP used to push the brand a lot too. I wouldn't worry about it not being a popular kit for the GX, in fact it'll be interesting to hear what you think about it soon and report back on how it handles and holds up over time.

 

[Armed in Utah]

as stated before

these GX's are money pits

 

[rex in bama]

View attachment 2564975
My Lift is on! the truck is still in the shop, he was putting the sway bars back together when i left. tomorrow its off to the alignment shop then I can get it back. I put the android screen in the morning my lift kit showed up so I still have a lot of work to do to finish that job, gotta run new cable for the backup camera, wires for the front camera, work on the airbag light that stays on now. I also have a multi terrain module to put in when i pull it all back apart. the tesla screen plugs into the original amp for sound, but it also has rca jacks hanging off the back. i am going to try a sub on the rca jacks, hopefully thats an easy way to add some base to this system.

Looking good! You thinking you might have to trim a bit on the front to avoid rubbing?

 

[UncleBS]

they actually trimmed a bit in the shop today. I have not seen the tires at full articulation yet but the mechanic said he thought I could massage the rest of the rub out with a heat gun. I will do that myself. the fabtek stuff looks great, the shop owner has it on a hummer and claims it rides better than stock. we will see soon.. So far I can tell you that when i push on the rear bumper it feels about normal, but when i push on the front bumper the suspension feels very stiff. Whats the normal experience with a three inch. lift and 33 inche tires? How much does it change ride quality? I fully expect it to ride better than my rubicon did, and it wont take much to beat the ride quality of my 72 internatiional scout! Between the 3 inches of lift and the tires the truck sits about 5 inches higher. I like the stance.

 

[Silverstreak]

The builds looking good, congrats on the new DD.

 

[UncleBS]

i got it home last night. Had a chance to ride around on the new lift and tires for an hour or so, all backroad and highway driving. It rides really well l on this fabtek lift. there is definitely a more connected to the road feel. Its a little harder to get it started and stopped. but overall I give it an A. the tires aren't very loud, the truck handles well, and these shocks really do a nice job of soaking up bumps. I drove down the back of sand mountain at high top just to see how the suspension handles a washboard road and it was surprisingly soft and easy. I only rub in reverse at full turn, so there is still some work to be done there.

I had the first setback of this build. the sliders were shipped to me raw a couple of weeks ago and were powder coated locally. Unfortunately when we started to install them we realized they were for a 470 instead of a 460. I purchased thru metal tech in oregon. when i gave them a call Mark immediately accepted the mistake and got me a new set direct shipped to the local painter. Anyone who does a little work every day is going to make a mistake now and then. A business should be judged on how they respond to their mistakes, and I could not be happier with the way Metal tech responded to this!

as I was driving around in the dark last night I realized how much this huge tesla screen overpowers the weak arse original headlights. I had to turn the screen off to be able to see the road. My wife's 2021 has one heck of a set of led headlights on it, a huge improvement over ours. I understand my 2011 has an issue with a dual voltage feed to the high beam, making LED replacement difficult.
I have searched here for someone who has conquered the LED issue but i dont see anything that really spells out the answer. Has anyone found the solution to change all front lights to LED, and are you willing to share exactly what you purchased? thanks!

 

[Tex68w]

Lets see that screen.

 

[Silverstreak]

Very nice! I have the same problem with rubbing, only in revers at full turn. Still dialing it in.

 

[jmanscotch]

Looking real good sir! I really don't like white vehicles typically, but I see so many GXs that just kill the look and it always catches me off guard a bit.

 

[UncleBS]

Looking real good sir! I really don't like white vehicles typically, but I see so many GXs that just kill the look and it always catches me off guard a bit.

Here you go Tex68. The screen is growing on me. i really like the functionality and the sound is actually a little better than the stock system. I had just done the speaker replacement from clublexus and the standard system sounded much better after that. this screen uses the original amp but there is a more of a punch to the sound with it. this thing locks up quite often using wired CarPlay, and wireless CarPlay isnt worth the five minutes it takes every time you connect it. I have an iphone 12 so I hope its just a compatibility issue that will be fixed in the next update. If you dont mind going into settings occasionally and resetting your apps its really cool. if you use your radio a lot I would be cautious. I live in the boonies, the closest real town is Chattanooga and thats 50 miles away. we dont pick up many channels on the radio here. on the night i installed this it was picking up around twenty channels as clear as day. the next morning just static, and it has not picked up a channel since. Phoenix thinks thats a software issue also.

thanks jman, if you inherit a car from my wife its gonna be white, in 27 years of marriage she has only driven 3 vehicles, she is not big on change. they have all been white.. My last two were black, which is the prettiest car color in the world for the first five minutes after a good wash!!

 

[r2m]

View attachment 2567040i got it home last night. Had a chance to ride around on the new lift and tires for an hour or so, all backroad and highway driving. It rides really well l on this fabtek lift. there is definitely a more connected to the road feel. Its a little harder to get it started and stopped. but overall I give it an A. the tires aren't very loud, the truck handles well, and these shocks really do a nice job of soaking up bumps. I drove down the back of sand mountain at high top just to see how the suspension handles a washboard road and it was surprisingly soft and easy. I only rub in reverse at full turn, so there is still some work to be done there.

I had the first setback of this build. the sliders were shipped to me raw a couple of weeks ago and were powder coated locally. Unfortunately when we started to install them we realized they were for a 470 instead of a 460. I purchased thru metal tech in oregon. when i gave them a call Mark immediately accepted the mistake and got me a new set direct shipped to the local painter. Anyone who does a little work every day is going to make a mistake now and then. A business should be judged on how they respond to their mistakes, and I could not be happier with the way Metal tech responded to this!

as I was driving around in the dark last night I realized how much this huge tesla screen overpowers the weak arse original headlights. I had to turn the screen off to be able to see the road. My wife's 2021 has one heck of a set of led headlights on it, a huge improvement over ours. I understand my 2011 has an issue with a dual voltage feed to the high beam, making LED replacement difficult.
I have searched here for someone who has conquered the LED issue but i dont see anything that really spells out the answer. Has anyone found the solution to change all front lights to LED, and are you willing to share exactly what you purchased? thanks!

First off, congrats on your new toy! Interesting that one of your first mods was the screen!
You have also just answered one of my questions about these Tesla size screens, "how bright is it at night?"
So you said you have to turn it off, does that mean off, "OFF"? Like no music, map, HVAC controls, etc?
Doesn't it have a black/muted screen option for night time like the factory screens do as soon as the headlights come on?

 

[UncleBS]

there is a touch screen button at the top that just kills the screen. u still have music and all air conditioning controls. if you touch the screen anywhere it jumps back to life. Somewhere in the settings I saw a night mode, but the day i put this in the truck went into the shop for lift and tires. so i have not played w it much. I know there is some type of night mode psk that can be added to the android system also. I was worried about being able to see the screen on a sunny day. thats not an issue at all.

 

[UncleBS]

(interesting one of your first mods was the screen)

One of my pet peeves is lack of carplay. I have whined for years to my wife about the outdated system in this GX. I was afraid to change it when she drove it because if it wasnt perfect that was not going to work out very well. I knew from the day i found this forum and fell into this crazy money hole that stereo system would be day one,

 

[rex in bama]

(interesting one of your first mods was the screen)

One of my pet peeves is lack of carplay. I have whined for years to my wife about the outdated system in this GX. I was afraid to change it when she drove it because if it wasnt perfect that was not going to work out very well. I knew from the day i found this forum and fell into this crazy money hole that stereo system would be day one,

I have been debating making this mod - very jealous when I get in a car with CarPlay. Once a glitch free solution is out there I may go down that path. Congrats on this install (or as we say round these parts, Roll Tide!).

 

[UncleBS]

Roll Tide!

 

[giovanni]

I’ve been happy with the Lsailt CarPlay solution. Very unobtrusive, rarely glitches, and connection seems to be consistent and reliable.