New Here with '96 LX450

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Suburbanlegend

Suburbanlegend

10 Year
Joined
Aug 10, 2015
Threads
9
Messages
141
Location
RDU
Hello everyone. I just purchased a '96 LX450 with lockers. Been a fan of the 40's, 60's, and 80's for quite some time and decided to pull the trigger. The rig is in rough shape and needs a lot of attention, but excited to get her in better running condition as it runs pretty rough and share some good time with my family and hopefully some of you guys as well.

I am in Raleigh and looking to create a rig that gets my two boys out of the house and into nature. Would love for a local member to take a look and maybe recommend an honest, knowledgeable mechanic. Now the pics...

https://goo.gl/photos/meZETfouVJAWHHgN8
rHncbRVQ6quYhwUv9

https://goo.gl/photos/rHncbRVQ6quYhwUv9
https://goo.gl/photos/WDMNcisXyMbShSx6A
 
Congrats, looks like you started with a few options already installed. Welcome.
There's a lot of knowledge in the club if you want to learn to turn a wrench yourself.
 
Last edited:
Thanks all, great to be here. She does photograph well, but there are several things to tackle like weak brakes, CEL throwing 420 Code, interior resembles work van, undercarriage has a good amount of surface rust, and some other issues. She seems to shift smoothly and starts right up.

She reminds me a lot of the '99 4Runner I had.
 
Welcome and congrats on the purchase!!

Are you interested in learning to do the work yourself or are you looking for someone to do it for you? Our club is full of super knowledgeable people and through our HAMOMs (help a member out meetings) we can get a ton of work done. Search for some past HAMOM threads and you'll see what I'm talking about!
 
Thanks GLTHFJ60, I'll continue to search out fixes on search function. I plan to do a good amount of my own work, just realistic of my time where I have 10 hours/day work schedule and two small ones at home. So to answer your question it would be good to a decent driving condition then do the other fixes that are less pressing.
 
Welcome suburbanlegend

Youve found a good group of knowledgeable and friendly folk here. Plenty of help wheteher the hired or volunteer kind available here.

Look forward to seeing the rig out in action with the fam.

Go ahead and relax on the 420 code. Id venture 1/3 of us have it. Only a few chose to let it bother them :)

However with a 96 i supose you need it gone foe inspection. Lots of info to get started with here.
 
did you get that out of VA?

Looks just like a mud members he bought and built for/with his wife about a year ago and changed directions. The rare ARB bumper + non winch front bumper gives it away
 
Rig looks great!!! Throw up some interior shots when you can. Some of us have been known to remove a bunch of interior bits, so you could be able to score some 2nd and 3rd row seats for a good deal.
 
Welcome @Suburbanlegend ! You are certainly off to a good start with lockers and bumpers. We are quite the active community so keep an eye out here for meeting, chats, get-togethers, etc. Brake items to examine are frozen calipers or unsuitable pads. OEM pads or EBC Greens are the recommended. I replaced a sticky rear caliper with reman'ed OEM's from Rockauto for cheap.

With a 96, you are required to pass emissions and computer checks. Disabling the ABS to improve the brakes are common in 95 and older.

BTW, the non-winch ARB can be converted to a winch ARB with a little work.
 
"Go ahead and relax on the 420 code. Id venture 1/3 of us have it. Only a few chose to let it bother them :)

However with a 96 i supose you need it gone foe inspection. Lots of info to get started with here."

I wish I could, but you're right, it being a 96 it needs to pass emissions. JFZ80, I see you're from Madison, I grew up in Reidsville, NC...small world.

I'll get some interior pics done this weekend and add to the thread. It appears to have been smoked in at one point in its life and the carpets and seats will need a good bit of elbow grease, but not impossible project. There are some missing pieces here and there that I can replace over time. The truck sat for a year and is burning the bad gas out the tailpipe and there is a hesitation issue under load.

"Welcome @Suburbanlegend ! You are certainly off to a good start with lockers and bumpers. We are quite the active community so keep an eye out here for meeting, chats, get-togethers, etc. Brake items to examine are frozen calipers or unsuitable pads. OEM pads or EBC Greens are the recommended. I replaced a sticky rear caliper with reman'ed OEM's from Rockauto for cheap.

With a 96, you are required to pass emissions and computer checks. Disabling the ABS to improve the brakes are common in 95 and older.

BTW, the non-winch ARB can be converted to a winch ARB with a little work."
Thank lumbee1 for the advice, I think she is a good start, and a winch is definitely in my future and possibly a trailer for yard work and toys.
 
nice rig. definitely off to a good start... right rig, right place....welcome to the club. make a list of wants and start looking, soon the parts will find you...
 
Suburbanlegend said:
Thanks GLTHFJ60, I'll continue to search out fixes on search function. I plan to do a good amount of my own work, just realistic of my time where I have 10 hours/day work schedule and two small ones at home. So to answer your question it would be good to a decent driving condition then do the other fixes that are less pressing.
Click to expand...
I have an 11 year old and an 8 year old, two dogs, and a long Honey-Do list. I do all of the work myself on the Cruiser. I removed the carpet and cleaned it this past summer. It was nasty but so worth it.
 
lumbee1 said:
I have an 11 year old and an 8 year old, two dogs, and a long Honey-Do list. I do all of the work myself on the Cruiser. I removed the carpet and cleaned it this past summer. It was nasty but so worth it.
Click to expand...

Looking forward to seeing your work and getting inspired to breathe new life into mine.
 
Well I've gotten a couple hours with the truck and cleaned out some of the gunk on the leather and trim and unsuccessfully attack carpets and smoking smell. Also hit some rust spots with Wd-40 and washed the truck.

She's definitely a work in progress. I've run into another issue. Th e hood latch is stuck up now with the cabin pull latch stuck down. I researched and tried the screwdriver trick with no luck. Trying to figure this one out then the CEL issue to get inspected and street legal.
 
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