New LX470 Owner in Fort Lauderdale (1 Viewer)

[FLWookie]

Howdy,
I just bought a 2000 LX on tuesday. I'm having some PM work done on it and then i'll be ready to start exploring florida and the surrounding states with my family.

I already had an 06 Tundra and I love the engine and build quality so sticking with the 4.7l and getting something more family friendly was my priority. I happened upon this beautiful LX after searching for a couple months. As with any 17 year old vehicle, it has some character flaws, but nothing major. The interior is in perfect shape and luckily the previous owner in Maine had the underside line-x'd to protect it from the winter salt. Thee engine shows some corrosion on the aluminum components but it run perfect and so far hasn't shown its age one bit.

It came with brand new michelins so for the time being this is what i'll be softroading with until i can learn more about what can be made to fit and save up some dough for meatier tires. The ones on my tundra may fit it...

Looking forward to wheelin' with y'all.

 

[bucfl]

Welcome!

Nice looking ride. You will surprised what you can do on stock tires. For cheap tires check out Kenda Klever. It's what I run and have been great!

 

[Thunder90]

Welcome. My recommendation is BFG KO2s in 275 70 18. Love them. On and off road. I had brand new michelins too. No regrets.

 

[FLWookie]

I put it up on a lift today. That was a bad idea (or good depending on your view point).
RUST, EVERYWHERE, on and through EVERYTHING.
The passenger front sway bar stanchion is GONE. The driver side isn't far behind it.
The top shock tubes (the cup at the top that doesn't move) is rusted and crumbles away at all four corners.
Found a quarter sized hole in the left side intermediate exhaust pipe that developed over night, sounds fun.
The amount of corrosion is insane. One saving grace is the frame and running gear all look to be in good condition.
My buddy (mechanic) and I are going to fab some new sway bar stanchions and get them welded on ASAP.
I'm going to be wire wheeling/brushing everything to find any place where its rotten through so it can be replaced or patched.

I didn't take pictures because my phone would probably get tetanus!

 

[FLWookie]

The AHC system is in question as well. I'm thinking I'll probably end up removing the whole system and go with a tried and true OME lift system instead.

 

[cruisermatt]

You didn't get under it before you bought it?! Great example of why to avoid what I assume to be a coastal truck.

 

[FLWookie]

To the extent I did, everything was bed-liner coated. Oversight on my part, oh well. Nothing that can't be dealt with, just a little more work to do before I can start really using it. NBD.

 

[bucfl]

Man that sucks. I cant stand rust. First i did when i bought mine unseen was have them do a complete video walk around and multiple pics of the under side. Good luck!

 

[FLWookie]

current plan is to pull the AHC system and go to a standard lifted OME setup. I was eventually going to end up there, just happening faster.

 

[bucfl]

What springs are you going with? I have the OME Medium 1.5" id like to swap for some 1.5 heavy.

 

[FLWookie]

I spoke with the guys at Slee today. Probably going with the 2.5 medium kit. Curious what a 2.5 kit looks like with stock sized tires/wheels, since these are brand new and i'm not planning to go beefier any time soon. I managed to get the car into High setting and that should be pretty similar to a 2.5 lift.

 

[Traskew3]

Looks Nice! Sorry bout the the rust tho, how many miles?

 

[bucfl]

Their going to look small.

 

[FLWookie]

It doesn't look too bad in High Setting.

 

[cruisermatt]

Look on the bright side, if the tires are too small for you it's a great reason to get bigger ones

 

[FLWookie]

That is the least of my concerns right now. Dealing with this mess that I mentioned above.

Sway bar bushing mounting bracket is "gone". Looks like its been gone for a while and its amazing the how littel the truck rolls even in comfort mode with what is essentially no front sway bar. Really interested to see it changes the dynamic with this bolted back in.

Got the sway bar out and started removing the cancer!

Cleaned up the area i need for the new bracket to be welded in. Yes, i put a hole in the frame just by hitting it with a chisel in my hand, not even a hammer. Luckily it seems like this is the only spot where this situation is present. I was banging all over under the truck looking for more issue areas that need to be addressed.

New bracket I fabbed to mount the sway bar bushing. Didn't get pics of it in, need to do some finish clean up and lather it in protectant!

More pics to come as I continue to battle the underbody cancer! Next up is to remove the step boards and burn through a few wire wheels!

Who needs a y-pipe? My flex joint had a hole so we cut that rusty bitch out to put in a new Bosal unit. Love the sound of these 4.7s uncorked!

 

[bucfl]

Man! That looks terrible...

I knew i had to do maintenance but i cant deal with rust.

 

[Thunder90]

Oh My god. Plenty non rust cruisers out there in FL. In case u want to flip before u sink a ton of $ in mods ....

 

[Traskew3]

Mine is rust free low miles and may be for sale soon

 

[FLWookie]

I like to think I'm saving a protected species from extinction, through rehabilitation, possibly for release back into the wild at some future date.

Not to concerned about the work needed to clean it up. A lot of the really rusty stuff will be removed once I install the OME kit, pull the step boards, and acquire new belly protection. Nothing a little naval jelly, wire wheel, por-15, and some sweet south florida summer sweat can't fix!