New to me LX470 build. AHC removal, lots of PM and road trip prep before a trip to Baja (1 Viewer)

[square1fab]

Hi all,
Just purchased an lx470 with around 175k miles on it and have been doing lots of research around the ih8mud forums. My AHC is faulty and due to my intended purpose of the vehicle I have decided to remove it. My girlfriend and I spend most (if not all) of our free time in the mountains hunting and skiing. We are also preparing for a trip down to Baja in roughly three weeks.
I have purchased a new suspension kit (iron man foam cell stage 2 w/ spc uca and will be installing them this weekend. Got alot of work to do before we take off for our trip so I'm sure I'll be posting here again soon!
Attached is an image of a wrench I fabbed for AHC hydraulic strut removal. It's a 22 MM 1/2" shallow socket welded onto a 3/4" bar at an angle. Helped quite a bit this evening when busting those top nuts loose that run so closely to the body.

Happy to be a Toyota owner again!

Taylor

 

[square1fab]

Hi all,
Just purchased an lx470 with around 175k miles on it and have been doing lots of research around the ih8mud forums. My AHC is faulty and due to my intended purpose of the vehicle I have decided to remove it. My girlfriend and I spend most (if not all) of our free time in the mountains hunting and skiing. We are also preparing for a trip down to Baja in roughly three weeks.
I have purchased a new suspension kit (iron man foam cell stage 2 w/ spc uca and will be installing them this weekend. Got alot of work to do before we take off for our trip so I'm sure I'll be posting here again soon!
Attached is an image of a wrench I fabbed for AHC hydraulic strut removal. It's a 22 MM 1/2" shallow socket welded onto a 3/4" bar at an angle. Helped quite a bit this evening when busting those top nuts loose that run so closely to the body.

Happy to be a Toyota owner again!

Taylor

Just completed my Ironman stage 2 2" foam cell suspension with SPC UCA's. Learned a lot about the existing AHC system while removing it and even more about how to manage things in the future.

During removal I was able to get the front original struts off easily and replace them with the IMS ones. For the UCAs I removed the original ride height sensors and disconnected the wiring harnesses in the engine bay to keep things clean.
Tires used were 275 65 r18 10ply general grabbers and have no clearance issues when getting things aligned appropriately after install.

For the rear struts I cut the top hydro fittings off with a small air powered reciprocating tool and then used the aforementioned custom 22mm socket. On reinstall I was able to use a 19mm flex head ratcheting wrench with no issues although it did take some patience to get the 8mm socket on the top of the strut to prevent them from spinning.
I did remove roughly 1/8" from the upper bushing on all of the struts to allow the nylon lock nut to find it's home easier. I saw no issue in doing this as long as the bushing with removed material was above the body side of the strut.

I set the for are rake at 1.5" less in the front than the rear to account for the future bumper to being me down to around 2".

During the post install drive no issues were had and the vehicle handled excellent. Although bumpier than the AHC I am happy to be into something I am familiar with (not quite as bumpy as my 1 ton flatbed Chevy )
For AHC delete, I cut all of the hoses before the metal swaged on fittings and pressed a 3/8x1" bolt into them and then tightened a hose clamp over so there will be no leaking of residual fluid while driving. I will be removing globes and reservoir/ motor and selling in the spring. Additionally I disconnected the three AHC computer harnesses going to the computer and no codes or lights came on after completion.
The iron man kit is very well made and thorough but I do feel like some more instruction could be helpful as well as better labeling.

Attached is a photo of the vehicle in the current configuration as well as a rear slide out I'm working on.

Taylor