Builds "Rednexus" - 2007 GX470 Build and Fabrication Thread

[Rednexus]

Nice! My refrigerant is now starting to need replacement, AC still works but got the climate control warning popup so it's detecting it is starting to get low. Somehow it made it 15 years on the factory refrigerant, at least there is no history it was ever changed and my previous owner was not a DIY'er, they took it to the dealer for everything. I'm going to let my local trusted mechanic shop do the work to make sure there are no leaks and to keep local business IN business.

P.S., why'd you replace the horns with those PIAA ones? What's the sound difference over factory?

Bad news. It's a pinhole in the hardline that I had repaired with AC-specific epoxy in 2021 . It didn't hold vacuum....some more black light investigation found the leak (inside the corrugated tubing that covers the hard line - so it wasn't immediately noticeable). I'm going to have to either re-do the Alum-Bond epoxy repair or attempt to braze it. It's on the big low-pressure line that runs from the condenser all of the way back to the rear AC. So, the hard line is not removable.

PIAA horns are a bit louder than factory, but not drastically so. I'd prefer something with a few more dB honestly.

 

[GrizzlyClint]

PIAA horns are a bit louder than factory, but not drastically so. I'd prefer something with a few more dB honestly.

Solution.

Nathan AirChime K5LA Train Horn

Discover the Nathan AirChime K5LA, the ultimate train horn with a powerful tone and unmatched quality. Experience the real deal, perfect for limited vertical space installations.

hornblasters.com

 

[Super]

Those Nathan AirChimes have gotten expensive!!
I have an antique P series 3 bell set. Mine were cast back in the 50’s. Had to keep those when I sold my Peterbilt 379 back in 2010. Nothing like legit train horns to get someone’s attention

 

[GrizzlyClint]

Those Nathan AirChimes have gotten expensive!!
I have an antique P series 3 bell set. Mine were cast back in the 50’s. Had to keep those when I sold my Peterbilt 379 back in 2010. Nothing like legit train horns to get someone’s attention

I desperately want to install a K5LA in the spot where my spare tire is.

 

[Rednexus]

^So here is the skeleton in the AC closet. In 2021 when I was installing the lift, I cut off the top of the OEM strut with a sawzall due to the bolts being rusty/rounded off. I had no idea there was an AC line behind the strut....until the tip of the sawzall blade pierced it and I lost all of my Freon. This is a single hard line that runs from the AC condenser all the way back to the rear AC. I don't think it's removable without cutting it up. So in 2021 I used some ALUM-BOND epoxy for the repair, which worked just fine until last week when the repair finally failed (note this photo was taken after I had bent up the inner fender for better access).

^With the UV light on. The corrugated plastic sheathing was full of UV dye and PAG oil (not showing here). It's apparent that the Freon/dye had soaked into the epoxy repair.

^About half the epoxy came off with a pick. The rest came off with various Dremel attachments. It's pretty thin at the original pinhole location. I have a nice MAP brazing torch and aluminum brazing rod with flux coming in later this week, and I'll attempt a permanent repair. Haven't done a lot of brazing, so hopefully this holds. If not I'm back to ALUM-BOND or trying to find a mobile TIG welder.

 

[Rednexus]

The rig had also been having intermittent MAF issues this week. They started after I detailed the rig, including washing the engine bay. It was throwing codes for "low MAF voltage" (I think they were P0102) and actually died a couple of times. It also had some intermittent strange behavior on vacation, including a spell in MT/WY where it was low in power and had super-high fuel trims (which I at the time attributed to tank of bad gas).

But, this isn't the first time the rig has had MAF issues. I had to splice on a new connector in 2021 to address ongoing lean codes, and then again in 2023 or so. Both splice jobs were some of my "early" electrical work, using 16-22 ga heat shrink butt splices, which I've since found add a small amount of resistance to the circuit and can cause problems with engine sensors (they do work just fine for wiring up non-sensitive things like lights and accessories, however).

^So, I made a new MAF pigtail. This included a new Amazon MAF connector, with a 6-pin male Deutsch connector on the other end, that goes into another 6-pin female connector that I spliced onto the OEM MAF harness branch of the main engine harness. I've had great luck with Deutsch connectors in other sensor applications as the connection is robust, they have nominal resistance, and they are watertight. And, if I ever have another MAF connector issue, I can just replace the pigtail without having to cut off more of the OEM harness.

^Here is it installed (the female Deutsch connector is on my ARB twin bracket - also note that the rig has a Hewitt Tech SAIS bypass which plugs into the MAF too). I went ahead and built a spare MAF pigtail and threw it in the spare parts stash in the back of the rig. Upon startup, STFTs were way lower, indicating that I indeed had a problem in the MAF wiring before, where the MAF was under-reporting the amount of air getting to the motor. It it continues to have issues I'll try running with the SAIS bypass removed from the MAF wiring.

 

[Super]

Brazing aluminum isn’t too bad. I’ve done it several times on Trane outdoor AC units with much thinner tubing and was nervous the first time. Went smoothly and next time I didn’t even blink. Wire brush and acetone are your friends when prepping.

 

[Rednexus]

Brazing aluminum isn’t too bad. I’ve done it several times on Trane outdoor AC units with much thinner tubing and was nervous the first time. Went smoothly and next time I didn’t even blink. Wire brush and acetone are your friends when prepping.

Thanks! I hit it up pretty good with a Dremel wire brush but will hit it again before brazing. Pretty sure I have a can of acetone sitting around as well.

 

[Rednexus]

^Brazing completed. My first job...and it shows! I had a hard time due to the pipe being angled...it kept running to the bottom. So I started brazing higher up and put several layers over the damaged part of the line. But, realized the plastic AC line brackets are quite flammable! Ultimately, this did work though. The AC held vacuum all night (no loss) and is recharged and blowing super-cold. Some of the pressures are a bit wonky - low side is a bit too low and high side is a bit too high, so I'm crossing my fingers that it doesn't also have a expansion valve problem (as I don't want to rip the dash off again).

^Dobinsons C59-675V rear variable rate coils vs. Ironman stock load coils. Huge difference in robustness and build quality. The Dobinsons were a bear to get in. I had to (as they recommended) unhook both rear UCAs, the panhard bar, the rear shocks, and sway bar links. Then, with a jack under one side of the axle (to lift it), I could muscle the other side in with some help from Mrs. Rednexus.

^Rear all buttoned up, including a new set of Firestone bags as I was running the old bags at 50 psi to compensate for the crappy Ironman springs (they are only rated for 30 psi - and that's a legit rating as they definitely deformed at 50 psi). The PS bag has a minor leak I need to find as well.

^Ironman does seem to have upped their coil game. My old coils (2022 warranty replacements are on the right), new are on the left. The old ones are 2.5", the news ones are 3". Both have the same spring rating, yet the new coils have a much larger wire diameter. They should have only been 0.25" different in length, yet the old ones are like 0.5-0.75" shorter. So...yeah they really sagged.

 

[Rednexus]

^New OEM GX460 rotors, calipers, and new EBC green pads. The 460 rotors are quite a bit bigger than the 470 rotors! It took my 470 rotors about 60,000 miles to warp (and they were Bosch rotors, not OEM), so I'm hoping to get 70,000-80,000 miles out of these OEM 460 rotors. I also put new OEM 470 rotors and EBC greens on the back (and re-used my old calipers as they were ~2 year old NAPA remans), but didn't get any pics.

^New Ironman front springs installed. I used the on-the-rig compressor method as my threaded spring compressors were too big for the Ironman coils. I augmented it by dropping the lower spring height on the shocks to the near-bottom. Honestly, it worked great and was much less sketch than using threaded spring compressors. But, it was kind of a pain to spin up the lower spring perches using the Ironman spanner tool. On the PS side I had to push the tool forward about 1/3 of a turn at a time with my feet. On the DS side, I was able to pull it towards me, which was easier. Soaking everything in Kroil also helped quite a bit.

^Out in the driveway. It rides and drives great! I was worried that the 675Vs would be too stiff, but they were not. Maybe slightly stiffer than my Ironman springs were new, but overall I'm happy with the setup. Right now, I'm at 1.5" of rake. I'll drive the rig for a couple of weeks, let things settle, then do a final adjustment on the front to get the rig right at 1" of rake. I'm running sway bar-less until then (as it's way easier to use the Ironman tool to set ride height when the sway bar is off).

 

[kody472]

Are you just going to run the Dobinson springs or switch to their shocks as well? I’m looking to replace my setup to Dobinson. I still have my 2” OME setup with the Airbagman rear bags (keeping these).

 

[Rednexus]

Are you just going to run the Dobinson springs or switch to their shocks as well? I’m looking to replace my setup to Dobinson. I still have my 2” OME setup with the Airbagman rear bags (keeping these).

The Foam Cell Pros are actually still doing very well, despite having about 50K on them. When they do eventually wear out, I'll either rebuild them or replace them with Dobinsons shocks. At this point I probably won't recommend Ironman products to anyone, although the Foam Cell Pro shocks themselves are solid.

 

[Rednexus]

After my spring woes, I had a suspicions that the tongue weight on the camper was quite high. A Chineseium scale from Amazon confirmed my thoughts. It was darn near 630#! On a trailer that's only 3,200# empty! I'm sure this contributed to the premature demise of my Ironman rear coils. The thing is that the rig towed so nice and stable initially that I didn't even bother to check the tongue weight! Lesson learned.

I'm going to relocate the battery to the rear of the camper and go down to 1 propane tank. I can probably get it in the mid/low 500s, but it's doubtful it can go below that. For future trips, I'll likely use @rav8's method of running bags-only on short trips and just deal with running the WDH on anything that's more than a 3-hour drive away. Having the SpeedTurtle trailer jack will make WDH use a lot easier than it was with a hand crank.

 

[stupidchicken03]

We're sticking with 1 tank. I also converted from two lead acid to one large Lifepo4 battery (gaining almost 4x the Amp Hrs) and saved ~21 lbs over the two LA batteries.

 

[Rednexus]

We're sticking with 1 tank. I also converted from two lead acid to one large Lifepo4 battery (gaining almost 4x the Amp Hrs) and saved ~21 lbs over the two LA batteries.

FYI, the 10 ga wiring from my GX alternator back to the camper battery worked awesome. Zero problems keeping our fridge cool running on DC-only on our big trip, including some days where we were 13-14 hours from the time we pulled out of one campsite until we got to the next.

I've found a single tank of propane can last us months and months in our camper. We went through maybe 2/3 of a tank when we were out for 16 days. And, there were a number of nights in Yellowstone where we got down into the 30s and had to run the heat.

 

[kody472]

Since yall are talking about campers, I have mine for sale. 2022 Intech Sol Horizon Rover. If you know anybody interested.

 

[stupidchicken03]

FYI, the 10 ga wiring from my GX alternator back to the camper battery worked awesome. Zero problems keeping our fridge cool running on DC-only on our big trip, including some days where we were 13-14 hours from the time we pulled out of one campsite until we got to the next.

I've found a single tank of propane can last us months and months in our camper. We went through maybe 2/3 of a tank when we were out for 16 days. And, there were a number of nights in Yellowstone where we got down into the 30s and had to run the heat.

I think I would need to run a DC to DC charger from the alternator to a Lifepo4 battery. Some say yes, some say no. So more research and see how things go on our next trip.

I also got a Renogy 100 watt solar briefcase with charge controller built in. It came with alligator clips to go direct to a battery. I think ill snip the clips off and terminate the ends with weatherpack connectors, then put an Anderson plug end to the battery. So ill be able to hook straight to the battery, and swap to the clips if ever need to. I dont want to have to remove the battery lid each time I hook up to it, so the Anderson plug will just go out the side of the box.

Currently our rig is in for some small warranty things we noticed on our first trip (this is also giving me time to extend our RV gate/fence out further from the house and widening the poles to drive between).

 

[rav8]

After my spring woes, I had a suspicions that the tongue weight on the camper was quite high. A Chineseium scale from Amazon confirmed my thoughts. It was darn near 630#! On a trailer that's only 3,200# empty! I'm sure this contributed to the premature demise of my Ironman rear coils. The thing is that the rig towed so nice and stable initially that I didn't even bother to check the tongue weight! Lesson learned.

I'm going to relocate the battery to the rear of the camper and go down to 1 propane tank. I can probably get it in the mid/low 500s, but it's doubtful it can go below that. For future trips, I'll likely use @rav8's method of running bags-only on short trips and just deal with running the WDH on anything that's more than a 3-hour drive away. Having the SpeedTurtle trailer jack will make WDH use a lot easier than it was with a hand crank.
View attachment 3966167

This was mine before relocating the batteries. 3100lbs with full propane tanks but otherwise dry. I was about 390lbs after the switch to a Battleborn 100AH under one of the dinette benches and right next to the inverter. Single axle tongues tend to be heavier than the 1/10 rule.

 

[Rednexus]

View attachment 3966814
This was mine before relocating the batteries. 3100lbs with full propane tanks but otherwise dry. I was about 390lbs after the switch to a Battleborn 100AH under one of the dinette benches and right next to the inverter. Single axle tongues tend to be heavier than the 1/10 rule.

A TrailManor is also (intentionally) a very tongue heavy trailer. I think 14% is their target spec. It supposedly to reduce sway, which is true as I pulled the camper through some 40-50 mph cross winds in MT and it didn't sway a bit. But, we still run a sway bar anyway, so I'd be happier with a bit less tongue weight .

 

[Rednexus]

Snuck out for a quick evening trip with my 8 year-old. His first time sleeping in the GX with me, as well as eating freeze-dried backpacking meals (which he surprisingly loved!). Not a bad place to wake up in the morning, and it was a good 5 degrees cooler up there then in home. We then went and rode backroads for a few hours, including running up one very short (100-yd long or so long) but super-steep hill climb that it looks like SXSs hit all the time. Made it up no problem with the F and R lockers engaged! Not a lot of steering, but the GX had insane traction, even on street tire pressures.

I think we'll have more trips this late summer/fall. Luckily we have a ton of places to camp - from actual campground to random spots on forest service roads, within an hour of here.