Builds "Rednexus" - 2007 GX470 Build and Fabrication Thread (1 Viewer)

[Rednexus]

Haven't done much with the GX lately, but I have been up to other things. I made some add-ons for a cheap Titan Attachments 3 point ballast box for a family member. My fabrication list included a top rack for a tool box plus side baskets for a 2.5 gallon fuel can and jug of chainsaw bar oil. I also bolted a ROPS chainsaw mount to the front of the box. Everything was built out of flat strap (3/16" and 1/8") bent in my press brake. I've been come quite fond of fabricating with the bent flat strap as it's quick, flat strap is cheap, and the resulting parts are strong.

Here it is on my tractor (a John Deere 3025D). It will be going on a 3043D which is the same as mine except having a turbo engine with nearly 2X the horsepower (they have over 100 acres of woods, I have <5!).

^In hindsight I should have dropped the rear bar for the toolbox rack so it could be opened on the tractor.

^Everything is bolted to the box using M8x1.25 hardware.

^The saw position is less than optimal, but should work. It could probably be tilted down to the saw is more horizontal.

^Using the tractor itself as a drying rack for painted items. It's amazing how many one-off things like this a compact tractor with pallet forks can be used to do.

 

[Cold Iron]

Outstanding job and extra points for the finish in JD Green!

 

[Rednexus]

Have some more non-Lexus content for today.

^This is a 2011 Outback owned by a family member. It recently had a bunch of work done by an independent mechanic, including a mostly-new cooling system. Yet, it started to chronically overheat. So it went to a different independent shop, who diagnosed it as a radiator cap. And, it kept overheating. It went back to the second shop this week, who diagnosed it as a thermostat (despite Shop 1 putting a new Aisin T-stat in it this spring), and charged $900 for the diagnostics, a new T-stat, and a coolant flush. My family member picked up the Subie and it puked coolant within a couple miles of Shop 2. It goes back to Shop 2, who then drops the "head gasket" possibility.

At this point Shop 2 had zero credibility and Shop 1 was also questionable. So, I intervened, and had the Subie towed to my place late last night.

^Subies are notorious for head gaskets (I know as I owned at least one Subaru for over a decade!). So I pulled it in for a compression and leakdown test (this was an excuse to buy a leakdown tester).

^Compression numbers came back stellar for an EJ253 with 180K on it. I'll attribute that to this being a one-owner car that was regularly serviced.

^Leakdown numbers also came back pretty darn good. There was no evidence of air bubbles coming out of the radiator during the tests. So, this completely ruled out the possibility of a head gasket leak (and saves me from having to procure a JDM engine and swap it, which is about a day of work on one of these).

 

[Rednexus]

At this point it obvisouly had some kind of a cooling problem, despite every component in the cooling system being brand new.

^I first tried a bleed using a elevated funnel, which works great on my GX. A TON of air came out during this. I'm suspecting that both Shop 1 and Shop 2 didn't properly bleed the air. But, I took it for a spin, and coolant temps shot up and it overheated within a few miles .

^Thinking the funnel wasn't good enough, I had Mrs. Rednexus grab me a vacuum bleeder at HF. I pulled a vacuum on the cooling system for 20 minutes before air stopped coming out. This was after my funnel bleed, but the car had overheated. I then took it on another spin....it quickly got up to 210F, but would stay around ~200F it the engine was spinning fast. I parked it when it was reading ~230F and found the radiator cool to the touch, indicating I either had no water pump flow or a blockage somewhere. Since air bubbles had been ruled out as a source of blockage (via the vacuum bleed), the only remaining parts were the thermostat and water pump.

To rule out the T-stat, I removed it, re-filled the cooling system (using the vacuum bleeder again which is an awesome tool), and took it for a spin. Diagnosed! It was running around 165-175F, so the T-stat installed on Thursday had been blocking flow.

^I also put the Shop 2 T-stat in a pot of water. It barely opened at 207F despite being a 190F thermostat. A new Subaru-branded T-stat is on order.

It's certainly frustrating to have to spent my Saturday fixing what 2 shops could not. I'm thinking that Shop 1 didn't bleed the system well, Shop 2 first mis-diagnosed it was a radiator cap, and then a new thermostat that was bad out of the box (and may have also mis-bled it, in addition to failing to test drive it). I have zero confidence that Shop 1 or 2 could have figured this out. It would have had to go to the local Subaru dealer who is notoriously crooked, so my Saturday probably saved my family member $1K or more.

 

[aztoytec]

I’ve been turning wrenches for 30 plus years. Couple independents, a Toyota dealer for 15 years and currently at a Chevrolet dealer ( doing used car reconditioning, not main shop!). It’s seems to be a lost art. Nobody wants to properly diagnose vehicles. They throw parts at it and then if that doesn’t work they scare the customer out it. If it’s not maintenance nobody wants it. Absolutely horrible. It’s almost embarrassing to tell people what I do for a living. I’m about done doing this, may try parts now that life is slowing down.
(kids grown, booted the wife!)
Nice job diagnosing that, if you ever want a career change let me know, you are better than 80 percent of the techs I have now!

 

[aztoytec]

Actually more like 99%!

 

[Rednexus]

Actually more like 99%!

Thanks! I'm more or less self-taught, but have been nearly all of my own wrenching for 25 years now. Having a background in engineering honestly helps a lot as I can go back to classes in physics, chemistry, and hydraulics I took 20+ years ago and use that knowledge to understand how the vehicle works at the theoretical level, even though I lack formal training. I've certainly screwed up a number of things since I started wrenching, but learned a lot in the process.

Ever think about opening your own shop, even as a single-shingle? The one honest shop we have around here (who does all of my tires and alignments) is always super-busy. We had a one-man import shop who specialized in Toyotas/Hondas/Nissans/etc, but he retired and no one bought the business. It's domestic car country here and a lot of folks don't care to try to work on Japanese vehicles. There seems to be a market for honest, capable mechanics.

I sometimes toss around the idea of making a LLC and working on Toyota 4x4s and Subies on the side (since I know both so well), but it might be tough with the demands of my day job, and would take away from other hobbies.

 

[aztoytec]

Thought about opening a shop years ago. I just don’t have it in me anymore. Me and my son got a couple Miata’s and been doing time attacks and a couple small tracks/courses around here. We really want to do more. Working on cars for income and a hobby has been getting hard. I hoping a career change will get me back to enjoying again. My son and I build one Miata basically from the ground up and he really learned a lot. Just basic tool management goes really far.