RG7 GX460 Journal (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter RG7
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Dropping the skid and unbolting the swaybar from the KDSS brackets is the way to go for front shock install. It is way less time to undo those 8 bolts then try to fight against a big bar of spring steel and your LCA bushings. When I installed my Dobinsons a few weeks ago I disconnected from the brackets and just loosened the swaybar from the LCA. The new shocks went in easily.
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- #23
On avg around 3.5” of ride height incl tires. I took measurements but they weren’t dialed in at all so this is +/- a good margin.
Ride is really good, given the tires are E range and more aggressive than I thought they’d be for an AT. I’d say any noticeable increase in NVH can be attributed almost entirely to the tires. Very impressed with this suspension.
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- #24
Had some time to do some tweaking on the GX this weekend.
Wrapped the chrome door handles and molding in gloss black. Originally was going to have these painted but glad I didn’t — this was cheaper and I’m not in love with the black on dark blue for these pieces but it’s much better than the chrome.
The wrap job is a solid 10 footer and I don’t have high hopes for how this will hold up over time but I paid $40 for a 6x10 roll of vinyl which will last me a long time so I have plenty to redo it with if need be.
Eventually the door handles will be swapped for the 2020+ versions that eliminate the chrome strip, and I’ll remove the door moldings and have the holes welded and resprayed, but that’s a long way off.
Also installed LED’s
Much brighter, will see if the color temp ends up being too harsh.
In other news I have a pretty long trip out west lined up for September, which means I need to get a few things done by then:
— Bumper (victory blitz)
— Winch (tbd)
— Sliders (RCI)
— rack and rtt
— figure out a spare tire solution that does not involve spending $4k for a rear bumper
Don’t love the idea of the rooftop tent, but my fiancée is coming with me and sleeping two people in the back of the GX with two weeks worth of gear isn’t going to be feasible. Ground tent is also out.
With that in mind, the only rtt I’ll consider is the GFC superlite for two reasons; first it’s only 80lbs so impact to COG is minimized. Second, it’s fairly low profile and sets up easily.
Unfortunately GFC no longer makes the superlite, and their timeline on returning it to production is uncertain. If anyone knows of one for sale please shout.
My second dilemma is carrying a spare. Roof rack is out, and I don’t love any of the current bumper options for the GX. Kaymar imo is the best but I still don’t love it, so paying the price for one is also out.
Will more than likely end up having something done custom.
Wrapped the chrome door handles and molding in gloss black. Originally was going to have these painted but glad I didn’t — this was cheaper and I’m not in love with the black on dark blue for these pieces but it’s much better than the chrome.
The wrap job is a solid 10 footer and I don’t have high hopes for how this will hold up over time but I paid $40 for a 6x10 roll of vinyl which will last me a long time so I have plenty to redo it with if need be.
Eventually the door handles will be swapped for the 2020+ versions that eliminate the chrome strip, and I’ll remove the door moldings and have the holes welded and resprayed, but that’s a long way off.
Also installed LED’s
Much brighter, will see if the color temp ends up being too harsh.
In other news I have a pretty long trip out west lined up for September, which means I need to get a few things done by then:
— Bumper (victory blitz)
— Winch (tbd)
— Sliders (RCI)
— rack and rtt
— figure out a spare tire solution that does not involve spending $4k for a rear bumper
Don’t love the idea of the rooftop tent, but my fiancée is coming with me and sleeping two people in the back of the GX with two weeks worth of gear isn’t going to be feasible. Ground tent is also out.
With that in mind, the only rtt I’ll consider is the GFC superlite for two reasons; first it’s only 80lbs so impact to COG is minimized. Second, it’s fairly low profile and sets up easily.
Unfortunately GFC no longer makes the superlite, and their timeline on returning it to production is uncertain. If anyone knows of one for sale please shout.
My second dilemma is carrying a spare. Roof rack is out, and I don’t love any of the current bumper options for the GX. Kaymar imo is the best but I still don’t love it, so paying the price for one is also out.
Will more than likely end up having something done custom.
Looks good. What vinyl did you use for the chrome?
r2m
Richard
I understand the negatives of a RTT, but we love ours. And yes they are WAY better than ground tents. Much warmer and you're not having to get up off the floor. You just swing your legs out and stand up from a seated position. Easy-peasy.
Just a suggestion about the spare tire situation, if you're not doing any serious off roading and staying either on tarmac or well maintained fire roads, you should be fine with just a can or two of tire inflation sealant. Unless you're rock crawling or serious off roading, there should not be any issues of possibly shreding a tire where a can of inflate wouldn't work. And even if you did, if you're on the road, withing a short distance of a town you should be able to replace the tire pretty easily.
Also, do you have a compressor yet? A compressor comes in handy in case of a slow leaker.
Yeah, I know, I don't like that sealant material inside my tires either, but it's just a safety net.
Just a suggestion about the spare tire situation, if you're not doing any serious off roading and staying either on tarmac or well maintained fire roads, you should be fine with just a can or two of tire inflation sealant. Unless you're rock crawling or serious off roading, there should not be any issues of possibly shreding a tire where a can of inflate wouldn't work. And even if you did, if you're on the road, withing a short distance of a town you should be able to replace the tire pretty easily.
Also, do you have a compressor yet? A compressor comes in handy in case of a slow leaker.
Yeah, I know, I don't like that sealant material inside my tires either, but it's just a safety net.
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- #27
- Thread starter
- #30
Minor update — work and an oil burning 80 that’s taken up residence in my garage have kept me away from working on the GX other than washing and tinkering here and there.
However I woke up last week and realized I only have 3 months until a big trip out west to do sections of the Colorado and Wyoming BDRs and the truck is sorely unprepared to take these on at the moment. So parts ordering began and money was flying out of my wallet before I even knew what was happening.
Big ticket items on order:
- Victory Blitz front bumper
- RCI sliders
Still figuring out what winch I want to go with. Most likely something from the smittybilt range. For how often I’ll be in a scenario where I might need to winch this will do fine.
I also got in quite a bit of aluminum extrusion and connectors which will be the basis for a rear drawer system. I’m planning to build two identical boxes that can serve as a sleeping platform when the dog isn’t along for the ride, and stacked on top of each other when his crate is in the truck. Should be pretty neat.
Maintenance/tweaking to be done in the near future:
- Diff fluid
- Tcase fluid
- Chop front bumper to cut down on install time for when the victory bumper shows up
- Probably trim some of the rear bumper
- Retorque and check all suspension components replaced when I did the lift
Still need to figure out a roof storage solution. I don’t like the look of most roof racks out there for this truck, so will likely be going with the LFD crossbars. Midguard’s adventure bars look nice but as they’re designed for mounting a tent they only have three crossbars which won’t work for my needs.
Good bit to do on this thing in a short amount of time. Should be fun!
However I woke up last week and realized I only have 3 months until a big trip out west to do sections of the Colorado and Wyoming BDRs and the truck is sorely unprepared to take these on at the moment. So parts ordering began and money was flying out of my wallet before I even knew what was happening.
Big ticket items on order:
- Victory Blitz front bumper
- RCI sliders
Still figuring out what winch I want to go with. Most likely something from the smittybilt range. For how often I’ll be in a scenario where I might need to winch this will do fine.
I also got in quite a bit of aluminum extrusion and connectors which will be the basis for a rear drawer system. I’m planning to build two identical boxes that can serve as a sleeping platform when the dog isn’t along for the ride, and stacked on top of each other when his crate is in the truck. Should be pretty neat.
Maintenance/tweaking to be done in the near future:
- Diff fluid
- Tcase fluid
- Chop front bumper to cut down on install time for when the victory bumper shows up
- Probably trim some of the rear bumper
- Retorque and check all suspension components replaced when I did the lift
Still need to figure out a roof storage solution. I don’t like the look of most roof racks out there for this truck, so will likely be going with the LFD crossbars. Midguard’s adventure bars look nice but as they’re designed for mounting a tent they only have three crossbars which won’t work for my needs.
Good bit to do on this thing in a short amount of time. Should be fun!
- Thread starter
- #32
I’ll do a write up on it once I have some miles in. Looks like you’re from NC as well — happy to meet up once I get it installed so you can see the victory up close
r2m
Richard
A coupe of suggestions:
- Love this winch: Amazon product ASIN B00K150VAI It's water proof AND already has synthetic line. So far has been an outstanding winch every time I've used it.
- ABSOLUTELY get skid plates and protect your underbelly!!! This should be before bumpers, sliders, winch and almost anything else. Even on mild trails, they can be heavily rutted or an unexpected rock garden and I've seen more than once someone slide a tire into a rut and bang their underside. After wheels and tires, I feel this is the next most important mod. You don't have to go stupid heavy duty, but cover all the basics.
^The OEM skids on the front are better than people think, but a full length fuel tank skid and a skid for the transmission/transfer case are pretty cheap insurance if you go anywhere rocky
SteadfastRocky
Supporting Vendor
- Thread starter
- #37
Thanks. Deciding on wheels always takes me forever so I was really stoked on how they turned out.
That mount is trick. Love how low profile it is. RTT is on the backburner at the moment but I’ll be looking to copy that when the time comes.
Good points both. Skids are on the list.
Not sure the level of wheeling you do, or want to do, but be carful which skids you go with. The ARB set is nice, but thin. FYI
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- #39
Decent bit of work has gone into the GX over the past month or so.
First big delivery was RCI sliders.
Couple of things to note with these:
1. KDSS line skid needs to be trimmed slightly where it mates with the upright section of the frame. No biggie.
2. Chasing the threads in the frame massively helps the install process.
3. The gussets connecting the outer bar to the square tube are not as pictured on their site. The site has a picture of tubed gussets whereas what I got were c channel gussets that are open on the bottom.
I ordered the non-tread plate version, but RCI accidentally sent me the tread plates as well, so initially I thought that maybe they used c channel for the tread plate SKU and tube for the version without, but RCI confirmed several times that they are the same for both versions; they changed their mfg process for these and never uploaded new photos to the product page.
Not thrilled with this for a few reasons:
- Open square edges that will get hung up on rocks much more easily than a tube version
- The c channel is inherently less strong than a fully enclosed DOM tube. And the fact that it’s open on the bottom allows a leverage point against the brace that those in the product page do not have.
Is the strength difference enough to matter? I don’t know. I’m not an engineer but would love for one to chime in on this. Probably not enough to make a difference for my use case and I didn’t want to deal with returning these so we shall see how they do.
Other than the difference in the gussets these seem pretty stout.
On the upside, RCI let me keep the tread plates so if anyone wants them they’re free picked up in the Charlotte area. Might be able to make them work with a different brand as well.
First big delivery was RCI sliders.
Couple of things to note with these:
1. KDSS line skid needs to be trimmed slightly where it mates with the upright section of the frame. No biggie.
2. Chasing the threads in the frame massively helps the install process.
3. The gussets connecting the outer bar to the square tube are not as pictured on their site. The site has a picture of tubed gussets whereas what I got were c channel gussets that are open on the bottom.
I ordered the non-tread plate version, but RCI accidentally sent me the tread plates as well, so initially I thought that maybe they used c channel for the tread plate SKU and tube for the version without, but RCI confirmed several times that they are the same for both versions; they changed their mfg process for these and never uploaded new photos to the product page.
Not thrilled with this for a few reasons:
- Open square edges that will get hung up on rocks much more easily than a tube version
- The c channel is inherently less strong than a fully enclosed DOM tube. And the fact that it’s open on the bottom allows a leverage point against the brace that those in the product page do not have.
Is the strength difference enough to matter? I don’t know. I’m not an engineer but would love for one to chime in on this. Probably not enough to make a difference for my use case and I didn’t want to deal with returning these so we shall see how they do.
Other than the difference in the gussets these seem pretty stout.
On the upside, RCI let me keep the tread plates so if anyone wants them they’re free picked up in the Charlotte area. Might be able to make them work with a different brand as well.
- Thread starter
- #40
Next up was dialing in the suspension. The front had settled a good bit and I wanted to get it closer to level, with a little extra room since a bumper and winch is going on in short order.
Before:
After:
The second pic is directly after I buttoned everything up so it’s settled a bit since then but much better. Will likely need to adjust again once I get the victory blitz and winch on.
I tried a few different methods of adjusting these with mixed results: cranking on the collars + wd40, cranking collars + wd40 + spring compressors, removing from the vehicle and getting all three compressors on + wd40 + cranking on the collars. Made a little progress here but I’m not set up for this kind of job in my garage.
Ultimately, having seen too many videos of spring compressors failing and being pretty happy with my face and it’s relative lack of disfigurement, I took the coilovers to a shop and they got me tuned up.
I did see a video where they unbolted the top hat nuts on a prado and slowly lifted the vehicle up which releases spring pressure. Could be worth trying but also sounds like I’d have a disaster on my hands if something went wrong.
The big lessons learned here after installing the suspension a second time:
- I’m much more familiar with the front suspension of the GX
- Dealing with KDSS was much easier this time and I immediately unbolted the swaybar which made the install go much faster. The Ironman install video does the install without unbolting the front swaybar but IMO you need to do this. It’s not difficult to get back on and saves hours fighting the LCA’s.
- Next coilovers I buy, on-vehicle adjustment will be a major pro.
Before:
After:
The second pic is directly after I buttoned everything up so it’s settled a bit since then but much better. Will likely need to adjust again once I get the victory blitz and winch on.
I tried a few different methods of adjusting these with mixed results: cranking on the collars + wd40, cranking collars + wd40 + spring compressors, removing from the vehicle and getting all three compressors on + wd40 + cranking on the collars. Made a little progress here but I’m not set up for this kind of job in my garage.
Ultimately, having seen too many videos of spring compressors failing and being pretty happy with my face and it’s relative lack of disfigurement, I took the coilovers to a shop and they got me tuned up.
I did see a video where they unbolted the top hat nuts on a prado and slowly lifted the vehicle up which releases spring pressure. Could be worth trying but also sounds like I’d have a disaster on my hands if something went wrong.
The big lessons learned here after installing the suspension a second time:
- I’m much more familiar with the front suspension of the GX
- Dealing with KDSS was much easier this time and I immediately unbolted the swaybar which made the install go much faster. The Ironman install video does the install without unbolting the front swaybar but IMO you need to do this. It’s not difficult to get back on and saves hours fighting the LCA’s.
- Next coilovers I buy, on-vehicle adjustment will be a major pro.
