Builds Roody’s 2018 Lexus GX460 Build, Adventure, and Hooniverse Podcast (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Roody
- Start date
-
- Tags
- build thread gx460
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
r2m
Richard
Yep, that's when I buy any Christmas lights that burn out and stuff like that, usually during the summer before the holiday rush.
- Thread starter
- #183
A few weeks back the GX's battery was dead when I went to start it in the morning. I jumped it with my jump pack, got the battery charged, and the truck was fine for a few weeks. I started doing some research into which battery would be the stock unit's replacement, but put it on the backburner as everything seemed fine.
It was, until this past Saturday. The truck was dead as dead gets when I went to start it. One trip to Costco later and I had an Interstate 27F on my work bench ready to swap into the GX. There were definitely "better" options but this battery was extremely affordable (~$130 all-in with taxes and core charge), has a 3-year warranty, and was available without any fuss.
Old stock battery:
Here's the stock battery in the tray. The gap (i.e., extra space) can be seen here:
Old battery vs new battery:
New battery installed. Had to move a relay but it fits *perfectly* in the tray. Nice and tidy:
Once everything is reconnected you have to start the truck once, let it shut itself off, wait a few seconds, and restart it. The infotainment screen shows "System loading. Don't turn off the power." and that's the end of it. Easy process only made difficult by the ice under my feet where the truck was parked.
It was, until this past Saturday. The truck was dead as dead gets when I went to start it. One trip to Costco later and I had an Interstate 27F on my work bench ready to swap into the GX. There were definitely "better" options but this battery was extremely affordable (~$130 all-in with taxes and core charge), has a 3-year warranty, and was available without any fuss.
Old stock battery:
Here's the stock battery in the tray. The gap (i.e., extra space) can be seen here:
Old battery vs new battery:
New battery installed. Had to move a relay but it fits *perfectly* in the tray. Nice and tidy:
Once everything is reconnected you have to start the truck once, let it shut itself off, wait a few seconds, and restart it. The infotainment screen shows "System loading. Don't turn off the power." and that's the end of it. Easy process only made difficult by the ice under my feet where the truck was parked.
I too find Costco hard to beat for a straightforward battery replacement. Nice job on the size upgrade.
SteadfastRocky
Supporting Vendor
Interstates are not sexy but unless you go toyota OE there isnt a better none AGM
- Thread starter
- #186
The other options were appealing but 2x the cost of the Costco battery at the minimum. And thanks, finally confirmed for myself another GXOR top tip that improves the vehicle!
Function over form, and all that...
FYI with repeated drained batteries you might want to do a parasitic draw test. I went through that with my GX when it was eating batteries yearly or so. Turns out my rear cargo area dome light had a short in it. It's pretty easy to do the parasitic draw test if you have a multimeter that can measure up to 10A of current flow.
- Thread starter
- #188
Thanks, hoping that isn't the case and it was just my OEM stock battery on borrowed time.
r2m
Richard
Had that rear light kill my battery more than once also.
With the delayed off lights, you just don't see that rear cargo light when you walk away at night after locking since ALL the lights are on for that 30 seconds or so.
r2m
Richard
I keep the interior lights hard turned off the interior with the dome switch. Yeah, I don't have an interior light when I open the door, but I also know that ALL the lights are off to.
Problem is if I take anything off the rear Victory shelf in back it rubs and turns on the rear switch which I don't catch that it was turned on.
Mine had some weird behavior....the door-on didn't work at all (no light when the door was opened, despite the bulb being good). If it was left on door-on, it would slowly drain the battery over several days of being parked despite the light being off. If it was turned to "off", it wouldn't drain the battery. So the light assembly had some kind of an internal short. I just replaced the whole assembly with a used one from eBay.
It was very difficult to troubleshoot and took me 2-3 hours to figure out where the draw was coming from, since the problem wasn't reproducible until the dome light was on the right setting.
- Thread starter
- #193
Going to keep a close eye on things over the next few days, especially the interior lights. It's easy this time of year to do so as it's dark here by like 5pm... but still hoping/thinking this was just a case of an old battery living out its last days and warranting a replacement.
- Thread starter
- #194
Over on TacomaWorld we've been delving deep into the world of RCs. Hoping I can mesh things here and bring my shameless nerdy love of radio-controlled cars/trucks/etc over to the IH8MUD world as well. Anyways... here's what's transpired over there. And yes, I'm planning to update things on here the same way I do with the full-size stuff
Things have escalated quickly here... As of Dec 2022 I had an Axial Yeti Jr and Traxxas TRX-4M Defender (plus an abomination of XMods that were partially/marginally functional).
Then RC4WD sent me a C2X to test and play with. It sent my love for all things RC into a tornadic spiral.
Then in 12/2023 I bought a FMS FCX24 Power Wagon.
Then I fell in love with scale rock crawling after the C2X made a sucker out of me.
Well, I have no self restraint. I ordered a black/green (Off the Road Again Podcast colors!) Axial AX24 from Amazon, which was somewhat "broken" out of the box. Ordered another (very orange) and had other issues. But... I love the AX24's four-wheel-steer and amazing out-of-the-box suspension travel. Might keep it. TBD...
Winter called and I ordered a couple of the 1/28 Team Associated things to play with, an MT28 and SC28 for me and my brother. For $60/ea., the worst that happens is we return them to Amazon. Thanks, annual fee!
Also... have an E-Revo 1/16 VXL on the way. Hopefully arriving soon. Loooooooooong overdue for a proper basher, and been debating between this and other comparable models for weeks/months. The MERV seemed like a good "no headaches" choice.
Moment of reflection...
When I was a kid, RC cars were my favorite thing in the world. I was a "sports kid" in that I loved baseball and football etc, but radio-controlled toys really were my calling. Back then, in the '90s, it was barely a hobby in the area I lived in. Might not be much different now, but I enjoy it possibly even more... sharing it with friends, family, and loved ones really is special. This new world that I'm playing in is special in that same way.
I love this.
Things have escalated quickly here... As of Dec 2022 I had an Axial Yeti Jr and Traxxas TRX-4M Defender (plus an abomination of XMods that were partially/marginally functional).
Then RC4WD sent me a C2X to test and play with. It sent my love for all things RC into a tornadic spiral.
Then in 12/2023 I bought a FMS FCX24 Power Wagon.
Then I fell in love with scale rock crawling after the C2X made a sucker out of me.
Well, I have no self restraint. I ordered a black/green (Off the Road Again Podcast colors!) Axial AX24 from Amazon, which was somewhat "broken" out of the box. Ordered another (very orange) and had other issues. But... I love the AX24's four-wheel-steer and amazing out-of-the-box suspension travel. Might keep it. TBD...
Winter called and I ordered a couple of the 1/28 Team Associated things to play with, an MT28 and SC28 for me and my brother. For $60/ea., the worst that happens is we return them to Amazon. Thanks, annual fee!
Also... have an E-Revo 1/16 VXL on the way. Hopefully arriving soon. Loooooooooong overdue for a proper basher, and been debating between this and other comparable models for weeks/months. The MERV seemed like a good "no headaches" choice.
Moment of reflection...
When I was a kid, RC cars were my favorite thing in the world. I was a "sports kid" in that I loved baseball and football etc, but radio-controlled toys really were my calling. Back then, in the '90s, it was barely a hobby in the area I lived in. Might not be much different now, but I enjoy it possibly even more... sharing it with friends, family, and loved ones really is special. This new world that I'm playing in is special in that same way.
I love this.
r2m
Richard
Okay, since you opened the door, I just purchased a Creality K1 Max FDM printer a few months ago (https://store.creality.com/products/k1-max-3d-printer) for my company to augment the AnyCubic Photon Mono X resin printer (Anycubic Photon Mono X - https://www.anycubic.com/products/photon-mono-x-resin-printer) I already have.Over on TacomaWorld we've been delving deep into the world of RCs. Hoping I can mesh things here and bring my shameless nerdy love of radio-controlled cars/trucks/etc over to the IH8MUD world as well. Anyways... here's what's transpired over there. And yes, I'm planning to update things on here the same way I do with the full-size stuff
Things have escalated quickly here... As of Dec 2022 I had an Axial Yeti Jr and Traxxas TRX-4M Defender (plus an abomination of XMods that were partially/marginally functional).
Then RC4WD sent me a C2X to test and play with. It sent my love for all things RC into a tornadic spiral.
Then in 12/2023 I bought a FMS FCX24 Power Wagon.
Then I fell in love with scale rock crawling after the C2X made a sucker out of me.
Well, I have no self restraint. I ordered a black/green (Off the Road Again Podcast colors!) Axial AX24 from Amazon, which was somewhat "broken" out of the box. Ordered another (very orange) and had other issues. But... I love the AX24's four-wheel-steer and amazing out-of-the-box suspension travel. Might keep it. TBD...
Winter called and I ordered a couple of the 1/28 Team Associated things to play with, an MT28 and SC28 for me and my brother. For $60/ea., the worst that happens is we return them to Amazon. Thanks, annual fee!
Also... have an E-Revo 1/16 VXL on the way. Hopefully arriving soon. Loooooooooong overdue for a proper basher, and been debating between this and other comparable models for weeks/months. The MERV seemed like a good "no headaches" choice.
Moment of reflection...
When I was a kid, RC cars were my favorite thing in the world. I was a "sports kid" in that I loved baseball and football etc, but radio-controlled toys really were my calling. Back then, in the '90s, it was barely a hobby in the area I lived in. Might not be much different now, but I enjoy it possibly even more... sharing it with friends, family, and loved ones really is special. This new world that I'm playing in is special in that same way.
I love this.
This is what I want to do, one of these: Bamboo 4x4 - 3dsets.com - https://3dsets.com/product-category/models/bamboo-4x4/
or one of these: Landy 4x4 - 3dsets.com - https://3dsets.com/product-category/models/landy-4x4/
Just don't have the budget right now with starting my business for the RC electronics (radio, servos, charger, motors, bearings, etc.) for a project like one of these.
But they are just sooo cool!
Here's the stock battery in the tray. The gap (i.e., extra space) can be seen here:
Old battery vs new battery:
New battery installed. Had to move a relay but it fits *perfectly* in the tray. Nice and tidy:
Once everything is reconnected you have to start the truck once, let it shut itself off, wait a few seconds, and restart it. The infotainment screen shows "System loading. Don't turn off the power." and that's the end of it. Easy process only made difficult by the ice under my feet where the truck was parked.
I replaced my GX's battery with an X2 AGM 27F the other week. I discovered that the stock tray is 27F sized only after buying a new one. The hazards of relying on the internet for info. In the states we get the smaller 24F.
I didn't have to move a relay, it dropped right in. While battery shopping I found that Canada market GXes come with 27Fs.
The AGM-capable battery charger I got for this battery has a 12 power supply mode. I connected it to the battery cables before disconnecting them from the battery. Other than having to be careful about shorting them on something, that worked great. Since power was not interrupted to the car, it didn't lose its settings or go through the "System loading" phase.
Over on TacomaWorld we've been delving deep into the world of RCs. Hoping I can mesh things here and bring my shameless nerdy love of radio-controlled cars/trucks/etc over to the IH8MUD world as well. Anyways... here's what's transpired over there. And yes, I'm planning to update things on here the same way I do with the full-size stuff
Things have escalated quickly here... As of Dec 2022 I had an Axial Yeti Jr and Traxxas TRX-4M Defender (plus an abomination of XMods that were partially/marginally functional).
Then RC4WD sent me a C2X to test and play with. It sent my love for all things RC into a tornadic spiral.
Then in 12/2023 I bought a FMS FCX24 Power Wagon.
Then I fell in love with scale rock crawling after the C2X made a sucker out of me.
Well, I have no self restraint. I ordered a black/green (Off the Road Again Podcast colors!) Axial AX24 from Amazon, which was somewhat "broken" out of the box. Ordered another (very orange) and had other issues. But... I love the AX24's four-wheel-steer and amazing out-of-the-box suspension travel. Might keep it. TBD...
Winter called and I ordered a couple of the 1/28 Team Associated things to play with, an MT28 and SC28 for me and my brother. For $60/ea., the worst that happens is we return them to Amazon. Thanks, annual fee!
Also... have an E-Revo 1/16 VXL on the way. Hopefully arriving soon. Loooooooooong overdue for a proper basher, and been debating between this and other comparable models for weeks/months. The MERV seemed like a good "no headaches" choice.
Moment of reflection...
When I was a kid, RC cars were my favorite thing in the world. I was a "sports kid" in that I loved baseball and football etc, but radio-controlled toys really were my calling. Back then, in the '90s, it was barely a hobby in the area I lived in. Might not be much different now, but I enjoy it possibly even more... sharing it with friends, family, and loved ones really is special. This new world that I'm playing in is special in that same way.
I love this.
We've really been enjoying bringing out the R/C trucks on our trips - each person will bring one or two TRX-4Ms or SCX-24s and we'll build a rock course.
I also have far too many R/C cars. Two 1/16 Traxxas (E-Revo and Slash), an ARRMA basher thing I got for cheap, two 1/28 Kyosho Mini-Z 4x4 (you should look into these if you like small scale stuff), an FMS K-10 that I won from a magazine, and a few others. Maybe one day I will collect them all and take a picture haha.
- Thread starter
- #198
That's awesome! Let me know how it pans out.
I considered an AGM but it was probably overkill for my needs, and definitely out of what I wanted to spend.
How do you like the SCX24s? I love my TRX-4M but think Axial may still have the edge on the aftermarket. And how's the 1/16 E-Revo? Mine should be here Saturday. Any tips/tricks? The Mini-Zs do also look great, might have to pick up the first gen 4Runner one later this year
My friends mostly run the SCXs, and they're super capable. A little smaller, a little less scale looking, but huge aftermarket. The axles on them are worm gear drive, so they don't coast like regular geared trucks, but it means it has a huge amount of control. The TRXs just look better though.
As for the E-Revo, it's a fun little basher. The rocker arm suspension is sensitive to load/weight and how you run your spring rates, so consider looking into additional springs to tune. But it's super progressive and the travel is better than things bigger than it. I had batteries from the 1/16 Slash before, so I run two batteries in it at 14.4v and it's hilarious.
As for the E-Revo, it's a fun little basher. The rocker arm suspension is sensitive to load/weight and how you run your spring rates, so consider looking into additional springs to tune. But it's super progressive and the travel is better than things bigger than it. I had batteries from the 1/16 Slash before, so I run two batteries in it at 14.4v and it's hilarious.
- Thread starter
- #200
Noted on both fronts. Just need Axial to come out with a 'Yota body for the SCX24 and I'd be on board. Those NiMH or LiPos you're running in the E-Revo?
