Builds Scott’s GX 460 build GreenvilleOverland

[skey44]

She definitely loves sleeping in the car but both girls have loved this Osprey pack for nap time, half mile in and they’re into rem sleep.

Also I have hit every railroad track near my home in the week since I got the phone mount, and we have a lot of really rough ones. I added the challenge of inappropriate speeds and this magnet mount is solid. If you’re knocking the phone off this thing you have more faith in the GX robustness than I. I give it 5 ️ so far.

 

[skey44]

On another note I love the girls so much, and being a dad really keeps me feeling young and happy at this point. I’m thinking about another one late next year!
Scrap the Tacoma idea. Looked at a tundra today lol. $60k is definitely rich for my blood but better to plan now and keep finances in mind. Hoping prices and loan rates will come down in the next 2years.
Maybe the GX can fit us all and work? I should probably just hire someone for 2x a year yard/home maintenance at this point instead of buying a $60k truck to haul some yard trash out of the dump.
My biggest yard issue is I have a lot of shrubs that need 2x a year heavy trimming and mature deciduous trees that litter my lawn with leaves from October to January. I have curbside trash, but nothing to take away the bulky leaves and trimmings. I also want to get rid of my 5x10 trailer.
Love my “simple” GX other than the lack of truck utility at this point. With 3 kids not sure I will really have time to do the heavy lifting yardwork at this point anyways.

 

[skey44]

Maybe I should get on the sienna hybrid wait list now
Hell no

 

[skey44]

Yup this thing is sweet. Maybe I should route the cable… I probably won’t.

 

[rav8]

hire someone for 2x a year yard/home maintenance at this point instead of buying a $60k truck

This or rent a U-Haul truck/van for the 2 hauling days a year. Leaves more $$$/time for future memories.

Those Ospreys are awesome. Instant nap chamber.

 

[Rednexus]

I hauled 5 loads of leaves to our city yard waste disposal area with my GX yesterday. I have a 4x8 trailer with 2' high solid sides. My 5- and 8-year olds love walking around in the trailer and packing the leaves down as I load it. Otherwise, it would be 15+ loads of loose leaves. During non-leaf season I keep the trailer parked and we load it with sticks/limbs, then I take it to the disposal area when it's full. You can probably easily build some simple plywood sides for your trailer and have more bed space than you'd get in a fullsize truck bed (by a lot, considering how tiny crewmax beds are). Frankly, the trailer is also much easier to load and unload, due to the sides being several feet lower than a modern fullsize truck.

Last weekend I hauled home a deer on the hitch carrier. Today was a 5'-6" high, 200-pound drill press (also in the 4x8 trailer ). And we pull our camper a few thousand miles a year, with the whole family in the GX.

So....you don't really need a truck .

 

[r2m]

On another note I love the girls so much, and being a dad really keeps me feeling young and happy at this point. I’m thinking about another one late next year!
Scrap the Tacoma idea. Looked at a tundra today lol. $60k is definitely rich for my blood but better to plan now and keep finances in mind. Hoping prices and loan rates will come down in the next 2years.
Maybe the GX can fit us all and work? I should probably just hire someone for 2x a year yard/home maintenance at this point instead of buying a $60k truck to haul some yard trash out of the dump.
My biggest yard issue is I have a lot of shrubs that need 2x a year heavy trimming and mature deciduous trees that litter my lawn with leaves from October to January. I have curbside trash, but nothing to take away the bulky leaves and trimmings. I also want to get rid of my 5x10 trailer.
Love my “simple” GX other than the lack of truck utility at this point. With 3 kids not sure I will really have time to do the heavy lifting yardwork at this point anyways.

Buy a small, simple trailer and keep it tucked away.
Shouldn't cost any more than one or two thousand dollars, no insurance, cheap registration, small foot print for parking and storing.

 

[r2m]

Buy a small, simple trailer and keep it tucked away.
Shouldn't cost any more than one or two thousand dollars, no insurance, cheap registration, small foot print for parking and storing.

Ha-ha-ha!!! Disregard the last post... Just read the rest of your post about wanting to get rid of your trailer!!

 

[skey44]

Well I’m back to loving/keeping the GX.

Watched a lot of videos on you tube and read a lot on suspension noise. Saw a mechanic hopping on the side step in garage to make it squeak so I tried this… rock solid in front no squeak, feels perfect. I’m a decent sized fella (230ish) and even leveraged with my long arms and roof rack. Very impressive no squeaks. So I went quickly in my head and thought what else could be moving. I’ve noticed my grill fascia moving when the fogs are on since the fascia cut I made a long time ago and I went up to the grille and wiggled it up and down… there’s my squeak. Feel slightly dumb but also glad to have it diagnosed. Doesn’t bother me nearly as much because I know what it is and that it’s mostly benign.
Now back to rear clunk. I put all my weight into bouncing on it too and nothing. It seems to happen only at extremes of the suspension travel and/or high speed compressions. I also probably need to remove anything in the back or floor board to eliminate any possible interior clunk as well. Then will have to check some more mechanical things that can cause a clunk… sway bar end links, lower shock mount spacer play… etc. hopefully I find something dumb back there too. I guess it could also be the rear barn door under extremes or atrac activating due to loss of traction. The atrac thing would make sense in the extreme articulation scenarios but I also hear a noise from same area over speed bumps, especially below 40 F notably this noise is more of a whoosh noise than a clunk. Both noises are also a hard to reliably reproduce.

 

[WTITW]

Maybe I should route the cable… I probably won’t.

I hid mine behind the ignition and pleather trim panel as marked. You can just pop those back by hand with no tools. The last 6” of wire is still exposed but it cleans it up a bit.

 

[skey44]

Follow up on the rear squawk I have, have been rummaging through all the 4Runner/GX threads I can to assist and diagnose with the help of many differently worded Google searches.
Visually inspected everything, taken out the spare to insure its tight fit against hitch wasn’t the noise, made sure no rubbing on e brake line at trailing arm guide, don’t think my door is rattling and it’s not really a rattle noise to me. I am down to the shock (it looks good and no leaks, checked tightness of mounting bolts) vs a bushing. One thing I noted about my kdss passenger rear bushing on inspection is apparently when I reinstalled it with my lift installation I clocked it incorrectly. This aligns with the area I am thinking the noise emanates from. I also read multiple threads where this was the culprit with similar symptoms/sound and didn’t show visible wear. My squawk has gotten progressively worse in cold dry weather. It even sounds like a noise I could see as a dry cold rubber rapidly moving along a metal surface. It only occurs on rapid hits like into a driveway or over a speed bump, doesn’t occur when bouncing vehicle at rest. I purchased some kdss bushings online last night and plan to install when they arrive. Looks like an easy enough job and I’m hoping this is the culprit for my annoying noise. Also another reason I don’t think it’s the shock is that my performance is not affected, just annoying noise.
If it’s not the bushing my next step would probably be to switch sides with the shocks to rule that out.
On a different note I’m planning to get an obd scanner. Looking at Bluetooth models. First searches leading toward OBDLink MX +. Anyone have this model? Thoughts? Main reason I’m considering getting one at this point is ability to read transmission temps and considering doing my own series of drain and fills since this dilution method seems to be the preferred solution and I don’t want to pay for repeat drain and fills at the dealership ($195 a pop).
This is not my kdss bushing just a random one I found online. Mine look perfect compared to this example and it’s my non kdss piston side I suspect is the culprit. But here ya go for a visual.

 

[xychromosome]

I also have developed a squeak/squawk in the rear when going over bumps. Interestingly, it goes away when it's wet outside, so I'm thinking it must be something that needs lubricating, a dry bushing or mayb the KDSS bushing you mention, I'll have to do an inspection when I get home.

As for OBD scanner, check out this thread.

 

[skey44]

Thinking that passenger rear trying to hug itself was the cause of my squawk. Will find out soon. Super easy repair besides trying to squeez my oversized spare back in at the end

 

[skey44]

Got the rad rubber splash guards on and did an oil change too. Replaced all the filters (oil engine air and cabin air) with oem from dealership. Used full syn Kirkland 0-w20 oil. Kinda baselining my maintenance here. Will take in for a trans drain and fill. After hard work today have decided to just let dealer do that!

 

[woodsy460]

On another note I love the girls so much, and being a dad really keeps me feeling young and happy at this point. I’m thinking about another one late next year!
Scrap the Tacoma idea. Looked at a tundra today lol. $60k is definitely rich for my blood but better to plan now and keep finances in mind. Hoping prices and loan rates will come down in the next 2years.
Maybe the GX can fit us all and work? I should probably just hire someone for 2x a year yard/home maintenance at this point instead of buying a $60k truck to haul some yard trash out of the dump.
My biggest yard issue is I have a lot of shrubs that need 2x a year heavy trimming and mature deciduous trees that litter my lawn with leaves from October to January. I have curbside trash, but nothing to take away the bulky leaves and trimmings. I also want to get rid of my 5x10 trailer.
Love my “simple” GX other than the lack of truck utility at this point. With 3 kids not sure I will really have time to do the heavy lifting yardwork at this point anyways.

You can rent a U-Haul trailer cheap for when you need to haul large bulky yard waste. It's $20-30 per day depending on size.

Bonus fact: The rental costs are partially offset by what you pay to license your trailer. In my case that is about $40 per year. So, I get almost two "free" rentals lol.

 

[skey44]

You can rent a U-Haul trailer cheap for when you need to haul large bulky yard waste. It's $20-30 per day depending on size.

Bonus fact: The rental costs are partially offset by what you pay to license your trailer. In my case that is about $40 per year. So, I get almost two "free" rentals lol.

Yeah I’m verging on off loading the trailer for this. We don’t have a license for trailer here in SC though.

 

[skey44]

No squawking today!!! Cannot emphasize enough how good of a feeling it is to have diagnosed and fixed this.
And only cost a small amount of time plus $35 in parts. God knows what a professional would have charged for this. And how many times they would have tried to fix something that wasn’t the actual problem. The Lexus dealership was going to charge $195 just to initiate diagnosing.

 

[skey44]

On to the next thing. I want to get a transmission service. After my hard work this weekend (utilized resources bc I have an 8mo old and had to get mother in law to help watch her and my time… I’d rather be mountain biking) I was set on a Lexus dealer drain and fill. Previously they quoted me $200 for a drain and fill and that seems reasonable with the cost of transmission fluid. Well… talked to the service advisor today after scheduling this and he recommended a flush which he describes as a non pressurized fluid replacement with Toyota fluid. It’s also warrantied at $4k (he quoted GX trans as 8-10k) if you continue with their “flush” every 30k. Big downside flush is $400 now after them telling me drain fill was $200 now drain fill is more than flush. I get the feeling this is crooked and just pushing me into a scheduled $400 every 30k.

So with this I’m thinking about trying my own drain and fill with the obdII scanner again. I just need to take a little time to recover from last weekends driveway warrior work. I’m pretty handy and sure I can do it. But I’m also still sore from laying on the ground with less than ideal mechanic tools. I was just hoping I could pay for convenience. Obviously not the case here because I am not a cheap bastard but I am thrifty and concerned with budget. Ok I’m a cheap B. Definitely not target audience for Lexus dealership.

Thoughts? Should I cave or just pickup the torch buy the tools and make this b last forever with whatever the minimum maintenance cost is (aka diy). Once this trailer is gone hopefully the G will fit in the garage for this stuff so I don’t have to brave the elements and the neighbors. Im kinda into that idea right now.

 

[rav8]

On to the next thing. I want to get a transmission service. After my hard work this weekend (utilized resources bc I have an 8mo old and had to get mother in law to help watch her and my time… I’d rather be mountain biking) I was set on a Lexus dealer drain and fill. Previously they quoted me $200 for a drain and fill and that seems reasonable with the cost of transmission fluid. Well… talked to the service advisor today after scheduling this and he recommended a flush which he describes as a non pressurized fluid replacement with Toyota fluid. It’s also warrantied at $4k (he quoted GX trans as 8-10k) if you continue with their “flush” every 30k. Big downside flush is $400 now after them telling me drain fill was $200 now drain fill is more than flush. I get the feeling this is crooked and just pushing me into a scheduled $400 every 30k.

So with this I’m thinking about trying my own drain and fill with the obdII scanner again. I just need to take a little time to recover from last weekends driveway warrior work. I’m pretty handy and sure I can do it. But I’m also still sore from laying on the ground with less than ideal mechanic tools. I was just hoping I could pay for convenience. Obviously not the case here because I am not a cheap bastard but I am thrifty and concerned with budget. Ok I’m a cheap B. Definitely not target audience for Lexus dealership.

Thoughts? Should I cave or just pickup the torch buy the tools and make this b last forever with whatever the minimum maintenance cost is (aka diy). Once this trailer is gone hopefully the G will fit in the garage for this stuff so I don’t have to brave the elements and the neighbors. Im kinda into that idea right now.

It is pretty straightforward. I did mine last June (GX and 4Runner just prior to selling). Process is about the same besides pinning the cooler bypass thingy. I used a SGII to monitor temp after refilling and to drain any excess fluid. I gave myself a 4 hour window to complete but it took less than an hour. I'll do it again this coming June as I have added a bunch of miles this year.

What the dealer is saying sound fishy. I would check around or just challenge them on where they got the direction for the flush. Without being able to direct you to a TSB or similar I would doubt that service is legit. Just my take.

 

[Rednexus]

$400 for a full fluid exchange is honestly not a bad deal, considering the transmission fluid alone is around $120 for aftermarket and probably closer to $200 for Toyota WS (my personal opinion is that Toyota WS is not a great fluid as evidenced by lots of trans issues in the 460 - it's a conventional fluid and degrades with heat). If you don't really want to tackle the messy job and value your time, you're basically paying $200 or so for someone else to do the labor. 30K isn't a terrible interval for a transmission fluid change anyway, if the warranty fine print checks out and you drive 12K a year, you'd only be paying around $140 a year for trans fluid with a warranty. There have been a lot of reports of GX460 trans issues on here, so the warranty aspect may not be a bad deal.

Just FYI, $200 for a drain and flush is, IMO, a ripoff. It's just opening the drain plug in the pan, letting 4 quarts of fluid come out, and putting 4 more quarts in, plus a level check at the end. I can't see this being more than 30 minutes of work and it should be closer in cost to an oil change. Dealer fluid prices are probably crazy-high anyway, and Toyota fluid is usually crazy-expensive to begin with. Replacing all 15-16 quarts for $400 is a much better deal.

One last thought as well - if you do DIY it I'd suggest a full fluid exchange with a pan drop, pan clean, and filter replacement. This would be around $150-200 for fluid and the pan gasket/filter using non-Toyota fluid like Valovline Maxlife or the Mobil 1 MV transmission fluid (both of which are full synthetic). I did it on my 470 and it was messy but honestly fairly easy. I'm not sure of the exact procedures on a 460 - it might depend on if you have an external trans cooler or not.