Sedole's LX - Mod Log & Occasional Adventure Thread (1 Viewer)

[sedole]

Dang son, 2k cruise? Slow down you are eating fuel for 5 minute gain!

I went from 1200 -1400 to roughly 1400-1600 on 34s @ around 70. I tend to drive just past the speed AHC lowers, 62?, so a realistic 70 while the speedo is somewhat beneath.

If im in a 75 i do speed up too but never past 1800 or so from observation thus far.

Its very helpful and interesting you playing with the harmonics and seeing so much variance within the highway band.

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hahaha yeah the hard part is speed limits around me are all 75 unless I get into Denver where it drops down to 60 or 65. And people here drive craaazy. If you aren't doing at least 80 people are right up on you and getting annoyed lol. Usually I stick to 70-75 mph. Only do the 2k RPM and 80mph when I get those 80 mph speed limits in Utah or Wyoming

 

[sedole]

Well...I got tired of it. Loved the magnaflow around town but after a several long/longer trips and a couple months of commuting I decided to cut it off and weld the stock muffler back on. The system definitely got louder after breaking in and when under load it just became headache-inducing. Of course now that I've got the stock one on I'm already missing those lovely V8 sounds and wishing it was a little louder again...just sans drone. Can't win em all I guess...

While I had the welder out I also decided to lop off the factory rear resonator because it just looks wonky and well, why not? Ran a pipe straight back and used the original turn-down tip. My verdict: it sounds 97% the same. Just ever so slightly more noise but the vast majority of people would probably not notice. It looks cooler. I call it a win. Edit: after driving with it for a week, the resonator definitely blocks a slight drone in the 1400-1800 RPM range highway cruising. It's so subtle most would not notice it, but I do. Granted I have do to a double take and turn off the radio to hear it clearly, but it's there in the background. Also again, grain of salt...most would not notice. Even though dentistry is causing me slow hearing loss in me left ear, I did play in orchestra, wind symphony, and big band for over a decade. My ears have been trained to pick up all the different sounds, no matter how subtle.

Also cut .75" off the rear sway bar end links. I'm now measuring 8.75" from center eyelet to lip where the washers sit. Compared to before this actually appears to have raised the sway bar more than I thought it would (a plus). The bar used to sit closer to level with the bottom of the shocks. Based on my eyeballing and mocking up this should just barely clear the reservoirs. Will try to get it flexy this week and see. It feels to corner a little flatter on the on ramp of my daily commute as well.

 

[sedole]

Got her decently flexed today. Best thing I can find close to my house and work. That's the one thing I miss about living where I used to live in SoCal. I could be driving on a dirt road less than 10 minutes from my house and the closest trails were only 20 minutes away. Here in CO I'm an hour from the closest trails which are really just well maintained dirt roads... Anyways, I feel there's definitely a little more droop I can get out of it, but I start running into the curb with both DR and PF tires. The bar just barely kisses the reservoir. Honestly it's probably fine as is because the bushing of the lower shock mount allows for a little movement. But it'll nag me so I will probably add a thick washer or two to space it down slightly. 9" from eyelet to base of washer is probably the perfect amount.

 

[sedole]

Got some ARB UCAs installed over the weekend. Pretty easy install. Hardest part which was just more annoying than difficult was snaking the passenger side bolt around all the hoses and wires. So far no squeaks and seems to drive great. I gave her an eyeball alignment last night and pretty much had to max out camber correction on the driver side to get it to roughly 0 camber (had a lot of negative after the arms went in). Passenger side ended up more in the middle of the cam range. These arms would likely do better with more lift. I'm only at a 2.2" lift. But with any luck the guys at the shop should be able to get me back in spec with much more appropriate caster as well. Rig is off in the shop today and will get it back this PM.

Also starting to uninstall more of the AHC hoses and hardware. All the advice I've been given is no joke. No matter how much you try to bleed it out, hydraulic fluid just comes out of everything you unplug.

 

[sedole]

Alignment sheet. Turns out me eyeball alignment wasn't half bad. Obviously toe was a bit off and camber was barely within the green but starting from being like 2" toed out and probably 2-3 degrees of negative camber each side after UCA install...not bad..

Previously we could only pull 2.2 (L) and 1.4 (R) degrees of caster out of it after the lift. This is much better. Windy as all day today here in the Denver metro. Gusts 70mph+ but I can already tell it drives so much better on highway. So much less wandery/twitchy on center. Easiest way to describe it before was it would drive straight but you'd have to make a ton of small corrections to keep it straight. Gets old and tiring fast. Even with the strong gusts today it wasn't half bad.

Sorry for the crappy pic of a screen. The shop supposedly did not have a working printer.

 

[sedole]

Went up the hill for a ski and decided to find a trail in Georgetown for a little shakedown of the new suspension on the way back. Not much articulation except for this one spot. Very rocky trail. Gravel sized to small boulders. Fun little run. I'm really impressed with the bilsteins. Very comfortable and controlled on the rocky bits. Smooth when you stretch her legs out at faster speeds. Definitely gained more down travel when flexing all around, but lost a little up travel up front. No loss of up travel in the rear. Sway bar is rubbing the rear shock reservoir again a little bit before full flex. Need to work on that bit..

Back on the road she drives great as well. ARB UCAs and better alignment improved steering feel and tracking a lot. Handles the corners very well. Plenty flat for me. I start to run out of tire (I am still on my LT 275/70/18 winters at the moment though) and start to get the "oh shxx I probably shouldn't be doing this fast in a 6,000 lb SUV" feeling before I run out of handling capabilities.

Oh also crawl control works amazing. I've never really had a good chance to properly test it before. I'm a fan.

 

[sedole]

Pic for attention. That was as high as I dared to go without anyone to spot me. I wasn't in 4Lo and CDL was off and was already getting wheelspin. Could have definitely gone higher but too lazy haha.. This was my quick parking spot as I pulled off the road to use the facilities.

Anyways, got my summers back on. Even though they are close on paper, the 285/65/18 Nokian Outposts I have just look so small compared to the 275/70/18 winters that I had on. I'm shopping around and may go up a size or two soon. But something interesting I noticed is that when I threw all 4 tires in the back of the rig to go have them mounted, I had a visible negative rake. Thought that was weird since my original ride measurements after the lift said I should have 3/4 to 1" of rake. And the four tires were only 250 lbs or so in total. So I should have rake to spare for so little weight added.

Well I just chalked it up to the rear standard bilstein springs must just be super weak and the weight was causing the rear to drop (which it did, but only by about 1/4" compared to old measurements) and the front to then rise. Well today when installing new brake pads my front still was looking taller than usual. Nothing in the rig at all. New measurements show I'm sitting 1/4-3/8" taller up front. Weird. Only change has been the ARB UCAs.. Not complaining, just weird. And now I want to have more height in the rear to have more rake. Looks too level. I don't like that look. Also I'd like a little more load carrying capacity as whenever I'm loading for trips, I tend to load up quite a bit. Because I've already got bilsteins I'll probably go with the HD bilstein rear springs.

New measurements (with UCAs) compared to old (all with bilsteins in)
DF - 21 5/8" now 22 1/4"
PF - 21 3/4" now 22"
DR - 22 1/2" now 22 3/4"
PR - 22 1/2" now 22 3/8"

I think that slight sag to the passenger rear can be attributed to a nearly full tank of gas whereas all other times I've measured it's been at half. I will check again later on in the week.

 

[sedole]

Got some new to me 34s mounted up this morning (295/70/18). Loving the look! Much more proportional than the tiny 285/65/18s that came off. Honestly not a huge difference in brake or acceleration feel either. You can notice it, but I was kind of expecting more of a negative effect.

I've got the 4 old tires in the back in this picture. Little over 200 lbs. Note the obvious negative rake from the sag. I've got Bilstein HD rear springs in the garage ready to install. Just waiting until I can get over this flu and I'll throw em in.

 

[TeCKis300]

Got some new to me 34s mounted up this morning (295/70/18). Loving the look! Much more proportional than the tiny 285/65/18s that came off. Honestly not a huge difference in brake or acceleration feel either. I was kind of expecting more of a negative effect.

I've got the 4 old tires in the back in this picture. Little over 200 lbs. Note the obvious negative rake from the sag. I've got Bilstein HD rear springs in the garage ready to install. Just waiting until I can get over this flu and I'll throw em in.

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Nicely done. That's a GREAT tire size. Looking good!!

 

[sedole]

Nicely done. That's a GREAT tire size. Looking good!!

Thanks! I’m glad I went with this size, it’s perfect for most people imo. Was debating this and a 285/70/18. Went with used in case I change my mind but so far very happy with my decision to do the 295s.

 

[dudemancool1904]

Truck looks great! Love the Montero! I also had a Mazdaspeed 3 BL! Wonderful car, will never forget loading that thing full of vinyl flooring, throwing paddle boards on the roof, or going skiing! Now you have a truck to do truck stuff!

 

[sedole]

Swapped out the front 3/4" spacers for a 1" to get a better stance and to help stop the rub on my swaybar at full lock. Tiny tiny rub remains, but not nearly as bad as before. Also swapped out the normal bilstein rear springs for their HD rears. I kept the 15mm spacer on the driver side. Netted about an inch in the rear. I'm now sitting with about 1 1/2" of rake. 23 3/8" from hub to fender dead even on both sides. Easy install as these springs are about 3/4-1" shorter than the regular rate bilsteins, just with a thicker wire diameter.

Unladen, the ride is a little stiffer for sure, but I wouldn't call it harsh at all. The wife didn't notice anything which is a good sign. Definitely corners a little more flat. This should help my load carrying capacity significantly too. Last weekend I had about 700 lbs or so of sod in the rear and it sagged damn near a full 2". I take plenty of trips where I'm carrying that much weight or more so I'm hoping these will work well for me.

 

[2014 LEX 570 GA]

curious where you got the 3d piece circled in attached pic?

I have the same cup holders but could use a divider like shown to make that small area actually usable

 

[sedole]

curious where you got the 3d piece circled in attached pic?

I have the same cup holders but could use a divider like shown to make that small area actually usable

From CruiserFactory Etsy store. Very handy little storage bin. Definitely a lot more usable. If you do end up getting one just know that you have to remove the stock thin rubber liner from the spot first. It's just held on with thin adhesive. I didn't remember reading that in any instructions and it didn't fit at first until I realized the rubber needed to be removed. I recycled it and trimmed it to fit inside of the new tray.

 

[2014 LEX 570 GA]

Snagged a early tundra trd pro skid plate for cheap (early ones had no letters) which fits with minimal mods. Also absolutely scored on a set of 4 tundra TRD pro wheels with 35" nitto ridge grapplers for a whopping $600! Decided to do some cutting, bashing, and heat molding to run the 35s for a few weeks for s***s and giggles then turned around and sold them for $350. 4 TRD wheels for $250 is absolutely wild. It's also a good trial run for when I eventually upsize tires again. I think I'm going to do either 285/70/18 or 295/70/18, I'm undecided. In either case, 35s were stupid easy to fit. Or I'm just not afraid to hammer some metal and cut some plastic lol.

Got some LC roof rails as well. I don't think I'd ever use a full rack enough to justify the MPG hit...though they do look good... And trimmed the engine bay heat shields because I'm already annoyed with having to take them off the 3 times I've aired up so far lol.

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Great thread and love your truck.

How much modding did you need to do to fit the Tundra skid plate? Do you happen to know the part number?

 

[sedole]

Great thread and love your truck.

How much modding did you need to do to fit the Tundra skid plate? Do you happen to know the part number?

Thanks!

Very minimal. I had to trim about 3/4” off the rear end to meet up with the factory transfer case “skid plate” that was it. All other bolts line up except for the two outboard ones in the middle of the skid plate. There are 9 other bolts though so I figured it would be good enough. You’d have to modify your crossmember or weld on a bracket to utilize the last two.

I don’t know the part number though. I just bought it off eBay. It’s a replica, but a decently made one at that.

 

[sedole]

Finally got around to pulling off all the AHC components this long weekend. Weighed everything out (including all the fluid I could capture) to the tune of about 170 lbs. Fairly significant weight reduction right there. I weight all the lines, bolts, fluid, pump, height control, reservoir, globes, all brackets, protection bars, etc. all the goodies. I'm not counting the shocks or springs as replacing those will be fairly similar in weight.

Overall this is a PITA messy process. A ton of little bolts at hard to reach angles. And every single piece that you pull off despite draining as much hydraulic fluid as possible will leak all over. There were also a few lines that I decided to just cut short and leave as well. One you might have to drop the fuel tank to get to and a couple others that either need lifting of the body off the frame or something. I can live with that.

 

[Boston Mangler]

Love this!

What clip are you on on the Front Bilsteins?

 

[sedole]

What clip are you on on the Front Bilsteins?

4th clip! I'm sitting at 22 5/16" driver and 22 1/8" passenger center hub to fender.

Been thinking about going to the 5th for another 3/8", but I don't want to cut into my rake too much. Right now the rear is dead even at 23 1/2" on each side. With 600lbs of weight as far to the rear in the cargo area as possible it drops to right around 22" which makes the truck pretty level all around.

 

[sedole]

Some photos of how these HD springs do with a little weight. 736 lbs of brick, 96 lbs of gravel, about 50 lbs of groceries, 70 lbs or so with the 3rd row in, and a full tank of gas. Around 1,000 extra pounds that I haven't been taking my measurements with. Usually measure with fuel at half or just below and no 3rd row in.

Rear sagged from 23 3/8" to 21 1/8". Front rose from 22 1/8" to 22 1/2". Can definitely feel the weight back there and if doing a long trip with this weight I would want stiffer springs or airbags.

I will say daily driving the last several days with the HD springs is great. I honestly think these should just be the standard duty. It's just a touch stiffer than the standard loads but nowhere near harsh at all.