- Thread starter
- #101
Tape is off and one last coat of paint is on the legs. Time for bed.
Builds Thed's Mod Journal ('22 GX460) (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Thed351W
- Start date
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r2m
Richard
That bed liner should give you good traction from mud, snow, ice, etc. when standing on them!
You may want to keep some of that bedliner around for touch ups in a couple years. Or at least keep the product name and code saved somewhere.
re_guderian
SILVER Star
And I need to stop being such a simpleton, and not just order off of Amazon without going out to the garage and double checking the connection.
For future reference for others installing a dashcam, my '11 with rain sensing wipers doesn't have a 10-pin connection, rather a 7-pin directly to the back of the mirror (different than the video). So check the back of your mirror, or take the covers off the mirror cable assembly first. Dongar / SimpleUSBPort sells 3 different adapters for Toyota/Lexus, and they're labelled horribly. So double check what you need first, because shipping is slow, even with "Prime". It's free, but it's 2 weeks.
- Thread starter
- #104
That was the idea behind it. Tough stuff and great traction while stepping on them. I only used a quarter of my supply so far, I'll have plenty left over for other stuff. I'll probably use another quarter when the Blitz bumper comes in and I line that.
Raptor Liner on Amazon. Cheap and effective.
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- Thread starter
- #105
I threw the sliders on. A few things to note:
A) They look awesome.
B) There was still a little too much sunlight out to tell, but I didn't completely ruin the puddle lights by using the LED penny lights and the light mounts work great. Super happy with this.
C) I had to cut the forward KDSS line skid to get it to fit. I didn't know this going in, but it's no biggie.
D) It is absolutely rubbing the rocker panels. Bending them, in fact. That's an easy fix, though. I'll just take off the panels, trim, test, and repeat until perfect. That's a job for this weekend.
E) Boy these things are a pain in the ass to install alone. Especially on the KDSS side. I unbolted the KDSS unit just to give me that little bit extra millimeter of space. Heavy and awkward things to lift, these are.
F) The bolt that goes through the spacer on the D/S was too short. There's probably only two threads holding that on. Luckily I have access to all the bolts I could ever need at work.
G) Did I mention that they look great?
A) They look awesome.
B) There was still a little too much sunlight out to tell, but I didn't completely ruin the puddle lights by using the LED penny lights and the light mounts work great. Super happy with this.
C) I had to cut the forward KDSS line skid to get it to fit. I didn't know this going in, but it's no biggie.
D) It is absolutely rubbing the rocker panels. Bending them, in fact. That's an easy fix, though. I'll just take off the panels, trim, test, and repeat until perfect. That's a job for this weekend.
E) Boy these things are a pain in the ass to install alone. Especially on the KDSS side. I unbolted the KDSS unit just to give me that little bit extra millimeter of space. Heavy and awkward things to lift, these are.
F) The bolt that goes through the spacer on the D/S was too short. There's probably only two threads holding that on. Luckily I have access to all the bolts I could ever need at work.
G) Did I mention that they look great?
r2m
Richard
They do look awesome!
And YES it is a pain installing by yourself, at least until you get the front and rear bolts in and it's hanging up there. Then adding the rest of the fasteners is a breeze.
Had my wife on the rolling 5 ton hydraulic jack holding up the slider one end as I was on my back lifting the other end into place, all the time giver her direction as to where to scoot the jack into alignment.
And YES it is a pain installing by yourself, at least until you get the front and rear bolts in and it's hanging up there. Then adding the rest of the fasteners is a breeze.
Had my wife on the rolling 5 ton hydraulic jack holding up the slider one end as I was on my back lifting the other end into place, all the time giver her direction as to where to scoot the jack into alignment.
^ This is the method I used to install my MetalTech front bumper. Those electric ratchets are amazingly useful.
- Thread starter
- #109
Let's get Blitzed.
- Thread starter
- #110
I'm a little bit high right now.
I'm very much trying to get this painted and lined tonight. Hopefully I can install it tomorrow.
I'm very much trying to get this painted and lined tonight. Hopefully I can install it tomorrow.
- Thread starter
- #111
Hopefully it's dry enough to install it with the winch on it by tomorrow afternoon.
- Thread starter
- #112
'Bout that time, eh chaps?
- Thread starter
- #113
- Thread starter
- #114
This is getting frustrating. Having to cut more than what the Victory video shows. Still not up yet.
- Thread starter
- #115
I turn wrenches for a living, and this kicked my ass. These past 24 hrs have been hard work. Still a little left to do, but it'll have to wait until tomorrow morning. I'll give my thoughts in the morning. I'm tired as hell.
re_guderian
SILVER Star
Looks great. I'm living vicariously through you. I ordered my Victory bumper 2 1/2 months before you even bought your GX... 
- Thread starter
- #117
I'm sorry about that my dude. Have you called them to see what's up?Looks great. I'm living vicariously through you. I ordered my Victory bumper 2 1/2 months before you even bought your GX...
Everything with the Lexus has gone my way. Buying it, the mods, everything. Conversely, when I had my order in for my Bronco (that I reserved in July of 2020), everything went wrong. Production delays, quality issues, jackass dealers, the works. The nail in the coffin for the Bronco (which drives like an absolute gem and it makes me sad that I couldn't get it this year) was that they cancelled the one and only color I wanted after the '21 model year. After scheduling for MY21 was done and I didn't get scheduled, I went straight to the Lexus dealer to test drive the GX (and the Defender and Discovery). With the '22 updates being just enough to bring the tech where it needed to be, I sprung for the GX. I waited a year and a half for a vehicle I never got. It sucked. I'm still not really over it. However, I still have the reservation because my girl really, really loves the new green they came out with. So I guess I'm still waiting?
- Thread starter
- #118
It just looks so right. I'll do a full write-up later tonight, there's a lot of things to go over.
- Thread starter
- #119
Alright, let's review these.
SSO Rock sliders:
+Price
+Looks
+Build quality
+Fit like a dream
+No extra charge for the step plates
-One of the included bolts was too short.
-Had to cut the KDSS line skid plate.
-No install instructions, but they're pretty simple to figure out. I just used the CBI slider install video to get the cuts close enough. When they rubbed, I was able to wiggle the panels free enough to sand down the problem spot. You cannot take the panels off without removing the sliders (unless you have a real screw-it attitude).
-The packaging could have been better. The legs were completely exposed and arrived slightly bent due to UPS.
-While being covered in assembly oil is great for corrosion resistance during shipping, I would have rather dealt with surface rust during the paint prep process.
Overall, I'm very satisfied with these. Single-handedly muscling them in there, while possible, is not recommended. Have a buddy present because it's awkward to get into position just right, mainly on the KDSS side. The tube on the kick-out seems like it's a little small, but otherwise it looks like it's up to the task. I'd recommend these to anyone from the GX or 4R community.
The Victory Blitz bumper... ugh...:
+Looks awesome.
+12k winch fits no problem with the solenoid installed on the winch
+Winch clutch and wire connector can be reached, barely in my case with my meat sticks of arms, through the holes.
+20" light bar mount is very welcome, given the limited number of spots to really put lights on these GXs.
+Assembled very well.
+Very easy to prep for paint since they already sanded almost everything.
+Light weight.
-Pain in the ass to install.
-SAE hardware where it doesn't bolt in to the frame.
-Tie-in brackets weren't even close to fitting, they required modification.
-There's more bumper cutting than their otherwise-good video implies. Test fit after test fit after test fit.
-What the hell are we supposed to do about the parking sensors from the 20+ grille?
-Iffy fitment
-$2k shipped w/o powder coat is definitely on the upper end of the price range for this product, IMO.
Removing the factory parts off of the car was a cakewalk. It's all downhill from there. I followed the install video like a religion, committing most of it to memory via repeated views. First, the cuts needed to be more aggressive than the video implied. Test fit, cut, test fit, cut, etc. This process took honestly half of the day. I used a cut-off wheel for the cuts and a pneumatic belt sander to clean it up and make small adjustments as needed. I honestly don't know how I would've gotten through this without those tools. Those, and a trans jack, a 24" extension, and u-joint sockets. Do not try to muscle this thing up and down, get a cheapo trans jack from Harbor Freight at the very minimum. Even after cutting so much more plastic than the video showed, I cannot get the driver's side to stop rubbing. I've got a perfect amount of clearance on the passenger's side but the driver's side barely makes a bit of contact. The whole bumper is slightly crooked versus the body, with both sides going as low as the bolt holes allow. I'm going to run it for the time being and assess the situation to see if I need to open up the holes on the driver's side a bit to lower the bumper. The tolerances on this bumper are strangely tight, even though it is meant to fit 9+ years of cars that had different production variances. Right now my parking sensors are not installed, since I cannot take out the retainers in the 20+ grille. I have a set of retainers from a '19 on order at the dealer. I left the wiring in the factory location in the grille since it had to stretch up in the center to get to the radar and the parking sensor legs seemed to have enough to reach down. Overall, I'd only recommend this if you either: really know what you're doing, don't really care how the finished product turns out, or are going to pay a professional to do it. Looks great, has great features, sucks to install.
SSO Rock sliders:
+Price
+Looks
+Build quality
+Fit like a dream
+No extra charge for the step plates
-One of the included bolts was too short.
-Had to cut the KDSS line skid plate.
-No install instructions, but they're pretty simple to figure out. I just used the CBI slider install video to get the cuts close enough. When they rubbed, I was able to wiggle the panels free enough to sand down the problem spot. You cannot take the panels off without removing the sliders (unless you have a real screw-it attitude).
-The packaging could have been better. The legs were completely exposed and arrived slightly bent due to UPS.
-While being covered in assembly oil is great for corrosion resistance during shipping, I would have rather dealt with surface rust during the paint prep process.
Overall, I'm very satisfied with these. Single-handedly muscling them in there, while possible, is not recommended. Have a buddy present because it's awkward to get into position just right, mainly on the KDSS side. The tube on the kick-out seems like it's a little small, but otherwise it looks like it's up to the task. I'd recommend these to anyone from the GX or 4R community.
The Victory Blitz bumper... ugh...:
+Looks awesome.
+12k winch fits no problem with the solenoid installed on the winch
+Winch clutch and wire connector can be reached, barely in my case with my meat sticks of arms, through the holes.
+20" light bar mount is very welcome, given the limited number of spots to really put lights on these GXs.
+Assembled very well.
+Very easy to prep for paint since they already sanded almost everything.
+Light weight.
-Pain in the ass to install.
-SAE hardware where it doesn't bolt in to the frame.
-Tie-in brackets weren't even close to fitting, they required modification.
-There's more bumper cutting than their otherwise-good video implies. Test fit after test fit after test fit.
-What the hell are we supposed to do about the parking sensors from the 20+ grille?
-Iffy fitment
-$2k shipped w/o powder coat is definitely on the upper end of the price range for this product, IMO.
Removing the factory parts off of the car was a cakewalk. It's all downhill from there. I followed the install video like a religion, committing most of it to memory via repeated views. First, the cuts needed to be more aggressive than the video implied. Test fit, cut, test fit, cut, etc. This process took honestly half of the day. I used a cut-off wheel for the cuts and a pneumatic belt sander to clean it up and make small adjustments as needed. I honestly don't know how I would've gotten through this without those tools. Those, and a trans jack, a 24" extension, and u-joint sockets. Do not try to muscle this thing up and down, get a cheapo trans jack from Harbor Freight at the very minimum. Even after cutting so much more plastic than the video showed, I cannot get the driver's side to stop rubbing. I've got a perfect amount of clearance on the passenger's side but the driver's side barely makes a bit of contact. The whole bumper is slightly crooked versus the body, with both sides going as low as the bolt holes allow. I'm going to run it for the time being and assess the situation to see if I need to open up the holes on the driver's side a bit to lower the bumper. The tolerances on this bumper are strangely tight, even though it is meant to fit 9+ years of cars that had different production variances. Right now my parking sensors are not installed, since I cannot take out the retainers in the 20+ grille. I have a set of retainers from a '19 on order at the dealer. I left the wiring in the factory location in the grille since it had to stretch up in the center to get to the radar and the parking sensor legs seemed to have enough to reach down. Overall, I'd only recommend this if you either: really know what you're doing, don't really care how the finished product turns out, or are going to pay a professional to do it. Looks great, has great features, sucks to install.
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