yota dawg's 2009 GX470 Build Thread - "West To Moab" (2 Viewers)

[yota dawg]

I'm a long time member and previous owner/builder of a 3rd gen 'Runner and an 80 Series LC that I sold several years ago (unfortunately...). I've spent a lot of my wheelin' life building and driving Jeeps, but my buddy recently offered up his 2009 GX470 to the poker game group chat and I took it down. Is a non-KDSS with 110K miles. I paid $15k.

The plan is to do the stereotypical, middle-aged man "overland build." I'll probably take a few trips a year in it (first planned trip is a cross-country trek to Moab in October), but otherwise the plan is to just build it to my liking for no other reason than enjoying the process of researching and building the thing and spending some of my hard-earned money.

Here's what she looked like the day I got her. The rear airbags were completely flat and the front wheel bearings were growling like Tony the Tiger:

 

[yota dawg]

Since I knew the rear airbags would have to be dealt with, the first order of business was to to get the spare tire out of the rig. Once I started the process of dropping the spare, I got the sneaking suspicion that the spare had never been removed from the vehicle. Sure enough, the spare tire was brand new - still had its little nubs and the places where the spare contacted the underside of the vehicle were completely dirt free. Not sure how old a tire can be and still be considered safe, but she's runnin' on the old girl now, replacing one of the bald regular tires that had a nail in it. I wasn't too surprised to see that the spare's wheel has some corrosion from being under the car for so long. Also worth noting that the TPMS sensor in the spare does not work. I plan to bypass the TPMS system altogether, however.

Here's the spare tire in all its glory, never to return to the underside of the vehicle again:

 

[yota dawg]

Since my rear airbags were leaking, I knew for sure that I wanted to do the rear airbag delete. For the sake of reliability, I couldn't see replacing something as fragile as an airbag with yet another airbag, so springs it was. I decided on the the MetalTech spring conversion kit.

But obviously before I could do an airbag delete, I had to decide on a suspension kit for this thing. So after much thought and contemplation I decided on the Toytec Boss Aluma Series 2.5 Performance system.

 

[yota dawg]

The rear suspension on this thing was about as straight forward as it gets. First you yank the airbags and airlines out and remove the adjustable shocks. In order to keep the warning lights off in the dash, there's also a series of fuses in a couple of different places you have to pull that relate to the adjustable suspension system. That process is kind of tedious, but there are plenty of write ups and vids out there about how to do it.

Once that's accomplished, you install the MetalTech spring seats:

Next you take your life into your own hands compressing your new rear springs and fitting them between the axle and the frame. (Yeah, I know you "didn't need spring compressors" to get your springs in there. Good for you.)

Finally, with the MetalTech spring isolators installed in the top of each spring, you insert the springs where the airbags used to be.

Finally, you top the whole thing off with some shocks. I cut out a little of the body to get at the top shock bolt which was much higher than the stock shock bolt. I hit that with some paint later. I also installed a set of aftermarket rear swaybar links since my stockers were toast. The Skyjacker rear swaybar links for the FJ Cruiser are the correct length for this lift height, apparently, so that's what I used. At this point I'm thinking about ditching the rear swaybar altogether, however.

I still need to yank the air pump and the ride height sensors, but that's pretty much it.

Rear stance once you're done:

 

[HomersCanyonero]

Since I knew the rear airbags would have to be dealt with, the first order of business was to to get the spare tire out of the rig. Once I started the process of dropping the spare, I got the sneaking suspicion that the spare had never been removed from the vehicle. Sure enough, the spare tire was brand new - still had its little nubs and the places where the spare contacted the underside of the vehicle were completely dirt free. Not sure how old a tire can be and still be considered safe, but she's runnin' on the old girl now, replacing one of the bald regular tires that had a nail in it. I wasn't too surprised to see that the spare's wheel has some corrosion from being under the car for so long. Also worth noting that the TPMS sensor in the spare does not work. I plan to bypass the TPMS system altogether, however.

Here's the spare tire in all its glory, never to return to the underside of the vehicle again:

View attachment 3697588

Look for the mfg date on the tire. It’s a 4 digit number

WWYY

The first digits are the week of the year YY that the tire came off the factory.

2609 = week 26 of year 2009

It’s not recommended to run tires over 10 years old. Threads could separate on you.

 

[yota dawg]

By the pronounced grinding of the front bearings and the huge tears in the boots of each CV shaft, I knew that the front end of this thing was going to need some TLC. I also knew that there was a real chance I would slippery-slope into dealing with things that I thought should be addressed once I had everything disassembled. To avoid ragerts in the future, I decided to go ahead and replace basically everything in the front on both sides (except for the brakes) from the differential out.

In addition to the Toytec front struts, the list of items that I "upgraded" to on each side is as follows:

-CVJ high-angle boot CV shafts
-New OEM lower control arms
-Blue Pit assembled bearing units
-Freedom Offroad upper control arms
-O'Reilly "import brand" outer tie rod ends

I had to dust off all my old 'Yota IFS mechanicin' skillz, and it wasn't terribly fun, but i got 'er done.

Before:

Abra Cadabra! Everything disappears!:

Presto Chango! Back in action!:

 

[yota dawg]

Here is the stance after installing the entire lift and the other various accoutrements. I think the front is a tad higher in the picture than it ended up being later because the picture was taken pre-alignment. The only thing that came with the lift that I ended up not using was the diff drop. I've never been a fan of diff drops and its my understanding that they don't do a whole lot anyway. Hopefully the high-angle boots on the CVJ axles will ameliorate the angle issue to some degree (no pun intended)...:

 

[yota dawg]

So I knew when I got this thing that I probably wanted to do at least a front winch bumper and some sliders. I was honestly pretty underwhelmed with the options for front bumpers for the GX. I really like the ARBs and I've had many over the years. After doing my research I realized that for an ARB on the GX470 you're basically stuck with the Prado 120 ARB unit and doing what appears to be some fairly unprecise plastic cutting on the truck to make it look somewhat right. I didn't like the way any of the ARB installs on the GX looked and I really wanted to avoid cutting plastic (an idea that, as you will eventually see, I had to abandon later on in the build) so I started looking at the options that did not require cutting. During that process I also became enamored with the idea of putting in some of the work to accomplish getting the bumper built. I eventually landed on ordering the Coastal Offroad front bumper kit for the GX. I knew it would probably be a huge job, but I thought I was up for the task and challenge.

Here's a fairly decent picture of the Coastal Offroad bumper from their website:

Here's what you get when you order one:

The parts all spread out and numbered. There is quite a few:

On the Coastal Offroad kit, you basically build the bumper on the truck, so before you can really begin you have to take everything off the front that must be removed to install the bumper. I was actually surprised at how much had to be removed - basically all the structure (plastics, bumper, cross brackets, etc.) all the way back to the radiator has to be removed or cut off. Here I was about half way through that process:

 

[yota dawg]

The base of the bumper basically consists of the winch tray. You just start putting the pieces together and going from there. It became fairly obvious early on that my booger weldz weren't going to cut it and that I would need a better welder to come in behind me and hit the critical stuff once I had things tacked together, which is what I did.

One of the more perplexing issues that came up during assembly were the hoses/pipes that were DIRECTLY in the way of where the winch would go on the winch tray. When you initially see the situation you wonder if a mistake has been made or something. It really is stark. I think the "base" of this bumper is based on the 4th gen 4Runner bumper and the 4th Gen doesn't have at least one of the hoses that has to be moved. The Coastal instructions regarding moving these hoses for the GX were basically non-existent and an email inquiry to them about the issue wasn't helpful at all.

I knew other people MUST have run in to this issue and discussed it on teh interwebs. As I attempted to find other people's experience with this issue, I realized that only about 1/5 of the GX470 Coastal Off Road bumpers I saw out there even had winches. That explained the lack of folks addressing the issue on the internet. If you never put a winch in it, the hoses don't have to be moved at all.

Eventually you just realize that you are going to have to do some really creative relocation/bending of the hoses and hard lines to get them out of the way. I moved them as far as they could be moved back toward the radiator and the winch still barely fit into the very tight space. I was glad I bothered to address it during the build, because if you left this issue to be addressed after the bumper was done I think it would be a lot more complicated as you would not be able to see the winch on the tray without the front piece being on the bumper. Being able to see what's happening all the way around the winch while you move the hoses is extremely helpful.

Once I got over the puzzlement of where those dang hoses were going to go, I got to booger-spot-welding the pieces of the bumper together.

One complaint I read about on the Coastal GX470 front bumper is the fitment of the side wings relative to the bottom of the fender flares. A lot of people end up with huge gaps between the bottom of the flare and top of the bumper. I think this is because they (1) don't build the bumper on the truck as specified and (2) position the top wing piece directly in-line with the top of the center piece of the bumper (which would be the easier way to do it and, I think, is the way its done when installing this bumper on the 4th Gen 4Runner). However, the instructions specifically say that the wings of the bumper have to be angled up to create the clearance you want relative to the bottom of the fender flares. As you can see here, I decided to go very tight on the clearance for aesthetic purposes, but I realize that the frame/body flex may prove that I positioned it too close. I guess we'll find out.

After the wings are done, you can assemble the little filler pieces that go below the headlights. Since these were not structural pieces, I decided to go ahead and do the full welds on them myself. This picture demonstrates what an absolute champion an angle grinder can make out of even the worst booger welder. If I ever start an R&B group, I definitely going to name it "Boogerweldz and Grind":

 

[yota dawg]

Before I installed the filler pieces below the headlights and the bars, I decided to go ahead and have my "legit" welder lay down the righteous business on this thing:

Once I got it back, I fit the filler pieces below the headlights and the bars. Fitting the ends of the two side bars to the middle bar was a ridiculous exercise in absolute tedium with a grinder wheel. However, I eventually got everything fitted pretty well and tacked. And then...yep...you guessed it...back to the real welder.

Eventually I got the bumper back a second time and it was ready for a some very minor glazing and paint prep:

Then I laid down some self-etching primer:

And then I hit her with a few coats of the trusty ole' flat black:

 

[yota dawg]

Once the bumper was painted, I loaded in the winch. I opted for the Smittybilt X20 10K due solely to the fact that, from my research, it appeared to be the most compact winch out there from a total depth perspective (whether it actually is or not, I don't know). Given the super tight space for the winch in the bumper, I needed the most compact winch I could possibly find. Once I started the installation, I realized that both the motor side and the engagement lever side of the winch each had to be "clocked" forward. The lever side had to be clocked forward 90 degrees so the lever could be reached through the hole in the front of the bumper. The motor side also had to be clocked forward 90 degrees (which had not yet been done in the picture below) to point the lead posts for the wires directly up instead of back toward the radiator. Yes, you heard that right, the space for the winch is so tight in this bumper that you can't really even connect the wires if the electrical posts are facing rearward toward the radiator. Crazy.

I also loaded up some el-cheapo LED lights from Harbor Freight and finally got the bumper mounted up on the truck. At this point I had still yet to wire up the lights or winch control box or install the winch rope, but all that could happen after the fact and getting everything to this point was a great feeling.

Since you've made it with me this far in the build, here's a pic of my best bud at the Blue Ridge Parkway:

 

[yota dawg]

REAR BUMPER

I pretty much knew from the beginning that I wanted to replace the rear bumper with a unit that incorporated a swing out tire carrier.

My priorities for a rear bumper were as follows:

1. Simplicity - I wanted something that would offer some protection and a tire carrier and not much more.
2. High clearance, if possible - the further I got into the process, the more important this requirement became
3. Reasonable cost - the one thing I figured out immediately looking into these bumpers is that they can be PRICEY. I really wanted to avoid breaking the bank on the rear bumper.
4. No plastic cutting, if possible - this was also a priority on the front bumper, but I had to compromise on this point for the rear, as you will see.

I did a ton of research and inquiry into the rear bumper options and stumbled across numerous solutions. Most bumpers fell into one of two categories:

1.) units that at least tried to give some kind of enhanced ground clearance and
2.) units that didn't seem to even bother with the issue of ground clearance (I affectionately began referring to these bumpers as the "Big Booty Judy" bumpers).

Once I had decided to start looking for a simpler, higher-clearance style bumper, one choice started to stand out: Ascend Fabrication high clearance bumper. The only priority it did not hit for me was the "no plastic cutting" requirement. But given the cost of all the units that replace the rear bumper cover entirely (and the fact that most of those units were of the Big Booty Judy variety), I thought that would be a acceptable compromise.

Here's a link to the Ascend Fabrications page for the high clearance welded (as opposed to self-weld DIY kit - which they also offer) GX470 rear bumper:

03-09 GX470 HIGH CLEARANCE REAR BUMPER | Ascend Fabrications

Current lead times are located under MORE > TERMS AND CONDITIONS. If you would like to put down a 25% deposit rather than pay in full to get on the build schedule, please reach out for a custom invoice. Remainder due once the bumper is built and ready to ship. Introducing the first production...

www.ascendfabrications.com

I ordered a unit with a swing out with passenger-side hinge and accessory panel. This is a picture of the basic setup, just with the hinge on the driver's side (this configuration is used when a unit is ordered from Ascend with the optional fold down camp table):

 

[yota dawg]

The ordering process for this unit was very straightforward and done entirely online. The delivery was within the advised lead time.

I ordered a pre-welded unit and, consequently, the item has to be shipped freight due to size/weight. For freight shipment, you either have to have it delivered to a business (with a forklift), or you have to go pick it up at the FedEx freight terminal. Since I don't have a business, off I went in the Silverado to the local FedEx freight terminal...

Pick up went off without a hitch and I got to meet a couple of really nice FedEx guys.

The unit was very well packaged and secured to a custom made pallet:

 

[yota dawg]

As you can see, the Ascend Fabrications bumpers are sent as unpainted, raw metal. In keeping with my "reasonable cost" idea for the rear bumper, I totally intended to paint this baby myself. However, after the effort and trauma of getting the Coastal Offroad front bumper over the finish line, I decided that I should probably try to find some other avenue of finishing for the rear bumper. So off to the local power coater she went. The powder coating ended up being kind of pricey, but I think they did an excellent job and I pretty satisfied with the result:

 

[yota dawg]

I intend to do a couple of posts of the install of the rear bumper, but at this point I GOTS to give a massive shout out to the Erik's Adventure Lab YouTube channel for his awesome install vid of one of these Ascend Fabrication rear bumpers. Thanks Erik!

 

[xcmountain]

Looks really good.

 

[yota dawg]

Looks really good.

Thanks!

 

[2dub]

I wish I knew how to weld. I've thought about after I finish grad school to go to a local community college and take welding classes just for S&G.

 

[yota dawg]

Rear Bumper Install
The instructions for the Ascend Fabrication rear bumper were really quite good. They were very detailed and, in conjunctions with Erik Adventure Lab's video, very little was let to the imagination on the install.

The first step was to remove the rear bumper cover from the rig:

Once the bumper cover is removed, you cut out the rear crossmember. This is what gains you the additional ground clearance over the bumpers that leave the cross member in place. An angle grinder with a cut off wheel is the best tool for the job:

Gone, baby!:

 

[yota dawg]

As many of you may recall, one of my biggest priorities in this build was to NOT have to trim any of the plastic. My brain operates in a very binary fashion, and finding a solution that didn't involve trimming plastic bits was very attractive to me. However, for the rear bumper, I was never able to find a solution that met all my needs and also didn't require trimming the plastic to some degree. So I ended up biting the bullet and choosing an option that did require trimming the plastic.

So once the rear crossmember is cut out, you have to stop messing with the truck frame and go directly to trimming the bumper cover. This is because the final position of the bumper on the frame (and the holes you will drill) corresponds directly to the position of the bumper cover after it is cut.

To figure out where to cut the bumper cover, you turn it upside down and mark it 9 7/8 inches from the surface it is sitting on. The instructions suggest making a "jig" out of 2x4s and a Sharpie to mark the place to cut the bumper cover (as shown):

Bumper cover during the process of cutting:

Here is the bumper cover after it has been cut and installed back on the truck:

Later on I figured out that that the instructions should probably specify that the cut should be a little lower (higher if the bumper cover was right side up) because I ended up doing quite a bit of additional trimming/sanding to make the bumper cover fit atop the bumper.