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Replaced the driver's side mirror glass yesterday, MUCH better! Tried to replace the front swaybar bushings but they were not the right part, either Partsouq superceded my order to the wrong thing, or I accidentally ordered the bushings for a KDSS truck, I'm not sure.
Followed up with the bodyshop yesterday, they hadn't submitted the changes to the insurer yet...this is starting to drag on.
Still waiting on the refinished wheels and Duratracs to be done, and it snowed a bunch yesterday, so I could really use them!
@BostonGuy Best practice is to start your own thread for stuff like this.
I got my refinished wheels and Duratracs back today...finally. They turned out great, they were put on the lathe and all the corrosion was cleaned up, as well as the bead sealing area on the inside, they were painted along with both the Toyota and Lexus centercaps, the emblems were removed and painted gloss black and reinstalled, and they look mint! I'll snap some pics and post them up when I get a chance in the daylight, might have to wait for me to get home from the holidays, but I'm really happy with the results. And it's so nice to have my Duratracs back, they are SO MUCH BETTER in the winter than the 4Runner Ltd's all seasons. We got rain on Tuesday, and then it got cold again, so residential streets are sheets of ice in places, it's nice to be able to drive confidently again.
So in preparation to put the wheels on, I washed the truck, and pulled it in the garage. I got the fronts swapped over, and then noticed a puddle of oil or brake fluid on the floor under the driver's side rear, and investigated further. The driver's rear shock body has corroded through and all the shock oil has leaked out...amazing. So assuming I do figure out a way to get this truck fixed rather than written off, new shocks at the very least are in order as well.
I have had my 2009 GX470 now, for a little over a week & still like it a lot! The seats are SOOOO COMFORTABLE! !! Wife was sick with the flu for a week & had to take care of her and my daughter just had a baby, my 1st grand baby, so I haven't had much time to do...stuff.
Happy Holidays to all.
Got a chance to snap a few pics of the refinished wheels in the sun today, it is SO nice to have good traction again, those 20" all seasons were awful.
Truck sat over the holidays, and was dead in the driveway yesterday when I went to go to work. My booster pack was only at 60%, but I was surprised that it couldn't get the job done either. Charged the booster pack for the day, it still had a hard time starting the truck in the evening. Pulled it into the garage and threw it on the charger, checked it half an hour later and it was at full charge...that's not right. Left it on the charger for another few hours till I had time to deal with it, and the battery showed 12.55V across the posts after pulling the charger off. Cleaned the posts and cables, puttered around with a few things, and went to start it, wouldn't go. Checked the battery again, 10.2V, looks like a dead cell. Battery was only about 4 years old, I usually have better luck with them than that.
Well, I finally have an update. After a long fight, insurance has agreed to repair the truck with no conditions! It snuck under the wire by a hair, but I'm really happy with this outcome!
So...I guess I'm doing a semi-build as it needs new shocks now anyways! I'm hoping to complete the following before it goes in to have the bodywork completed:
-new OEM LCA's and adjusters, mine has seized bolts so that should be fun
-new OEM driver's side UCA, replaced just prior to the accident, should go smoothly
-new springs and shocks all around, I'm likely going to go with the Dobinsons stuff, I don't want a lot of lift as I don't wheel this truck and it needs to fit in parkades still. Dobinsons have 1" and 2" spring options that I'll be looking at more closely in the next short while, and I understand you can get their shocks in black rather than yellow.
With that stuff out of the way, it can go in for an alignment and make sure everything is good to go before the bodywork gets underway. I'm aiming for spring to send it to the shop, that way I can continue driving it for the winter on good tires, tow my snowmobile trailer with it, etc.
Some extras I'll be getting done at the same time:
-new OEM sport headlights
-get the other mirror cap painted at the same time as it has some rock chips and scrapes
-grille painted matte black with a black pearl Lexus emblem
-rear bumper repainted as it is the wrong shade of silver (it's been like this the entire time we've owned it)
-rear chrome strip painted matte black
-I'm going to look into deleting the factory foglights and replacing with some LED's, maybe a 2x3 pod on each side or something like that
And I may look into an aftermarket skidplate as mine are old and crusty, I've got some seized bolts to drill and tap anyway, and it'll look great with some fresh ones under there. I'm going to pull down the tow bar and repaint it as well, as it's seen better days too.
Today was a rough day for the old girl. I'm not exaggerating, the thermometer read -38C, and with the windchill it was -52C this morning. At -40 C = F. It's nasty. Yesterday was the same.
Both mornings the command start cranked till it stopped, then on the 2nd cranking cycle it would fire. It was plugged in all night in both cases. Things squealed, the fan roars, it sounds generally unhappy for a few seconds but then settles into a high idle. I let it run for 10 min or so. It was so cold the rear hatch wouldn't close, I had to slam it 5-6 times, which is awful to do to things that are this cold. Then the driver's door wouldn't latch closed, had to slam it 3-4 times.
The power steering doesn't work...that's a new one. One of the hardlines is kinked from hitting the deer, but it's never acted up before. About halfway to work I would guess it started working. 95% of my drive to work is a straight line, it's awful, and you don't get a chance to test it without getting called in as a drunk or something.
The blown rear shock bounced and clanged so badly in my neighborhood that I actually stopped to make sure I didn't have a flat tire or something. It would be one thing if the shock just didn't work, but it's really noisy and I can't wait to get the new suspension under it. Unfortunately the rear shocks I want won't be in stock for a few months. More on that below.
It's going to spend the night in the garage tonight, it's earned it. I WD40'd all the door latches and worked them over a bit, hopefully that won't be an issue again. Starting off the day warm vs. THAT cold makes a huge difference. Even the rear wiper struggled on its return swipe, the power windows were slow, the nav screen glitched badly, it's hard on things.
I'm going to be ordering the 1st of my rebuild parts any day now. I've decided to go with a Dobinson's spring and twin-tube shock (non-resi) package. The shocks are available in black, as I didn't want the yellow you normally see. You can get the rears in a "comfort valved" configuration, which I figure to be smoother than the standard valving, and will keep things plush, lol. The springs will be the teal color, and I'm stuck trying to decide if I want the 1" or 2" lift height. I'll be keeping the 265/65/17 tires, for the time being at least. Interested in hearing arguments on both sides!
I'll be sourcing OEM LCA's (anyone have a good source?), a driver's side OEM UCA and bolt, and front swaybar bushings, which will all be installed at the same time. Then it will go in for an alignment via the insurance claim, and get booked in to the bodyshop towards spring.
I went with the 1.5" front/1" rear springs, there's so many more choices available than I'm used to, but I'm really looking forward to freshening things up!
First wave of new parts has come in! OEM lower control arms and cam bolts, driver's side upper control arm and bolt (accident related), front swaybar bushings, and sport trim headlights.
The headlights are crazy nice and have the bulb sizes and info about the socket length right on the back of them! I've never had my headlights out to look at them from this angle!
The Dobinsons stuff is supposed to ship at the end of this week, except the rear shocks which will be in the next shipment from their suppliers. I'm aiming for a March install of the suspension, then get it in for an alignment, and booked for bodywork in the spring.
More parts arrived! Dobinsons 1.5" front springs assembled on Dobinsons twin tube shocks (in black instead of standard yellow), and 1" rear springs. Comfort valved rear shocks (in black) will be shipped when the next container from Australia arrives, likely early May. I'm not sure when I'll get to this, but I'm hoping it will be this month sometime. I'm expecting to have to cut out the LCA's, so I'm going to take a Friday off and bang this out over a long weekend in the event I need some extra time.
11-29-18, 06:46 AM
