I had been watching the market in the Southeast US for a month or so when this one came up. I thought the price was a bit low for a 2006 with under 108k, particularly since it also had a rear spoiler, the hitch bracket/wiring, Mark Levinson, and was being sold at a dealership (ugh).

The day after I called, the ad had been changed to say it was sold, and the asking price had gone up a tick shy of $5k (!). After a few conversations with a few folks at the dealer, they agreed to sell it to me for the price I noted (and that I had captured with screenshots), though they were not going to do any reconditioning. I was fine with this, as both the salesman and I suspected a failing rear suspension, and I didn't want it replaced with air bags which I assumed would be part of their reconditioning process since this particular dealer also has a Lexus store.

I made a "pending visual inspection" deposit a couple of days later, and hitched a ride to Atlanta with a friend who happened to be going that Friday night. Saturday morning I got all the paperwork taken care of - which took just shy of two hours because dealer - and drove it four hours home. On the bump stops. Straight to a friends house after swinging by mine, to grab the springs I'd had overnighted from Summit.

We (mostly he) spent the next few hours assembling the parts we needed, replacing the rear springs and shocks. The day (6/30/2019) in pictures:

At the dealer, finally ready for me to drive home



Obligatory tourist lunch stop



On the bump stops, awaiting surgery



Junk



Fabricating the lower stays for the spring conversion



Fab work continues thanks to assistants paid in beer



Finished product



Assembled



The result

 

I picked these gal up for $7k afterTT&L... flawless service history(except the coil spring conversion, but they used the Dorman kit w/ Monroe shocks) and a new dash was put in 2 months before they traded it.. with new brake pads and tires.

So I got it for less than what they paid because it had the secondary air system problem($200 eliminator fixed that). Lol


here she is...

 

Kudos on the custom brackets... now just ditch the CD player for the “yatour” BT media streamer on amazon for $70.

I like it it better than the stock Bluetooth since it uses the amplifier to power the speakers, instead of just the front left speaker non-amplified... like the factory BT.
I ran the mic up to the sunglasses holder(that’s where your factory mic is.

 

Thanks for the tip. For the time being I've been using this one, which is fine for music, but not very good for phone calls due to the location of the 12v outlet.


Updates to follow as I catch up to present day...

 

I have a number of updates to get through which have already happened. As mentioned in another thread, I was referred the name of a guy who does headlight reconditioning for $30/car including his own formula of clear coat. He did my GX and my wife's Accord DD. Once I've addressed everything I can/want to for now with the GX, it will become her DD and my occasional loaner to drag my other cars around.

Here are before and after pics of the passenger light. Bonus points for identifying one or both cars in the reflection on the bumper.

 

Next up: lighting. Since the lenses are now clear, it was time to upgrade the tired, yellow (original?) headlight bulbs.

Since this GX will rarely see any off-road activity (if ever) for the foreseeable future, I went with LED lows. Amazon comes through again.



Original bulbs



Passenger LED installed



Both lows in

 

Since the air suspension is gone, there's really no need to keep the now-useless control switch for it in the console.

 

Next up: this stuff:

 

I just did all of that too. That stack of parts took about 6hrs in my garage.

I gained 0 mpg from doing all of it(plugs, t-belt kit, pcv valve, leds everywhere except the blinkers, and all the fluids... including brake, coolant, p/s w/ new reservoir, and an evac&recharge).

But she runs smooth now. I also put an AFE intake system in... but it looks like I may need a driveline soon... had the “clunk” occur today.

 

Full disclosure, I didn't do the following work myself. I usually DIY whenever possible, though that's more often than not with friends who own similar cars when we make a day/weekend/event of it. I had this work done by a professional friend as a side job, and it was absolutely the right call. There were a handful of difficult bolts which had to be encouraged with an acetylene torch, as well the need for a HeliCoil thanks to some shoddy work done prior to my ownership.

The timing belt was most likely changed previously, since we doubt Toyota would have stripped threads over-tightening one of the tensioners. That may explain why it didn't show up in the service history or the CarFax...

The day (7/20/2019) in pictures:


The "old" (?) belt




The (definitely) new belt, WP, thermostat (not pictured) and tensioners



This radiator was replaced with an OE Denso



Buttoned up and testing the Hewitt Technologies kit (at a remote location in Mexico)



Obligatory juvenile humor

 

Not pictured at all - except the gel tape - I repaired the rain sensor which was dangling by its harness when I took ownership. It appears the windshield has been replaced at some point, and whether or not that coincides with the rain sensor being left inop is anyone's guess.

Basically the steps were:

1. un-snap both sides of the top half of the sensor, which is just a trim piece
2. unplug the sensor from the harness
3. take the sensor apart by pulling the plastic "U" shaped piece out of the bottom
4. this will release the metal bracket, which is what should be permanently affixed to the windshield
5. clean and scrape the metal bracket and the windshield around the sensor window carefully but thoroughly to remove all the old adhesive
6. use a rearview mirror repair kit ($2 at Walmart) as instructed, putting a little adhesive on all four sides of the metal bracket
7. let the adhesive set overnight
8. attach a new rain sensor gel tape piece to the sensor [89944-50010]. I left the longer (and thinner) side of the backing attached to the gel tape for this step; the one with the crisscross pattern
9. reassemble the sensor to the bracket, first removing the other side of the backing, then pressing firmly to make solid contact between the gel tape and remove any bubbles
10. reattach the harness
11. reattach the top trim piece which conceals the harness
12. enjoy working rain-sensing wipers again

For anyone unaware, the wipers will function as "normal" intermittent wipers with the sensor harness detached. The +/- adjustment simply sets the delay time, rather than the sensitivity.

 

I had to re-thread three bolts.. add helicoils to the a/c bolts, and use a tap and die kit more than any other timing belt I’d ever done!!!

The guy guy who did the T-Belt at Lexus when the vehicle had 90k on it deserves to be beaten... badly.

Ive done dozens of 2uz engines in tundras, 4runners, GX’s, and any other Toyota that came with it. Lol
the bolts are normally so easy to take out.... just loosen 1 turn and they come out the rest of the way with your fingers. It’s one of the reasons i love this platform.

But boy was I angry while finding all this on my vehicle.

 

I had the front door glass tinted last week, as close as they could get to the factory tint on the rest of the glass and still stay legal. I took advantage of the reprieve from the heat and got the black trim installed today.

 

What state are did you say you are in?? We are only allowed these numbers in Louisiana...

car... 40 front, 20 rear, 18 back glass
truck/suv.... 40 front, any on the rest.

 

The legal limit in Tennessee is 35% for (front) door windows. According to the shop I use for tinting all my cars, the rears on the GX were closest to a 25% film they carry. I did the fronts in 35% to stay legal. The difference is subtle enough that only the most discerning eye will be able to tell the difference.