dwh13

Evening y'all, I'm moving over from the 100-series forum where I had an 03 LX470 for a few years. At 290k miles, she was starting to wear out and I wanted to move into something more modern, and spent about 6 months deciding between an LR4, LX570, or a GX. In the end, the combo of reliability, price, and capability for the size sold me on a GX. I wanted a '14+ for the improved headlights, blind spot/rear cross traffic alert, and updated nav, and a premium to avoid the air suspension. I ended up with a 2014 Premium in Knight's Armor Pearl with 87k miles.

That being said, I bought the LX with grand ideas of building it out, but it always needed repair or maintenance to the point I could never get anything more than tires for it. I learned my lesson this time around, and went for a low-ish mileage GX with a pristine maintenance history and finally found it after months of searching. I posted this picture in the intro thread, but figured I would make a build thread of my own since I've got big plans for this one:

• Tires - I went with Cooper Discoverer AT3s on my LX and loved them, but I always wished I'd got a more aggressive-looking tire. I'm thinking Falken Wildpeak or the classic BFG KO2 this time around. I want whatever the biggest size is that will fit in the spare tire spot - seems to be a lot of back and forth here about what that is. ✅
• Lift - either the Ironman 4x4 Nitro or Dobinsons in 2-2.5" flavor. ✅
• Beatsonic front camera ✅
• Roof top tent ✅
• MTSS/CC ✅
• RSG Sliders ✅
• GXOR front bumper when it's released

For anyone that's interested, I'll share my thoughts moving from an LX470 to a GX460. The ride is almost identical - the LX had AHC and my GX has a standard suspension. I LOVED the ability to get an instant 3" lift, and would have jumped for a 4-corner air suspension GX in a heartbeat if it was offered, but the RAHC doesn't really benefit me in any way since I don't tow. The rear door is taking some getting used to - the lift glass is nice, but is much higher up than on the LX, where the lift gate section is a larger section of the door. The GX does feel considerably smaller on the inside, though that may be just comparing the black interior of my GX to the tan of the LX. Gas mileage is much improved on the GX - on the highway, I can get 19-20 without trying, whereas the LX got 13 on a good day. The LX felt a bit peppier, but I think that's just the gearing of the GX's transmission, which is hesitant to downshift. Interior materials feel equally as premium, although the GX doesn't have the full padded door that the LX had. I've got to give the styling nod to the LX, although the overall look of the GX has grown on me over the years.

Overall I'm liking the GX and am excited to get started on this build! I've just done a few small things so far but will show them off to get this build thread started:




My beloved LX next to my new GX. I miss it already.



Before I went throwing parts at her, I wanted to see what she was capable of bone-stock. Over the holiday, we stopped by Brown Mountain OHV trail near Asheville, NC. Initial impressions were good, she did slip a bit on some rocks and I did hear a scrape once, so tires and lift moved to the top of my to-do list.



But while I save up some funds for those, I wanted to take care of a few small upgrades first. I was never a fan of the 90's Altezza-style lights, so a few coats of VHT Nite Shades took care of that.



Link to the paint I used



I'm really proud of how these turned out! They have kind of a matte finish that I think is pretty unique but subtle.



LED interior swap with - you'll need two packs of 10 for the entire car + running board lights.



I really like that the entire underside of the car is illuminated.

dwh13

So there seems to be only two options for pre-fab table setups - the Kaon from Australia that is $400, and the Front Runner that's built for a Wrangler and would take some serious modifications to fit, so I decided to try and make my own. I'm still waiting on the mounting hardware, but I got the table platform finished last night - it's a 2/3" spruce board covered in a 1/4" thick vinyl mat. I'll be using paracord mounted through the rear door panel and attached to the metal door frame to support the sides of the table, and a 30" piano hinge to support from the bottom. So far I'm really pleased with how it's turning out, although the wood + vinyl turned out to be quite heavy. I had my husband hold it in place to give me an idea of how it fits with the rear door, and it's the perfect size. I'm still deciding on a latching system if anyone has any suggestions.

nuclearn8

intersted to see how this turns out... by the way the Kaon is $400 AUD, about $265 USD to your door... (the prices are not in USD on their site)

dwh13

Just finished my rear table in time to go camping at Peter’s Point in Fernandina Beach, Florida. It came out perfectly, and all for about $50 in supplies!

srpuywa

you must like the smell of smoke cooking that close to your interior

dwh13

No issues with smoke or heat afterwards.

dwh13

Finally thought to snap a pic of her new shoes - Falken Wildpeaks in 265/65/18 size. I ordered 5 but the installer said the spare wouldn’t fit and refused to even try it. I ordered the Iron Man lift kit last week so when I have the tires off to install that, I’ll check for myself. I’ve put about 1,000 miles on them and the ride is very comparable to the new-ish Goodyear all-seasons that came on it. There’s just a bit more tire noise, but it’s well worth the trade off.

downshift1

I think what he's trying to say is move the stove towards the outer edge of the door so depending on what you cook your truck won't smell like the food.

leftyguns

I cook the same way, there is no issue with smells or smoke.
that's a good table, I ended up getting the Front Runner table and it wasn't too bad to install.it does block the access panels which doesn't bother me too much

Chasin

I have heard that the Wildpeaks fit underneath the spare carriage area just fine. I wonder if your installer made an honest attempt to squeeze it in?

dwh13

They didn't even try. But I got it done at Pep Boys, and after 4 hours, I wasn't in the mood to argue. I'm going to try to fit it in myself later.

dwh13

I've finished a few more projects on my GX in the past few weeks, mainly installing my light bar and BeatSonic front camera:

Light bar
The light bar is a 32" unit from Amazon ( ) - my original plan was to mount to one of the horizontal hardware pieces behind the grille, but it wouldn't give me quite enough clearance, so I used some black bolts to just attach it to the lower grille mesh. It blends in with the parking sensors and looks clean. I wired it up to - there are a different number of wires with all different colors, but the light bar seller was very helpful over email helping me match up the two.

Headlights off:


Headlights on:




BeatSonic Install

This one was pretty straightforward - even though it required taking the whole center stack apart, it comes apart easily and this thread made it dead simple. The hardest part was routing all the wiring. I used which fits well, with a little minor trimming of the grille. I used some flex loom wiring to run wires for the camera and the light bar together through the firewall. There's a video in the linked thread of it working, but pushing the camera switch once displays the front camera, press again to display the rear, and press a third time to return to the usual screen.



Camera in place



No more blank switches!! I moved the headlight washer and VSC switches to the right since I never use them and I didn't want my new switches hidden by the steering wheel while I'm driving. You have to trim a little bit of the panel to swap the switches because they have individual notches to make sure they only fit in one slot.



Finished up all this work with a bath - still loving the Wildpeaks.

ObsidianBl

Hows the front camera at night? Is it on par with the OEM backup? Did you attach the camera to the grille using the double sided tape or by another method?

dwh13

Yeah, it’s on par with the backup camera but not quite as washed out. Turning on the light bar helps as well. It attaches with a threaded rod coming out of the top (If you click the link, one of the pics shows it).

ObsidianBl

Gotcha, I was quickly looking through the pics earlier and only saw the tape and gasket. I completely overlooked the nut with the threaded piece. I'll probably get this installed when the weather gets warmer.