khanh

Hi Everyone,

I recently noticed that my '01 LX470 is slightly tilted on the driver's side, i.e., the driver side is lower to the ground by 0.5 inch at the front and almost 1 inch towards the back. I checked a new '07 LX, and it is tilted as well at the front, but not as pronouced as mine at the rear. The LX still drives great. Is this common in LX's? Is this a cause for concern? Thanks in advance.

LXotic

Welcome to Club Lexus khanh.
The reason of the tilt is because of the Self-Leveling-System
It does that to adjust to the road's unbalance. The
system is equipped in all LX470s (98-07).And yes, it is very normal
you will also notice that our trucks have the AHC (active height control)
which means you can control the height of the truck.
Lo,Normal,hi (*note that the Lo,Hi wont work over certain speeds l0mph)
You will find helpful memebers all throughout CL.
Well, congrats on ur 01' LX470 (pics man)



-Jacob

[EDIT: you joined CL in Feb of 2002 and posted in Jan of 07?
wow.You kept your mouth shut for quite a while ]

khanh

I actually had a few posts back in '02, after I got the LX. Life intervened since then (kids, job...).

Well, I am aware of the self-leveling suspension and AHC. But what I was refering to is that my LX's driver side is lower to the ground compared to the passenger side. This is of course subtle, but if I look at my LX from the rear or front straight on, I can see the so-called tilt to the side. A quick measure confirmed this observation. Do you guys notice the same on your LX?

V8_Fan

Mine's level. If you put the AHC in low and shut the engine off, is it still like this? Measure the distance from the fenderwell to center of the wheel. Does the rear left also sag? I'd check the AHC pressure (engine has to be off) on each side to see if the sagging side is lower than the higher side.

LXotic

Hmm guess I was partially correct

khanh

I measured my LX in Low position with engine off, and the left (driver) side still sags compared to the right by approx. 0.5 inch. So it's the low AHC pressure then?

V8_Fan

Is it just the driver's side front wheel or both? There are two ways to adjust the front wheel. One is the AHC sensor, the other is adjusting the left torsion bar. If the bar has sagged over time (no two bars are identical), I would think the AHC would take up the slack on the left side. The way to really know is to check the AHC pressures using either the lexus tester or LSPV SST. There is a narrow pressure range at which each shock should have. If it's too high, you should crank up the torsion bar so it's within spec, THEN adjust the AHC sensors to level out the vehicle. The problem with blindly adjusting the AHC sensors only is although the vehicle might be level, the pressure at the shock might be too high on that side. Also bear in mind that if you adjust the normal (meaning "N") height of the vehicle, you are changing the camber of the front alignment at that wheel.

Just measured mine in N height, they are all within 1/8" of one another.

khanh

Thanks to everyone for the inputs!