LivinAnAdvntr
New member
Put her in a ‘17 luxury trim. I was trying to avoid the air suspension, but with a 2 and 4 year old the second row captains were a must. So far I am extremely impressed with this thing.
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Tex's 2019 GX460 build
- Thread starter Tex68w
- Start date
Put her in a ‘17 luxury trim. I was trying to avoid the air suspension, but with a 2 and 4 year old the second row captains were a must. So far I am extremely impressed with this thing.
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Tex68w
Beach Bum
Congrats! Hopefully she loves it. I agree that it is much more refined than the 4Runner.
My parents are on their third Premium with second row captains. We don't have kids but we have Dobermans so the bench is actually preferable for us since it lays flat across the entire backseat for the dogs. If you don't plan to lift it then the air ride will be a nice feature, then again, even if you do lift it that stuff can be removed.
LivinAnAdvntr
New member
For the time being, I will see how much meat I can stuff under it. With your current tire size did you have any issues with contacting the liners or anything for that matter?
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Tex68w
Beach Bum
No, which is the reason I went with this size, it's a 32x10x18, no issues under any circumstances.
Littlehouse
Adventurer
This thing looks good! FYI, I just saw that ICON is having a deal on their stage 3 for the GX460. Maybe check them out as well?
Tex68w
Beach Bum
I have not, I fear it won't fit when properly inflated but I plan to try with it deflated soon. I have the compressor onboard so putting some air in the spare when needed isn't a big deal so long as it fits.
Tex68w
Beach Bum
No, I have been down the Icon route before with another Toyota and a Ford and they won't be seeing anymore of my money.
Littlehouse
Adventurer
Interesting. Have you posted about it anywhere? Love to hear why.....
Tex68w
Beach Bum
On other forums I've discussed it. Their shocks are crap, plan on lots of blown seals and rebuilds. I was rebuilding shocks every few months as they puked their guts, on average each shock would be rebuilt every 6-12 months. They make great springs!
Wallygator
Adventurer
Plus Icon's past. No way I would ever spend money on anything Icon just on their past alone. Just disgusting.
Tex68w
Beach Bum
In previous months we've tagged a Bambi, nailed two red tail hawks, and obliterated a pigeon and a dove. Chalk all of that up to a new bumper, new fog light, new signal lens and a few small dings and paint chips on the hood and roof line just above the windshield. It's safe to say that this is probably going to be "one of those" vehicles that attracts animals on the highway. We've racked up 8,000 miles in the past four months of ownership so she's definitely getting some use. It's been downgraded to my other halves daily now and it sees some use on the weekends to and from the ranch and occasionally toting the dirt bikes to and from the trails. I have yet to install MTC and Crawl Control partially due to lack of time and partially because I lost interest in the project and have been more than distracted by the two wheel toys of late. I'll get around to it soon.
We still plan to do the lift, it will be the Ironman Foam Cells and Total Chaos UCA's. I'll have the lift installed in the spring. For now I think we are going to continue to run the 255's on the stock wheels just to keep some semblance of decent fuel economy even though I know it'll drop a bit once the lift and roof rack go on. Unfortunately the Hefty Fab 5th Gen sliders from the Pro weren't lining up with the KDSS and frame so they were sold. I still need to decide on which ones we will run that are built specific for the GX.
I must say that the extra gear in the transmission and the slightly more powerful V8 have been a huge benefit when compared to the 5-speed and 6-cylinder in the 5th Gen. This is most noticeable when on the highway and it doesn't seem to get tossed around by the high winds as much either which is a welcomed benefit to the misses when driving to and from work. Other than beach trips it hasn't seen any real off-road use but as expected it handles the deep sand quite well. I am impressed with how much better it does with the dirt bikes on the hitch carrier as well, it doesn't sag nearly as much as the 4Runner did. I still dislike the rear barn door as I always seem to be on the wrong side of it when I need to open it but it bugs me less than I anticipated. My largest complaints are the looks of the front end and the angle of the rear seats when folded down. The seats do not fold flat like in the 4Runner and it is a major detriment when attempting to sleep inside. My one and only attempt was miserable. I hope that Goose Gear will come out with a sleep platform for it but I just don't see how that can be done efficiently without completely removing the second row seats which isn't ideal for most. Odds are it'll end up with a slimline RTT of some sort that we will install only when needed.
So in closing the GX has certainly earned a long term spot in our fleet and will see many miles of commuting to work, occasional beach runs, and weekend trips scattered in every now and then. Sadly this will not be the fully built rig I had intended upon purchasing it a few months back, but needs and wants change and I am glad that we enjoy it enough to keep it around in some capacity for the long haul. I can justify the small lift, 32's, sliders, bumper/winch, and roof rack in order to have a slightly built rig that is still usable as a daily. I hope to have all of those items installed by the end of the year.
We still plan to do the lift, it will be the Ironman Foam Cells and Total Chaos UCA's. I'll have the lift installed in the spring. For now I think we are going to continue to run the 255's on the stock wheels just to keep some semblance of decent fuel economy even though I know it'll drop a bit once the lift and roof rack go on. Unfortunately the Hefty Fab 5th Gen sliders from the Pro weren't lining up with the KDSS and frame so they were sold. I still need to decide on which ones we will run that are built specific for the GX.
I must say that the extra gear in the transmission and the slightly more powerful V8 have been a huge benefit when compared to the 5-speed and 6-cylinder in the 5th Gen. This is most noticeable when on the highway and it doesn't seem to get tossed around by the high winds as much either which is a welcomed benefit to the misses when driving to and from work. Other than beach trips it hasn't seen any real off-road use but as expected it handles the deep sand quite well. I am impressed with how much better it does with the dirt bikes on the hitch carrier as well, it doesn't sag nearly as much as the 4Runner did. I still dislike the rear barn door as I always seem to be on the wrong side of it when I need to open it but it bugs me less than I anticipated. My largest complaints are the looks of the front end and the angle of the rear seats when folded down. The seats do not fold flat like in the 4Runner and it is a major detriment when attempting to sleep inside. My one and only attempt was miserable. I hope that Goose Gear will come out with a sleep platform for it but I just don't see how that can be done efficiently without completely removing the second row seats which isn't ideal for most. Odds are it'll end up with a slimline RTT of some sort that we will install only when needed.
So in closing the GX has certainly earned a long term spot in our fleet and will see many miles of commuting to work, occasional beach runs, and weekend trips scattered in every now and then. Sadly this will not be the fully built rig I had intended upon purchasing it a few months back, but needs and wants change and I am glad that we enjoy it enough to keep it around in some capacity for the long haul. I can justify the small lift, 32's, sliders, bumper/winch, and roof rack in order to have a slightly built rig that is still usable as a daily. I hope to have all of those items installed by the end of the year.
Tex68w
Beach Bum
I went and had the factory spare swapped out for the matching 255/70/18 (32.1x10x18) Nitto Ridge Grappler that we've been running on the truck since day one. I've been hearing for a while now that this size tire wouldn't fit in the factory spare location so I was certain that my only option was going to be to run it nearly or completely deflated in order for it to fit if it would even fit at all. I have onboard air so that wasn't much of a concern but not ideal. The guys at Discount told me that if I ran it deflated it would trip the TPMS and throw a code and the dash light would come on creating an annoyance and a possible fail at inspection (I had planned to put it in the cargo area and inflate it for that once a year inspection should it have been an issue) . Well I dropped it off before lunch for them to work on it and then took off for lunch 15 miles away and the TPMS low pressure light never come on, I am assuming that they are wrong and the system can only monitor four tires at a time.
I went back to pick it up fully expecting it not to fit but much to my surprise it did, the only issue was that it was catching on the edge of the hitch so we removed it and it buttoned up with no issues. Upon getting back home I mocked up the hitch with the spare in place and looked to see what it would take in order for the hitch to clear the spare and it looked like the rear most washers and the back edges of the rear most corners needed some trimming. I cut the corners off of two of the four washers and did some light grinding on the rear most corners of the hitch and bam, it fit with no issues. The spare can now be lowered and raised without issue and it sits higher than the bottom of the rear differential as well so no added hangup issues. The only kicker here is that I am running the simple direct bolt-on Class III hitch instead of a factory full wrap Class IV. The Class III is rated for 5,000lbs and I doubt I'll ever surpass that seeing how all it will likely ever do is hold a hitch carrier for the dirt bikes. I towed approximately 4,200lbs with it once a few months back with no issues.
Needless to say, I am very happy to have both a matching full size spare and the hitch back on the GX. This setup will do just fine until we decide whether or not to move up to 285's after the lift goes on later this year.
Mock up pics showing it touching the spare. You've gotta love the warning sticker clearing stating not to modify the hitch in any way lol.
After cutting the corners off of the two rear most washers and grinding the back edge corners of the hitch ever so slightly. It's really tight, but it clears.
I went back to pick it up fully expecting it not to fit but much to my surprise it did, the only issue was that it was catching on the edge of the hitch so we removed it and it buttoned up with no issues. Upon getting back home I mocked up the hitch with the spare in place and looked to see what it would take in order for the hitch to clear the spare and it looked like the rear most washers and the back edges of the rear most corners needed some trimming. I cut the corners off of two of the four washers and did some light grinding on the rear most corners of the hitch and bam, it fit with no issues. The spare can now be lowered and raised without issue and it sits higher than the bottom of the rear differential as well so no added hangup issues. The only kicker here is that I am running the simple direct bolt-on Class III hitch instead of a factory full wrap Class IV. The Class III is rated for 5,000lbs and I doubt I'll ever surpass that seeing how all it will likely ever do is hold a hitch carrier for the dirt bikes. I towed approximately 4,200lbs with it once a few months back with no issues.
Needless to say, I am very happy to have both a matching full size spare and the hitch back on the GX. This setup will do just fine until we decide whether or not to move up to 285's after the lift goes on later this year.
Mock up pics showing it touching the spare. You've gotta love the warning sticker clearing stating not to modify the hitch in any way lol.
After cutting the corners off of the two rear most washers and grinding the back edge corners of the hitch ever so slightly. It's really tight, but it clears.
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Tex68w
Beach Bum
In regards to width and depth they are extremely similar, the one place where you'll give up space with the GX is in height from the deck to the roof. The third row design makes for a taller deck height and it also creates a slight incline on the the second row seats moving towards the front of the vehicle. If you need specific dimensions just let me know and I can measure for you to see whether or not your particular crate/kennel will fit.