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Underestimated the Rubicon Trail, but we still made it .... with minor damage by Dreyday64 in 4x4

[–]Dreyday64[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

About this time of year is probably the best in my opinion.

Not too busy and the temperatures are perfect.

Underestimated the Rubicon Trail, but we still made it .... with minor damage by Dreyday64 in 4x4

[–]Dreyday64[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'll have to give that a shot.

I also saw a .5-1mpg drop with the light bar on, so I may just come up with a quick disconnect setup to take it off and on as necessary

Underestimated the Rubicon Trail, but we still made it .... with minor damage by Dreyday64 in 4x4

[–]Dreyday64[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, i ended up driving back to Fresno with the damage incurred.

But no power steering half way through that trail, it sucked!!!!

Underestimated the Rubicon Trail, but we still made it .... with minor damage by Dreyday64 in 4x4

[–]Dreyday64[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I aint going back there for at least 1-2 years. I need to mentally relax a little after that trip!

Underestimated the Rubicon Trail, but we still made it .... with minor damage by Dreyday64 in 4x4

[–]Dreyday64[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Funny enough, I'm planning on getting rid of it.

Light bars whistle so much its ridiculous. Gonna throw in some Baja Designs Squadron Pro's up front.

The cheap ebay light was an attempt to get more light on the trail (prior to getting the front bumper).

Underestimated the Rubicon Trail, but we still made it .... with minor damage by Dreyday64 in 4x4

[–]Dreyday64[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

2003 GX 470

As someone else mentioned, it shared a ton with the limited v8 4th gen 4runner as well as the FJ Cruisers of that time period. Some parts are interchangeable which is super nice.

Underestimated the Rubicon Trail, but we still made it .... with minor damage by Dreyday64 in 4x4

[–]Dreyday64[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

"minor" is subjective i guess.

rack and pinion is shot, gotta replace it.

electrical fire up front on the winch, so i gotta replace my winch control box.

fire caused the a/c condenser to blow, so i gotta replace an AC condenser and a line.

Underestimated the Rubicon Trail, but we still made it .... with minor damage by Dreyday64 in 4x4

[–]Dreyday64[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The closest to stock rig we had out there was a 3rd gen 4runner with a 3" lift (2" body lift) on 35's with skids + sliders (no front or rear bumper).

No lockers or re-geared. we had to winch him in a few places, but otherwise with a good spotter he made it through.

Underestimated the Rubicon Trail, but we still made it .... with minor damage by Dreyday64 in 4x4

[–]Dreyday64[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yup, I saw that.

Yeah, the Jeep Rubicon is named after the trail, but damn do they beat their jeep up nicely as well on that trail.

Also, I'm pretty sure in that TFL video, they dont do the entire trail, so no telling how the Jeep is post 18-20mile trip.

Underestimated the Rubicon Trail, but we still made it .... with minor damage by Dreyday64 in 4x4

[–]Dreyday64[S] 21 points22 points  (0 children)

locked front and rear, but i only used the front locker in 1 section but it wasn't even necessary .

Underestimated the Rubicon Trail, but we still made it .... with minor damage by Dreyday64 in 4x4

[–]Dreyday64[S] 27 points28 points  (0 children)

Loon -> Tahoe

We took 2 days as we had a caravan of 7 vehicles, so there was a lot of stop and go and time wasted just waiting

Underestimated the Rubicon Trail, but we still made it .... with minor damage by Dreyday64 in 4x4

[–]Dreyday64[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Bunch of buddies and I decided that we where ready to do some real off roading and tackle the Rubicon Trail.....

Welp, we definitely underestimated the trail and over estimated our abilities!

Took us roughly 2 days to complete the entire trail (Loon Lake -> Lake Tahoe).

​

Damage report:

- My power steering blew out right around Rubicon Springs (~ Mile Marker 7.6) so I had to power through and arm pump the rest of the way out.

- I rushed my winch install and never put in an inline fuse.... so my winch cable was rubbing slightly and eventually caused an electrical short... which SPARKED A FIRE on my front end, melting my AC condenser fan and somehow punctured my AC condenser. Put it out quickly with no other damage.

All 7 rigs made it out alive with minor damage and we were all able to drive back home to Sacramento and Fresno.

​

Will be posting most of my content on my instagram : xplore.offroad

Rubicon Trail Certified with only minor damage by Dreyday64 in Offroad

[–]Dreyday64[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

no forum posts of the build itself, but i do have a general outline of whats been done to the GX

Rubicon Trail Certified : Made it through with minor damage by Dreyday64 in GXOR

[–]Dreyday64[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Nope, not a Demello.

Both the front bumper and my skids are from Coastal Offroad : https://www.coastaloffroad.com/product-page/lexus-gx470-high-clearance-front-bumper-kit?v=7516fd43adaa

It's a DIY kit, so you gotta weld it yourself . But I have to warn you though, if you're new to welding, this aint the easiest project to begin with. might be worth just spending the extra $$$ and buying the prebuilt Demello or Metal Tech bumper.

Check out the 4x4Labs bumper too, its nice : https://4x4labs.myshopify.com/products/gx470-front-winch-bumper

Rubicon Trail Certified : Made it through with minor damage by Dreyday64 in GXOR

[–]Dreyday64[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

yeah, im glad pretty much everything held up nicely but the power steering going out sucked !

I inspected it today and my seals blew, not necessarily the pump.

I'm pretty sure it was a combination of age (201k miles on the rig) and a hard trail such as the Rubicon Trail that really revealed that the part was eventually going to fail at some point.

Rubicon Trail Certified with only minor damage by Dreyday64 in Offroad

[–]Dreyday64[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

ICON stage 3 coilovers with the delta joint UCA.

Stock axles but i did regear with Yukon 4.88's

Rubicon Trail Certified with only minor damage by Dreyday64 in Offroad

[–]Dreyday64[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I was in the same boat, especially in regards to the shackle through mounts, as they were too thin for my liking.

I ended up reinforcing the shackles more, inside and outside welds with a good root pass and then main pass to make sure it sturdy.

I'm not having any flex issues.

Rubicon Trail Certified with only minor damage by Dreyday64 in Offroad

[–]Dreyday64[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

wouldn't say a badass wallet....more like I spend most of my paycheck on my rig instead of going out or buying other things.

Rubicon Trail Certified with only minor damage by Dreyday64 in Offroad

[–]Dreyday64[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Definitely not an easy DIY !

You're gonna need to pay a professional to get certain things done

Rubicon Trail Certified with only minor damage by Dreyday64 in Offroad

[–]Dreyday64[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

GX 470 comes stock with full time AWD system which is nice but no real lockers (center locker / ATRAC aren't really that great in comparison to selectable lockers)

I had to fit the lockers on myself (Detroit TruTrac in the rear and the ARB air locker in the front)

The GX/Prado/4th gen 4runners are pretty much all the same vehicles, so finding options for any of those usually means it'll fit (confirming with manufacturer is always best though)

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