As a fellow 200 owner, I'm stoked to see someone so experienced building up a 200 series finally! Not nearly enough content of these vehicles being built up and used.
These are amazing trucks. Great to see that you are taking the time to baseline all the maintenance. PCV valve, spark plugs, coolant flush, brake fluid flush, all drivetrain fluids, air filter, cabin filter, alignment and balance, those are all necessities. Kids named Our old LX570 Lexy. Now our newer LX570 they named Rexy. We love naming all our vehicles with the kids. Makes it that much more fun.
Tim-I really appreciate these sensible, informative videos. Most channels won’t advise you on basic maintenance, recovery, etc, only make videos on the new product they’re installing. You guys are world class. Looking forward to Sonoran Sunrise coming soon!
I heard you mention wanting to change the differentials’ fluid & transfer case fluid, but not the transmission fluid. The 200 has a “sealed” transmission from Toyota. It’s an easy drain & fill procedure but a very important one. I would avoid a full flush procedure, but that’s up to you to decide. Congratulations on the new truck & good luck.
When you pull the second row seats, you’ll get a SRS warning light. You can find some 3d printed plugs with resistors embedded to plug in and get that light off and system happy again.
Cheers! It's funny you say that. We were googling and found the Brad's website and ordered them before heading off to Mexico. Looking forward to that light going off!
You should look into Budbuilt Sliders and Skid Plates. That is what I have on mine, and they are excellent. Those guys are super nice, and make an awesome product.
Love Budbuilts skids! We may build our own sliders, but I had Budbuilts on a truck almost 20 years ago and they take an amazing beating! We'll check out what they have for the 200. Thanks!
I'm a big proponant(?) Of the KISS principal. (Keep It Simple Stupid) Long term travel, and especially internationally, less is more. Keep on truckin' guys.
Had flashbacks during the interior cleaning scene 😂. But 100% agree, before any change, a good clean and service. Very soon we will be in the same scenario, maybe during this week 😁
The truck is looking great! That color really is Sonoran desert camouflage. Keeping the front lift around 2” is smart. By far, my scariest experiences off road are off-camber situations where being any more top heavy would’ve caused a rollover. Scraping the skids, by comparison, doesn’t bother me at all. Not to mention the better IFS articulation you get with mild lifts compared to being overly lifted. Too many people trade performance for looks.
Well said! We've had the same experience. Similarly, my first experience with a Roof Top Tent was in 2005 and I did a trail two days in a row prior to install and after. I lifted a tire and nearly rolled the truck with it. That, and a few tippy fast sections and I pulled it off and sold it. Performance over looks any day. If it performs AND looks good, bonus.
Love it guys! We are heading in the same direction with our GX, just at a much slower pace. Your input might have solidified us on the Dobinson IMS kit. I am jealous of the wrenching space and perfect weather that you guys have. Apartment living and saving money for adventures does not provide a lot of opportunity for wrenching and mods.
Right on, love your GX! It's tough to not have a physical home, but we're so thankful to have a buddy with such a great home shop and all the tools we could hope to use! Not to mention his knowledge which has helped us for decades. So, meet in baja??🌮
Like the simplistic approach. I had big visions when I got my truck about 6 months ago but decided to wait and I am glad I did ("KISS"). I did go from a 275 to 285 tire and depending on squish I rub my upper control arm slightly at full turn. Kinda a bummer. You could name the new rig T/K
I love your plans for this new rig. I'm in the process of trying to convert my 4Runner to do the Pan American highway with my 60lb pup, and as much as I'd love to keep it light, and not overload the roof rack, I just don't know how to haul everything I might want to comfortably live out of it four a year or two without lots of roof stowage.
We totally get that. For the 2.5 year trip South we added a lot because it was so long and the truck is truly a rolling home. Hence the poptop and cutting our roof. This truck will be for months on the road at a time so we have the luxury of going without somethings or selecting to bring bikes or leave them at our storage unit as we travel.
Nice video and very informative. One other thing that I do is lube the front and rear driveshafts. Other common problems are the starter and to lesser extent cam tower leak and valley plate coolant leaks. You have very nice Cruiser and living the dream. Stay safe out there and have fun.
Great point! We lubed the joints yesterday. Going to check the coolant valley when we do the waterpump next month, but keeping an eye on the res level for coolant just in case. Cheers!
Hello Tim & Kelsey! I wanted to express my gratitude for the fantastic 200 Series content you've provided. It's been a tremendous help. I'm a proud owner of a 2015 LC, and I'm looking to replace both the main carpet and the driver's seat cover. This is my first time attempting such a task, and I'm curious if you have any plans to share step-by-step instructions for a DIY project like this. Your guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thank you once again! I'm excited to be a new subscriber.
Thank you so much! We decided to go with Seat covers instead of replacing the leather. I did find some good options out there for replacement leather but we decided we would probably just ruin the new leather anyway with how we use the truck. When I was researching I did find some good videos from people who had done the replacement. Good luck and thanks for watching! Cheers!
Thanks! I think as part of the waterpump/serpentine etc I better dig in and check it out. I've been checking the level to see if we're losing any so far.
Fantastic video thank you for posting. I thought the 200 series does not have a front and rear differential only a center locking differential? Can anyone shed some light on this please
It has a front, center and rear differential. Only the center diff has a locker though (For USA trucks). For the front and rear diff the electronic traction control called A-trac handles any slippage offroad trying to mimick what a locker would do. There are some manual transmission diesel V8 versions with a rear and center from Toyota included.
The 200 has front, rear, & center differentials. As for lockers, mine has center & rear lockers from factory. I know others have A-Trac, while mine doesn’t. I guess it depends on what edition you purchase & where. Mine is a 2015 GXR.
FYI... polishing the front light plastic bezels is a waste of time. Yes, you can make them look alright for a few months, but they will fade again very quickly.
We had a ceramic coating product that we used to protect from UV damage after polishing. And so far so good! Usually it's not putting a protective coating on so it looks bad after a few months.
Hi Guys , Thanks for bringing me along . It is so nice to see down to earth people building a down to earth vehicle . I am looking forward to how you build your sleeping platform ,and camping /living set up . Thanks again
A toyota dealership recommended flushing the entire system which restored back to the factory condition. It’s the dealer recommendation not a part of regular maintenance. What you think of this recommendation?
Flush the brake system or cooling or power steering etc? It's not a bad thing to do of course, but it's a very easy one to do yourself if they want much money for it.
You mentioned your going with upper CAs with poly bushings. I'd be interested in binding issues that I've found in most applications with poly. From porsche to minis to land rover and more. So when you install, how about you test for that by bolting then to chassis only and see it they move up and down without excessive bind. Just curious. 😊
Sure, we've done all our long travel trucks of the past with Poly. For racing I prefer Delrin or Heims, but for offroading every day for work I like Poly or even better, OEM Toyota bushings.
