Lexus LX470 Rear Cabin Conversion...

mhiscox

Expedition Leader
Over the past ten days, the LX470 had its first trip as a camper van. The trip was about 3100 miles overall--Portland to Las Vegas to the Utah parks then back to Las Vegas and back to Portland. I generally took the road less traveled, though in much of Nevada and Eastern Oregon, even the significant roads were pretty empty.

The best thing about the rig turned out to be the underlying vehicle. I knew that it was a good highway cruiser, but it turned out to be excellent beyond expectations. I'd planned on a quiet ride with good handling, but was a little surprised to get better than 17 mpg given the terrain, some serious headwinds and an average cruise around 70 mph. I know that's not Prius competition, but given the form factor and road-hugging weight, I was pleased enough. This was a good trip to remind me that you may be doing a few hundred miles of off-roading and slow sightseeing, but if you have to travel 1200+ miles to get there, it's best if you do it in a cushy vehicle.

The camper part of the equation worked pretty well. All the electrical and plumbing performed as expected, and the overall design turned out to be just fine. Plenty of room for sleeping comfortably, and more than enough room for the things I wanted to carry. There's a little fine tuning to do, and I haven't come up with a good plan for window coverings, beyond camping without anyone else around.

To wit, I camped by myself down by the Snake River south of Twin Falls, ID on the first night:

P1010310.jpg


A lovely spot, though the bugs were a bit thick:

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Got a nice sunset out of it. though:

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Camped the next night on some BLM land in the middle of nowhere south of Ely, Nevada:

P1010315.jpg


And then started in on the usual Southwest Utah suspects:

DSC01357.jpg.

A pretty place to be sure.

The truck turned over 100,000 miles on the trip, and for that mileage and going on 8 years old, it's almost just like new. Still tight with all of the materials wearing well, and Paul's work didn't add any creaks or rattles to the quiet interior.

All in all, a good trip in the new Mall Crawler Camper and I feel really good about the design and execution of the work that Paul and I did.
 

haven

Expedition Leader
Do you (Paul or Mike) have an estimate of the weight the conversion adds to the LX470? Curb weight of the stock vehicle, without driver, is supposed to be 4900 lb or thereabouts.
 

mhiscox

Expedition Leader
Do you (Paul or Mike) have an estimate of the weight the conversion adds to the LX470? Curb weight of the stock vehicle, without driver, is supposed to be 4900 lb or thereabouts.
It was dumb of me not to weigh it ahead of time, but I'm thinking that we're looking at about 300 pounds total. The weight is mostly in the 27-liter Engel fridge, the 150AH Mastervolt AGM battery, the TrippLite 1000 watt inverter/charger, and maybe 50 pounds of plywood and hardware.

The key thing is that I've noticed no change in performance from before the conversion. I added the weight of the conversion, of the MetalTech sliders that replaced the fiberglass running boards, and something over another 100 pounds of tools, luggage, water and other stuff before the trip, so was expecting some detrimental effect. But the handling stayed solid and I didn't notice any loss of acceleration (though science mandates that there had to be some).

I think much of this is having a 2005 model with the slightly-higher horsepower and the extra gear in the transmission. I previously had a 2000 LX with equivalent mileage and it often seemed underpowered. I'm surprised that my quarter-ton heavier '05 seems significantly faster and more nimble than the '00, but that's how it is.
 

kjp1969

Explorer
The best thing about the rig turned out to be the underlying vehicle. I knew that it was a good highway cruiser, but it turned out to be excellent beyond expectations. I'd planned on a quiet ride with good handling, but was a little surprised to get better than 17 mpg given the terrain, some serious headwinds and an average cruise around 70 mph.

I know that this isn't the purpose of this thread, but since you brought it up, do you know if Landcruisers are similarly quiet and smooth? Also, the Lexus apparently uses a fairly complicated hydraulic suspension setup. What are your thoughts on this as the 100,000 mi mark has passed- has it aged well? Do you expect failures or repairs in the future?
 

mhiscox

Expedition Leader
I know that this isn't the purpose of this thread, but since you brought it up, do you know if Landcruisers are similarly quiet and smooth? Also, the Lexus apparently uses a fairly complicated hydraulic suspension setup. What are your thoughts on this as the 100,000 mi mark has passed- has it aged well? Do you expect failures or repairs in the future?
There's relatively little difference between the LX470 and the Landcruiser, and they drive nearly identically. In the beginning, the Landcruiser outsold the Lexus, but as the price continued to climb, the Lexus started to outsell the Landcruiser. Apparently if you're going to spend $70K on a vehicle, you might as well get the vaunted Lexus service out of the deal.

The best place I know of to see the differences between LX and Landcruiser across model years is to look at Slee Off-Road's newbie guide to the Hundred series:

http://www.sleeoffroad.com/newbie/newbieUZJ100.htm

As that site points out, there were differences in the audio system, availability of a few options, and other small points. But the biggest difference is the LX470's hydraulic suspension which is adjustable for both height and firmness. The system is complicated and expensive to repair, but my Lexus mechanic friend reports that the system is not especially trouble-prone and often goes a couple hundred thousand miles without issues. On the other hand, problems with the automatic height control are mentioned fairly often on the 100 Series Technical Forum on IH8MUD.com, though it is common for others to reply that their systems are working well.

Both of my LXs--this 2005 and a previous 2000--were trouble free throughout, including the suspension, and I like both the firmness control, which makes a useful difference across its four settings, and the extra clearance available when the suspension is put into HI. In fact, the two inches of extra height was useful just last week on a brief, but easy-to-high-center, trail in Red Rock Canyon outside of Las Vegas, and the sport firmness setting was routinely used in the twistier sections of remote highways. So I've no reason to be anything but bullish on the setup. But if it did all go wrong, it'd admittedly be an expensive repair (though you could say the same for about a hundred other repairs on this sort of luxury SUV).

The bottom line is that the two brands are 95%+ the same truck, and I don't believe you give up much of importance getting the Toyota instead of the Lexus. Plus there is usually a few thousand dollar price advantage to the Toyota. But as long as it's working correctly, the Lexus suspension is a good system with tangible benefits. Realistically, either brand is the sort of truck that should be bought only with a documented service history and after an inspection by a dealership mechanic. But they hold together well, are very comfortable on the pavement, and are quite competent (if not stellar) off-pavement and in other bad traction situations. They're both costly, complicated, and get mediocre fuel economy. But I'm pretty sure that there's nothing else that offers the same mix of reliability, comfort and on- and off-road ability. I'm certainly a big fan of either version and, as the prices drop as the years go by, I think they're worthy of serious consideration by almost anyone people looking for an overlander that will also do daily driver duty.
 

RobRed

Explorer
Most of the LX470 crowd on Mud bazitch about the AHC (which was an option on later Land Cruisers) because of the load carrying. They all want to put heavy offroad bumpers and armor on, which exceeds the capability of the AHC.
 

kjp1969

Explorer
P1170205.JPG

Mike,
Is the sink functional enough? I'm picturing trying to wash dishes in there, but it looks small and hard to get to.
 

mhiscox

Expedition Leader
Mike,
Is the sink functional enough? I'm picturing trying to wash dishes in there, but it looks small and hard to get to.
It works about like you'd think it'd work. The sink is intentionally small and not very deep and the positioning, while designed to be optimal if you are inside the truck, wasn't made for washing up from a big cookout. No problem, though, cleaning up your own tableware and pots when solo camping. which is the conversion's main purpose.

The way to handle any bigger job, or when the weather is good, is to use the faucet to fill a fold-up camping sink that can be used on the tailgate. The conversion was specifically designed to be weathertight when you can't/don't want to go outside the truck, as is the case many times of the year given our weather. But if it's pleasant outside the truck, you drop the tailgate amd eat/work/clean up off of it.
 

suntinez

Explorer
Smart use of space and as expected, great craftsmanship.

Mike4.jpg


Mike5.jpg


Room for everything.

Mike3.jpg


Couple rough patches to get to this spot in the La Madre Mountain wilderness area, others turned around. The truck is smart and handled it effortlessly, seems like a great stealth whats-down-this-road kind of ride.

Mike.jpg


Everything is a motorhome in Mike’s hands! :D
 

Awkragt

Adventurer
That is a cool setup. I'm planning on something similar for the folding bed part. My first crack sleeping right on the floor left way too much gear in the way and had no storage. A couple of questions on this box build if you don't mind.

Do you have another photo or two of the bed part folded up and folded down, does it lay flat when stowed?
What are the length of each of those leaves that flop out over the seat?
Does the first leaf land on the seat, and the second cantilevers over the headrest?
What is the height of the platform?
 

AeroNautiCal

Explorer
For some more extremely creative uses of space, in what are (by US standards) micro cars, perhaps have a look at the photo's in this forum.

There's 30 pages of DIY camping car/van conversions which maximize the use of limited space, whilst (mostly) retaining the vehicle's original seating capacity.
 

mhiscox

Expedition Leader
Do you have another photo or two of the bed part folded up and folded down, does it lay flat when stowed?
064.jpg

063.jpg

061.jpg

So it is dead flat both when deployed and folded. (FWIW, keeping it all happily flat is the reason there's no carpet or other covering on the second side of the extensions. The thickness would keep the pieces from being flat at the hinges.)


What are the length of each of those leaves that flop out over the seat?

13.5" for the forward (when deployed; rearmost when folded) piece; 22.5" for the middle piece.


Does the first leaf land on the seat, and the second cantilevers over the headrest?
062.jpg

The headrest is removed from that side of the second row. Also, you move the front seat forward from the normal driving position.


There is a custom made (and stored) prop that can hold up the front of the cantilevered portion.

065.jpg

I haven't used it. With reasonable care, there's no reason to put more weight on that piece than is easily managed by the piano hinge.


What is the height of the platform?

13 inches off the load floor; the only height it could be to have the bed be level.
 

mhiscox

Expedition Leader
For some more extremely creative uses of space, in what are (by US standards) micro cars, perhaps have a look at the photo's in this forum. There's 30 pages of DIY camping car/van conversions which maximize the use of limited space, whilst (mostly) retaining the vehicle's original seating capacity.
Wow! Talk about your ten pounds of potatoes in a five pound bag. Lots of clever ideas here to keep you thinking. An excellent forum for anyone thinking about living out of small vehicle. (Makes me sad I sold the Samurai. ;) )

Many thanks for the link.
 

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