ArmyofOne

I have been looking for information about flat towing my 2003 RX 300 behind my RV and your post is the only information I have found can you or other group members provide about the kit you mention or flat towing a 3003 Lexus RX 300. MGA George I personally would not reccomend towing ANYTHING 4 wheels on the ground for longer than 20 or so miles. Its very hard on the drvetrain, even in neutral, things still have to spin. I can imagine it would be cheaper to get a dolly than to do all these modifications. Dollys can be had for a few hundred dollars.

TripleTreads...GOOOOOO! Glad to hear you made it NC. Now your "NC" stands for Now in Chicago!

NADAguides.com says 15k (well 14900) But yeah, I wasnt going to take 10 for my low mileage 40mpg car. Have you sat in a new civic steve? They really are nice. they arent a lexus by any means, but... There's no way you get 40MPG in your civic, we have a prius in our family and that thing gets around mid 40's sometimes 50 if you drive nice, but if your getting 40 in your Civic EX then you must drive it very nicely. Computer says I get 33 city/42 hwy, as do my fuel calculations on fillup. It isnt hard, I use 0w-20 Oil and I dont drive like a goofball. I keep my air filter changed, run a tank of premium with a fuel system cleaner every oil change and tire pressures at 40 psi. on an average summer day i get what is stated above. If the temps are below 40 for any length of time (and they are up here ion winter), then it drops to 30 city/40 hwy. I have never gotten below 30 mpg avg. IT REALLY ISNT WORTH THE PREMUIM U PAY FOR A HYBRID. Getting 48 hwy the Civic Hybrid gets as opposed to the 42 hwy that i get, It would take a decade to get my $5000 premium i paid for the hybrid, back.

Bingo, the truth comes out. You probably broke a half-shaft as ArmyofOne mentioned. There is one for each side of the differential that drives each wheel. You gave it a bunch of gas trying to get unstuck and when a tire finally grabbed dry pavement, the shaft was severely stressed. With the car in gear, the drive shaft spinning, do you see one of the smaller half-shafts hanging limp or seemingly unconnected, or maybe spinning w/o turning the wheel? If you jack up the back of the car w/o the engine running and tranny in neutral, can you spin one of the wheels freely by hand? Try each wheel this way and see if the drive shaft turns at all. Or if turning one of the wheels causes the other to turn. In the case of an LS400, If you have a broken halfshaft on one side, neither will spin. Its likely theres a busted one. It may not even look broken. If you have the car on the jack and you can spin one wheel without the other spinning, that isolates the problem. I will take a picture of a halfshaft and what it looks like for you if you need me to. They look about the same for all cars.

Oh no, i wasnt offended by any means. I just weighed my finances vs what i WANTED not needed. My wife and i decided that if we didnt get 15,000 for the honda, we werent taking the deal. they wouldnt budge, so we said "Thanks anyway". We love our Civic, Would love to have a Lexus, but is really not nessecary at this point. We have no payment, and acquiring one, right now especially, wasnt what we wanted to do. Oh yeah, the new Civic is a really nice little car. I have a buddy that has a 2006. If I were going to buy an economy car, that would probably be the one. That or the Mazda 3. What I said about the dealer not selling it has nothing to do with the Civic, its just not a car a Lexus dealer would keep on their lot. Really the only cars Lexus dealers want on their lots are late model Lexus vehicles that they can sell as CPO. Even my Lexus I bet a dealer wouldn't give me anything worthwhile for, it has too many miles to be CPO. Ah, ok, I got ya now. :)

NADAguides.com says 15k (well 14900) But yeah, I wasnt going to take 10 for my low mileage 40mpg car. Have you sat in a new civic steve? They really are nice. they arent a lexus by any means, but...

Wait you said the speedometer moves? where are the speedometer sensors located on this car, does anyone know? Check your rear axles. I would be willing to bet you have a Halfshaft broken.

Oooo....doesnt sound good. either a transmission or diff, unless its a computer problem. how many miles? The car has 105k miles, what is a U JOINT?, I did look under the car, the big shaft does spin, the speedodometer goes up when you shift into drive or reverse, but the car does not move? IF the U joint is broken is that what connects the big spinning shaft into the pumpkin? Yes, but that isnt broken, its your diff(pumpkin) if your "big shaft" is spinning Thats not a common part failure though. Check your trans fluid. If it looks good, drain the pumpkin and take a pic of the fluid. check the drain plug for metal shavings. If you can, stick a magnet on a stick in the hole and poke around. This will give a good indication as to whether or not its bad.

I have an 800+ and i wasnt comfortable with a deal I was offered on an 08 IS250AWD, so I walked. that was 2 weeks ago. I wasnt looking to lease, They wanted to give me $10,000 for my civic (YEAH RIGHT, it BB's for at least 15) and they wanted an additional $4500 down for financing at 2.9%. Payment was gonna be over $400 still, and considering I have no payment as of now, and my civic has everything my wife and I love, We walked out. FWIW it was an IS250AWD In smokey granite, New for $40,000 flat.

Oooo....doesnt sound good. either a transmission or diff, unless its a computer problem. how many miles?

On the 1UZ, it isnt as difficult as on the V6 for the simple fact of space. But it is still a LARGE job. there is a reason the average dealer charges $1,000+ for this service. Its a PITA. Having done 2 (both on LS's though) I can honestly say, Its kind of a bad design. These motors really should have gears (NOT CHAINS) instead of belts. It completely ELIMINATES the need for TB change and solves the noise/reliability problem a chain has. While doing a timing belt, the engine WILL come out of time. If you are confident you can get it back, Have at. Its Not an easy job tho. Hey Army... When you say "out of time".. do you mean cam timing or ignition timing, or both?? Is it something you can control or not?? Cam timing. Ignition is electronically controlled (or should be on an 01). being that the ignition is not controlled by an "old school" distributor that rides the cam, it is controlled electronically by the comupter, usually via 4 ignition coils (it may be 2, or even 1.) You can control the loss of cam timing, but you have to make a "Shim" to hold the cam gears in Place. VERY difficult to do. Its actually easier to let the motor lose timing and just realign with the timing "nicks" on the pulleys. When removing the belt, it is going to be IMPOSSIBLE to do so without moving the cams, inless you put a shim in there. and IF you manage to get the shim to stay in place (2 ppl helps), it will be as easy as "off with the old and on with the new". If it has VVt-i watch it, as it is an interference motor. I cant remember if the 01 V8's were or not. Be very careful, If the pistons hit the valves, even ever so gently, it could be disastrous.

On the 1UZ, it isnt as difficult as on the V6 for the simple fact of space. But it is still a LARGE job. there is a reason the average dealer charges $1,000+ for this service. Its a PITA. Having done 2 (both on LS's though) I can honestly say, Its kind of a bad design. These motors really should have gears (NOT CHAINS) instead of belts. It completely ELIMINATES the need for TB change and solves the noise/reliability problem a chain has. While doing a timing belt, the engine WILL come out of time. If you are confident you can get it back, Have at. Its Not an easy job tho.

Army, love the setiment and agree with you 100% if that's what they were doing. In reality the stimulus pkg is not designed to pay off the debt but rather as an infusion of capital and tax breaks (theoretically putting $$ in the hands of the public) into the economy to restore confidence and credit to businesses and consumers which they hope will get the economy rolling again. If spending starts up again, and businesses can finance their operations with credit newly available (indirectly) from this pkg, then the layoffs will subside. As the layoffs decrease, the consumers' confidence increases and spending should increase proprtionally fom where it is now, or at least that's the intent. You're right. They're borrowing a lot of it internationally. You right here again. However, the pkg is not a bailout in the strict sense of the word. It is a colleciton of loans, repayable (with interest?) to the gov't. They may even make some $ when it's all done. In addition there are strings attached. You no doubt heard of Obama restricting exec's to $500k for any failing business on the receiving end of this pkg. Without these conditions, many more corps would likely be continuing downhill. When you tie in the salaries to the performance of the company, you create a self interest in the well being of the business. I wouldn't remove all the perks however. One I can think of that would motivate the execs to perform would be that in lieu of salary increases they would receive bonuses of stock options that would be non negotiable/tradeable for 10 years. That way they would have a vested interest in making the companies shares worth as much as possible down the road. A win - win! That's my take anyway. One thing is for certain, turning this thing around will be like changing the course of a supertanker compared with a speedboat. You can turn the rudder quickly, but the tanker will take a lot longer to respond. NC, You just made my point...They are BORROWING MORE MONEY, largely to give to corporations who CANT keep their asses in the black because of DEBT...so what do you think the accountants are going to do when their bosses comany gets that 500 million dollar share fo the pckg? they are gonna pay off their debt thats causing their headache. So basically the government is saying "Here *insert favorite failing business here*, we will use our good credit to get money for you to pay off your debt. Where is the sense? Im sorry NC, I love you man, and I agree wholeheartedly that today's world is bass-ackwards. But, I work VERY hard for everything i have, a nearly new car thats paid for (and one thats 13 y/o but paid for), no mortgage and almost zero debt. And I like many others, shudder at the thought of bailing out lazy A$$holes... I guess with me being in the military I kind of have a false sense of security in regards to all of this. I have job security no matter what. Doesnt matter what happens, on the 1st and the 15th of every month until sept 28th 2012 or later, I will have a paycheck, with 25% withdrawn for my Thrift Savings Plan (every dollar I put in the army matches).

Nah, Go Jr.... B)

Yep...same car, except one is LHD and one is RHD. You can also use one from a supra of the same vintage, they are stronger, this is the route i would take.

I don't think so, Americans voted in Obama.... would did you think he was going to do???? He's been telling you for 2 years he wanted CHANGE!!.... Now I hope all those liberals are happy... they're going to get change alright!! By the end this year millions of Americans will have change ..... nothing but "change" in the pockets. We're moving into socialism rapidly... say bye-bye to your civil rights, and watch your 2nd Amendment right get torched!! <_< COBRA??? ... dude.. you're smoke'n some bad $hit!! The government doesn't pay for your COBRA!!! :P Yeah... you'd better get ready!! Stash some cash, you'll need food and water also. And when the bands of ravaging, anti-government crazed lunatic "have-nots" start taking from the "haves"... you'd better have some guns and lots ammo!! :o OH... as far as the US having any assets???..... try FOOD!! B) We are in so much debt, we dont have any food that belongs to us...it all probably belongs to Britian or something :P

Seriously? Even a 4th grader can figure out, you cant borrow money to pay off debt. Think using a Visa Card to pay off your AMEX. Sure, you will get skymiles, but they are almost as worthless as the economy at this point. This stimulus bill could very well spell the end of the economy as we know it. There is NO WAY the US government has that kind of money, and if they put that amount of money into circulation, there will be a downward spiral of value of our currency, and an uncontrollable skyrocket of inflation that will almost certainly spell our financial demise. If they borrow it, It will put is into a multi-TRILLION dollar hole (we are close already) that we will never climb out of. This is your plan congress? The United States of America, the worlds single largest economic and democratic superpower, filing for chapter 11? NewsFlash...we don't have any assets to liquidate, since you put us in debt to finance our military, and now these stimulus bills. As a result, the American people on average have no assets to liquidate either, so we cant bail you out even if we wanted to. Not smart, Borrowing to pay off debt is a real good way to swiftly kick yourself square in the !Removed!. EVERY smart American knows this, so why in the hell is our government doing it? Because for too long, they have gotten away with it with no immediate consequences. And now, the stimulus has everyone raving...because everyone can get something out of it, everyone wants a piece of the pie. There are allocations for millions and in some cases, BILLIONS of dollars for programs that could be drastically reduced or disbanded altogether, such as COBRA. Unfortuately, if you lose your job, you will probably lose your insurance, that happens. Originally the program was designed to save the government money by keeping people off of Medicaid, but its hurting us pretty bad, because its a drain, there is no return. I can see it coming, if the US economy collapses, the world economy WILL NOT be able to sustain itself, Asian and European markets would collapse in a chain reaction around the globe. Not cool.

Here's the story of how i ended up married. KIDDING!!! Thought you all could use a laugh!

Best wishes to the good Dr. That truck doesnt even look totalled...wow...tough one eh?

Blake (username blake918) had a 95 LS4 with 318,000 miles (or something like that) when he sold it. Still ran like a dream. I drove it on a few occasions, GREAT car.

No amount of tuning in the world will help 1000hp/tq channeled through the rear wheels of a truck that weighs 2000 lbs with the driver and no weight over the drive wheels...you will never find enough grip to get the truck down the track at its full potential, without adding weights to the rear, which slows you down. On that note though, has anyone driven a TVR by any chance? a Cerbera or the like? those things are wicked fast (when they run), but they handle about like this thing does, very eager to leave you facing oncoming traffic while screaming.

yes good luck man, and chicago is a might closer to me than NC! maybe we can meet up! If you need the instructions for how to wash your car in the winter months (by hand without a hose) PM me bud.

oct-april snow, april-june moderate temps, june to aug HOT, aug to oct moderate temps again, then repeat.

Donald.

Hard to believe our summers are 95+ degrees.