Broc Luno

OK, year later and I should update the group. Everything has been fine. The only hit is about 0.3 MPG. I used to average 22.2 on mixed, but mostly highway miles. The same drive now is 21.8 MPG or so. Other than that, you'd never know it was in there, until you go to launch the boat on an unimproved ramp ... Never even turn a tire. Just up the beach and away you go 🙂

Ride should be similar, maybe a bit stiffer ... Compression will not be compromised much. But droop (drop) will be limited. Suspension modification are always a compromise. You have to trade something for what you want ...

In Kazakhstan with all the unimproved roads, I would do the Highlander rear spring/strut upgrade. Probably easier to get the parts off a wrecked car. Wheel spacers are OK, but they do put extra load on the wheel bearings. I would try for a build that would minimize any unnecessary strain on suspension parts. Have fun and be safe :)

RX's will usually go over 300K with normal maintenance and some attention paid to the suspension. I plan to keep rolling mine until they pry it out of my hands. I don't think you get into the sweet spot on pricing until they hit about 125K. There is a psychological threshold there somewhere. For both buyers and sellers. And I agree on the Hybrids :)

Probably no problems ... The biggest issue is off road in rocks. The rim width will expose more sidewall to rock cuts. Usually for off road in tough country we use a tire about an inch wider across the tread than the rim width. That pinches the sidewall in a bit and protects it. The tread is the widest part, so takes almost all the abuse. Yours will be somewhat different ...

Yup, most are interchangeable. There are some differences in special order axles and stuff. But run of the mill stuff all goes over.

OK, but the only way to really know is pull the rear diff cover and look. Might do that when you get ready to change the rear diff fluid ... Easy to reseal as Toyota/Lexus only uses a bead of RTV around the edge to seal the rear cover, even from the factory.

OK, I just posted an update on the Torsen Posi swap for my RX in that thread: Posi (Limited Slip Diff) for your RX Some decent info if you need one.

OK, here is the long over due update. I have an 03 and I contacted Jimmy Vasser Toyota (JVT) in Napa Calif to see whether they would do the swap for me? Yes, they would. So I found a Torsen rear diff at B&R Auto Wrecking in Oregon (excellent source of good parts: https://www.autowrecking.com/ ). Bought it and had it shipped. Around $240 by the time it got here. I had already been shipped a couple of non-posi's by other vendors (advertised as posi's), and refunded my money when I pulled the rear covers and found them to be std open diffs. eBay adverts can be misleading ... But they all made it right, just annoying. In case anyone is looking at door stickers and build codes, and trying to decode stuff, that is a gamble. The only way to make sure is to put the VIN # into the Toyota "as delivered" database and see if it comes up with a posi as an installed option. The donor vehicle for these parts was: JT6HF10UXX0090348 I do not know which number in this sequence denotes posi ... I took the car in to JVT to have some other service work done last month. I needed the dash dissembled to fix a non-functioning blend door, an engine service, etc. The car has less than 100K on the ODO, so I'm letting dealer do the work for now. That way it's all in the Toyota/Lexus system. This is planned to be our travel car, so I want any Toyota dealer to see what has happened so far, if I need a fix on the road ... I had them pull the rear cover and inspect (all good), install all new seals, etc. In about a week, they called and said they had finish everything but ... They could not get the axles to fasten up. The Torsen Posi has larger axle shafts and bigger differential flanges than a stock open diff. So they "one bolted it" so it could be moved outside while I went on the hunt for used proper axles and hubs. They quoted $4K if they had to order all new parts from Lexus. That's a big ouch if I could not find what I needed ... While this was going on, the Hennessy Lightning Fire blew up and became the LNU Complex Fire, and then parts of southern Oregon started burning too. So B&R found the correct parts in one of their yards, but the yard was in a fire zone. By the time we all slowed down from burning enough to resume business, weeks had gone by. But JVT was kind enough to store the car and wait. Another $180 for both rear axles, CV joints and hubs finally got drop shipped to JVT. While that was going on, the Glass Fire started. We were in the fire zone and had to fight the fire to keep our house, so glad the car was safely away. You can read about it here: https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/09/29/as-famous-wineries-burn-around-them-not-so-typical-napa-valley-couple-fights-all-night-to-save-home/ After the fire was under control and travel could resume, we fetched the car. JVT's charges were around $800 split over two bills due to the delay in parts sourcing. I have since driven the vehicle a little less than 1,000 miles and it acts just like a regular RX 300 on the road. No chirping, shudder, whine, or any other sign it has a posi. But on the dirt or gravel it is different. 99% of the time you can not get it to turn a wheel from a standing start. Granted I have not hit hard from dead stop, but I have a pretty steep part of my gravel drive (35* slope) and it'll go up that from a standing start on slope w/o so much as hearing one little rock roll over. It is uncanny how grippy it is. This car will be used to pull my 16' fiberglass runabout, hopefully to Lake Chelan next year, and launch it on some "primitive" ramps (gravel). I expect it to perform perfectly, but I'll test that here on slippery tidal ramps in the next week or two. Anyway, anyone contemplating this should not be put off. The parts are out there. My stuff came off a nice clean wrecked 1999 RX 300. But there were no fitment issues other than needing the correct axles and hubs. There are no error codes. The ABS seems to act normally. I can't see why or how it is not a 100% improvement over stock open diff vehicle 🙂

Just to be clear on my terminology: Center section means the guts of a differential (carrier & internals), and in my posts, does not refer to the transfer case. I do mean to be introducing the transfer case into this discussion in any way. The used diff example I'm dealing with is not simply a Posi, this is a Torsen center section with spiral gears and no clutches. I am new to Toyota and Lexus and their terminology. I use phrases and terms I have used all my life, all the way back to NASCAR in the late 1960's (Super Modifieds). I am an experienced off roader who got paid for years to do off-road trail condition surveys, erosion assessments, etc. I am not an expert in Lexus or Toyota parts naming conventions. But among the off road community outside of Toyota the terms I use are fairly commonly used ...

That works fine if you have a Lexus VIN. In general, Toyota VIN's are a bit harder to decode. And not all Wreckers will supply the VIN until after you buy the part ... Since Lexus stopped offering Torsen Posi's after 2001 or so in the USA, you'd be searching on old vehicles, usually with a lot of miles. But, Toyota offere3d the same rear diff in Highlanders and Rav 4's. So getting a later model rear diff with less miles out of one of these is more likely. But, in doing so you end up where I was with bogus and misleading parts sales and the hassel of sorting it all out. Of course, if you are really fixated on this and have the cash, you can still buy a Torsen center section from Toyota for your existing re4ar diff at about $2,400 and then the cost of installation. That's why I went the used route ...

Well, just a short update: After ordering and cancelling or returning, or just dumping in the recycle bin (after getting refund) on three eBay "Torsen Posi's" sold as used, I finally got a real one. Came out of a Highlander with 119K miles in Oregon. So they are out there 🙂 Had back and forth's with the vendors. Most won't even take the time to pop the rear cover and actually check ... They insist they are factory Torsens. But when they get here, they are not. Sent letter to Toyota asking about using VIN or Build Plate to ID candidate cars, no dice - they would not supply any info (not good customer support). I really don't get the secrecy around this stuff ?? Car's at Vasser Toyota in Napa getting other service work (door locks, blend door failure, etc) and they are putting new seals into my Torsen and installing. Will report on drive-ability issues if any come up ...

I dunno if the Gen II RX's will work well with the Toyota Limited Slip Differential (LSD) due to the change in transfer case? I just don't know enough about that build. But, if you want to add capability, you could try a posi rear end. You'd be looking for a donor vehicle (RX, Highlander, Rav4) with an axle code -04A denoting the factory Torsen LSD option. If you find one in the same year as yours, you'd know it'll work with the transfer case and it would be a good upgrade 🙂

Well I found one in Oregon with 158K on the ODO. Seller (B&D Auto Wrecking) confirmed that it was/is a locker. So after the previous three vendors failed to check well enough and either sent the wrong part, or just refunded my money after double checking, I pulled the trigger and got it. Yup, it's a Toyota OEM Limited Slip Differential carrier complete. Raining right now, so don't want to open it up, but will in a few days. Looks like the right rear stub axle seal was weeping, so before it goes into my RX, I'll have the shop install all new seals and double check the lash. I don't want a noisy one replacing a dead silent existing one... So I got a photo of the "Build Plate" off the drivers door jam (sticker) from the donor vehicle (Highlander) : So you see the axle data in the lower right hand corner? It says -04A for this axle. My existing one is a std open diff (-02A). It's the thing you are looking for when out shopping. -04A is the axle code to look for in the field when hunting for one of these. I have seen one door sticker with an -03A on it, but was not able to get any more info about what axle that might be ...

Well I found one in Oregon with 158K on the ODO. Seller (B&D Auto Wrecking) confirmed that it was/is a locker. So after the previous three vendors failed to check well enough and either sent the wrong part, or just refunded my money after double checking, I pulled the trigger and got it. Yup, it's a Toyota OEM Limited Slip Differential carrier complete. Raining right now, so don't want to open it up, but will in a few days. Looks like the right rear stub axle seal was weeping, so before it goes into my RX, I'll have the shop install all new seals and double check the lash. I don't want a noisy one replacing a dead silent existing one... So I got a photo of the "Build Plate" off the drivers door jam (sticker) from the donor vehicle (Highlander) : So you see the axle data in the lower right hand corner? It says -04A for this axle. My existing one is a std open diff (-02A). It's the thing you are looking for when out shopping. -04A is the axle code to look for in the field when hunting for one of these. I have seen one door sticker with an -03A on it, but was not able to get any more info about what axle that might be ...

OK, let me follow up. I worked for years, maybe decades in Calif State Parks doing erosion and trail condition assessments. I have driven just about every sort of off-road trail you can imagine. Going off road is as much about mind-set as the vehicle. Since you have a 330, you have a different sort of AWD than the RX300's and the 07~09 RX350's. Your vehicle has a different transfer case and links between the front wheels and rear. " 2nd gen 04-06 has the MFVA transfer case, and does not contain the viscous coupling mechanism, it is lighter and simpler than 1st gen model. (according to Toyota) " What this means is that in your 330 all the smarts of the AWD system are electronic, and use the ABS to control wheel spin. This is designated as TRAC in Lexus lingo. And it can go to a place where it will throttle the engine back to very low power to prevent wheel spin. But, occasionally you need to spin tires a bit and power through. What to do? Pull the TRAC and AVS fuses temporarily and drive on. The fuses are under the hood in the fuse array. I say this to demonstrate how one overcomes adverse off road conditions w/o calling for an expensive off road tow. Anytime you are off the paved way, you have to keep your wits about you, and have some options. But, as long as you do, you'll be fine. The RX330 is a moderately capable vehicle. With decent tires, it will go on all the "trails" you are describing, and many you are not even contemplating. Things to have with you, and/or preparation. Pull out your jack and lube the threads. Make sure it works well and easy. Nothing in the world is more frustrating than getting a bit sideways crossing a small drainage and have one wheel loose traction by 1/2", and you are not ready to deal with it. Have some 1 foot square 3/4" plywood pieces in the back. Jack up the offending corner and put the boards under wheel - drive out of trouble - put your stuff away and carry on. Have a flat ribbon tow strap in one of the cubbies in the back. If you get stuck, just ask the next Jeep or Pick-up going by to tug you out, and carry on ... Find a local indy tire shop that will help you select appropriate tires. You can get pretty close to the suspension as long as you do not need to install chains for snow. They can mount a +1 tire with some reasonable on-road & off-road tread and test to see if they clear. If they do, get a set of four and you are ready to go. I'd have a set setup for summer camping. And I'd have a set of smooth riding road tires for the rest of the time. An on-sale Harbor Freight floor jack and 4-way lug wrench will have the spare wheels and tires on in 20 minutes. A wrecking yard can supply 4 OEM rims same as your current that will carry the new (and sharp treaded) off-road tires for summer season camping, etc. Trane one of the kids or your wife/GF to get out and help you drive around obstacles and help you keep the tires planted while slowly maneuvering in tight place. A spotter is worth more than $10K of vehicle mods out on the trail. Yeah, it's macho to think you'll just bully through. But smart trail drivers have a good relationship with a spotter, and can go many more miles in, and come back out more relaxed w/o vehicle damage 'cause 2 heads are better than 1 🙂 Have fun. You car is fine. Enjoy it 🙂

Yup. I'm coming from a full boogie Big Bronco 4x4 with Lo-Range, manual locking hubs, and Posi out back. That truck has 230K and is really too big for our retired life-style. Pain to get in and out of back seat, pain to park in modern parking spaces, rough riding, very fuel inefficient, etc ... I'm working on a book about WW-II training areas in the desert south west that my mom started (WW-II WAC Vet.) before she passed ... I need to visit and photograph a few hundred locations. The desert does not hold any surprises for me. I have been all over the routes I will traversing with my wife and a bunch of camera/gps gear, etc. The trick is to have reliable 3-wheel drive. There are enough obstacles (small rock ridges and swales or ditches that must be crossed diagonally due to terrain limitations) to stop forward progress by biassing the suspension such that opposite corner wheels become unloaded. One, or both, will spin and throw a little dust and you go no-where. In the old days (before the RX) I would adventure in in 2-wheel drive, and if I got stuck, put it 4-wheel drive to get out or keep going (SOP). With the RX I do not have that option ... I have already located an OEM Lexus Torsen LSD rear diff used from a salvage yard. I'll prolly pick it up Saturday. The rubber boots on my new-to-me RX300 rear struts are cracked and broken. I do not want those struts to go bad prematurely (~$1,100 each for true Lexus versions). The back end will be getting torn down anyway to put in new boots, and the Posi can go in at the same time. Aussies and Englishmen have reported that TRAC and VSC seldom engages with a Posi installed, and their vehicles have excellent grip, so I'm going this route. There are other folks who are acquiring older RX's as toys for adventure outings. Yeah, I get that they are not true 4x4's. But may still be quite capable in mild off-road scenarios. If a KIA Santa Fe will go, so will a Lexus RX - just in way more style and comfort 😄 Plus it will be very helpful in getting our outboard up slippery boat ramps, or the little day sailer 🙂

More pictures here: https://www.clublexus.com/forums/rx-1st-gen-1999-2003/607402-post-pictures-of-your-rx300-on-here-7.html Post 122 🙂

I just bought a a very clean RX 300 (03) and will bring it home tomorrow. It's the one I wanted to look at two weeks ago. But family responsibilities took precedence. And as I checked, it disappeared off the web sites, so i assumed it was sold 😞 But, when we got home, it suddenly reappeared on listing sites, so I sent a message asking the dealer to hold it until I could see it and test drive ... They did, and I did. Paid for it and will pick up tomorrow 🙂 Seems it threw an Air-bag code while on a test drive. So the dealer put in the shop at Lexus and paid the freight for a new module. The repair period was why it was off listings ... The dealer (Mirage Auto Sales, Sacto) relisted it as soon as it was back. Very nice folks, nice used car lot with great selection. Hand selected nice vehicles only. Henry (the owner) showed me all their expenses from bid to me driving it. I paid the going rate as it left him with about $900 and he has to all the DVM paper work 🙂 93,500 miles and very clean. Non-smoker AWD with fairly new tires (P225/70R16 Firestone Destination) Even the spare looks nice. No cracks in the leather. No scratches to really notice. Engine bay and spare tire well spotless. Previous owner was obviously OCD ...Top of front bumper faded, but that may be expected. San Diego car traded it at the Lexus dealer on a new one ... I'm the second owner 🙂 What my wife does not know, is that I scored an OEM RX 300 Torsen diff (Posi) in South San Fran before we left with family. Just had to find the right car to put it in 😄

OK, I been digging and digging. Been to all sorts of off-road after market and race after market vendors, and no Posi's available ... It is believed that this is the Toyota 6.7" ring gear diff ... But Toyota made lots of OEM Posi's it seems. The RX uses a differential carrier and gear selection designated -02A as shown at the bottom of the build plate in the door jam. This rear carrier and differential were available with a Posi (Torsen), all gear - no clutch, center section in RX's from 99 to 00. Then Lexus dropped the option. The same rear end was used in RAV4's, Highlanders, and RX's for many years. Any independent suspended vehicle that shows -02A can prolly use this rear end ... If you put this phrase into the search block in eBay, you will come up with a selection of used OEM LSD differential carriers. The wrecking yard interchnage number is 440-58865A Carrier Rear 2.928 Ratio Locking Fits 01-03 HIGHLANDER

What look? Something like this?

I know it's a small audience, but I'd like thread for Off-Road. Most members do not go on dirt, but some do. Some even modify their vehicles. As the Gen I and Gen II vehicles age, they become candidates for younger buyers who want to go to the beach (Sand & Dunes), some do deeper forest drives, etc. I go off the paved way in many forms. I personally don't try hard core stuff, but a few folks have tried parts of MOAB in an RX ... If a bone stock Kia Sorento can go places, a mildly modded RX certainly can. And it can do it in more comfort and style 😄 I think one thread where we could look stuff up (part numbers or after market options), get ideas, see others adventures, would be a good thing 🙂 Example, not mine ...

OK, more Posi Diff info (from a Rav4 forum): This is what I found on toyodiy: 41110 carrier assy, differential, rear 41110-42011 final gear ratio=41:14=2.928 (open) 1 € 2,110.35 41110-42031 final gear ratio=41:14=2.928, w(lsd) 1 € 3,461.99 41309a shaft sub-assy, rear differential side gear 41309-32020 2 € 120.94 41309-42010 w(lsd) 2 € 178.48 41334d ring, shaft snap (for rear differential side gear shaft) 90520-22012 2 € 2.37 90521-28004 w(lsd) 2 € 0.99 As far as I can see, these three parts are the only ones that differ between the open differential and the LSD. The pictures posted by toyodiy don't show any visual difference. On another forum, one member claimed that recently (2010, February) he was quoted by Toyota "only" 2500 pounds in order to have an LSD fitted. So I went over to Concelli Toyota parts and looked it up: SKU: 41110-42031 (But listed as discontinued) Other Names: Carrier, Carrier Assembly Differ Description:4 wheel drive, with limited slip. 4wd, with limited slip. RAV4. From 4/96. Replaces: 41110-42030 (But listed as discontinued) Not conclusive, but RX's use the 41110 Carrier Assembly too ... So I jumped over to Highlander first year (USA 2001) and started to look at rear diffs. Came up with this: SKU: 41301-48020 Other Names: Case Sub-Assembly Diffe Description:HIGHLANDER; W/LIMITED SLIP Which confirms the Unicorn part numbers - Yeah It's also still available as a Toyota part in the system. This is the Torsen center section that Toyota calls the differential vs the whole rear carrier which we might typically call the differential in used parts speak. But as shown in the RAV4 comments above - it does require side gears (spider gears) and snap rings. But I think it can still be built with OEM parts - yeah !!

As far as tires go on stock rims, I'm thinking 235/R65x17 which are 29" tall (0.5 over stock), or 255/R60x17 which are also 29" tall, but have almost a full inch more thread width 😄 I've been thinking wheels all wrong. Double checked "positive offset" and that moves the wheel hub out away from the the rim center line. Backwards of what we want to get tire clearance. We want the rim to move out away from the hub and suspension. So we need to reduce positive offset ... So now thinking wheels with maybe 25mm positive offset to move the rim out w/o spacers ... Or stock wheels (35mm positive offset) and 1" spacers so you end up at 10mm positive overall 🙂

I'm posting in the Gen II Forum also in case those folks don't look in the Gen I Forum. It seems there was/is a mythical Unicorn among RX's. In the early model years there was an optional Torsen posi-traction rear differential. I'm very keen on finding the parts to make that happen in a 2009 RX 350. So I went looking in the Toyota parts stream. I was searching the parts at a web site called Toyota Parts Overstock, or something similar. I was looking to see if some, or all, of the internals from an earlier rear diff would fit in a latter one? So I concentrated on the center section (the casting that carries the ring gear) P/N 41311J in the diagram. As I honed in on that part, I got a parts diagram with notes that that listed the years and models. The internals seem to be an 8" 2-pinion (spider gear) "V-6" diff that was commonly used on most everything: TOYOTA: 7 models, 305 variants between 1982 and 2010. Fits CAMRY, CELICA, HIGHLANDER, PREVIA, RAV 4, SIENNA, VAN And on page 1 at the bottom are some variation notes about the shape of the spider gears. And under that is a note about the model RX300 ... The rear end in a Lexus RX might be designated as an MCU15 ... Tthis is not conclusive proof of course, but aken all together, it seems to indicate that minus some variations in attachment, rubber isolation supports, and spider gears; this same rear end (internals) have been used in RX's from day one through some time in 2010. So the idea of finding a rare early RX 300 posi rear diff is possibly a good one. And with changing the external bits that make up the year model mounting variations, might actually fit a Gen II RX 350 ... I have to do more research, and prolly digging at Pick-&-Pull looking at Highlander and RX models from various years. But if what I'm reading is true (?), we could use the RX 300 Torsen posi in later models ... The trick will be to get a VIN number from an early vehicle with a Torsen factory installed. And use that VIN number to order the internal parts through Toyota's various web sites to build up a modern version (housing & mounts) to fit the vehicle of interest. Or rebuild the one we have with selected new internals. See attached for info: Lexus RX Rear Axle Housing.pdf