chemical44

Just brought home my GX 470 with 52k on the clock and the 3 hour drive home was complete with a slap in the face that the rear shocks were wasted. Bouncing to the point I hit my head on the roof a few times. I've heard of this Air Suspension Conversion Kit, which deletes the failing air shocks... Has anyone used this kit? Heard of this kit? Is it too good to be true? Makes sense to me, at a glance. Searched here and found nothing on this specific topic, and I'd rather not go to the dealer, tail between my legs, and hand them $1,200.

Here's what I'm talking about. Thanks in advance for ANY feedback/experiences.

GX470 Suspension Parts | GX470 Suspension 4 Less

GX-470 4 Wheel Air Suspension Conversion Kit

On second thought, after crawling underneath in the rain this morning, I see air springs AND air shocks. I assumed these were like Lincolns in that its an air bag/shock or strut combination unit, not two separate entities. I'm assuming the air springs (bags) handle the suspending, and the air shocks handle the dampening. What I'm confused about is which is controlled by the ride height, and which is a part of the comfort/sport tuning loop. I would think the bags handle the ride height portion, and the air shocks handle the stiffening or loosening of the dampening for the tuning?

So if my only concern is dampening, and I don't care about the ability to adjust the comfort/sport settings, could I just get regular shocks instead of these $3-400 each air shocks? I'm not trying to cheap out or anything, I just wonder how much difference there is between the comfort and sport settings, really, and if I decided to not go the air shock route, does that air hose require crimping so as not to confuse the pump? Or is that quick disconnect also a stop valve?

So many things to learn all over again, when you buy another rig. lol.

mann777

Firstly welcome to the club, & sorry to hear about the first ride experience, The symtoms you have mentioned strongly says towards your Height Sensors & they have failed, secondly there is no even distribution of the Fluid and Air via the Comnpressor. This value which are stored into the ECM from the sensors are different than the stored values, thereby you would have a different ride settings. You can dig into this forums, lot of members have discussed this, If you wish to do the TS by yourself, I recommend go to teh nearest Autozone and get the DTC codes coming out of the tool to see the failures then reading this forum for some topics, Here is the start

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gx-...xus-techs.html

Hope it helps

chrisvr6

Sounds like the classic height sensor failure scenario. Hope you have warranty.

chrisvr6

I haven't heard of anyone getting rid of the air ride on here but I have heard of the prado guys in Australia do this. I wonder how the ride would be though.

chemical44

Yeah, the ride was EXTRMELY RIGID. As if the air pressure was at max. Every little bump was a Kidney punch, even if it was a seam in the highway. It's going into the stealership tomorrow.

Warranty question: It's at 53k miles, and I'm second owner. What are my rights to warranty, if any? I'm clueless on this, tho I'm sure the stealership will school me on it tomorrow.

chrisvr6

How was the height of the rear end? When mine went out, it sat down all the way down on top of the bump stops.