Well, welcome to Colorado!

 

First winter in CO adventures with Big Lex ❄️

Getting ready with a half cord of wood:




Installed an electric hoist from Harbor Freight to hold the RTT for the winter:




Spent our anniversary in Nederland:




Took a solo trip to Moab:







Got stuck in a snowbank for the first time:




And saw the new LC and GX at the Denver Auto Show:






And since spring is here, went on our first camping trip of the year - McInnis Canyons Nat'l Conservation Area. Also explored Rattlesnake Arches.




feat. her new shoes - Method 316's:




And only a few minor maintenance bits - new struts for the rear lift glass and swapping out the leaky worm clamps on the radiator hoses with OEM.

 

Noice!

 

Replaced my lower intermediate steering shaft to fix a clattering sound from the steering column when off-roading. Wrote up a DIY guide for anyone having a similar issue.



I also finally took care of getting my recalled Ironman UCAs replaced! New LCAs go on next month.

 

Been a while since I've updated on here - the GX is mostly our occasional-use adventure wagon now, so here are some of her recent adventures:

Off roading near Gypsum, CO:



Somehow made it 7 years without any trail damage until this - sharp rock sliced open a tire:



First time pulling an RV - about 4,000 lbs unloaded. The GX did well but I don't think I'd push the weight beyond that.



Had a friend break down in rural CO on a Sunday evening. No tow or shop options nearby so we hauled her car ~3 hours back to Denver. Pro tip: getting a totally dead car onto a trailer requires no less than 4 people 🙃



Decided to modernize the interior a bit by converting the "grandpa gloss" wood trip to a more modern matte. Surprisingly few documented guides on how to do this online, but I found a great starting point from someone who did this to their LX a while back (link). Basically, remove all the trim, sand with 220 grit, wipe with alcohol, and spray with multiple coats of Rustoleum Clear Matte Enamel spray. The hardest part of all of this was getting the door panels back on. Overall, I'm really happy with how this turned out!

 

The GX is seeing a little more use lately now that things have thawed out in the front range of Colorado

First up was some regular maintenance - oil and transmission fluid changes:



30k miles on this fluid, seems to be a pretty good interval for my usage:



Also fixed - the shop that did my radiator a few years back used cheap hardware store worm clamps on the hoses, which led to fluid seepage. Replaced with OEM (crazy expensive for what they are!)



Topped it all off with Sport Design taillights - contrary to some posts here, they were plug and play with my 2014.



After all that, it was time to hit the dirt - first camping trip of the year was to Moab:




The ONLY time I don't mind the barn door: