All in on the LC250

[ColoradoWheelin]

All good advice I think. I’ve stepped away from several online communities before because they would just get me in a negative headspace about something that’s supposed to be enjoyable. I’m doing my best to do my part to help keep a friendly and productive “culture” here but I have definitely had to mute a few members.

I think for any online community, problems, and negative experiences are always going to take a front row seat, people are far more likely to post a bad experience than to say: “I had no issues today or last week with my LC, all is well”.

Not that there’s anything inherently wrong with posting issues, but I would agree sometime you can read through a car forum and think “What have I bought, this car is a junker” all from the same 5 people posting negativity.

Every car will have issues, some issues will be 1 per 100,000 but those people are more likely to post about it. The fuel connector or CV axle is going to affect a disproportionately small group of owners, along with the fact we don’t know what exact geometry or conditions led to that issue, but there’s no reason to panic, plenty of people have driven 10’s of thousands of miles and done harder rock crawling than what was shown in the videos and were fine.

The LC250 is Toyotas top offering in the States and Canada. It’s quite literally the best offering out there at the moment for reliability, and it carries the LC name with honor.

 

[ColoradoWheelin]

Welcome, and nice Land Cruiser. I agree with you that the Toyota ethos is a better match for what the LC is than Lexus is. I always thought it an off-road speciality vehicle was off-brand for Lexus. They’ve sure sold a lot of GX around here in Colorado through the years though.

A word on this forum. I’ve posted to a lot of vehicle forums over time. Some of them are true owner communities (Bimmerfest, for example). Others are places for people to drop in trying to solve a problem, then they disappear (the Chevy Tahoe forum was that way).

This one is somewhere in between. To me there seems to be a lot of odd bitching around here, in some cases about problems that I don’t think really exist, or at least that I’ve never noticed (something about a “fluttering hood?”). There’s one guy whose entire persona here seems to be fake, based on how he bought a Land Cruiser and sold it months later because it was the worst car he ever owned - never any detail on what was wrong with it, just that it was “terrible” and he never says what he bought next. Maybe he’s a brand manager for Stellantis or Land Rover, or something.

I say all this because I’ve decided to moderate my own involvement here a bit, lest this forum cause me to enjoy my Land Cruiser less than I would otherwise. Your mileage may vary.

For what it’s worth, there are and have been documented cases of US automakers trashing each others product anonymously online, often on enthusiast car forums.

 

[Slingwing]

Welcome. Really good build you have going. I mentioned this in an earlier post to a new member, so my apologies for being repetitive; coming from a aviation background I treated my 2026 like we did aircraft; studied the ops manual and used AI a lot. Really comes in handy when venturing off-road and tackling obstacles. This FORUM has a boat load of experienced operators and experts (and I'm not one of them)....don't hesitate to ask questions.

You mentioned KO3's; did you have any issues with the balancing?

"...CV upgrade..." I've been to Moab on Fins n Things, Hell's Revenge and several lesser trails, as well as Colorado's Slaughterhouse Gulch, Argentine Pass and some other trails. Are you considering beefer CV's because of the additional stress from the 3-inch lift?

"...range is pretty bad." I agree! I have to remind myself I did not buy the LC250 for it's economy prowess, but I do run a higher psi during normal day-to-day driving. I've even managed to get >17 mpg recently. I think most of us LC250 owners wish we had a bigger fuel tank.

"Did a three inch BP51 lift..." I have not installed a lift kit...yet! Actually know very little about the kits, except I like ARB. Does the BF51 have a 2-inch lift?

Thanks for sharing your build info. With the tires, lift, winch (skid plates and sliders), I'd like to hear more about your off-roading in Colorado.

 

[ColoradoWheelin]

Welcome. Really good build you have going. I mentioned this in an earlier post to a new member, so my apologies for being repetitive; coming from a aviation background I treated my 2026 like we did aircraft; studied the ops manual and used AI a lot. Really comes in handy when venturing off-road and tackling obstacles. This FORUM has a boat load of experienced operators and experts (and I'm not one of them)....don't hesitate to ask questions.

You mentioned KO3's; did you have any issues with the balancing?

"...CV upgrade..." I've been to Moab on Fins n Things, Hell's Revenge and several lesser trails, as well as Colorado's Slaughterhouse Gulch, Argentine Pass and some other trails. Are you considering beefer CV's because of the additional stress from the 3-inch lift?

"...range is pretty bad." I agree! I have to remind myself I did not buy the LC250 for it's economy prowess, but I do run a higher psi during normal day-to-day driving. I've even managed to get >17 mpg recently. I think most of us LC250 owners wish we had a bigger fuel tank.

"Did a three inch BP51 lift..." I have not installed a lift kit...yet! Actually know very little about the kits, except I like ARB. Does the BF51 have a 2-inch lift?

Thanks for sharing your build info. With the tires, lift, winch (skid plates and sliders), I'd like to hear more about your off-roading in Colorado.

Hey no worries at all! I believe that’s the best approach to taking care of these things. I follow the maintenance schedule religiously, every 5K miles I get an oil change.

No issues with the tires whatsoever, they went in like a dream, the only ones I may switch too are the Mickey Thompsons, but only for snow and ice.

The CV one is interesting, I’ve done some serious rock crawling on the stock CV’s. I believe the issue people run into is that, like any IFS. CV’s break but MTS and turning off VSC reliably reduce the risk of the force going to the CV’s. I’m hesitant to replace them purely because that force has to go somewhere and it’s likely the diff next which is a catastrophic failure. I am however lowering my front diff to reduce the geometry to reduce the risk of a CV break.

I’m planing on order the Long range America fuel tank, 42 gallon tank would be a lifesaver.

As for the lift kit, I would imagine they do, most of these kits are variable, meaning you can set the height you want. If I had to do it over again with no budget, I would do the Fox 3.2 Live Valves at a 2 inch lift. But I see people run the B8’s most commonly on these. All great shocks.

And thanks! My favorite trail is the Gold Camp rd all the way too Cripple creek.

 

[EOD Guy]

I appreciate that! I was reading some of the posts here. I have a jump kit, but avoiding using it would be preferable. It seems to be a common issue, any battery recommendations?

I went with a Optima DH6 and a solar charger mounted under the roof rack.

 

[ColoradoWheelin]

I went with an Optima DH6 and a solar charger mounted under the roof rack.

Thanks!