VERY SLOW SEQUOIA Build

[sawtooth4x4]

well. i called a dealership and they were able to tell me:

• fluids
• ball joints
• oil changes every 5K miles
• a couple recalls
• rear hatch latch

Looks like it may need a timing belt change. Looks like i'll order those parts up and call it good. Doesn't look like its a hard job.

 

[sawtooth4x4]

added a chinese eBy 24" LED light bar

Still have to finish the wiring


The Light bar




the lower grill where it gets installed



cutting the opening




drilled and tapped some holes into a lower cross member



installed. I'm going to get some mesh to go around the side openings

 

[sawtooth4x4]

next mod will be a leveling kit and some shocks. the stock ride is a bit bouncy.

 

[sawtooth4x4]

okay, a kind of crappy comparison. I couldn't find anywhere real great to test them. Overall, i'm pretty happy with them. For some reason I cannot get them to turn on with a relay. so they have a fuse in line just wired to a switch. It would be interesting to see what they do in fog or snow.

Regular low beam.



High Beam



LED Light Bar only

 

[Kevin B.]

That's a lot of light. Makes me want to get off my butt and get my Rigids wired up.

 

[sean_pistol]

The timing belt is not difficult and as with everything else you can save a ton of money doing it yourself. There is a 3 part video on youtube that I referenced when I did mine. Took about 7 hours.

 

[sawtooth4x4]

So I'm almost back to my North Dakota place of living. No I will never call this place home. My permanent address is in Wyoming.

We have put 1300+ miles on the beast. No issues at all. I still prefer my Range Rover. But this fits all our crap with room to spare.

I got about 17 mpg over all. It gets better on Wyoming gas which doesn't have corn parts in it.

Overall I'm pretty happy. A timing belt and leveling kit is next.

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[sawtooth4x4]

Alright. Next step: make it not look so much like a minivan. I hate the raked look.

I picked up an alumimum front spacer leveling kit off of ebay.

 

[sawtooth4x4]

the kit. Cost $65 off eBay. Seems pretty nice.



Tools Needed:

• Hammer
• 14mm Socket, Ratchet, Ratcheting wrench
• 19mm Socket, Ratchet, Ratcheting wrench
• Jack
• Jack Stands
• Pliers
• Pry Bar

 

[sawtooth4x4]

Steps:

• Loosen lug nuts on the front wheels
• Jack up the front end and place on jackstands.
• Remove wheels

Using a jack support the lower control arm and unbolt the following:

Un-bolt the following:

• Sway-Bars
• Upper and lower Shock Bolts
• Upper Ball Joints from upper control arm

Remove coil-over assembly

 

[sawtooth4x4]

With the coil over assembly out, bolt on the spacer to the top of the coil over.



Next, coat all the bolts and you removed with some anti-seeze to they will come out easily next time. Cost the bolts that will hold the new spacer to the bracket. Steel and aluminum do not mix well.





Next, re-install the coil over and bolt everything back together like it was before.

All Installed. Make sure to get it aligned after you install the part.

 

[sawtooth4x4]

Oh yeah. Before and after pictures. I'll take a better after picture tonight.

 

[sawtooth4x4]

So I took it out yesterday to do some shooting up in Northern Wyoming.

There were a lot of hard packed snow drifts I was trying to get through. I nearly got stuck in one. Even with the center diff engaged, it took a lot of skinny pedal to get out. I almost had to call my father-in-law for a pull. I eventually free'd myself and the truck.

With the center diff lock engaged I think the traction control is disengaged. With the center diff long disengaged, this thing is like a beached whale. My wife almost got stuck at the dentists office last week in Kaysville. If there is any sense of wheel spin it freaks out. It is really annoying. I really wish there was a way around this system or a way to make it less intrusive.

I still have not found a front bumper for it.

It would really need a 12000 lbs winch on it to make me feel better off road with a pull pal.

The fuel economy is not bad. When I'm cruising at 65 the instant mileage readout is between 17-21

It is pretty reliable. other then a broken rear hatch handle I have not had any issues. I bought it with 98K miles on it. I just hit 111K miles yesterday. That is having it for 6 months now. 13K miles in 6 months. holy crap. A big portion of that was driving between North Dakota and Salt Lake looking at houses twice. I also use it as a daily driver from Layton to SLC.

The 8 passenger seating is great. Storage room is awesome with the third row removed.

To improve off-roadabilty it needs some serious suspension improvements. The suspension really lacks any travel.

 

[sawtooth4x4]

Just a few pictures out and about in Northern Wyoming

 

[Spork]

So I took it out yesterday to do some shooting up in Northern Wyoming.

There were a lot of hard packed snow drifts I was trying to get through. I nearly got stuck in one. Even with the center diff engaged, it took a lot of skinny pedal to get out. I almost had to call my father-in-law for a pull. I eventually free'd myself and the truck.

With the center diff lock engaged I think the traction control is disengaged. With the center diff long disengaged, this thing is like a beached whale. My wife almost got stuck at the dentists office last week in Kaysville. If there is any sense of wheel spin it freaks out. It is really annoying. I really wish there was a way around this system or a way to make it less intrusive.

I still have not found a front bumper for it.

It would really need a 12000 lbs winch on it to make me feel better off road with a pull pal.

The fuel economy is not bad. When I'm cruising at 65 the instant mileage readout is between 17-21

It is pretty reliable. other then a broken rear hatch handle I have not had any issues. I bought it with 98K miles on it. I just hit 111K miles yesterday. That is having it for 6 months now. 13K miles in 6 months. holy crap. A big portion of that was driving between North Dakota and Salt Lake looking at houses twice. I also use it as a daily driver from Layton to SLC.

The 8 passenger seating is great. Storage room is awesome with the third row removed.

To improve off-roadabilty it needs some serious suspension improvements. The suspension really lacks any travel.

I wonder if it's related to the year, mine does the buzzer when I slide but I don't think it kills power. I think I could do donuts with mine and it would just buzz at me the whole time telling me I was sliding.

 

[sawtooth4x4]

Mine has electronic throttle. It beeps, slams the brakes, and cuts power. Especially in 2wd mode. It's better with the center differential locked.

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[sawtooth4x4]

My friend has a 2006. I should go see if his does the same.

Spork what year is yours?

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[Spork]

Mine is a 2004.

 

[Toad]

My 2003 just beeps like crazy and applies the brakes

 

[ttora4runner]

With the center diff lock engaged I think the traction control is disengaged. With the center diff long disengaged, this thing is like a beached whale. My wife almost got stuck at the dentists office last week in Kaysville. If there is any sense of wheel spin it freaks out. It is really annoying. I really wish there was a way around this system or a way to make it less intrusive.

When I get back from Arizona we should do a comparison of which traction control system sucks the worse in the snow/ice between my 4runner and your Sequoia. For the 3rd gen 4runner there's the Andy Mod which is basically a kill switch for the traction control system. The one down-side is that the vehicle has to be restarted to reengage the system unless your good with wiring and can get it to work without restarting.