Builds 100's Cousin (twice removed)

[GTV]

The 3rd gen Tacoma Limited doesn’t have a matching spare. I’ve been looking for a reasonably priced single wheel so I can do a 5 tire rotation to no avail. FYI the dealer wants $601 each, with no center cap! I did find another set of wheels, a little more expensive and a lot further away than the last set I bought but it was the best I could find. It made for a nice little road trip yesterday with the missus. I’ll sell the other 3 wheels individually to recoup as much of my investment as possible.

 

[GTV]

I got a lot done today. Of note is the new LBJ’s. They now have the larger ball from the 04+ trucks. I guess Toyota realized they undershot that one a bit.

 

[GTV]

Since I finally got a spare wheel in hand yesterday I took the opportunity to rotate my tires.

I also got rid of the temporary 1.25” Spidertrax spacers and installed my .75” Bora spacers. I had to trim the studs down but I wanted to remove as little as possible. The wheels have a .100” pocket between the lug holes.

The rear studs measured about 1.050”.

Using some sacrificial nuts to set the depth I removed about .250”, this will let the stud protrude into the wheel recess about .050”.

 

[GTV]

Rear installed with loctite.

The front studs were shorter, only measuring about .850”.

I shaved about .050” off and called it good.

 

[GTV]

I like to modify everything but I don’t like it to look modified. This small change makes the truck look far more stock in my eyes, less like a lifted beast. I was also getting rubbing on the mud flaps on compression while turning into my driveway. I’m really happy to say that I have zero rubbing now. Victory!

 

[GTV]

I still need to adjust the height. It’s too level now, maybe a scosh nose up. Any weight at all in the back makes it worse. Dropping the 5100’s down to the 2nd notch will take me down 3/4”. I also have some old 80 series springs here to try out or I could install 10-20mm spacers. Haven’t decided yet.

I also shoved the spare under the truck. I'm glad that I went with this size (275/65r18), there is no way a larger diameter tire would fit under there with the tow hitch in place. It's TIGHT, but it fits.

 

[GTV]

Whoops

 

[GTV]

This is my fear every time my wife takes off in the Sequoia

From now on every time I have a wheel off I will check the condition of the LBJ’s. At most that will be every 5k miles when I change the oil and rotate the tires. It only takes a moment to check.
I didn’t take any pics but we got the Tundra back on the road. New upper and lower ball joints and new flexible brakes lines on both sides. I also decided to take the 5100’s down from the 4th notch (2.2”) to the 3rd (1.5”). The front end feels like it rides a LOT better now. The ABS light is on, I think the wheel speed sensor cable got stretched when the ball joints went out.

 

[GTV]

@baldilocks
The weather was too nice today to not take advantage of so I swapped in the 3FE 80 series rear springs that were originally under my friends ‘91.

This was a bit of an experiment as I couldn’t find evidence of anyone else attempting this or conclusive evidence of 80 series springs being identical to the 100 series. I find the latter hard to believe as the 100 carries a fair amount more weight than the 80 but I digress. OEM 100 springs are well known to give the Sequoia about 2” of lift.
I only wanted an inch of lift or less, just enough to get the rocker to not point uphill anymore. Yes, I could have used spacers but I had these in stock so I figured I’d try them out for science if nothing else. These 80 series springs are asymmetric, the drivers side measures 18” and the passenger is at 17 1/2” (Later 80 series springs are supposedly taller). They have 6 1/4 coils and the wire diameter is .600”. Conversely the Sequoia coils are identical side to side. They measure 16 1/4” tall, have 5 3/4 coils and the wire thickness is .650”.

I tried to do this test as scientific as possible in the event that I have to get back in there and change things. So I filled the tank, spare and 3rd row were in, etc. I also made identical measuring points on each side (blue tape in the pic).
And the results are...
Rear end has come up about 16mm (5/8”). I think I like the way that it looks but I’ll have to stare at it for a few days. At least the rocker isn’t pointing up hill anymore!

I can’t yet comment on ride quality but it seems similar. I ended up sacrificing the sway bar end links so the arse is a little wobbily right now. I’ve got replacements on order from McGeorge. Pretty happy so far though.

 

[baldilocks]

@baldilocks
The weather was too nice today to not take advantage of so I swapped in the 3FE 80 series rear springs that were originally under my friends ‘91. View attachment 2145320
This was a bit of an experiment as I couldn’t find evidence of anyone else attempting this or conclusive evidence of 80 series springs being identical to the 100 series. I find the latter hard to believe as the 100 carries a fair amount more weight than the 80 but I digress. OEM 100 springs are well known to give the Sequoia about 2” of lift.
I only wanted an inch of lift or less, just enough to get the rocker to not point uphill anymore. Yes, I could have used spacers but I had these in stock so I figured I’d try them out for science if nothing else. These 80 series springs are asymmetric, the drivers side measures 18” and the passenger is at 17 1/2” (Later 80 series springs are supposedly taller). They have 6 1/4 coils and the wire diameter is .600”. Conversely the Sequoia coils are identical side to side. They measure 16 1/4” tall, have 5 3/4 coils and the wire thickness is .650”.
View attachment 2145334
I tried to do this test as scientific as possible in the event that I have to get back in there and change things. So I filled the tank, spare and 3rd row were in, etc. I also made identical measuring points on each side (blue tape in the pic).
And the results are...
Rear end has come up about 16mm (5/8”). I think I like the way that it looks but I’ll have to stare at it for a few days. At least the rocker isn’t pointing up hill anymore!
View attachment 2145341
I can’t yet comment on ride quality but it seems similar. I ended up sacrificing the sway bar end links so the arse is a little wobbily right now. I’ve got replacements on order from McGeorge. Pretty happy so far though.

Looks good and thanks for following up.

 

[GTV]

As of today I’ve owned this for 11 months. It’s at just over 266k miles, less than 10k of that is from me and 6k out of that is road trip miles.

I’m going to keep maintaining and tinkering with it, try to fix every little thing that’s wrong with it but I do see a 100 series LC replacing this in the not too distant future.

 

[GTV]

New rear sway bar end links and a new rear wiper arrived. I tried putting a new blade insert in the original arm but the results were not good. Hoping this does the trick.

I’ve also got a bunch of lights out on my HVAC controls. I can’t imagine that all the bulbs died, it has to be something else, right? The fan control light does rarely come on but that’s it. Any ideas?

 

[mtoddsolomon]

I would check the connections on all of the buttons. A bunch of mine were out and I cleaned the connections with a small wire brush and som dielectric grease and they lit back up

 

[GTV]

Ok, I’ll give that a shot. I’ve got to get in there to install an aux input adapter anyway. Hoping to kill two birds with one stone.

 

[Jgrauman]

Super easy to get into the dash and to those lights. 2 screws above the air vents and pull if I remember correctly.

 

[GTV]

Finding an aux input adapter was harder than I thought it would be. Finally found this one on eBay Car MP3 Player Radio Interface Aux In Input Adapter For Camry Corolla Yaris US | eBay

Installation was very straight forward. Like Jgrauman said it’s only two screws to get the facia off, they’re tucked behind and above the air vents. It pulls away quite easily.

Four 6mmx1 bolts (10mm head) hold the head unit in. Remove those and pull the head unit out enough to access the back side. The adapter plugs into the empty spot where some models have a remote CD changer, second closest to the camera here.

Then a quick test proved that the adapter was doing its job.

 

[GTV]

Then it’s just a matter of fishing the headphone jack to a useful location. I usually don’t like drilling holes but the pre ‘05 center console pocket that I added looked like an ideal location.

The widest point of the headphone jack is 3/8 (10mm) so I drilled a hole in the upper back corner on the right side just big enough for the jack to fit through.

Fitted with a grommet to make the install a little more pro

Popped the pocket back in and Bob’s your uncle.

I messed with the HVAC lights a little bit, didn’t achieve anything unfortunately so I’ve gotta get back in there. I am super happy with the aux input though, definitely a great $18.39 upgrade.

 

[GTV]

I spent 4 hours today driving around in a ‘19 DCLB (loaner from the dealer while my ‘05 Sequoia was getting recall work). Took it out on a forest service road for a few miles, punctured a tire, burned 5.4 gallons of fuel.
I was expecting more, I ended up pretty disappointed. It has some nice modern details compared to my ‘05 but the NVH is bad, the engine sounds like crap and the top of the windscreen is just too damn low. I found myself leaning forward all day to see out and now my neck is sore. I wasn’t impressed.

 

[D21FJ60]

Why go back to the 100 series?

 

[GTV]

Being that I have never owned a LC I wouldn’t call it going back. The Sequoia is fine for now and it was a huge step up from my old Tundra, I’ve learned a lot and don’t regret getting it. There are a lot of reasons to go 100 but number one is that I plan for my wife and I to go down to one car. There’s a lot of factors that make that possible (even easy) for us to do so it just makes a lot of sense. A LC is built to last a long time and I plan to keep it a very, very long time. I see the 100 as the one car out there that can do absolutely everything that both my wife and I want and need a vehicle to do. I also like the 4th gen T4R (I actually prefer the size vs the 100) but the build quality just isn’t there and it’s not as comfortable on road trips.
I still see the Sequoia as the best bang for your buck Toyota 4x4 out there. If downsizing wasn’t an option for us I would definitely hang on to it.