Builds 100's Cousin (twice removed) (1 Viewer)

[GTV]

Thanks, and I’m sure I will. Right now it’s feeling like nothing more than an anchor in my driveway and I need to remedy that!

I’m looking at getting a rebuilt rack from Phoenix | Home I talked with them yesterday and the cost is $250 + $25ish to ship and a $175 core charge. Comes complete minus the tie rod ends.

I have WabFab sway bar links in my Tundra but it looks like he is taking a break. Currently looking at these Store but I’d like to have the option of quick release pins... any other suppliers out there?

Shocks (4600 rear, 5100 front) will come from Home

Rack bushings, tie rod ends will be from Toyota

I’m ready to pull the trigger but else should I get? I would prefer the truck be down for as little time as possible and I don’t like doing anything twice!

Currently starting to get snowed in...

 

[Dindu Nuffin]

Suggestion: safety wire the sways up out of the way temporarily to see how you like the ride. It does improve both on and off road comfort, and the body roll is on par with what you'd expect from a mid 90s sedan. If you like how it feels, you can save a few bucks on the links and just remove the bars.

 

[Dindu Nuffin]

Another suggestion if you haven't already purchased them would be to go with Dobinsons shocks and struts. I have the long travel rears and they're still short enough for a stock ride height; mine don't bottom out even with the axle on the bump stop. These shocks and struts work very well with the stock springs. They won't give you any lift, but spacers are cheap and easy to install while you're doing the shocks. You can find them at 1stgemoffroad.com . Josh Embry runs that show and is a real stand up guy.

 

[GTV]

Suggestion: safety wire the sways up out of the way temporarily to see how you like the ride. It does improve both on and off road comfort, and the body roll is on par with what you'd expect from a mid 90s sedan. If you like how it feels, you can save a few bucks on the links and just remove the bars.

I've seen that sway bars can be a contentious subject so I'll try and choose my words carefully
When I leveled my [2WD] Tundra a few years ago I also swapped out the Tundra 23mm bar for a 28mm Sequoia sway bar (2.1x stiffer) as well as a rear stabilizer. The truck went around corners so well that I felt the need to beef up the side bolsters in my drivers seat (which I did, and it works wonderfully). It goes around corners better than a 2 ton pickup has the right to. I then quickly learned that the stock end links were at a terrible angle when they both snapped, leaving me with a "disconnected" sway bar. I did not like the increased body roll at all, absolutely hated it. So I found the Wab Fab links and all was well again.

I originally come from the vintage car scene where I appreciate throwing things around corners, so I'm sure that has a lot to do with it. I've also seen the massive increase in articulation that a Sequoia can benefit from with the bars disconnected, so I'd like to have that option as well. The goal with modifying my Sequoia is to improve the off road capability without sacrificing any of its on road manners. I want it to be just as home on the trail as it is on the pavement, and for that I will need the factory bars connected.

 

[GTV]

Another suggestion if you haven't already purchased them would be to go with Dobinsons shocks and struts. I have the long travel rears and they're still short enough for a stock ride height; mine don't bottom out even with the axle on the bump stop. These shocks and struts work very well with the stock springs. They won't give you any lift, but spacers are cheap and easy to install while you're doing the shocks. You can find them at 1stgemoffroad.com . Josh Embry runs that show and is a real stand up guy.

I've seen that the Dobinsons seem to be the hot ticket with Sequoia guys, however for "stage 1" I want to keep it stupid simple. I really like that I can get all 4 shocks and be leveled for less than $400 (I will be buying from Josh), I like that Toyota uses Blistein on TRD models (so I trust the quality) and I can adjust the shocks to give me the exact 1.7" of front lift that I need. I want to test out the Sequoia while it is stock-ish, then see where it is lacking for my needs and go from there. I could see Dobinsons in my future (along with 34's!), but I want to burn through a set of tires and basic shocks first. It will give me a solid baseline for future mods, and by that time I'll have the knowledge and experience to make the right decisions.

I really appreciate your input, I think I'm just a bit shy to jump right in the deep end just yet. This is my first 4x4 project so I'm taking it slow

 

[GTV]

OK, so other than the end links I'm all ordered up. I'll put everything together with the original links for now, if they snap like they did on my Tundra then I'll get the chance to see if I like it or not If not, hopefully Wab Fab will be up and running again by that time and I can upgrade to the quick release links.

 

[Dindu Nuffin]

Have you even had it off road in the conditions and terrain you see yourself using it in the most (other than pavement)?

 

[GTV]

Nope, I’ve only had it for 5 weeks and the last two I haven’t driven it due to the leaky rack. I had plans to take it out but wasn’t able to fulfill them. As soon as I’m up and running again I’ve got a day trip in mind.

 

[GTV]

Rebuilt rack arrived today.

The original bushings were a little too flexy for my taste so I hopped over to autozone, picked up some replacements and went back home and popped them in.

They fit snug but not as tight as I would prefer. We’ll see how well they last. The large clamp bushing is coming from Toyota but as far as I know the smaller bushings are not available.
I also did a little driveway snow cleanup and garage organizing, put the front up on stands and tried to mentally motivate myself to get it done!

 

[GTV]

5100 installation is pretty easy, IF you oil the threads on the spring compressor!

Tie rod ends and the large steering rack bushing from Toyota should land tomorrow. I need to grab another lower shock bolt, drivers side one did not survive reinstallation. Things are going smoothly though, I’m glad I decided to do the shocks right now as the old ones and their bushings were pretty well shot. It should drive a lot better!

 

[GTV]

Holy crap.

So I’m still impatiently waiting for my tie rod ends and rack bushing to arrive but there’s always something to do. The drivers lower shock bolt gave me a really hard time. The passenger side went in fairly easy, the drivers side didn’t have quite enough clearance for the bolt flange to slip by the axle. An extra mm and it would have slid right in but it didn’t, and it wasted the threads. So I stopped by the dealership for replacements. This is what $8 and change gets you.

So let’s try this again. I still have the same damn issue, and yet again **** the threads up.

Motherfucker.
Of course my tap & die set only goes up to 12mm so I’m off to the hardware store. They didn’t have thread files so I’m out $15 and some more change for a 14x1.5 die.

Cleaned up

Nut installed and I can finally call the front shocks done.

This couldn’t be normal, could it? What was I doing wrong?If this is what I have to look forward to next time I replace a strut component then I’ll just R&R the axles at the same time... Unless that opens up a whole different can of worms(?). Any reason why I couldn’t just run the bolt the other direction next time? This was absolutely ridiculous.

 

[GTV]

Renaming this build thread "100's Cousin" because that's exactly what the Sequoia is. Similar DNA but definitely different

This has been an unusually slow process for me. I’ve only been working on the truck for an hour or two a day after work this week. Yesterday my large rack bushing and tie rods arrived so I got started on removing the old rack.

Today was my day off and I planned to get a lot done but I wasn’t planning on a rain delay. Anyway, after a bit of a soaking wet struggle I managed to finish getting the rack out. I’m shocked that I haven’t broken off any hardware during this job as the surface rust is extensive.

I think the thing rusted out behind the rack clamp and couldn’t keep pressure. That really sucks because I doubt that I’m going to get my $175 core charge back on this pile. I could have spent an extra $50 and got a new one from Toyota. Dammit. Hopefully they’ll at least give me partial credit.

Weather permitting I hope to have the rack installed and the whole front end wrapped up tomorrow.

Which brings me to a question if anyone is reading this besides me: How do I center the new rack before installing it? Pushing/pulling on the tie rods gets me nowhere.

 

[GTV]

All back together, waiting for an alignment.

I have very little confidence that I centered the rack correctly, we’ll see how that goes
I’m very happy with how it sits though. Instead of looking like a station wagon that happens to have 4WD, now it looks like a 4WD that happens to be a station wagon.

A/T’s will come as soon as these Michelin’s (from my Tundra) wear out. I need to paint my wheels and figure out the best/easiest/most cost effective way to do 4.30’s first.

Anyone have suggestions?

 

[Toyotacurious]

Followed this over from sequoia forums. Bought an 03 with 111k for 6,250 and enjoying it for the 4x4 people mover. Really it is almost exactly the same size as my wife's 07 Expedition. Enjoying your thread. I'm deciding how far down the mod rabbit hole I want to go with a vehicle prone to frame rust. I'm going to do my part and clean and paint what I can, but the real rustiness is from the inside out.

 

[waggy8]

Enjoying your thread. Hope you keep it updated.

 

[GTV]

Thank you both! Some action on here really does do wonders for my motivation!

I'm deciding how far down the mod rabbit hole I want to go with a vehicle prone to frame rust. I'm going to do my part and clean and paint what I can, but the real rustiness is from the inside out.

My plan will be to modify as I use the truck, and most of the time I'll only modify something when the original part has worn itself out. When I was younger I dumped far too much money into my cars, I was totally irresponsible. Those days are [mostly ] over. I learned my lesson. Case in point, my front brakes are nasty and rusty as hell but for now they work, so I'll keep running them. Once it gets to the point that I have to spend money on them I'll upgrade to bigger and better GX460 units. It's not going to make for an exciting fast paced build thread but unless I start getting contributions that's the way it's going to have to be.
As far as the rust issue goes, for now these vehicles are cheap and plentiful. If my truck starts showing some serious rust problems I'll either get out the welder and patch it myself or buy another Sequoia and swap my good parts over. I don't see it as a big deal at all. I plan on keeping this rig for a very, very long time.

Todays news... I wasn't confident that my rack was properly centered and I need that to be correct before I take it in for an alignment this Thursday. So I decided to do it again. I couldn't get the coupler removed from the rack without dropping the whole thing down again, so that's what I'm doing (maybe I was doing it wrong?). I dropped the rack down just far enough to get the coupler off, put the rack back into position, cinched the big 22mm head fastener down and did my measurements again. I feel a lot better about it being properly centered now, just waiting on the missus to get home so she can hold the wheel dead straight while I plug the rack back into its home for good.

 

[angerhater]

do Michelins ever wear out? I have a set on my fj80 that I took off my first fj80 that have 60k on em and plenty of tread but may be dry rotting.. anyway... nice rig I may end up doing most of this to mine soon 2003 with 224k

 

[GTV]

do Michelins ever wear out? I have a set on my fj80 that I took off my first fj80 that have 60k on em and plenty of tread but may be dry rotting.. anyway... nice rig I may end up doing most of this to mine soon 2003 with 224k

Those damn tires wear like iron. I've had them on my Tundra for about 5 years now, I figured I might as well swap them over to the Sequoia and get my money's worth out of 'em. I'm dying to put some A/T's on it but these Michelin's will probably last me another 18-20 months. I'm finding out that being a car guy and being financially responsible is a real balancing act!

Does anyone have advice on swapping to 4.30's? I'm not sure what the best way is to go about it. New? Used? All I know is that ideally I would like to swap in a built third member and front diff to keep downtime to an absolute minimum, if at all possible. I'm in uncharted territory here and I want to do it right the first time.

 

[Dindu Nuffin]

Who makes 4.30s?

 

[GTV]

Who makes 4.30s?

As far as I know, just Toyota. From the little research I've done I believe they were used in Tacomas and V6 Tundras. I have a lot to learn though, not really sure where to start...

Got the front end butted up again, it feels good, much better than it did the first time around. I feel pretty confident that it's lined up correctly this time. Alignment is tomorrow, fingers crossed.