2007 Sequoia Daily Overlander Build/Travel Thread - My Forever Car 2 (and counting) Years in the Making (1 Viewer)

[generalli]

Howdy everybody,
Some of y'all might remember me from my last "Forever car" thread... That turned into a joke really quickly when I sold that Sequoia for another car soon after I made that thread. And what did I buy? Well, I bought another Sequoia, this 2007 to be specific.

There are many decisions that led me to sell my 2003 for this 2007, but the most important ones are:
- I wanted a 4WD to do more technical trails
- Final model year
- Maroon exterior (whoop!) and gray interior color combo
- One owner vehicle

However, this new Sequoia isn't without problems. It has 220k miles on the original lower ball joints, a timing belt that's 130k miles old, and a broken transfer case that works in 2WD but doesn't in 4WD. But for me, it's a perfect place to get started... So let's get started with the build.

Note: At the time of posting I have already owned the Sequoia for about 2 years now. As I documented everything I have done on the Sequoia, I will upload them here and get the thread up to date.

Here's what the Sequoia looked like when I first picked it up from its orginal owner.

 

[generalli]

March 2023

The first things I did after purchasing as a preventative maintenance are:
- Timing belt - Dealership was running a special deal for timing belt labor ($600) so I snagged that deal up
- Lower ball joints
- Swapped tires and wheels with my old Sequoia. These tires are a set of 265/70/17 General Grabbers from a Bronco, got them for $400 brand new on FB Marketplace.
- Removing the side steps: I believe this makes any Sequoia look 10x better. Removes alot of the bulkiness of the vehicle.

 

[generalli]

Here's a picture of the 2007 with the old 2003 I had.

 

[generalli]

April 2023

Next thing I did was to improve the interior a little bit to improve the cabin feel and daily-ability.
Mods done are:
- A bluetooth kit bought on ebay: One of the best purchases I made, I was able to keep the old school looks of the stock JBL stereo with wireless connectivity. Install was super easy, just removed the head unit, unplugged the CD plug, and plugged the bluetooth kit in.
- Reupholstered the door panels with tartan fabric from a pair of pajamas I cut up.
- While the door panels were off, I cleaned the speaker grills and applied 303 Aerospace on all the interior panels.

 

[generalli]

Aprill 2023 Continued

It was finally time to start working on the transfer case. Make sure to get someone to help you take the transfer case out of the vehicle. Don't be like be and drop it on your own face during removal. Cracked a tooth and busted my lip.

After the removal of the transfer case and help from the previous owner (shout out to Dean), the problem was determined to be an C clip that wasn't properly installed in the transfer case when the previous owner rebuilt the transfer case.

The previous owner was nice enough to help me take apart the transfer case and repair the clip when I brought the case to his garage. After reinstalling the case and retiming the electronic actuator. 4WD was working again just in time for a summer roadtrip.

There are some big pains during the transfer case removal and reinstallation process, including:
- Removing input shaft seal from the transmission - required alot of flatheads and hammering
- Retiming the electronic actuator- there are NO information on this. I followed a Russian Youtube video to retime the gears, and there is also a nice write up on the TSOR Facebook group.

And during this time, I also installed a makeshift roof rack made out of a ATV ramp from Harbor Freight. I will post another guide later on how to build a full length aluminum roof rack.

 

[generalli]

May 2023

First big road trip in the Sequoia. My first stop is Sedona Arizona, one of my favorite towns in America with some beautiful scenery. Took the Sequoia to Soldier's Pass, extremely fun trail with some technical parts, great for a beginner like me, highly recommended.

Prior to the road trip, I also installed some new headlights for better lighting while driving at night

 

[generalli]

After Sedona, I went to White Pocket, Arizona to check out the rock formations over there. Over 30 minutes driving in deep sand to get to the pictured spot, made sure to air down to around 15-20 psi. Absolutely recommend this spot if you have a 4WD.

 

[generalli]

September 2023

After the trip, I noticed a few problems with the Sequoia, including:
- Ground clearance
- Night lighting - new headlight housings didn't help
- Insane amount of bugs hitting the windshield
To combat these problems, I installed a few mods:
- Bilstein 5100s to combat ground clearance. Didn't do a crazy lift since this is a daily, just set the shocks to the middle setting which gives it a leveled look
- Amazon knockoff flood lights. One of the best purchases I've made, put them in place of the stock fog lights, super bright and super easy to install. Still working great after two years of ownership
- AVS bug guard - Another great purchase, covers up some of the car's rock chips and drastically reduced the number of bugs hitting the windshield. Only down side is that it prevents air from blowing rain drops off the hood and windshield.
- Fender cut - mostly for looks, also for ease of access to the fog lights when installing the food lights.

The front end of the vehicle is looking alot better now, way more aggressive.

 

[generalli]

November 2023

Home from College for thanksgiving break, decided to work on the old girl a little bit and giving her some makeup.
- Got some 4Runner TRDOR wheels: Got really tired of looking at the spray painted gold stock wheels, found a set of these T4R wheels for cheap on Facebook.
- Installed an NAPA awning I had laying around for beach and camping trips.

 

[generalli]

While I was home I decided to also build a sleeping platform in the back with some underbed storage as well. If you decide to build something similar, Lowe's sell these bins that are absolutely fantastic.

 

[generalli]

December 2023

Another big road trip, this time to Hot Springs, Arkansas just in time for Christmas. Stopped at Caddo Lake, Texas on the way and did the Jeep badge of honor "Snake" trail at Hot Springs Off Road Park. Very very fun trail and I highly recommend it. The Hot Springs bathhouses were also very relaxing as well especially during the winter.

 

[generalli]

January 2024

Installed a Rockford Fosgate P300-12 Subwoofer under the sleeping platform. Wired the sub signal to the rear door speakers using a Skar oxygen free copper wiring kit. Very easy and rewarding mod to do.

 

[generalli]

February 2024
Got my hands on some vinyl, and made some stripes on the side with knifeless tape. This was a really tedious process, and each side approximately took me 4 hours. Also installed a pair of Hella 500s on the front to help with additional lighting.

 

[generalli]

March 2024
Went on another big road trip to Moab and camped in the car the entire time. Did a bunch of trails including Fins and Things, Gemini Bridges, and Potash road. Fins and Things is the most fun I have had on a trail so far, and Gemini Bridges and Potash road both offered some insane views and some abandoned uranium mines along the way. Will definitely come back some day.

On this trip I realized how little flex the front end of the Sequoia offers, as I constantly found myself three wheeling on more technical parts of trails. Took the front sway bar off as soon as I got home.

 

[generalli]

April 2023

Felt as if the old 4Runner wheels didn't look great with the stripes. They were too modern looking with the diamond cut color coding. Picked up a set of old FJ Cruiser wheels off Facebook for cheap and damn does it look good.

 

[generalli]

May 2024

Home for the summer, decided to tackle a project that I have been waiting for for a long time: Making my own roof rack.
I watched SuperFastMatt's video on how to make a roof rack out of aluminum flatbars, angles, and extrusions, ordered all the metals from a local extrusion place and metal supermarket, and goe to working.

Here are the steps if you want to follow:
- Design your rack on paper following the SuperFastMatt video
- Remove your old roof back
- Bolt the extrusions to the cut aluminum flat bars, mount it on the roof of your Sequoia
- Use wood to stage the rack up
- Line the aluminum angle legs up with the stock mounting location, mark out where you're going to attach the legs to the rack and drill holes
- Remove the rack and paint it
- Put the rack together on top of the vehicle
- Design your wind deflector and mount it using T-Nuts
Done!

 

[VentoGT]

Epic thread, writeup and pics. Thanks for sharing - your rig looks awesome!

 

[FXJ 96]

Great truck build

 

[generalli]

Epic thread, writeup and pics. Thanks for sharing - your rig looks awesome!

Thanks for reading!

 

[generalli]

Another successful roadtrip in the Sequoia to Silverton, Colorado and The Great Sand Dunes national park. Did the Ice Lake hike in Silverton and it was beautiful, unfortunately didn't have enough time to do the Alpine loop, will have to go back some day to do it though. At The Great Sand Dunes, I took the Sequoia down Medano Pass, it handled everything great and the sway bar removal gave the Sequoia WAY more front flex. Only problem that arised on the trip was the radiator; it started seeping on the way back to Texas, will have to address that pretty quickly.