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05 Sequoia "build" - Workhorse and camping rig

flatlander757

Member
Joined
Sep 18, 2021
Member Number
4403
Messages
22
Loc
Newport News, VA
Back on Pirate... Err Irate after being out of the off-road world for ~8-9 years or so. Previously had an 03 TJ I built with D60/70HD stretched to 110in, on 40s that was built when I was getting married, and sold shortly after having our son in 2012.

I got into autocross, then HPDE and TT with my stupid clown car Mazda2. Went through a divorce, found an awesome wife #2 who is a keeper, and started a new job as a mobile ADAS tech earlier this year. Was using my wife's Escape for work stuff for a while, and wanted a tow rig for the car, so picked up this 05 Sequoia so I could carry all my crap easily.

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It had 3/4in strut spacers up front with 4600s, and 3in Dobinsons springs out back with 5100s and 285/70R17s with 1.25 wheel spacers from the previous owner. Getting this thing definitely brought back some memories of trail wheeling and missing the off-road stuff. So decided to start throwing money at it since I like it so much.

I tried to align it but found out the LCA cam bolts were all seized to the bushing sleeves. So I cut them all off, replaced the LCAs and put some OEM lower ball joints on it too with SPC cam bolts.

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Didn't like how the front rode, plus needed to sit a BIT higher and I wanted to stop the light rubbing on the fender lines at back on full lock, so I got some OME 2884 front springs and shocks, plus SPC adjustable UCAs to fix that.

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It rides a LOT better now. The control arms fixed the massively high roll center since the ball joint pivot gets moved to the arm vs the knuckle in stock form, plus the springs and shocks are better matched. Doesn't nose dive like crazy under braking anymore either.

No real major plans with it, but will probably do some very light wheeling and camping with the family at some point.

I have some 255/80R17 Falken AT3Ws on the way which should be here later this week. As much as I drive, I'm hoping the tall skinny 33 helps a tiny bit with mpg.

I don't dislike the stock wheels, but somewhat considering buying the TRD 17x7s to throw them on. Really trying to spend as little as possible, since I also now want to build an Ultra4 rig to really scratch the itch I have again :laughing:
 
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As for the car, I was running the Sundae Cup with Gridlife at Mid Ohio and hit a tire wall at about 60mph sideways. Someone two cars ahead of me went off course at T1 which put a huge cloud of dust over track-out, I was going about 90mph on corner exit and just lost sight of track limits and had to guess. Dipped a wheel off and as soon as it went back on the tarmac it hooked and spun to the left side into the wall.

Pushed the whole front of the chassis to the driver side by 4in, and I had a concussion that lasted about a week.

Fortunately I had TT insurance on it and got paid out since it was a total loss, and really wasn't happy with anything to replace it with. Looked hard at C5s, etc... But the Sequoia planted the seed of getting back into this stuff and I haven't been able to shake that want.:homer:
 

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Thanks!

I guess I'll share my old Jeep as well since I have nothing else to show for now :homer:
 

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One little bit I forgot to share was before installing the shocks/springs, I used the floor jack to set the suspension to estimated/expected "ride height".

This worked out absolutely perfect for setting camber. Caster was a bit if a guess since the knuckles aren't perfectly smooth where I mounted my angle finder (note I wasn't reading "true" casters just trying to get an angle reference left vs right).

My method was basically this:

- Jack suspension sans-springs to ride height

- Loosen and set LCA cam bolts all for MAX caster (to move wheel forward in wheel wells) and torque them at ride height for minimal bushing bind.

- Set camber to zero via UCA adjustment.

- Check relative angle of knuckles left vs right. I wasn't 100% sure of the accuracy so I didn't bother, still needs a real alignment.

- Used toe plates to set total toe to zero to 2mm toe in after fully reassembled and weight of the vehicle on the suspension.

In other news this big bitch has been earning her keep... We've had a guy out for a few weeks so driving between 3 big body shops has kept me and the Tree busy.

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Got my 255/80R17 AT3Ws today!

Will mount them up this weekend when I'm less busy. :homer:
 

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Man these things ride so much better than the old worn ass BFGs :homer:
 

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Been doing some more maintenance BS for the last few weekends. It's impossible to get anything done with everything else going on lately, but now all I've got is the timing belt/water pump to do.

Put a brand new OEM Toyota rack in with Energy Suspension bushings, and replaced the left front wheel bearing since it was howling like crazy. It was replaced less than 20k ago by the PO, I suspect the root cause was the ripped o ring on the ABS sensor allowing moisture in and sitting at the bottom of the bearing.
 

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Yeah, it's not a build... It's a "build". :homer:

I hate that term honestly since it's just bolt-on shit at the most.

Anyway this thing continues to piss me off... A previous owner swapped two bolts for the AC compressor so one bottomed out inside the cooling fan bracket and was ugga dugga'd to the point of seizing :shaking:

So I broke it off to continue with teardown between work and normal life things. Going to try and source an OEM fan bracket because I'd rather not be tearing the timing covers off again to replace if it fails.

Also the crank sensor wiring wasn't secured properly and was starting to rub through on the serpentine belt. So I get to repair some wires too. Yay. :emb2:

I keep considering selling it and getting a brand new Ram 2500/F250/Tundra, but even with this thing costing a bunch the last few months, it's still way less than a car payment.
 
Fixed the crank sensor wiring and replaced the fan bracket and bolt a few weeks ago. Driving it not even 20 min, go home... And grabbed my laptop to do the zero point cal for the yaw sensor... Lo and behold the key decides to not turn back on.

I bashed out the ignition cylinder since it wouldn't turn to the acc position for easy removal, and yanked the failed 2pc split wafers so I can continue driving.

Picked up an OE ignition cylinder, need to rekey it then get two more keys and program it.

Also CEL popped on for running rich, just filled up so cleared it hoping that's all it was :laughing:

And on top of that it sounds like the LF wheel bearing is bad again. May just be tire noise, doesn't sound bad when jacked up and spun by hand.

Who wants to buy an 05 Sequoia :homer:
 

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