My beat up 2002 Sequoia Rebuild

I'm reposting this on the general discussion forum to try and get more traction and attention as it seems the sequoia general thread is mostly stagnant here.

Hopefully I will be adding to this post again soon as I really want to make my 02 Sequoia a dedicated off-roader, but after really inspecting everything I fear it sits in worse shape than I had originally anticipated.

To start it off with some context, my pops bought this Limited 2002 Toyota Sequoia 4x4 in November of 2020 for $3500 to give to me as a first car. It had 204k miles on it when he bought it and it now sits at only 217k as nobody drives it (including me).

Picture of how it looked the day we picked it up


It has some minor cosmetic damages, the main being the hail damage on the hood (only noticeable if you're really looking for it). Also has some scratches on the sides mostly caused by us going down some off road trails too tight for it and getting beat up by some bushes. Most would buff out most likely. Other than that it's in really good shape cosmetically and when it was driven and taken care of more often I remember getting multiple compliments on multiple occasions by other Tree owners.

For the age and history of this vehicle in the Midwest, the rust could be worse. There aren't any holes or major cancer build up (at least to my standards) but it definitely needs some work (especially in the rear).

Here's some of the maintenance it's gotten in order over the past 4 years so far (as well as some other upgrades):

-New Timing Belt
-Flushed the radiator
-New alternator
-Remote start suitable with the mobile app
-New Head lights and Fog lights
-New spark plugs and a single coil pack that cracked on cylinder 5 causing a misfire
-265/65/R17 BFG Trail Terrains
-Bumper mounted lightbar
-New pads and rotors in the front only
-Fix the rear hatch latch, handle, and rear window motor as it seized due to dust being kicked up from driving down gravel roads

How it looks now:



Originally I drove it about a mile to school and back everyday but that only lasted close to a year since I ended up having to daily drive my 07 Tundra as I needed it for work. Now the Sequoia only seems to get used for hunting and the winter seasons as it handles icy conditions the best (and wouldn't be as much of a loss in a wreck if that were to happen).

For the past couple of months it's been sitting in our outdoor storage rotting away and I can't bare to see it happen so I picked it up the other day and brought it home to see what it needs to get it running in tip-top shape again. To my surprise, it needs more work than I had hoped for.



Here's a list of some things I noticed at first glance as well as pictures in order starting from what seems to be the most troublesome (and expensive) to replace:

-The rack and pinion (priced at $741 brand new from my OEM Toyota parts dealer)

This one flung quite a lot of ATF all over the under side and has been for a while. It was never enough to leave a stain on the driveway or make it noticeable in the reservoir so it's gone un-noticed for quite some time now (most likely since before we bought it). The bushings and gromet are also falling apart, and tie rods also most likely need to be replaced (tie rods around $55 each, gromet close to $30, other hardware would hopefully total under $100)


Passenger side seems to be worse than the drivers:


Better look at the passenger side


The gromet is completely destroyed, and I can quite literally fit my finger through the mount where the it is supposed to be. I've heard that there is a seal rebuild kit for these, need to look into that more though. Best case scenario (based off the research I've done so far) would be the gromet allowed the rack to bounce around thus ruining the seal and so instead of replacing the whole rack I could get away with just replacing the seals. Also heard of the lines cracking, so I'll have to wipe everything down and check for obvious holes in the lines as well


Drivers side. Fluid everywhere! Comparing the drivers to the passengers shows that the fluid is coming from higher up instead of just around the boot so that leads me to believe it may be a line (at least on this side) Could also be oil coming from the valve cover (will get into that later)


The steering shaft seems to be in pretty good shape as it's not rusty at all. Hard to tell if the fluid is coming from those lines bellow it or not as its pretty caked on everywhere. Again, there's both ATF and oil everywhere so it's hard to tell what is what.


Passenger side outer tie rod. Based off of the rust I'd assume it's been replaced in the past 10 years and the bushing boot is still in good shape so this doesn't seem to be that much of a priority. Will likely be replaced with the rack anyway since it isn't that much added cost.



Moving on, the valve covers are another thing to mention. There is a tremendous amount of oil caked onto the heads and everything bellow. When I went to check to see how tight the bolts were I was able to turn all them by hand! Shame on the local shop that changed the oil on this a year ago without pointing this out to us. They never said anything about any leaks at all and both of these have obviously been going on much longer than we've owned it. Nevertheless, I took a rachet an snugged them up the best I could to hopefully slow it down and also checked the oil which was right in between full and low surprisingly.

Passenger side valve cover. I wish I could get a picture of it but I could clearly see the gap between the valve cover and the head, maybe a little less than an 1/8th of an inch gap in some spots. Could also spot the gasket out if I squinted hard enough


Picture of the exhaust manifold on the passenger side. Literally looks like shit lol. I was astounded with how bad it was and how we still hadn't gotten a warning from any of the shops we've taken this to to get some of the things installed that I stated previously. That spot of rust on the frame was one of the only really bad spots that I could find surprisingly enough. That's the place I have the most concerns with.




Next up on the list is the upper and lower ball joints and control arms. These seem to be notorious failure points on these vehicles so I will absolutely be replacing them first. Instead of dealing with pressing them out with a press I will just be replacing the arms entirely. Buy once cry once hasn't let me down yet.

LCA: $260 each for brand new OEM from parts dealer
LBJ: $284 for both from https://www.1stgenoffroad.com/store/p1099/ToyotaOELowerBallJointsPair.html#/
UCA:
-If OEM, $220 each from dealer
-If not, one that has caught my eye are JBA ($570) since I have the same ones that are about to be installed on my Tundra. May buy a kit from 1stgenoffroad that includes them depending on how plans change for shocks and lift (coming up next)

Passenger side UCA. The ball joint boot is still in decent condition but it needs replaced regardless. Bushings are also most likely done as well as they like to squeak. Should drive much better with a new set. Still haven't decided on going OEM or not on these. Need to decide if I want to lift it or not first.


LBJ looking from the rear forward. It's scary to think about how we've been driving this and beating on it on washboard roads and now looking at the only thing keeping it from popping the wheel off and veering us into a ditch. Lesson learned now.


Front of vehicle looking back. Obvious grease around the subjected area.


Passenger side right bushing. The arms are rusty but the hardware doesn't look to bad so should be able to get it off with the Milwaukee 3/4" impact. There's always the Sawzall too. The other side isn't any better or worse.




Finally, the main focus on any off-roader, the shocks. The shocks are completely blown now and probably have little to no fluid left. The Tree bounces, jitters, and shakes with every crack in the road and it gives anyone who rides along a headache and sore teeth.


The shock bushing Think I found the corporate for the "tire float" feeling whenever hitting a bump lol. Also seems like it's been using the bump stops more often as well XD


Seems like there was some fluid that had leaked god knows when.



Here's some of the kits that I think really match what I want out of this thing.

Dobinson's 1.75" kit ($1,389)

• C59-344 Front 45mm/1.75" Lift Coils x 2
• GS59-222 Heavy Duty Twin Tube Front Struts x 2
• C59-345 Rear 45mm/1.75" Lift Coils x 2
• GS59-682 Heavy Duty Twin Tube Rear Shocks x 2

LLOD 2" kit ($1,569)

• Bilstein 5100 front shocks x 2.
• OME 2884, 2" front springs x 2. Springs should be set to the bottom notch of the Bilstein 5100s.
• Necessary insulators to accommodate the slightly more narrow inner diameter of the OME springs.
• OME 2862 rear springs x 2.
• Dobinsons Rear Shocks x 2.
• Suspension Maxx extended front and rear sway bar links.

Dobinson's/OME 2" - 2.5" kit ($1,317)

• OME 2884 Front Springs For A 2" Front Lift OR 2885 Front Springs For A 2.5" Front Lift
• Dobinsons GS59-222 Front Shocks x 2
• OME 2862 Rear Progressive Springs for a 2" Rear Lift OR 2865 Rear Springs For A 2.5" Rear Lift
• Dobinsons GS59-687 Rear Shocks x 2
• Necessary insulators x 2 to accommodate the slightly more narrow inner diameter of springs.

I'm thinking the best option would be the LLOD kit as it comes with all the shocks/springs as well as front and rear sway bar end links (which I haven't shown yet) The sway bar links are probably the funniest thing I found so far, and since they'd be included it's a kill two birds with one stone kind of deal.




I think that just about wraps up the front end of this Tree so far. I haven't yet torn apart the rear and taken a better look at that as I ran out of time yesterday and it sadly has been raining all day today.

I appreciate anyone who's come this far and read all the way through, this was a fun way to blow 2-3 hours of my Sunday. If you've got any experience with stuff like this, I'd appreciate any input or advice on where to start and if any of the parts I've picked out are a good idea.

I've already posted something like this onto a sequoia Facebook group and as expected I've got lots of people telling me to give up and sell it as it's "not worth it". This vehicle runs amazing and the motor is in amazing condition for the mileage. It's a shame it's gotten to this point and I'm hoping I can save it but it is going to be a lot of money and I'm already doing something similar on my Tundra so the process is definitely going to take a while.

Again, thanks for reading and any tips are appreciated!

 

That is in the plans of things for the future, it's just not much of a priority currently as it still is just going to sit until I can get the parts picked out and ordered.

I took some more pictures of the rear end that I will be going into more detail on later tonight on here and unfortunately the rust is much worse than I originally anticipated (seems to be a reoccurring thing lol)

I can't tell if this frame has been coated before or not as I'm super inexperienced when it comes to this kind of stuff so hopefully someone can let me know based off the pictures I took. I was beating on the frame in some spots with a hammer and a decent amount of dirt, rock, and rust fell as expected but where I was hitting and the rust was flaking off it revealed a perfectly coated black painted spot underneath the rust.



The rust sits above the painted spot and I could dig my finger nail under it and peal it up that way. Not sure if the rust is from some sort of coating that was installed a long time ago and if all it would take to remove would be a wire wheel. Either way, there's a lot more of it than I had hoped there would be.