Joining the club with a first-gen Sequoia

Hi everyone, first thanks for this fantastic resource. Looking at past posts here was incredibly helpful as I shopped around for the right first-gen Sequoia.

My grandpa Joe used to drive one, and I spent a lot of summers up at his ranch in it, I remember going to the dealership with him in 2002 to buy it. Here in 2024, I had to search for a few months and drive 4-5 hours to buy this similar one, but it was worth it to get one just like the one he had.

Runs beautifully, all stock, and even has the classic green paint peel that grandpa’s used to have. The guy I bought it from had all his service records from the local stealership and had done the lower ball joints but not the timing belt and water pump. His wife was giving him hell and he had to let it go cheap.

Since picking it up, I had the stealership give it a once-over ($205 plus tax here in NorCal) to verify the timing belt could go a few more miles (it’s got 110k on it) and I went to work. I am mostly used to working on bicycles and home appliances, and more recently mopeds/ebikes, so I’m just trying to take it slow and watch a lot of videos. So far I have mostly done interior and brakes:

- replaced front brake pads and rotors
- removed the seats and steam cleaned the carpets and mats, interior clean
- replaced broken rear latch handle
- replaced upper center console with new one from the junkyard
- removed the duct tape (!) “sealing” the sunroof, cleaned the tracks, and cleaned the clogged drain holes
- replaced the horn
- replaced headlight bulbs and cleaned headlight housings
- “repaired” CD player (removed stuck CDs, one was Grateful Dead and the other was Peter Tosh)

Been very inspired by everything on here, and planning to work up to doing some more serious mods this summer. In my future:

- a small lift (still researching, open to suggestions)
- bigger brake calipers and rotors on front
- replace all the windshield wiper hose some rodent chewed through
- replace the front door speakers
- replace O2 sensors

I really like this truck and it reminds me every day of grandpa Joe, the last guy I knew with any God damned sense in this world. Looking forward to putting the next 200k miles on it.

 

Welcome from NY.

 

I bought a 2002 new and had it for 15 years. I still see it around and tell the guy that bought it that I'll buy it off of him. He loves it as much as I did. Enjoy!

 

Welcome from LA (Lower Alabama)!