Hypothetical Gen 3 Purchase and Major Overhaul?

[Snowrydr01]

So my mother and I are splitting the cost of a vehicle for two vastly different reasons. She wants a 7 seater to leave at our house and be her nanny mobile when she watches my two kids 2 days a week. I want something that brick reliable, will be our weekend Beach vehicle (Drive on remote), and fall weekend camping vehicle with mild trails. Right now i have 3 vehicles in mind in ascending price order, Gen 3 Montero, Gen 1 Sequoia, GX470. No mater what unicorns i find (G3 Monty 03 one owner with 77k miles for $5k) she is still hung up on the year or mileage close to 100k.

Since the Monty is a minimum $5k cheaper then similar mileage sequoia and $10k cheaper then similar GX470, the budget for immediate maintenance is much higher.

What would your hypothetical master overhaul look like to essential convince someone it was damn near new and take out ANY weak links?

Timing Belt
water pump
Brake booster motor
cam seals
valve seals
serp belt
Plugs
O2 sensors?
Fuel Pump?
Shocks
in coil air bags for the rear to level when loaded?
Tires (bigger obviously)
All Ball Joints
All TREs
Unit bearings while the cvs are out?
CV Boots
Double din with NAV, Bluetooth, and Backup camera
Added usb charging ports all over the place

Are there any rubber parts under the hood that are know to go? Vacuum hoses maybe?

Disassemble and clean any under body electrical contacts and actuators?


After maintenance would be the fun stuff.

 

[coffeegoat]

Alrighty, I got to jump in here - this is exactly what I'm doing.

I was looking at those same vehicles as you, and came to the conclusion that the 3-4x cost of the Toyotas just wouldn't work for me and that if I did most of the work myself I could get a basically new truck for ~1/2 of a used GX. For reference I was comparing with GXs that were ~100-135k and generally ran $14-16k. I was able to pick up a Gen 3, 95k, for ~$4k off the lot, relatively good shape, paint's a bit rough, engine is generally clean but has the cam seal oil leak and water pump coolant leak.

My starting list looks like this:
Full fluid flush - oil, coolant, transmission, diff
Brakes - New rotors & pads, full fluid flush
Front end rebuild - serp belt, timing belt, gaskets, water pump, etc
Top rebuild - plugs, wires, seals, gaskets, etc
Tires - New 32" AT
Suspension - Shocks & springs
Stereo - double din android, backup camera

Looking at the parts cost (so far) I'm still way under the magic 7K number that is 1/2" of the cheapest GX I could find. Even if i need to do a head gasket, or something else expensive I should still clear budget here. And it's worth noting that if you pick up a GX, it's basically inevitable that you'll need to do the timing belt as well (~$800 in parts I've been told), and about half the ones I test drove needed a new rear suspension.

I swear, I'll get a build/rebuild thread going soon, but all my details are being stored here

Ideally, I'll even do a set of tutorials for each of the jobs, but we'll see how it all goes together...

 

[Snowrydr01]

i was thinking that if i was doing timing belt its not too much more effort at that point to just take the heads off to do the valve seals. Ive seen the tutorials of how to do it with the head on but at that point of tear down replacing some gaskets and head bolts would be worth it to just to the job on a bench and replace a couple more 13 year old components to never deal with them again.

 

[MoabRefugee]

Add Injector Seals...

Doing much the same thing, for many of the same reasons, and am, literally, in the midst of doing the "Laundry List". Plugs and wires, rear cam seals, vac lines(use silicone, the rubber baked during the 10 months since having replaced them all after purchase!) and something that had just not popped up on my radar, fuel injector/rail seals. Mine were super loose, cracked, and the likely source of a vac leak. Re-assembling today, so update to follow, but having forgotten about the seals was a face palm moment, particularly when I saw their condition.

Additionally, use the Diamond SP-III or Eneos SP-III, as others have said...or else. I also used Redline MT-90 GL4 for the transfer case, and the difference was immediately perceptible even from the fresh Mobil 1 the dealer's Transmission shop had used, which was the incorrect fluid(GL-5).

Good Luck! I couldn't be happier with my '01. SUCH an extraordinarily capable vehicle, and a joy on the highway to boot. Even with nuked plugs, I saw nearly 21 mpg while driving Hwy 50 eastbound last month.

 

[KyleT]

What was the difference between gl4 and gl5 in the tcase?

 

[plh]

GL4 only being there is brass in the T-Case

 

[Fergie]

If you are doing that in-depth of an overhaul, I'd include a lot of the coolant system pieces like o-rings for the pipes that run front to back on the engine. Spark plugs and wires and gaskets for all the intake plenum stuff that you'll be tearing in to.

When I bought my '01, it wouldn't shift in to or out of 4wd because the previous owner never used it, and the switches in the t-case were fouled. I was able to knock about $600 off the price for this, and replaced them myself for about $400 in parts.

EDIT: And throw in the bushings for the cross-member and a new transmission mount if the vehicle you get has the 2200-2600 rpm vibration.