Sequoia lifted w/tires and wheels!

[stom_m3]

Finally had some time to download pictures. For this trip we explored the south side of Death Valley (Baker to Ballarat). Lots of good mines, trails, and sights. Sorry a bit pic heavy but there was so many cool things to see.

Blazing a trail before sundown.


First morning about to head to West Camp Mine.


Road to West Camp Mine


West Camp Mine


Getting ready to explore.


Lots of great scenery


Oh, I wish I had more articulation...


Checking out Ibex mine


Desolate area off grid


Getting lost...


Where's the beef?


Camp life chillin'


Awesome sunsets on the second night.


They remind me of hobbit houses but these were the miners homes that they made into the hillside.


Ashford Mills. Beautiful backdrop.


Airing down


Striped Butte


LC200 and me posing


Fun obstacles on Mengel


Showing lack of articulation...


So that's what the side tread is for... Running about 20psi. The Toyo RT's are very soft.


Serious rock stacking going on. No we did not do this.


Challenge of the day


Con't

 

[stom_m3]

Menacing! The boulders are significantly bigger than they look!


Rock rails and gas tank skid getting a few battle scars.


Nissan Pathfinder killed it. So small.


Night by the fire. The temperatures fluctuated heavily. In the morning, I actually had ice on my cooler outside. Drastically different than the 106F the day before.


Heading out of Goler Wash


Cool canyon. Going through Goler Wash.


Heading out of Goler Wash, the local mules decided to give us an escort


The crew that went.

 

[Gallowbraid]

Fantastic build thread! Love seeing the Sequoia out there in the wild. I recently traded my 2016 Tacoma in for an 09 Sequoia and absolutely love it. The information in your thread has been very helpful as I prepare to make suspension upgrades.

Any future plans?

 

[ulySSes]

No need to apologize for being pic heavy. We love pics!

 

[Ryanmb21]

Very cool report!

 

[stom_m3]

Fantastic build thread! Love seeing the Sequoia out there in the wild. I recently traded my 2016 Tacoma in for an 09 Sequoia and absolutely love it. The information in your thread has been very helpful as I prepare to make suspension upgrades.

Any future plans?

Future plans include lights and a roof rack. I'm looking at getting the Morimoto Fog light replacements. I use my fogs as fill which they do somewhat poorly but add a little bit of peripheral edge lighting. I still want to retain that added benefit with a better performing light and without being too bright. I wouldn't be able to use something like a Baja Design nightly without blinding others. The Morimoto xB's have a sharp cutoff.

As for racks, I'm looking at getting the Front Runner rack. I like the low profile and versatility of the rack. I'm also thinking about switching from Rotopax to Jerry Cans unless I can find an upright mount. It's too hard to get the cap on tight without weeping.

Other than that, I'm looking at going from a 275/70/18 to a 295/70/18. The extra height will help clear some of the obstacles I encounter. As well as, they aren't so large where I'll have to do a lot of trimming... I hope. I've had Toyo MT's which I love but damn they get loud at 50% tread. I currently have the RT's which are fine but the tread face is very narrow and it's not as tall as the same size MT. My next tire will most likely be the Ridge Grappler only because Toyo doesn't make the RT in a 295 width. I've heard good things about the tire.

No need to apologize for being pic heavy. We love pics!

Thanks. Next trip will most likely be Prescott AZ. I have to do some more research on what's there but I hear a lot of people go there for off-roading. I'll post pics when I go.

Very cool report!

Thanks!

 

[Gallowbraid]

Thanks. Next trip will most likely be Prescott AZ. I have to do some more research on what's there but I hear a lot of people go there for off-roading. I'll post pics when I go.

Plenty to see and do in Prescott. I did a bit of the Senator Highway awhile back and then headed up to the Grand Canyon from there. I'd love to get back there and explore more of the Prescott NF.

Some pictures here: Link

 

[basing110]

Did truck shop do the hidden winch mount also? How much did it run and are you happy with the design and execution of it? How long did he have the vehicle for that? You think a xrc 9.5 or maybe the 10k h20 winch would fit?

Did they also do the bolt on rock sliders? How much?

Im in san diego also and would love to talk shop and check out your ride. Im pretty sure ive seen you in town. Saw a hidden winch on a white sequoia more than a few times

Just got a 2012 sequoia and looking at doing a hidden winch mount. Looking at having truck shop or maybe pelfrybilt do it.

 

[stom_m3]

Did truck shop do the hidden winch mount also? How much did it run and are you happy with the design and execution of it? How long did he have the vehicle for that? You think a xrc 9.5 or maybe the 10k h20 winch would fit?

Did they also do the bolt on rock sliders? How much?

Im in san diego also and would love to talk shop and check out your ride. Im pretty sure ive seen you in town. Saw a hidden winch on a white sequoia more than a few times

Just got a 2012 sequoia and looking at doing a hidden winch mount. Looking at having truck shop or maybe pelfrybilt do it.

I'm unsure what size winch will fit. I can tell you that mine is a pretty tight fit. I would show you pics, but unfortunately Photobucket has changed their policy and now charge $40/month to host pictures. I'm working on migrating my pictures to Smugmug and will need to see if I can fix my thread. The TruckShop did both my winch mount and sliders. I forget the price but it's somewhere in the neighborhood of $1500. I believe I said the pricing somewhere in this thread.

PM me if you want to meet up sometime. I don't have any trips planned right now but I will start a fall trip plan soon.

 

[stom_m3]

Well I've actually rebuilt my entire thread with new picture links since Photobucket decided to start charging 10X what they previously did. So I moved everything over to Smugmug. Anyways enough of the *****in'.

It was time to replace my Toyo RTs. Overall, the performance of the RTs was good but I wanted to get a little bigger tire for more clearance. I also didn't want any rubbing issues. The RTs pictured below started to roar quite a bit at 25k miles and as pictured had 37k miles. With a better alignment, they could have easily made it to 50k.

That said, I wanted to get more clearance and adding a slightly larger tire was an easy way to get it. I Decided to go from a 275/70/18 (33.2") to a 285/70/18 (34"). There are only a few tires made in this size and only one with the new aggressive AT style tread. The great thing is NO rubbing! I only have 15 miles on them but so far so good. The ride quality is very good and similar to the RT's from a quietness perspective. I would rate the stiffness slightly stiffer than the RT's but not nearly as stiff as the MT's. My next trip to Death Valley is May 3rd. I'll update this thread with the performance.


Enjoy pics below.

Worn Toyo RT's



Nitto Ridge Grappler



Toyo RT vs Nitto Ridge Grappler



Ready to be mounted



Side view



Clearance to front lower guard (driver side)



Clearance to rear mud flap (passenger side)



Money shot


steven

 

[collk22]

Dude - your truck is amazing. Very well done, and quite inspiring.

Thanks for updating your thread - best thing I've read all morning!

 

[Tucson T4R]

Hi Stom_m3,

I really like your build and am trying to do a similar build on my recently purchased 2017 SR5 Sequoia. I'm installing the Icon 3" coilovers and upper control arms this week. I contacted brian@jowettperformance.com about the rear springs and King shocks. Brian got back to me and is helping me figure it out. Thanks.

Thanks.

 

[stom_m3]

It's been a while. The Sequoia is still going strong. The Nitto Ridge Grapplers are about 1/3 tread left. Starting to roar a little bit more but nothing like the Toyo MTs. That said, I took the plunge into the roof top tent scene finally. Along with that, I got a 23Zero awning and I made a custom rack for my gas, Maxtrax, and shovel. Enjoy the pics;

Here's a side view with the tent. I got the Tepui Autana 3 person. Really it's more like 2+. I really wanted to get an iKamper but it takes up so much roof space and I still wanted a place to put other items. I placed the tent more towards the rear as the items being mounted on the front of the rack will be heavier per foot. So this will even out the load a little bit.


I mounted the tent directly to the rails of the vehicle. Works perfectly. I had the tent rails biased to the driver side with the passenger side flush. I added an awning direct to the rails.


Here's the tent open. It's almost invisible with the Camo. LOL.


Here's the 23Zero awning mounted. I got the 62".


Side view of the awning relative to the tent. It was a balance of having the awning far enough away from the tent to use the window poles yet close enough to not stick out past the body.


Here's a close up view of the mounting. The nice thing about the 23Zero is that it comes with mounting brackets.


Here's the start of my rack to hold my Maxtrax, gas, and shovel.


Mount for Maxtrax complete.


Mount for Rotopax complete.


Finished product. Gripfist holds the shovel


Heading to Death Valley in April. Can't wait!

 

[reaver]

I dig the rotopax/maxtrax mount. That's a good use of 8020.

 

[stom_m3]

Here's the complete picture of everything. I guess the downside of having the gas there is not being able to prop open the window but better than being stranded.