Looks great. Like the fact that it's a bolt on so it will be easy to touch up trail rash.

 

I like the sliders! It is tough to find someone that will make them for such a large truck, and then ship them to wherever you are located. Forgive me if you already stated, but who built yours? They look great and is a must have. I agree on the skid for the gas tank. That think hangs too low and is asking a pointy rock to gouge it. Bud Built seems to make them and of good quality too.

I like your creativity with the winch and mounting. I am waiting to order a steel bumper first and package the winch at the same time.

Your build is coming along nice!!! I would like to hit some So Cal trails with ya!

Thanks. I agree. It is tough to find the popular slider manufacturers (Slee, Bud, Demello, etc.) to make anything for you and it won't be on their road map to do so unfortunately. I'm surprised there's no one in Vegas that makes these kinds of things. Seems like there would be a lot of fabrication houses there as I assume the desert would have a lot of off road manufacturer's/teams. I had The Truck Shop here in San Diego make them for me. I like the way they turned out. I wanted to retain the step functionality and match cosmetically. I think they were successful.

I too am thinking about the steel bumper but I didn't want to hang that much weight over the front end. I still may go that route though. I need to do a little more investigating on that.

 

Here are some additional pictures of the winch mount. Some people were interested in seeing what was underneath the bumper cover.

Picture from the front prior to the extra support bar being welded in.


Closer view of the 2" tube support on the bottom and some of the gusseting.


Other side.


Pic showing how the winch is supported.


Here's the mount removed with the extra support bar welded in place. It's upside down because the paint was still drying.


The other side, mount still upside down.


Finished product


I also added a new mount for my GPS Motion X. I plan to put it in when I need it for exploring. The majority of the time the mount will be removed. Also, the arm is too long and moves too much while driving. I plan on drilling a couple of holes near the cup holder and cable tie the arm against the side.


View from the driver's seat.

 

You need one of those TRD BAND-Aids for your scrap on your fender. NICE TRUCK MAN

 

Your Sequoia is pretty bad ass! I like that you USE it! Exploring CA looks really fun, doing it in comfort.:tu:

 

One of the nicest Sequoias around. Love the pictures and all that you've done.

I'd recomend ProClip USA to mount the Ipad on the dash, it really doesn't vibrate much or at all at speed. I now just bought one for the iPad mini, I'm not using the big iPad anymore. Works for me, but overall I'm impressed. How much did the custom job for the winch cost, if you don't mind?

 

Thanks Rippling. I'll check out the ProClip products.

As for the winch and rock rails, I paid a total of $2100. It was a complete job and I don't have what they were priced separately. The winch was $600ish which leaves the rest for the tubing and labor. Hope that helps.

 

Has anyone figured out how to lift a 2008 Sequoia with the factory airbags in the rear?

Chris

 

I have a 2008 Platinum that I want to to the 2" revtek lift and raise the rear airbags to the max. What size tire can I run on the stock wheels without rubbing? What, if any wheel spacers will I need?

Chris

 

Here's a trip from May that I took with my boy to Death Valley. 300 miles of dirt, rock , ghost towns, and mines. Fun times.

Start of the trip with my boy.



The Sequoia and Expedition. I was jealous of his 35"ers. The extra clearance would have helped.



First stop reward mine. You can drive in the mine but I didn't. I would have had to take the wood off the rack and didn't feel like it. We walked most of it but we didn't go to the different levels which had ladders and ropes. It's a cool stop if you find yourself going to Mammoth. It's a quick detour that should only take about 1 1/2-2 hours total.



Another size perspective. The mine is huge and fun to explore.



The view from reward mine.





On our way up to Cerro Gordo Ghost Town. Decent climb from the valley floor.



Cerro Gordo Ghost Town. It was very chilly up here. I forgot what the elevation is but it's high and decently cold.





In talking with the care taker, he mentioned that the backside of Cerro Gordo was washed out but he saw a group of Tacoma's go through and they never came back out so he thought it was doable... Well washed out was an understatement. It took us about 5 hours to go 5 miles.



The rocks don't look that big until you realize that this is the Sequoia and it's huge.



Doh! A face slap moment. :facepalm:



Generally, rocks and plastic fuel tanks don't make for the best combination. Time to back it up and stack some rocks.



I stacked a few rocks under the back tire which allowed me to clear the break over on the gas tank.



Here's what you call between a rock and hard place. I was so glad I fit... Barely.



The pictures don't really show how large the rocks are or how difficult the trail was. It was just one huge rock boulder bed. It literally took us 5 hours to go 5 miles.
I was a little bit apprehensive because there's no turning back after starting the trail. In other words, once you start the trail you have to finish it. It would have been impossible to go back up hill to get out. The rocks were too big and the tires would have dug in and reduced clearance. I grew a lot of gray hairs from this...





Almost got to use my new rock rails though glad I didn't...



The new Land Cruisers come with a front camera. That sure would have come in handy.



Found a nice, but chilly, camp spot at the end of White Mountain Talc. Lots of mines around the area too.



This was a large vertical shaft that was blown up after they closed the mine.





The next morning we started to make our way deeper into Death Valley.







Found a nice camp spot on Hunter Mountain. My boy took his Traxxas Slash 4WD RC car and made a little race track.



Steaks over the grill. Yummm.



The next morning, site seeing going to TeaKettle Junction.









The park rangers are sooo lucky. H1 Hummers!



On our way into Titus Canyon. Easy road but worth it to see.

 

Awesome pics! What size tires and lift are you running again?

Chris

 

Very nice trip and report. Looks like it was fun. I feel ya' on the wash out road that took 5 hours, as I have had a similar series of obstacles that seemed impossible, but I painfully and slowly made it through.

 

I got my lift on Saturday. Still looks wimpy, but it is what it is I suppose. Off to Ouray, CO this weekend.

Chris

 

That is one sweet looking ride!! Love the color combo, and reminds me of my old 4runner. The stance of your Sequoia looks great!! How are you liking the Toyo M/T's? I'm thinking of either the Toyo M/T's or Toyo AT 2's. Love the look of the M/T's on your ride. Trying to decide of better ride on the road with the AT's or go anywhere with the M/T's. I had the Trail Grapplers on my 4runner and loved the look and ride off road, but just a little too loud for me on road. Anyways great pics and awesome Sequoia!!!

 

I bet that's one trip your boy will never forget! Looks like you guys had a really great time. You're much more brave with your truck than I am. Thanks for sharing!

 

Awesome pics! What size tires and lift are you running again?

Chris

It's about 3 1/2" up front and 2 1/2" in the rear. I ended up having to get custom rear shocks made because the stock shocks topped out. There's more information about it in this thread if you're really interested to know.

The tires per Toyo's website are 33.6" which is about the largest diameter you can run in the spare wheel well which is why I didn't go a little larger. I could probably fit 34" in the spare wheel well and have it deflated. I always carry a pump to inflate/deflate tires.

That is one sweet looking ride!! Love the color combo, and reminds me of my old 4runner. The stance of your Sequoia looks great!! How are you liking the Toyo M/T's? I'm thinking of either the Toyo M/T's or Toyo AT 2's. Love the look of the M/T's on your ride. Trying to decide of better ride on the road with the AT's or go anywhere with the M/T's. I had the Trail Grapplers on my 4runner and loved the look and ride off road, but just a little too loud for me on road. Anyways great pics and awesome Sequoia!!!

I absolutely love the Toyo MT's. They do howl a little bit. It's not bad but I'm not that sensitive to it. If you get the AT2's, get the "Xtreme" versions. They have limited tire sizes but they are really cool.

I bet that's one trip your boy will never forget! Looks like you guys had a really great time. You're much more brave with your truck than I am. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks! It was a lot of fun. We wanted to cover a lot of ground and do a first pass fly through. Next time we plan on taking the wives and didn't want to get stuck with them with us. We might consider it fun but they definitely would not.

 

Cool, thanks. I ended up getting a Traxda 2" lift up front and raised my air suspension in the rear as high as it would go. It sits perfectly level, and I went with the 275/65R20 Toyo AT II's which basically are 34"x11.50's. I haven't had them offroad yet, but will this week in the Ouray, CO area. They're way louder than Bridgestone Dueler Revos, so not excited about that. But, I hope they're great offroad. What do you air down to on your MT's? Also, I'd like to get long shocks in the rear too. Are the ones you had made still available?

Chris

 

Back on the rack! This time for long awaited skid plates. I was originally going to just do the gas tank. But as I got under there, I figured I might as well protect the rear diff, oil pan, transmission pan, and transfer case too! From what he showed me, the transfer case hangs out there in the wind not protected between cross braces. Any leverage up on the transfer case from a rock would simply break the casting. If that happened, I'd be SOL in the middle of nowhere. Also, he mentioned that another common failure point is the attachment points to the lower A arms. Any contact with the inside pivot flanges and they bend inward potentially binding the joint. I'll post pics in a few days when it's done.



All this to prevent damage from this...

 

Hi stom_m3. I've been looking for your post for a few days now. Glad you posted again, had a question about the rear suspension. Did you have to get a lot of work done to install the King shocks?
I'm looking to lift the rear of my rig by around 3".

 

Hi stom_m3. I've been looking for your post for a few days now. Glad you posted again, had a question about the rear suspension. Did you have to get a lot of work done to install the King shocks?
I'm looking to lift the rear of my rig by around 3".

The shocks are super simple to install. You can actually remove and reinstall the rear shocks without jacking up the truck. 3" lift will be about the limit without topping out the specific length King shocks I'm using. I forget which shock body that we used from King but I believe the shock added 1" more throw which is what was needed to add the additional lift I had. I can tell you that the stock shocks didn't like anything over 1 5/8" lift. They would top out really bad. I may have some of the numbers slightly off as it's been a while but it's somewhere along those lines. If you want to run 3", you may need to go to the next shock length but you would have to verify the minimum compressed height. You may need to add taller bump stops. Hope that helps. Let me know if you have any questions.

 

All plates are removable for servicing. They are screwed to a full steel frame above for strength. I'll post more pics once the job is completed. They still have to drill all the relevant holes for drain plugs.

Transfer case and transmission cover.


Front skid and lower A arm pivot support


Front skid and lower A arm pivot support


From the gas tank looking forward


Rear dif skid plate

 

From the gas tank looking forward

I'm trying to develop a DIY transfer case skid concept.

The BudBuilt transfer case skid for Tundra has an additional cross member that supports the rear of the skid. See: 07-17 Tundra 5 Piece Combo $825. But yours does not.

Can you please provide additional photos or explanation about how your transfer case skid is supported. From your photo above it just looks like the skid plate is cantilevered off the transmission cross member; so far I'm not seeing how that is going to give much protection to the transfer case if the rear of the skid takes a hit. Maybe I'm missing something. Thanks for any explanation you can give.

 

Love your rig, actually inspired my recent lift. Thanks for the pics. Keep them coming.

 

Nice lift and awesome pics! Also really like your KMC wheels.

 

Here is the finished product for the skid plates. I really like what they did. Clean look, fully serviceable. Maybe it will even smooth out some of the air flow.

Front skid covering oil pan, another covering transmission, and last one in the chain covering the transfer case.


Closer up showing the transmission and transfer case skids. The half moon shapes are where the drain plugs for the tranny and oil are.


Gas tank skid


Anchor point for the rear of the gas tank skid


Rear diff cover

 

Awesome build!!:tu::tu::tu: I contacted Brian Jowett too for rear shocks and a higher lift but he said there's no room for longer shocks with out modifying the upper shock mounts and it will be too difficult to get the suspension in alignment above 3" for the rears.