UtahRnr’s build

[UtahRnr]

Well it happened. Picked up my Cement TRD Pro in North Carolina last night. Driving it home to Utah. Looking forward to this build. This forum has been a great resource.

Mods Completed :nod:

• anytime backup cam mod
• factory remote start
• amber fog overlays
• tint - 70% ceramic on the windshield, 20% on the front windows
• navi lockout override switch
• TPMS upgrade w/display
• ECU tweaks (seat belt chime delete, etc.)
• Yota amber grill LEDs
• Magnaflow 12256
• 'Ultimate camping mod' (interior tailgate window up/down, lock/unlock, tailgate open switch)
• Spacers: 1.25" Spidertraxx
• RCI alum. skid (front diff/oil pan)

Next work planned / on order

• Paint: rock chips (these are pin holes, paints in good shape) touch up on the front
• Paint: clearbra/3M paint protection on front and a-pillars
• Interior Lights "MASTER" Switch
• Replace yellow LaminX on fogs with amber (ORDERED)
• Custom sub enclosure in rear passenger quarter panel storage area
• Complete remaining skid protection (RCI aluminum)

NOW

 

[dirtydurley]

Nice! Congrats on getting the 4R


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[UtahRnr]

DAY 1 PHOTO

Really digging the ride. The TRD suspension feels fine to me on the highway. Won’t have an opportunity to really test it off-road until next week. Really glad a buddy came along for the trip to drive it back to Utah.

There are two minor disappointments with the TRD Pro:

1. theres no TPMS readout showing the individual tire pressures in the center console. this is a big bummer for me. all this TPMS does is illuminate a low pressure warning icon on the dash. my '08 Sequoia and '10 Sequoia had this.
2. the speakers suck. i was surprised the TRD Pro doesnt have the upgraded JBL sound system.

Good news is these are both fixable and not too spendy. I am loving the ride. Was super excited to discover it had the remote start.

 

[YellowSnow]

Awesome rig!

 

[UtahRnr]

Made it back to Utah. Mods start this week.

This color hides dirt surprisingly well.

 

[sn_85]

Awesome rig!

Hmm what happened to your original comment? Change of tune?

 

[16RedRunner]

Nice!! Really like that color!

 

[UtahRnr]

My first mods/maintenance will be:

• Tint: SCHEDULED. Putting 70% ceramic on the windshield, and probably 25% on the front windows to match the back
• Paint: rock chip (these are pin holes, paints in good shape) touch up on the front
• Paint: clearbra/3M paint protection on front and a-pillars
• Spacers: 1.25" Spidertraxx - ORDERED
• Bling:Yota amber grill LEDs - ORDERED
• Interior Lights "MASTER" Switch
  

I appreciate feedback from the forum if you've got experience with any of these things. I'm reading as much as I can on this forum trying to gain some knowledge on the 5th gen and what's out there, good and bad.

About the Interior Lights MASTER Switch in my list -
This is something I LOVE that my Sequoia has - there's a switch next to the driver that can allow the driver to force all interior lights ON or OFF. This "Master" switch has 3 positions - (1) ALL ON, (2) Neutral, and (3) ALL OFF. In position 1 or 3, the switch overrides any switch setting that individual interior lights have. For example, if the back (tailgate) dome light is set to "ON" and you switch the master switch by the driver to OFF, it will force the back area dome light off. If a door is ajar and the dome light is set to DOOR so the light is on, you can put the master switch in position 3 and it forces the light off, even though the door is ajar. This switch is great to have if you have kids who turn lights off while you're driving at night and you want them off, or if you're looking for something and want everything on without having to individually touch each light. I don't know how I'm going to do this, but I'll dig into it and figure it out. Maybe someone else on this forum has already done it.

Edit: Found this thread in 4th gen, this is what I'm going for. Will keep digging...

Suspension:
I'm not doing a thing with shocks and springs until I can test out the TRD suspension off road and see how I like it. New suspension with Kings or Icon will set me back at least $3500 and that's with a promotional discount. So it's worth it to me to take my time and be smart about this. Around town it's just fine. A little soft on the nose during braking, so maybe stiffer springs on the front coils would be in order. We'll see.

Have some serious detailing to do. Buying this rig private sale and then driving it 2,000 through winter storms to get it home guaranteed that this thing needs a serious full scale detail. hwell:

On another note, I stumbled onto [MENTION=65614]Antman[/MENTION] 's thread. Holy moly he has seriously made a ton of contributions to this forum in the way of write ups, etc. Very impressive. Awesome rig too. :hail: Still trying to understand all the dildo references.

 

[16RedRunner]

Go with 20% on the front window tint.

 

[Antman]

My first mods/maintenance will be:

• Tint: SCHEDULED. Putting 70% ceramic on the windshield, and probably 25% on the front windows to match the back
• Paint: rock chip (these are pin holes, paints in good shape) touch up on the front
• Paint: clearbra/3M paint protection on front and a-pillars
• Spacers: probably 1.25" Spidertraxx
• Bling:Yota amber grill LEDs - ORDERED
• Interior Lights "MASTER" Switch

I appreciate feedback from the forum if you've got experience with any of these things. I'm reading as much as I can on this forum trying to gain some knowledge on the 5th gen and what's out there, good and bad.

About the Interior Lights MASTER Switch in my list -
This is something I LOVE that my Sequoia has - there's a switch next to the driver that can allow the driver to force all interior lights ON or OFF. This "Master" switch has 3 positions - (1) ALL ON, (2) Neutral, and (3) ALL OFF. In position 1 or 3, the switch overrides any switch setting that individual interior lights have. For example, if the back (tailgate) dome light is set to "ON" and you switch the master switch by the driver to OFF, it will force the back area dome light off. If a door is ajar and the dome light is set to DOOR so the light is on, you can put the master switch in position 3 and it forces the light off, even though the door is ajar. This switch is great to have if you have kids who turn lights off while you're driving at night and you want them off, or if you're looking for something and want everything on without having to individually touch each light. I don't know how I'm going to do this, but I'll dig into it and figure it out. Maybe someone else on this forum has already done it.

Edit: Found this thread in 4th gen, this is what I'm going for. Will keep digging...

Suspension:
I'm not doing a thing with shocks and springs until I can test out the TRD suspension off road and see how I like it. New suspension with Kings or Icon will set me back at least $3500[/] and that's with a promotional discount. So it's worth it to me to take my time and be smart about this. Around town it's just fine. A little soft on the nose during braking, so maybe stiffer springs on the front coils would be in order. We'll see.

Have some serious detailing to do. Buying this rig private sale and then driving it 2,000 through winter storms to get it home guaranteed that this thing needs a serious full scale detail. hwell:

On another note, I stumbled onto [MENTION=65614]Antman[/MENTION] 's thread. Holy moly he has seriously made a ton of contributions to this forum in the way of write ups, etc. Very impressive. Awesome rig too. Still trying to understand all the dildo references.

Lol- all the “dildo posts” were deleted by the mods. It got a little out of hand.
That was quite a ways back!

 

[QwikKotaTx]

With regards to DIY clear bra, make sure you can do it in a dust and wind free area. Also, I would remove it after a few years. The bra we had on our 2010 started cracking badly after about 5 years and the paint underneath of it is a different color than the rest of the truck.

 

[UtahRnr]

Lol- all the “dildo posts” were deleted by the mods. It got a little out of hand.
That was quite a ways back!

Well clearly not all of them... coz I just started reading that thread recently.

 

[UtahRnr]

With regards to DIY clear bra, make sure you can do it in a dust and wind free area. Also, I would remove it after a few years. The bra we had on our 2010 started cracking badly after about 5 years and the paint underneath of it is a different color than the rest of the truck.

Yeah, I have mixed feelings about doing the clear bra... I'm hadn't considering DYI'ing it though. I'm better at mechanical and electrical things. There are a lot of videos on how to do it on the interwebs. Was it fairly painless?

As for the different paint color, only thing that could possibly prevent that is always parking indoors... which I can't do at work. Wax won't prevent UV fading... hwell:

Honestly I'm more concerned about rock chips than paint fading because where I live roads are perpetually under construction.

 

[UtahRnr]

Got the tint done today. Ceramic 70% on the windshield, and 20% on the fronts (not ceramic). The fronts are now slightly darker than the backs, but they didn't have a 25% tint so it's as good as I could get with this shop. I'm happy with it.

I've never done tint on a windshield before - went ceramic to reduce heat there - we'll see in summer how much it helps.

Also got the Homelink garage opener programmed.

On an unrelated note, I LOVE how this thing handles in the snow. We've had a lot of snow the past few days and it's been great.

 

[UtahRnr]

We've had several storms roll through in the past six days. Even though I'm in the valley, we've had plenty of the frozen water, and it shows no signs of stopping.

Got the navigation/head unit lockout features bypassed thanks to the great posts here on the forum - mostly this post by [MENTION=79237]sigepbiker[/MENTION]

PC: [MENTION=79237]sigepbiker[/MENTION] -- this is the same wire that I cut to override in my 2017 navi

I decided to put a switch in. At first I wasn't going to but since I had a switch lying around and the dash was apart, it was only a few extra minutes to do the soldering and stick it in there. Now I can override the lockout at will with the switch so my passenger (ahem) can use those functions on the head unit.

My amber grill lights arrived yesterday. Also ordered a Magnaflow 12256 (muffler only). It looks like several other people have installed this muffler...I see lots of threads about it. I don't mind some mild drone - my experience is most MT tires drone more than a decent exhaust... The Magnaflow wasn't on the "first mods list" but it's only $100 bucks so why not. Excited to wake up the sound on this ride a little.

There is actually a listing on Amazon for this muffler (it's the first one that comes up) with Prime shipping for $91.62. But if you pay attention - it's 3 months back-ordered. Another seller had it listed with free shipping IN STOCK for $100. It will be here this week. :ftw:

Really looking forward to getting this thing out wheeling... Just want it to warm up a little! :smow:

 

[UtahRnr]

Tweaked a few settings using Techstream today.

I was able to get the windows (not counting the tailgate) to roll down holding the key unlock button for 2 seconds. Even though I saw the setting mentioned in the TIS Customizations thread, I did not see that there was a place in Techstream to make the windows roll UP from the key remote.

Mechanically, you can, with the key in the door. That's working.

No more seat belt chime though - thank heaven. :bluejump:

 

[sigepbiker]

Got the navigation/head unit lockout features bypassed thanks to the great posts here on the forum - mostly this post by [MENTION=79237]sigepbiker[/MENTION]

PC: [MENTION=79237]sigepbiker[/MENTION] -- this is the same wire that I cut to override in my 2017 navi

I decided to put a switch in. At first I wasn't going to but since I had a switch lying around and the dash was apart, it was only a few extra minutes to do the soldering and stick it in there. Now I can override the lockout at will with the switch so my passenger (ahem) can use those functions on the head unit.

Glad I could help! I understand why Toyota makes it operate like this, but sometimes you just need to override it.

Can't wait for the weather to warm up and longer days.

 

[UtahRnr]

Thought I'd share some of the photos from the trip when I picked up my T4R in North Carolina and drove it home to Utah.

I had been trolling t4r.org, autotrader and other sites for a Cement TRD Pro... Not finding anything in Utah for a while, I expanded my search nationwide, finding 5 for sale. One was at a dealership in Phoenix, 5,000 miles on the odometer, and they were asking $50,000! Seeing one in NC with 20k on the odo, and the price was just right, I called the seller and made a deal. :rockon:

Needing to be in Kansas City for work that week, and since my employer needed to buy me a return flight for Friday night, I booked the ticket instead from KC to Raleigh. It was cheaper for my employer than the return flight to SLC, and got me to NC for free. Win-win. My buddy flew out from SLC to Raleigh also Friday night, so I'd have some company driving back the T4R. He's a Yota fan too - has a sweet 2nd gen Taco tastefully modded.

Our route had only a couple requirements. (1) Kansas City so I could take my buddy to Joe's BBQ, and Grand Junction, CO so we could see our other pal that we go canyoneering with. A few minutes on Google Maps, and our route was locked in at 32 hours estimated, about 2,200 miles. We had a couple small detours, but we did manage to do the drive start to finish in only 48 hours: starting in NC at about 8:30PM on Friday Night and arriving in the Salt Lake valley at 7PM on Sunday (okay, so 48.5 hours).

We picked up the 4Runner in the evening not far from the Raleigh-Durham airport. The seller was a neurologist and I don't think it was ever off-roaded. Quickest transaction buying a car in my 27 years of driving.

That night we got a couple hours of driving, and thanks to Yelp found a really great pub in Greensboro with wood-fired pizza.

We crashed in the back of the T4R that night for about 6 or so hours then back at it and looking for breakfast. North Carolina through Tennessee was really scenic! I was really impressed with the Appalachian and Smokey Mountains - really gorgeous country.

My buddy driving my new ride. It received his stamp of approval easily.

 

[UtahRnr]

Tennessee - what a beautiful place. Rolling hills everywhere, and green grass even in the winter.

Any guy can't help but just investigate when they see something marked as "forbidden".

Unfortunately, they were not only "forbidden", but "closed for the season." It wasn't a complete was of time, though ... because we did see this spectacle across the street, which will be forever embedded in my mind of what Tennessee is:

... Less than 30 minutes later, I discovered that Dolly Parton has her own theme park. Yes, this is for real.

No kidding, that place was built on two different mountains (perhaps subliminal messaging here?) and was gigantic.

Across the street, and begging Dollywood-fans for attention was perhaps one of the more bizarre things I saw during the road trip... a tourist trap dedicated to terrible graphic design and parrots... you can't help but wonder... WTF ???

 

[UtahRnr]

Refueling somewhere in Kentucky, I think. This is how she looked the day after I bought her. Unfortunately, I don't have any pics from the day I bought it because it was dark.

On through Illinois...

...and then Missouri into Kansas City to Joe's BBQ. Now I spend a LOT of time in Kansas City for work, and every time I go I ask people what the best place for BBQ is in KC. You do get multiple answers, but by far the most common answer is Joe's. And having tried all these places now, I can say, Joe's is, hands down, the best. You haven't had real KC BBQ until you've had it in a gas station...

Just a few of the sauces and rubs Joe's has for sale while you wait for the line to move. This place is always packed.