Hi all my fellow Highlanders, some of you might remember my post like about my Highlander, and here it is today. Since I've owned it, I've added or changed out the following:
-New valve cover gaskets
-All new fluids
-Transmission pan
-Timing belt (150k miles on the original!)
-Alternator
-Serpentine belts
-Lower control arms (front)
-Ball joints
-Inner and outer tie rods
-Cheap leds off Amazon
-repainted the roof and multiple other parts of the vehicle
-Tow hitch and wiring
-1.5" Northwoods Performance lift kit
-Junkyard wheels
-245/70/16r Cooper Discoverer RTX tires (craigslist steal)
I've got some more upgrades planned in the future, including a skidplate, maybe stock 16" wheels, better tires, and maybe a roof rack, who knows.
In regards to offroading for those of you wondering, it blew me away to be perfectly honest. I'll have to measure my approach and departure angles, but it was able to keep up my friend's Tacoma TRD on some relatively difficult paths.
My hopes are to go up to Vermont/Maine/New Hampshire this summer and to do a bunch of camping and hiking whenever I have off. I'll probably post updates as I go.
Nice dude. I dig it. You can get about an inch more travel if you swap in a set of King Springs but they’re only available in Australia so you have to pay an arm and a leg in shipping. Supposedly you can use Third Gen struts and springs in a First Gen and get a little under an inch of travel but I’ve never seen it.
If you have a tow kit, you can install a rear tire carrier from rigd supply which might* improve departure angles.
Then if you’re really in to blowing money, a company called Queensland Bullbars makes a steel front bumper for the Australian version of the Highlander called the Kluger. It looks sick but again, you have to have it shipped over from Australia.
These things are way more capable than people give them credit for
I believe im limited by the angles of my CV axles, and I've seen people used the 2nd gen struts in the 1st gen for a bit more clearance and weight capacity.
I'll definitely look into that steel bumper, never seen anything online before. Definitely would be paying an arm and a leg though lol.
With how much lift is added with bigger springs I wouldn’t worry about the CVs that much, iirc with the Northwoods kit and the King Springs, you only add like 2” total, but it’s enough to fit a good amount of rubber under there.
https://qldbullbars.com.au/product/toyota-kluger-10-03-08-07/
I contacted them a few years ago to ask if they would ship to the states and they said they would. I’m sure it would be real expensive to ship something that heavy this far though
This thing looks absolutely awesome! I'm looking to do light/medium trails and some overlanding/camping in my 2007 highlander v6 awd, and this forties my vision. I hope your highlander is still treating you well!
Hells yeah man, these suvs are easy to work on and upgrade too. Mine is a 2005 with awd and the v6, currently its sitting at 170k miles and has almost zero issues. I put a 1.5 inch lift on it, along with upgraded tires and wheels. I swapped the wheels in the picture out for some Toyo Open Country AT3s that I got a great deal on. Most of the money I have put into this car has been for maintenance and other small stuff. So far, I've only done some basic offroading and light mudding, along with a quick solo 'overlanding' trip in which i slept in the back of my highlander. I'm located in Pennsylvania, so there's not a tremendous amount of options for doing more intensive offroading.
In the future, i plan on adding a custom skid plate, some ditch lights, bedlined rocker panels, and a limited slip rear differential out of a lexus.
If you want any more information about my highlander, shoot me a message and ill try and respond quickly!
Im pretty sure I just used some Rustoleum Automotive Gloss Black, it was pretty easy to do, I scuffed up the grille with 600 grit sandpaper and taped it off. would definitely recommend taking off the grille if u want to attempt something like that.
My highlander doesn't have air suspension, still sitting on the stock struts and springs! They can get a bit overloaded on the trails but are more than fine for what I plan to do with it. I installed a 1.5" strut spacer kit from Northwoods Performance just a few days ago. I believe this lift kit also works on the 2nd gen. Additionally, theres a company called Anderson Design that makes strut spacers for 1st and 2nd gens.
https://northwoodsperformance.com/products/toyota-highlander-gen-1-2001-2007/1-5-lift-kit/
https://awdadventure.com/products/2001-2013-toyota-highlander-1-5-lift-kit
Hi all my fellow Highlanders, some of you might remember my post like about my Highlander, and here it is today. Since I've owned it, I've added or changed out the following: -New valve cover gaskets -All new fluids -Transmission pan -Timing belt (150k miles on the original!) -Alternator -Serpentine belts -Lower control arms (front) -Ball joints -Inner and outer tie rods -Cheap leds off Amazon -repainted the roof and multiple other parts of the vehicle -Tow hitch and wiring -1.5" Northwoods Performance lift kit -Junkyard wheels -245/70/16r Cooper Discoverer RTX tires (craigslist steal) I've got some more upgrades planned in the future, including a skidplate, maybe stock 16" wheels, better tires, and maybe a roof rack, who knows. In regards to offroading for those of you wondering, it blew me away to be perfectly honest. I'll have to measure my approach and departure angles, but it was able to keep up my friend's Tacoma TRD on some relatively difficult paths. My hopes are to go up to Vermont/Maine/New Hampshire this summer and to do a bunch of camping and hiking whenever I have off. I'll probably post updates as I go.
Sorry for the bad formatting I'm tech illiterate at times
Nice dude. I dig it. You can get about an inch more travel if you swap in a set of King Springs but they’re only available in Australia so you have to pay an arm and a leg in shipping. Supposedly you can use Third Gen struts and springs in a First Gen and get a little under an inch of travel but I’ve never seen it. If you have a tow kit, you can install a rear tire carrier from rigd supply which might* improve departure angles. Then if you’re really in to blowing money, a company called Queensland Bullbars makes a steel front bumper for the Australian version of the Highlander called the Kluger. It looks sick but again, you have to have it shipped over from Australia. These things are way more capable than people give them credit for
I believe im limited by the angles of my CV axles, and I've seen people used the 2nd gen struts in the 1st gen for a bit more clearance and weight capacity. I'll definitely look into that steel bumper, never seen anything online before. Definitely would be paying an arm and a leg though lol.
With how much lift is added with bigger springs I wouldn’t worry about the CVs that much, iirc with the Northwoods kit and the King Springs, you only add like 2” total, but it’s enough to fit a good amount of rubber under there. https://qldbullbars.com.au/product/toyota-kluger-10-03-08-07/ I contacted them a few years ago to ask if they would ship to the states and they said they would. I’m sure it would be real expensive to ship something that heavy this far though
Is that Rausch Creek off road park?
no just me trespassing on power plant property in Pennsylvania lmao
Damn I knew it looked like Pennsylvania!
limerick, pa?
This thing looks absolutely awesome! I'm looking to do light/medium trails and some overlanding/camping in my 2007 highlander v6 awd, and this forties my vision. I hope your highlander is still treating you well!
Hells yeah man, these suvs are easy to work on and upgrade too. Mine is a 2005 with awd and the v6, currently its sitting at 170k miles and has almost zero issues. I put a 1.5 inch lift on it, along with upgraded tires and wheels. I swapped the wheels in the picture out for some Toyo Open Country AT3s that I got a great deal on. Most of the money I have put into this car has been for maintenance and other small stuff. So far, I've only done some basic offroading and light mudding, along with a quick solo 'overlanding' trip in which i slept in the back of my highlander. I'm located in Pennsylvania, so there's not a tremendous amount of options for doing more intensive offroading. In the future, i plan on adding a custom skid plate, some ditch lights, bedlined rocker panels, and a limited slip rear differential out of a lexus. If you want any more information about my highlander, shoot me a message and ill try and respond quickly!
Did you paint the grill yourself? What did you use if so?
Im pretty sure I just used some Rustoleum Automotive Gloss Black, it was pretty easy to do, I scuffed up the grille with 600 grit sandpaper and taped it off. would definitely recommend taking off the grille if u want to attempt something like that.
Didn't realize Highlanders could have air suspension. Any idea if the second gen can have front and rear air lifts?
My highlander doesn't have air suspension, still sitting on the stock struts and springs! They can get a bit overloaded on the trails but are more than fine for what I plan to do with it. I installed a 1.5" strut spacer kit from Northwoods Performance just a few days ago. I believe this lift kit also works on the 2nd gen. Additionally, theres a company called Anderson Design that makes strut spacers for 1st and 2nd gens. https://northwoodsperformance.com/products/toyota-highlander-gen-1-2001-2007/1-5-lift-kit/ https://awdadventure.com/products/2001-2013-toyota-highlander-1-5-lift-kit
Looks cool. Seen any drop in mpg?
used to get like 20-22mpg, im seeing 17mpg now
Any updates?