4Runner Fun Build

I bought my 2020 Toyota 4Runner SR5 Premium in Arizona around Mid 2020. I had a Harley Davidson Electra Glide Ultra Classic but honestly with a family I got more and more nervous about something bad happening. So I sold the bike to an older gentlemen and bought my 4Runner.

When I bought it stock I enjoyed it.


It wasn’t long though that I realized I wanted to add a few things… I started addressing some of the shortfalls that come on the vehicle stock (no storage with a 3rd row seat so I bought a roof rack)


Then I wanted to put the 4x4 capabilities to the test…. Well that ended real quickly when the rocks chewed up the road tires like a knife through butter… (this part was steep but it went up even steeper to the point it wasn’t comfortable walking up without putting your hands on the ground 40-45 degrees):



My wife and I bought a pop-up camper because we wanted to get outdoors more and get out of the house with the kids. I think we felt trapped in our house. We took 1 camping trip in the camper and sold it (going up the mountains in Arizona with that big pop-up camper was a bit much on the 4Runner without a re-gear and just after we bought the camper an opportunity opened up to move to North Carolina so we didn’t want to keep it since we were moving).


The part that we enjoyed the most was going to see mother nature and then being back in our beds that same night (having 4 young kids made it more challenging).

Anyways I went a bit overboard and started upgrading other items. Next was an ARB tire compressor which I put in a 50mm Ammo Can:


Then I put on Sliders and Skid plates:
Westcott Design Rock Sliders


M.O.R.E. Aluminum Skid plates:


Now you have to have a hi-lift jack:


Then the projects stopped for a couple days (jk)… But we seriously went out and enjoyed what we had at this point and I did small things like update the interior lights to LED, put a sticker on the back of the 4Runner, add an awning etc. I didn’t want to put more money in the 4Runner unless I was going to use it. We saw beautiful country…

Sticker my wife made me:


LED Interior lights:


Ironman 2.0 meter awning:


Beautiful country:













Since we were moving back east my concern was off-roading and mudd. The 4Runner did good in the snow but knowing how much a locker helps I opted to get a re-gear and an ARB front and rear locker. Hindsight is 20/20 I would probably have held off on the re-gear and locker upgrade but now I have it so if I need it I can use it.

Anyways after the re-gear and locker upgrade you gotta go all out now…
So I bought a new front bumper:


Lil b’s custom fab front bumper and you can’t see it but also the lil b’s BMC plates:


Then I installed a new Compressor and Switch Pro:

ARB CKMTA12 Compressor, M.O.R.E. mount, M.O.R.E. 1-gallon capacity Air Tank


Switch Pro:


I ordered at this same time an Ironman Foam Cell Pro kit that included the following:
12,500 lb winch, UCA, Rear sway bar adjustable end Link, rear adjustable pan hard bar, front sway bar spacer kit, traction boards, recovery rope, and other recovery gear. Then I also bought a factor 55 Flatlink and had that installed when I got to North Carolina:


When I ordered my Ironman kit I had also ordered 5 Relation Race Wheels and was waiting on those. Hence the picture above looks a little off for the tire size. Here were the new wheels and tires:

Nitto Trail Grappler M/T 285/75/17:


Then I upgraded all the exterior lights to LED as well with lasfit LED bulbs (HUGE difference)… I don’t have a picture for those that would be interested. I am sure there are so many pictures and videos online for this product.

The first post wouldn’t be complete without a picture of the complete setup to this point:


I still need some lights to fill up my switch pro and to fill the big gaps in the bumper. However, that will be a future upgrade as I am still determining which lights I want to get.

If you made it this far thank you for reading, thank you for those who helped answer my questions during my build process, thank you to the 1,000,000 hours of youtube videos people posted to help me get to this point. Thank you most importantly to my wife who “supported” me during this build. I know she would rather it have remained stock but I am loving the 4Runner and just the conversations that come from talking about the vehicle has been fun.

 

Nicely done!

 

I figured I should put up a picture of the Harley…

 

Very Nice....Congrats!

 

wow....that was enjoyable. I dont have the time or money to do half the upgrades you did....but congrats! well done. looks nice

 

Posted my response in the wrong spot, so I am putting it in the correct spot…
I have been blessed with the opportunity to have the car that I have wanted for a while and spent every penny as wisely as I could to make sure my vehicle will last me the next 20 years (my luck gasoline will not be allowed in 10 years). However, I plan on making a lot of memories in this 4Runner with my wife and kids.

 

Looks great! What did you use for LEDs?

 

External LED’s was by Lasfit

Internal LED’s were some brand off Amazon (they work well but honestly I would have just gone with lasfit and got everything to make it more simple). I did the internal LED’s first and didn’t learn about lasfit until a couple weeks ago.

 

Today I installed the new lights so I don’t have big gaps in the front bumper… kinda wish the back was blacked out as it stands out a little much for my liking. But man are they bright!!!

 

You should certainly light up the night, nice job!!

 

Thank you. These are only the set of 2. I have 4 more 10” light bars (2 for the rear and 2 for the front), I have 2 ditch lights that I am waiting on a mounting bracket for, and I have 10 underbody rock lights that I need to install as well. So when all that is installed I will be done with the light portion. Starting to feel like I am running low on projects for my 4Runner.

All I want to get done after this is a rear bumper to hold my spare tire and provide extra protection, a dual battery setup, and better protection for the gas and rear axle. Then I am done.

 

Here is the underbody rock light kit that I need to install on the 4Runner…

 

Rock lights are installed… gotta have pictures now…

 

Added ditch lights today…

Before:


After:


Close-up of the lights (you can see side shooters for better side visibility):

 

Just picked up a 6x12 anvil enclosed trailer. I had to get an 8” drop hitch with my lift.

 

Awesome post! Love the transformation! Was the Gobi roof rack hard to install? I’m thinking of doing a roof rack as my first mod as I need more storage with the fam on trips.

 

I bought the roof rack off some guy on offer-up and when I got to his house he literally just uninstalled it and I moved my car in place and he helped me install it. It is a 2 person job for sure. It screws into the factory spots. Total of 6 brackets with 8 screws that hold 4 mounts to the car. The other 12 screws mount the roof rack to brackets. So I would say it’s as easy as it gets (imho).

 

Great post! Your truck looks great!

 

Thank you man

 

Top job, congrats.

 

Awesome post! Stunning Rig!!!!

 

I recently added a roof top storage because when we go off-roading the 4Runner gets full with 4 kids and my wife. So all the recovery gear lives up top until I get a rear bumper for the tire, traction boards, and hi-lift:


Having it loaded:


Side view with only the storage box:

Everything on the roof:

 

Great build!

I really like that bumper.

 

Which one did you get? I was JUST about to pull the trigger on a ROAM case.

 

I went with the Vault v700 for $150 at Cabela’s. I was looking at roam as well but it sat a little tall and wanted lower profile.

 

Thank you! Opening up a new window now!

 

What a great piece of work and how cool your rig looks. Congrats

 

Thank you

 

Very nice & well taught.

 

Thank you