TRD PRO Some general questions and FOX Shock

Hi All,

I deciding on a 4 Runner and I'm wondering if anyone from here had similar thoughts and something to share with me.

1. I live in Alberta and I will be driving through highways and roads when it is -20's and -30 degree Celsius, Can I switch the 4 Runner to 4H and drive in 80- 100 Km speed so that I have more traction ( comparing to my current AWD vehicle) will that harm the engine/transfer case?


2. Does it make sense to Invest on 4 Runner TRD PRO or go for an after market suspension instead of factory assembled fox? Will that affect the Warranty?

3. Does the fox shock performance smooth on road , I mean on a regular day drive ( apologies I'm brand new to all these
do these Fox shocks need replacement every 50-80 K miles? ( I will be a mild to medium off road person)

 

I would imagine that the Pro is the same as the Off Road and they specify only shifting to 4HI 80kph and under. I would stick with the OR but that is my personal opinion. I considered one and it was an immediate $12k jump over the OR. Imagine the OR you could build with that extra $!

I do not have personal experience with the Fox suspension, but see a lot of guys upgrading it. That tells me it has its downfalls too.

Cheers from YYC!

 

Thanks for your response @CalcityRenegade.

The shifting to 4H I agree, more specifically can I drive with 4H "ON" at 100 Kmph?

 

There’s only a speed limit to when you want to shift from 2WD to 4HI. Once you’re in 4HI you can go as fast as you want (although in these conditions you might not want to go too fast to begin with)

I am REALLY happy with the fox suspensions from the Pro for what I do. The ride is really smooth on road and it does excellent on dirt roads. I personally haven’t heard anyone complaining about them. With that said, there are some aftermarket suspensions that are much better but they are also more expensive. So for anyone that doesn’t want the fox from the Pro it makes more sense to get an OR and upgrade to your liking.

have you considered the limited? The full time 4wd is more suited for your needs

 

Answers in red.

 

Hello @semprenissart

Thanks. Glad to hear your thoughts. How about your fuel consumption on TRD PRO?
I thought about Limited with X-REAS but I'm hearing mixed opinions also the fuel consumption is high it seems.

 

Fuel consumption depends on lot of things imo. Like speed, driving style, traffic situation, highway (whether its mostly level / lot of mountains, etc)
This is only a test. Nothing more than that. I repeat, only a test.
https://youtu.be/oZvDgYAjgC8

 

fuel consumption is going to be similar across all 4wd 4Runners
At 75mph I’m getting 20 mpg if there’s no head wind and if it’s relatively flat.
On average I get 17-19 depending on how much city/freeway I use

 

Thanks for inputs @kmeeg

 

No, not on dry roads.

 

Thanks @semprenissart

How do you feel the overall body roll with Fox in place? does that help in anyway?

 

Hi @whippersnapper02
Thank for your inputs.

 

There’s definitely body rolls during sharp turns.
its never been an issue for me as I drive fairly smoothly. When I want to do some spirited driving I take the bike. The 4R is not meant for that anyways.

I’ve experienced similar amount of body rolls on other trims with stock suspensions except for limited with xreas and kdss that help a lot against body rolls.

 

You might want to also consider the Limited trim, especially if you’re thinking about upgrading the suspension.

 

After seeing this requirement atleast I'm not very comfortable taking my Limited (even after lift) on medium difficult trails with stock bumper and rocker panels.

Edit,
Vs my TRD I can approach little better from an angle to the side and smaller rocker panels help me to bolt on sliders right in.

 

Hi @steelevo
What will be the ballpark $$ for an after market Fox or equivalent ? Given X-REAS is it too complicated to do this change?

 

There are many better options than the OEM Fox suspension. Others with current suspension upgrades can give you a few estimates.

 

Hi All,

A few more from my side.

1. I heard a lot about KDSS Dirt/Corrosion related issues - If we do undercoating does it help? Any specific observations?

2. Regarding TPMS - It wont show Individual tire pressure, is there any 3rd party stuff to get this done?

 

Hard to tell where you heard this, but I’m assuming you haven’t read these threads yet (apologies if you have), but they’re both full of great KDSS advice from legends like Thatbassguy and others.

Great threads for informing yourself on KDSS

https://www.4runners.com/threads/kdss-existing-or-new-owners-beware.12050/

https://www.4runners.com/threads/to-kdss-or-not-to-kdss-that-is-the-question.16886/

 

Hi @OverRunner

Thanks for sharing. I will go through these threads.

 

TRD OFFROAD. Done and done. Save the markup on the PRO and if you want to get some shocks w/ the money saved go for it. Always get good tires too. Don't forget to watch the Car Care Nut's thoughts on things. Guy is pretty practical and a long time Toyota Master Tech. He isn't however an off road enthusiast lol, but he knows his stuff. Those are some good ones that will go over a LOT of 4 Runner stuff...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDeLFAAJCyk


2010-2020 Toyota 4Runner buying guide


Should you get a Toyota 4Runner Now? Or Wait for the New One?

 

TLDR: don’t just add Fox TRD Pro shocks and Wescott lift to KDSS T4R as if it was a non-KDSS T4R. You’ll have major KDSS lean.

I got a deal I couldn’t refuse on a very lightly used set of the Fox TRD Pro shocks and just installed them in my ORP with KDSS with a Wescott lift up front. My comparison isn’t really accurate to the standard Pro suspension installed on a stock height T4R with KDSS as the Wescott system adds preload so they are a little stiffer. I learned a lot in this process.

If you just install everything as Wescott designed on Fox Pro Shocks on the KDSS runner you will have nearly 2” of lean based on what I experienced. My driver side was between 1.5-2” taller than passenger. I added Treaty Oak KDSS spacers to the rear and DrKDSS sway bar adapter plates to the front. I have the front Treaty Oak spacer as well but DrKDSS says not to combine their sway bar plates with the spacer. I found I had to remove the Wescott supplied 0.5” top spacer from the driver side to correct a significant lean I had after install. That got me down to about 0.5-0.75” of lean with passenger side being lower.


I added Dobinsons C59-599 coil springs for 1.25-1.5” rear lift. To help get rid of the last of my lean I ordered a Dobinsons 15mm rear coil spacer that I’ll be adding to the rear passenger spring. That should pretty much level me out. I also did OME UCA’s.


Aside from the small amount of lean I’m close to resolving, the ride is firmer but still smooth. It was definitely softer with stock suspension and KDSS, but I like the current ride. I’ll report back after I get the 15mm spacer in the passenger rear.

 

That sounds like a tremendous amount of work.

 

Thanks for sharing. Would definitely help others what parts needed.

If you don't mind just a little thought. The other day I was looking at Dobinsons and thought to my self I should order black springs to keep it discrete. I forgot if they have red ones. If your springs were red it would be super cool imo.

 

Yeah, the red springs were out of stock in the config I wanted. You really can’t see them anyway.

 

That looks cool @BortisYeltzen