Limited Armor

I am new to the forum and was wondering if someone could point me in the right direction. I got a 2014 Limited over the summer and wanted to see if I could make it look a little tougher. I like the front bumper mods I have been seeing on all the other trims and wish to eliminate the Limited's Crimson Chin of a front bumper. That being said, are there other things people would recommend to make my limited into something that could handle some roughness? I would love to make my highway warrior into an offroading luxury experience, haha.

Thanks!

 

All the armor, rock rails, and accessories you see on other builds will work perfectly fine on your Limited. Probably the quickest and easiest would be a wheel/tire swap to get of the 20" wheels. Get some 17's on there with a meaty AT tire and it will help change the look right away. There are some Limited owners that go full monty and swap the front bumper for the look and increased approach angle.

 

Sweet! Yeah, it would make sense to get some AT tires on there, THEN mod the rest afterward, like the front and back bumpers.
thanks for the reply and love the profile pic. Mark it zero! lol

 

Pics of my 2021 Limited. (this is just how I did it, but the fun is making your own choices)
Step 1 - biggest bang for the buck - 17" wheel - AT tire. 4 pack of TRD Offroad wheels from EBAY ~$500 to $550 7.5" width and good offset to accept 275/70r17 (32.4") 285/70r17 (33") or 285/75r17 (34"). For me I got the Falken Wildpeak AT3 LT 275/70r17 in C load rating and It's been a beast offroad and great on-road. comes with 18/32" tread depth, and a 55,000 mile warranty. I've got 24,000 on mine and still have 15/32" of tread depth. which is almost what the BFG KO2 starts with. (con - they are heavy) - But in 24,000 miles I am still averaging 17.0 MPG (computer) for that entire time.
Step 2 - Rock Sliders - Depends on if you keep X-REAS or not, on a 2014 i'd say its probably shot so you might want to take it off and do a lift. If you keep it though, you will need to find Sliders that are compatible, basically they will have different gusseting to allow for the XREAS lines along the frame. "BudBuilt" is one manufacturer that makes them, and I went with them for a bunch of my stuff. If you ditch XREAS you've got lots of options. You probably still want max clearance, so you will either need to trim the plastic molding (cheap and looks very OEM) or purchase the Trail edition trim pieces and there are threads out here with links.
Step 3 - Skid Plates - If you start off-roading - you will likely encounter obstacles that thrash your factory skids. They take a surprising amount of abuse, but after some really hard hits, I've ben my engine skid enough that the frame welded nuts broke loose and we had to cut the bolts to do the last oil change. Now I've ordered 3/16 steel skids to go the length of the 4runner. (I'd say do this before you end up in my situation.)
(When you add the winch have a hole cut in the front to access the clutch, wireless switch, and cable connection so that you don't have to pop the hood to do it.)
Step 4 - Cut Front bumper and add Hidden Winch Mount and Winch. - This is working really well for me and my objectives. My thinking has been to keep it as light as possible wherever possible. so putting an additional 250 lbs in front of the front axel wasn't something I wanted to jump into. Instead I got the Budbuilt hidden winch mount, and asked for the Recovery Points. then I had the shop trim the front bumper to the crash bar just under the sensors. That means I can approach a rock/ledge up to 20" and still have my tires be the first thing that touches anything. (slightly angled approach to get the rubber in there first.) This basically get's you the same approach as any of the other versions.
Step 4.5 - Because I am keeping X-REAS till it wears out, I went with a Cornfed 2" front and 1" rear Lift and it's been great so far.
Step 5 - For me it's always the rear that hits. Coastal Offroad has good offerings at good prices for plate bumpers. You can have a shop weld together one of their bumpers for less than you can buy almost any other manufacturers bumper. I'm having a local shop fab up a tube rear bash bar with 1 3/4" DOM tubing welded to the frame, moving the hitch, trimming the plastic. This will keep the weight super low and add some clearance. I'm not going with a swing-out yet because my spare still fits under the car. (pics of that will come as the work gets done.)

 

Also the reason for rear crash bar is demonstrated in this video.

 

Awesome setup and great advice.

The only thing I'd add is to grab 5 wheels off eBay so you can run a full sized spare and do 5 tire rotations. I grabbed a solo ORP wheel before I bought new tires and love having the extra ready to go for off road adventures and adding life to all the tires.

 

Welcome

 

Excellent Point on getting all 5 tires and that 5th wheel. On the trail - you most likely WILL cut a sidewall eventually and will need that spare. Wish I'd done that now.

 

Damn man, nice rig. You define the term "Go big or go home." You upgraded the Limited perfectly.

 

KO2s, Winch, RCI front steel bumper, and RCI steel skid plates for
- Engine
- Transmission
- Transfer case
- Fuel tank
- Rear differential

 

Also here in KC with a ‘14 Limited, I’ve taken any “mods” in real slow steps while paying off - just finished - so I’m hoping for some changes this next year! Short of my list:
- front bumper trim (like harringbr’s)(maybe rear too)
- more chrome deleting
- finally get ATs not highways
- looking at white Rival skids
- possibly 1” lift

 

@Yotaholic are you actually fitting the 285/75R17 in the stock spare location under your vehicle? (was wondering what that BFG KO2 under the rig was.

 

That tire is the stock 265 lol. In rare case of two flat tires, it will definitely help. Believe it or not I once had two flat tires on the trail.