What have you done to your 5th Gen 4Runner today?

Could be. I didn't blame the skid for my issues, I blamed the fact that I was trying to wrestle with it by myself and get the bolts started. It was a bit ungainly for one person alone.

 

Most likely, the holes are cut before they bend the sides. Once they bend and weld the sides into place, you could get a small amount of bowing or bending in the panel and each panel could be slightly different. In other words, if I took the skid off, turned it upside down and stood/ bounced on it a little, it may have flattened it a bit which would have the widened the space between the bolts just enough. Or maybe not. I don't want to test my theory bad enough to pull it off and try it.

 

For all the people talking about skid plates not lining up... you know what they say: cross threads are better than no threads!

 

Well, I finally replaced the halogen light bulbs in my fog lights and my headlights to LED and I am so happy I did. Not sure what took me so long and the cost was minimal. (Links to all bulbs at the end of the post)

Replaced the fog lamps with SEALIGHT H11/H8/H16 LED Fog Light Bulbs, 6000K Xenon White, 27 SMD Chips, 360-degree Illumination, Non-polarity, bulbs from Amazon and replaced the headlamps with AUTOONE H11 LED Headlight Bulbs, H8/H9/H16 LED Lights Plug and Play 6000K White Fanless Mini Size Car Light Bulbs, also from Amazon. The best $40 I have spent lately on my 2016 4Runner. I didn't stop there.....I should be receiving the LED replacement bulb for the high beam/DRL tomorrow. These were a bit more expensive as the set was approximately $40. I went with AUTOONE 9005 LED Bulbs, 20000LM Super Bright 9005 Bulb for High Beam, 6000K White 9005 Automotive Light Bulb, Wireless Plug and Play Canbus Ready Mini Size HB3 LED Bulbs from amazon.

So far I have been very pleased with the brightness, color (bright white), the improvement to the way the 4Runner looks at night! A few years ago I installed a 20" Nilight light bar on my Westin bullbar and that is so bright I only use it on backroads. The only other external LED upgrade was adding two 4" LED Nilight square pods onto my trailer hitch extension (positioned at at 45 degree angle) and wired them so that they illuminate when in reverse. WOW!!!!! Amazing the difference.

Well, that's it for now.....take care my T4 friends!

Robert

1) Link to LED Foglight bulbs - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07J579C7Q?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1
2) Link to LED Headlight bulbs - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09TVYTXRT?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details
3) Link to LED Highbeam bulbs - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09G9ZPW8V?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1

 

LOl yup...took it to my guy and he told me the guy at the other place was insane. i will need rear shocks at some point in the near future, but nothing that would actually fail me. so now i get to write a lovely detailed email to their corporate hq about my experience.

 

Toyota has a website where you can download the free updated software for the system. Do a search. Save yourself the $$$. I did mine a month ago.

I had gone with C4 and every single hole aligned perfectly. Still time consuming to install but overall 100% alignment.

 

What is the site? The one I found(https://www.toyota.com/firmware-updates) is only to update the radio firmware and not the Nav/Maps.

Edit: Then there is this one but requires a subscription: https://www.toyota.com/owners/toyota-navigation-system

 

Those are them. Just updated firmware. Crazy 80$ per year for maps. Who would pay that???!!!

 

Got the mounts installed and then mounted basket. Despite having measured a couple times, I didn't like its position and shifted the mounts a couple inches. The worst part of it was getting the nuts and washers started on the U-bolt for the mount. You have to do everything by feel because line-of-sight is blocked from every angle, and the U-bolts don't like to sit straight or still. I did the last three U-bolts in complete darkness.

The 4x4 Innovations mounts are rock solid, as well as small and sleek. The only two nits are that they require an SAE allen wrench (7/32") instead of metric and the U-bolt nuts are 11mm, which isn't a Toyota size. (They should have used 12mm). I'll try to get pics tomorrow if it isn't raining.

 

People from tundra and fj forums complain about missing bolts. It should be mandatory to ensure customers have correct parts to finish the install.

 

Dun bought these today, fixin' to lock em up atop the roof rack tonight. Standby

 

Yep. What is sad is that Toyota and Honda have archaic technology. I get why, a brand new BMW M series is going to have all this incredible technology that'll put the car in the shop six times a year because it doesn't work. Still, they could make choices to have a more efficient and reliable source of doing updates instead of driving all the customers to a dealership for a $200 update that takes about 10 minutes to do without expending any resources. They can do an online update for $5 a year that would make them exponentially more money because they sell millions of cars annually.

I loved my AutoOnes on my 2020. My 2023 has the LEDs already. I'm actually selling mine on Craigslist (I have both used and factory sealed ones). Wonderful white color, no noise because they're fanless. I didn't like the 9005s for the DRL/high beam. They occasionally would not come on. I just drove with my headlights on all the time.

Believe it or not, even if you are not subscribed, look at the DCM indicator in the upper right corner. You have to proactively tell them not to connect to you. I have seen comments saying that you actually need to pull a fuse, which isn't practical because it does a bunch of other things. While I am still under the trial., I have not used any of the data services except the Toyota app and that was strictly just to see how much they monitor. It is kind of scary.

 

Greased all fittings, diff fluid/transfer case fluid, oil change, cabin and engine air filters changed. Basically my 60k service minus the brake fluid and transmission fluid.

 

The penalty is about 2 mpg on the highway and a good bit of wind noise. Also, the wind sets up a harmonic vibration in the crossing members. I saw somewhere that weaving some bungee cords between them will knock that down, which I'm going to try.

Other observations:
I read a lot of complaints about the powder coating on Rola baskets, so I roughed it up with sandpaper and hit it with a ton of spray paint (two thick coats of primer and three coats of black semigloss. Also, I used some Thule rubber pads with adhesive between the basket and the mounts and under the U-bolts.

 

Litres? Are you some kind of communist?

 

Damn have you ever heard about Canada?

 

Hah! I mean I'm convinced Canada's PM is Justin Castro, so there's that

 

Changed my door lights with these.

 

Several changes in the past week ... Since trading in the 2017 Tacoma

Interior:
AJT Climate Control and Radio Knobs
AJT door handle covers
Oedro floor mats front and back
Glove box and center console organizers
Neoprene center console cover
Seat covers, front and rear (dog nails)
Rongtaod Back Seat Cover Protector
Chrome Toyota steering wheel emblem delete.

Exterior:
TRD Skid plate
LFD Cross bars
Lamin-x Custom fit yellow fog light covers
Weathertech rain defectors
Black lug nuts
Grill chrome delete
Couple stickers on the rear window

Upcoming:
Modest lift ... Likely Dobinson IMS
Falken Wildpeake AT3's (loved them on the Tacoma)
Weathertech bug deflector (ordered)
Rear valance replaced (black and ordered)
Slim line front bumper
Anytime On fog light control from Britebox (salvaged from the Tacoma)
TVD vinyl inserts on the center hubs to match paint

 

worked on the platform in the cargo area to level out the slope from back seat to the cargo area. Sanded all the edges and corners to give it a round/safe finish. Also sanded the entire board to make it all uniform and smooth.

I still need to screw the two boards together and then staple/glue carpet onto it. Super easy when you just buy a standard 4'x8' 3/4"thick plywood and have them cut two pieces: 43.5"x37" and 43.5"x39". you place the longer (39") on top of the shorter on. Voila! Cheap/Cost efficient way to level it out!! damn prices of everything gone up so i paid around $48 for that piece of plywood. I purchased the cheapest one.

 

You mean that weird place where they slide rocks on the ice like shuffleboard? Sounds familiar! Drove through there on my way to Alaska actually. Nice place, good people. Definitely a learning curve with metric vs standard measurements

I fuckin knew it. You let all that free healthcare go to your head...

 

Info on these?

 

Wife and kids got me these last father's day from Etsy.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/1435266865/toyota-4runner-welcome-lights-door?gpla=1&gao=1&

 

Finally got some new wheels and tires. As well as blacked out all my decals, added an exhaust tip. Nothing special, but far better looking compared to when I first got her.

 

FYI @Fly_Guy : Brite Box Website "NOTE: Our Brite Box Fogster for 2020 Toyota Tacoma currently only works with halogen bulbs from the factory."

 

Bought and installed a auxbeam system. Overall not to difficult, the mounting plates that came in the kit did not work for me so I just screwed everything onto the fuse box lid. I didn’t screw down too deep for fear of hitting a relay or fuse, but they have a good bite hopefully it doesn’t come off.

 

Thanks again

 

Got the Rago exterior molle panel mounted up to my Backwoods Adventure Mods roof rack. I am waiting on some Roto-Pax stuff to come in but I like how it turned out and hope its as useful as i think it will be.

There is one area of concern, the most forward nut on the panel is close to the body (second pic) I have some soft felt stuck to the bottom side and hopefully I wont need it.

 

What prevented the mounting brackets from working for you?