Afraid of Water Crossings

Hi Everyone,
Getting ready for a week plus escape from civilization/trout fishing trip. Also a shake down for my spankin' new ORP. But Michigan is like a National Sanctuary and Breeding ground for mud puddles. My search querys turn up threads about extending the rear differential breather, but aren't the front diff, trans, and t-case also vented? What should I do about these? What about electronics? Found many threads about people getting electrical nightmares after water crossings. One post suggested packing the trailer pigtail with dielectric grease, but I imagine there are other vulnerable electronics as well. What would be a max. safe fording depth? It's brand new so lift and bigger tires are out for 3yrs./36,000 miles. Dunlops are being replaced by stock size Pirelli AT Plus. Not a mud tire but they have to be better than the Dunlops. It's my first 4runner coming from the Jeep world. Any tips from the veterans would be much appreciated by this newb.

Thanks,
Dennis

 

Diff breather

 

Sounds like a fun trip! I would get the rear diff and rear diff lock breather done for peace of mind.

If your trails are anything like ours, it’s best to dip the puddles for depth. They can get pretty rutted out around here and become both deep, and impassable. Worst case is getting stuck in a deep hole, because even with breathers, the water has more potential to find it’s way into things.

In our group, we’ve had two guys with 2nd gen Tacomas that probably had water related issues with the starter, and the alternator due to mud and water. So at the very least, don’t dunk as deep as either of those components.

Keep whatever splash shields came on from the factory. There are also some aftermarket front splash shield for the front wheel wells that seem to provide a little more coverage than the stock ones.

If you end up going through a lot mud puddles with that sandy silt like we have in northern WI, then you’ll probably need take the wheels off and gently hose off the brake components to make sure everything is clean. Especially the rear drum in disc for the rear brakes. I’ve taken them off before and found a fair amount of silt in the parking brake mechanism.

I tend to be pretty picky about my frame, so I usually hose out the inside of the frame and crossmembers after muddy trips as well. Pay attention to the front control arms, because the lower shock mount has a well that can trap mud long term. Just run a hose through any holes you see in the frame, it drains out quickly and dries out soon enough with a few drives.

 

Thanks for the reply. The mud around here varies. A lot of black muck, which can stink pretty bad as well as sand, red clay, gray clay and combinations thereof. Since I'm an avid trout fisher I pull on my hip boots and walk through any suspicious puddles. A member here suggested coating the inside of the frame with Fluid Film before I get any mud in the frame and I'm doing that later. Now I'm gonna search for a write up extending the rear diff and locker vents you mentioned. Do any of the other vents need to be extended?

Thanks,
Dennis

 

This vid gives info to do the job as inexpensive as possible. I simply ran the hose up the gas neck as far as I could and zip tied it. Leave some slack for the suspension.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1MFW8YK9dx0&t=216s

 

Front diff, transmission and transfer case should have breather tubes into the engine compartment. Look beside the relay/fuse box and behind the engine.

 

I don’t think so, the rest are pretty high up in the engine bay.

Although if you look at the first response above with the link to the other thread, @Captain Spalding last post makes it seem like the transmission breather ends at the transmission. And doesn’t go up high into the engine bay like I thought it did. Might be worth finding out where it terminates.

 

I've done approximately 42 gazillion water crossings with several different 5th gens, none of which had any breather mods. I changed diff fluid on two of those during my ownership and it was fine when it came out. In my educated opinion, unpopular as it may be in this regard, you are wasting time and effort doing breather mods. Just drive it and don't worry about it.

I personally wouldn't go past the bottom of the headlights but that's airbox related and not a breather issue.