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

That’s a cool milestone - I hit a much lower one this weekend - my mpg is very low since I was towing...

 

It's your wheel balance. Get them balanced again and ask them to give you the road force number. Anything over 20, and it will contribute greatly to wobble.

 

Another weekend in the books.

 

i go back and forth on using that tire size vs the stock size.
How do you like it?

 

cant say yet, havent driven much. Just drove it home but couldn’t tell much difference except a wobble and slightly stiffer over road imperfections. Plan to adjust tire pressure tomorrow down to 38 and see if that solves it and if not will try road force balance.

the stock tire with 20” wheel felt a little more sporty than these Cooper AT. I just wanted a little extra height and a mild AT tire that wasnt too heavy which led me to the 255/75r17 size and cooper discoverer at. I also put TRD wheels on so im probably all together about 10lbs ligher per corner then stock set up.. my first 1,100 miles on the stock set up I averaged 20.2 mpg mixed driving and gentle driving. Will see how this new set up changes things.

 

I ordered restless off-road rock sliders and a swing-out tire carrier!

 

Balancer has to use a haweka type flange that uses the lug holes and not the wheels center bore to center the wheel on the machine. Otherwise the tires will wobble

 

Fixed cup holder…invaluable

Simplified shower-power
Turned kinda brah…
…into more so bro(paint marker)
Dialing down connecting the rear adjustable Oznium lights from m11-m10
Fixed spottie dOOsh

Made winch box mounting bracket outta leftover aluminum for radiator support arm
Just need my Mom, I mean wire holder, to come down to DE n lend a hand in replacing winch cables
Apologies

 

Oil changed and 15k maintenance done, installed the stealth tail lights from 4runner lifestyle and finished with a fresh wash and wax.

 

Can you post a pic of the rear lights at night with them on with/without brake

curious as to the claims of too dark for safety or good to go

 

Adjusted the parking brake. Works like a brake now. Was pretty ineffective before.

 

Swapped in a fj cruiser shift knob, got the shifter sitting much lower now, very happy.

 

Roof top tent was sitting too low on the rack for me to mount the awning soon.
I was looking at the various risers out there for RTTs and frankly they all were too expensive for what they are.
So I ordered four 5 inch long sections of the same extrusions the rack uses. Tnutz.com is a great resource for extrusions of all kinds.
I ordered them with counter bored holes on each end.
3d printed some end caps out of TPU and coated the bottom of the extrusion sections in Flex Seal.
4 roll in t-nuts and stainless bolts and Bobs your uncle and tent rails now sit on those .75 inches higher with clearance for the Frontrunner awning mounts.
Also prevents any noise on big bumps from the tent rail on rack rails which the tent is not clamped to.

 

Absolutely solid!

 

Went thru the touchless car wash at Circle K. Came out nice!

 

Nobody makes plastic needle nose pliers?

 

Nice! What procedure did you use to adjust it?

 

I can smell the fresh forest air now!

 

Those sliders look so good. How did you install the tire carrier?

 

Agreed. Best sliders imo that's why I ordered them instead of any of the name brand ones.

To install the tire carrier you have to remove the bumper, bolt up the latch hook and hinge to the frame(100% bolt on), cut slots in the factory bumper and re-install it. Easy. Here's a link: https://www.restlessoffroad.com/_files/ugd/33cd7e_21255520f9b540cab21a2cdbcfe7069d.pdf

 

x2.

 

I got this error on 2021 TRD Pro while going to lunch. But the next time I start the car its gone. This reminded me that I should keep my 2019 with none of these bs.

(Pics from google not my pics)

 

Cliff's Notes:

I adjusted the star wheel (on both sides of the rear brakes in case anyone didn't now you have to do both sides). Turned them 8 clicks back down after tightening until the rotors wouldn't move.

Details in case you're interested:

After reading through various posts and watching some videos, it appears there are a few versions, including some posts with instructions from the service manual.

You can adjust the parking brake shoes (both sides) and be done. You can adjust the cable from under the center console or you can do both. Adjusting the brake shoes was the first step in the manual, followed by the cable adjustment if needed (at least the way I read it). Almost all the videos I watched only adjust the shoes so I chose that option.

Couple points:

The manual says to loosen the cable at the pedal. I did not do that.

After removing the rear wheels, the manual says to install a couple hub nuts ("lug nuts" is how I understood this) to seat the rotor firmly to be sure the brake shoes are seating in the correct spot on the inner rotor surface as you tighten them with the star wheel. I added two lug nuts per rotor- just snug.

With the parking brake off/ disengaged, I clicked the star wheel "Up" until the rotor would not turn freely by hand. I clicked it back down 8 "clicks" or "notches" on both sides (per the manual). I also tried 2-3 clicks as one video I watched suggested. Both options seemed to free the rotor from dragging but I chose the "8" clicks since that's what the manual said.

I pressed and released the parking brake a few times. Seemed better and nothing seemed weird so I called it good. Put the wheels back on, torqued to 76lbs and drove it around. Now instead of going to the floor, it's snug about 2/3 way or so down. Feels better and as much better hold on the car.

 

Thanks. Seems to be a reasonable method. I was wondering mostly if you did any of the inside the cab adjustments. If you're happy, that's all that matters. I don't have any issues with mine, but may do what you did just to snug things up a bit.

Just curious - at the beginning of the process, do you remember about how many clicks it took to adjust the star wheel enough that the rotors wouldn't turn any more?

 

At a little over 100 miles in, I can't get the stupid smile off my face with the realization that I am FINALLY a 4Runner owner!!

I realize my 4Runner will probably be a pavement princess for most of its life serving as a commuter vehicle and was actually purchased to pull a 6x10 cargo trailer (a converted camper) or whatever comes down the line in the future, but it's nice to know I have that 4x4 just in case I ever need it. Having a 4x4 at least gives me an excuse to ride the trails and back roads of the Ocala National Forest and whatever else I can manage to explore and will be a longtime, reliable companion for my camping adventures.

 

Congratulations. If you were like I was, over the years when I was Toyota shopping, I never even went near the 4Runner side of the lot as they seemed too far out of reach for my budget, and didn't ever consider buying one. Then one day I had two vehicles that if I sold both, pretty much paid for the 4Runner, so I went for it at that point. Best vehicle I've ever owned. And I've had a bunch.

I echo your sentiments about the usage of your 4R. Sounds a lot like mine.

 

I love this darn thing, too. I've had mine for a year or so. Your 4R is great the way it is (except for fuel economy in my opinion), but a lot of us like personalization and there's no shortage of options for the 4R. Have fun going through this site looking for ideas and mods...............but a word of caution to you that it might get expensive!!!!

 

Seemed to be about 13 clicks but there is some wiggle room. The star wheel will not get "tight" before the pads are adjusted enough to stop the rotor. And it sort of depends on how much force you use to try to turn the rotor. So you could easily adjust farther than you need, which would affect how many clicks you need to back off. It took a few times to get a feel for moving the star wheel so take your time.

In the end, I err'd on the side of caution and tightened them just enough to where I couldn't easily rotate the rotor by hand. Figuring a little too loose would be better than a little too tight to prevent wear on the pads from dragging (as long as the parking brake worked afterward, of course).

 

Took a screenshot from a video so not the best quality here but you get the idea, this is just without the brakes. At night they're as bright if not brighter than most tails with all the LED's in these lights.