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

New tune. 59 mpg!!

 

Got one thing out of the dining room today. Installed RCI rear diff skid plate for KDSS. What a b*tch trying to loosen the rear lower control arm bolts, and then trying to tighten them. Also, one of the nuts for the lower bolts for the bracket is very difficult to access. I would suggest (as facing the truck) do not install the left lower one until the right lower one is tightened, as it will have to be accessed from the left side.

 

how do you add fluid if you do a diff change? Take it all apart?

 

3d printed this mounting piece few weeks back finally was warm enough to get some spring maintenance and work done on the truck.

Was using a plexglass sheet before and worked great for last few years but wanted to clean it up

 

Would probably need to remove it. I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it as I’m only at 6,000 kms / 3,700 miles.

 

So got a few things done on Friday.

1. Got my MESO puddle lights installed (with minor victim in process):



The victim: the mirror during re-install. Push a little too hard on it, and it cracked.

So if anyone wants to contribute any funds for it's replacement, inbox me and I'll send ya my cashapp or you can buy directly from Cartrimhome (has signal built into).



2. Got my N2Designs remote start installed. With a little technical support, they were able to help me get the smartapp hardware installed. Once installed, fired right up.

My Baja Design replacements fog lights finally came on Friday, but didn't have time to install before bad round of storms moved through.

And finally had an off weekend, a good lady friend of mine and I went down the road a few hours to Rolling Fork, Mississippi to survey the tornado damage. Y'all it really was an eye opening experience to see the amount of destruction. My town got lucky this past Friday. We had bad cells move over the area on Friday night/Saturday morning without any issues. But I just can't imagine knowing all life's conveniences were gone in a matter of a few seconds/minutes.



This is a BEFORE picture of a wood carving of bear resembling Teddy Roosevelt (the area is famous for his bear hunt in early 1900s). The bear was holding a selfie stick (taken by me in late July, 2020).



These were taken on Saturday:



For historical reference:

 

Nothing fun... cleaned the MAF and throttle body. Both weren't really bad at all with almost 120k. Next is new plugs.

 

Yesterday I knocked off a few things from the uninstalled list.

Finished off the rear cargo area canvasback setup. Fully covered from setbacks, sides and cargo door.

Installed heritage grill.

Front seat jackers driver and passenger.

 

Picking up my Fuel wheels today to have them ceramic coated before the tires are mounted.
Lift kit and tires should be in sometime next week (hopefully).

 

1. I was looking at those MESO puddle lights. I replaced my bulbs with LED's a while back. I'm wondering if it would be worth it to upgrade to those or not. Did you also get the 3 way light switch, or did you just do the bulb swap?

2. LOL, I always worry about mine breaking too. For some reason I've disassembled my housing a bunch of times.

3. Holy poop, those pictures were incredible. Nothing like a good disaster to humble us all. I watched some videos over the weekend. Mother Nature doesn't mess around.

 

@5thToy nice, hey do seat jackers for us tall folks support your legs better but lose what's already low headroom in T4R's with sunroof? Thx

 

Could say the same about any skid protection, even control arm/steering skids will jam you when you want access for maintenance and replacements. I have 4 skids, wish my engine skid had oil access cover for sure, but I'm investing in rear diff skid next for protection knowing they gotta come off for rust proofing and service

 

Installed new engine splash guards from eBay. The front left OEM one was completely torn apart, and my front right had a rip down the middle.

The good:
• Price, $16.58 shipped.
• Material is about 3x as thick as the OEM ones.

The not-so-good:
• The clips they provide look identical to OEM, but didnt hold as well, so I reused my OEM ones.
• Rear-most hole on the "rear" pieces was off by about 3/4", no biggie, punched new holes.
• Rear "left" piece is another "right" piece (see the backwards "R" in my pix), just mounted in the reflected position. Guessing this was done to keep costs down?

They held up to some puddles over the weekend, so I suppose all is well?

 

I initially bought a set for the front passenger seat as there is no height or seat bottom angle adjustment. They seem to provide what I was looking for there.

I'm 6'-1" and was concerned about headroom myself. I'm still playing around with settings on the driver's side but it seems I am able to sit up a little higher while maintaining leg support without running in to headroom issues (I have a sunroof too). I think all around they allow for a more useful range of settings.

We will see how it works out off-road as that's where I've noticed bouncing off the ceiling if there isn't enough room. I think since they are just raising the front, you still have the base height you started with if you want it.

 

im curious about this also. all of the pictures and videos i've viewed shows me how bright it is, but i'm curious how the glare is coming off of the door and what it does to your eyes when it's real dark.

 

I can chime in here, I'm 6'4" and installed them on the front of mine. I do have a sunroof and I did not lose any headroom. I did make a huge difference in the comfortability of the seat for sure.

 

Installed Garmin Dash Cam Mini 2 with the Dongar harness, did the RAV4 mirror swap and reinstalled the roof basket.

 

Those are sobering pictures of the tornado damage. Reminds me of when I was doing some work in Joplin after their tornado.

 

How is installing seat jackers any different from just adjusting the front of the seat higher in the normal way? Genuinely curious.

 

A friend gave me his Off Road Premium wheels. I gotta say I do like them more than the SR5 wheels.

 

@anthonydotb

1. I did get the 3 way button. I had originally did a bulb swap, but found the Puddle lights here: https://www.4runnerlifestyle.com/co...ner/products/meso-customs-4runner-puddle-pods. MESO sold out before I could get a hold of them.
2. They came from Cartrimhome. So not overly expensive, just a pain in the @$$ to take a part and put back together.
3. Check bottom of this reply. I've posted 2 vids I took at Rolling Fork and a smaller town nearby called Silver City. Destruction is just about as equal.

@JETSPD1477

No denying it is bright. Glare isn't too bad (as least to me).

@SkippyRunner

I remember the tornado that hit Joplin. Joplin is way bigger than Rolling Fork. But it still amazed me how it basically wiped the town off the map.

And for all, these are two vids I took driving through Rolling Fork (about 20 mins) and Silver City (a little over 6 mins). Silver City is about 20-30 mins away from Rolling Fork (and way smaller). And I was a good 5-7 miles outside Rolling Fork heading to Silver City, and I could still see debris in fields. Just seems kinda crazy.

https://youtu.be/FuprMwIa8FE


https://youtu.be/P2DaKHdc4M4

 

For some of us the seat's front is not high enough. The jackers add more height to the front of the seat. My legs feel so much better with the seat front higher to give more support on longer drives.

 

@doxidad

 

Absolutely - installed a couple months ago - it's a game changer

 

For some of us, the front tilt adjustment is a joke. Adding seat jackets in the front of the seat helps this considerably

 

RCI thought of access for the drain hole, but not the fill?

 

That’s a good point, I’ll try and be diligent about removing them once a year to help clean them up / rust prevention. I’m sure they’ll gather snow/salt to just sit in there over the winter.

 

Approximately how long did it take for dashcam/harness install? Asking because sometimes I get a tad bit impatient with little clips and what not... (bull in a china shop sort of thing). I typically start off great and then as time goes on...

 

Maybe 30-40 minutes. It all comes apart very easily, I’m the same as you when it comes to all the interior bits haha. I spent more time messing around with pairing the camera to my phone and testing the position than anything else.

I also installed a Redarc trailer brake controller and a remote starter both of which took more time for me.

 

Looks good, wanted to do the same with a back secondary camera but wasn't sure how it would work with tint, do you have tint on your back window? Thanks