Originally Posted by Captain Spalding

I’ve been on group trail runs. The come-as-you are type where everyone is welcome. Those adventures follow a pattern that is very good at revealing the hierarchy of off road features.

• The group sets off from base camp.
• The vehicles with street tires are the first ones to get left behind. The vehicles with proper AT tires continue.
• The next line of demarcation is ground clearance. (We can include fording depth too.) Trucks with bigger tires and/or some lift may proceed. Otherwise it’s time to break out the folding chairs and the coolers.
• Next on the list is 4WD. Yes — it’s a ways up on the list. I’ve been able to get pretty far with two wheel drive.
• Low range follows 4WD. This is where all the Haldex cars, even the lifted ones, drop off of the group.
• Penultimately - diff locks. Most of us don’t need them often, but when you need ‘em, you really need ‘em. For those that have them it will be an uncrowded camp site that night, because they have gone where others could not.

Then, breathing the rarified air of the elite, is the super-modified crowd. Super-modified means modifications so extreme that they necessitate other modifications. Tires so big that regearing is a must. Armor so heavy that the brakes need upgrading. The factory bodywork is the virgin stone from which the artist will chisel out his masterpiece.

Ladies and gentlemen, a 4Runner can be made to breathe the rarified air, but it takes more effort to get it there. More than some of its competitors. I say with some tremulation that it might not be the right tool for the job.