I have buddies that all have highly modded jeeps and I've also owned two modded jeeps in my time. I'm just curious how many people DD they're fully modded 4runners or if i should start looking for an older jeep to mod to keep up with my friends off road come summer.

Thanks,

Mark

SFA vs IFS pound for pound you will have to work harder than your friends with Jeeps to keep up off road. I am about to me the proud owner of both a Jeep and 4Runner, I love them both. But here are the facts, Toyota is way more reliable but the Jeep is way more capable.

Kinda vague but I hope that helps your decision.

Define highly modded? My truck is a DD and it has a 3 inch lift, 33 mud terrains, front & rear bumpers, full skids, sliders, cargo boxes in the back.

Same thing I was going to ask... ^^

I'll tell you this now, just make sure you do it right so it doesnt leave you stranded somewhere.

thats how i would define highly modded, I Already have the toytec ultimate. so i would say bumpers, sliders, skids and such.

it's all about weight, once you start putting armor on a truck it'll lose power lose mpg. and if you start modifying suspension, then it's gonna be less reliable and less street friendly, i've seen people DD their wheeler but they definitely don't enjoy DDing it

Drive mine every day. Just made it cross country too FL-CA no problem

I DD mine. Gas mileage kinda sucks and it would handle way better if i put the sway bars back on.

But people stay the hell out of my way on the road.

For in-town driving, I alternate between my '01 and my '97 so I don't rack up too many miles on the '01. For day trips that are mostly paved highway I take the '97. For more demanding situations and for longer, more remote trips over rougher terrain I take the '01.

I'd say my '01 is "highly modded" and I love driving it whether on pavement or off. If done correctly, you can make these things into the best of both worlds... extremely capable off road, and very comfortable on pavement.

Yes they do!

In my opinion, you really can't ruin the drive-ability of these things. Unless you were to do an SAS with 38" tires and welded diffs, there isn't any reason you can't comfortably DD a heavily modified 4Runner. Just buy quality parts for your mods, Don't plan on a comfy ride with heavy armor front and rear if you only have cheap spacer lifts.

long story short unless you're looking at like doing 5+ inches of lift full exo cages and massive tires you should be able to keep up with your buds on the trail and make the jealous of how well it handles as a DD.....highly modified in this sport can mean anything to how most of our members trucks sit as they are to some $120k fully custom buggy that can climb Everest if so desired, i think alot of us here probably owned jeeps at one time and are here for a reason, i know personally i am, but then again i've also toned things down a bit over the years, it's all relative.

what kind of trails are you guys running, what are their set ups? this will tell us if it's worth you building your 4runner to keep up such as adding winch and lockers and the rest, or just buying a jeep and building that.....

a few things to be said on the benefits of the jeeps, they are cheap, you can pick up xj's all day long in the 1k~2k range that still run and aren't beat to crap..not yet anyways...so personally i never felt bad about just crushing those things into trees,rocks and whatever, the lift options are much cheaper as well, all in all , the jeeps are cheaper to run on the trail, more bang for your buck ....but on the other hand they suck balls for daily driving, you get what you pay for, the jeep jiggle,death wobble, whatever you want to call it is bound to happen, the electrics are crap, and nothing in it feels of quality , ifs is better for on road handling though weaker for trails, and in my every day life the 4runner succeeds far beyond that of any of my xj's,zj's, or wj's i have owned over they years...... i do miss the niner a bit though...

this question really breaks down to personal choice, personally i prefer not to have to fix my truck 3x's as much just to keep it on the road, and if you look at it members here have quite capable rigs and can go alot of places and still drive cross country without having issues and being comfortable .... i came to this forum and saw what some of the members where doing in their ifs 4runner's and decided if i ever needed to do more i'd just build a buggy....
again i don't know who you're trying to run with so i can only assume you're talking about some beasts , but I'm fairly certain in most cases if you fully build the 4runner it will "keep up" provided the driver skill is there as well...as that makes all the difference in the world....my only suggestion to buy the jeep is if simply you don't want to wreak the 4runner, other than that build what you got or build a buggy....just my pov however crappy it may be.

I daily drive mine without an issue, it's actually the nicest daily driven vehicle I have owned, and I wheel the crap out of it! Like Stockwell said, quality parts are key. Selectable lockers, gearing and a supercharger go a long way to make it get around on the street, as well as the trail. Just don't plan on getting economy car MPG and you'll be fine.

Mine's not "heavily" modded, but it is lifted, and I don't have a problem DDing. Until you really start messing with the engines on these rigs you shouldn't have a problem. I have 346k miles on mine now and drive it just about everyday. Aside from a weak battery, it runs and drives just as well as any new car I have driven recently.

I don't think it is a problem as long as ...

a) you haven't added too much weight. eg. 33s or 35s, rear tire carrier, full set of steel skids

b) you don't have too many miles already. eg. 175,000+ miles