Hi all, I'm new to the forum and this is my first real post, so be patient with me and I'm open to any suggestions.

Preface: After my 4th gen was totalled a block from my house when a girl ran a stop sign, I picked up a well used 2000 4runner from my good friend and neighbor. He's been the head mechanic over at the local Toyota dealership for the last 20 years. He bought the truck from the dealership after the original owners traded it in. It was owned by a local company who had frequent meetings in Las Vegas, so the 289,000 miles on the clock are mostly highway miles driving employees back and forth from SLC to Vegas. It's got it's quirks, but runs like a champ, still gets 20MPG highway. This one is equipped with the factory Rear Diff e-locker, so naturally it is destined to spend some time down in Moab. I might be crazy to dump money on rigging out this runner that has 300k miles, but we've all seen them go for much longer. It has its flaws, some paint fading on the hood, roof, and fender flares. It seems like there might be a slight HG leak, as it will gurgle a little bit on startups sometimes, and sometimes throws a random misfire code, but overall in good running shape. Everything works fine and the interior isn't thrashed.

So I went ahead and pulled the trigger on some equipment to rig my truck, and I'm going to try to document my mods here, as well as ask for any insight into how to best perform them and any thoughts you all might have! I appreciate any comments. I've got the following equipment and plan to install it all over the next couple weeks in this order:

1)Armor/Recovery/lighting
-ARB Tacoma Bumper (3423040) $780
-Smittybilt XRC 9.5K Winch (97495) $265
-Hella 500FF Lights ~$50

2) Lift
-Bilstein 5100 Front Shocks (24-248730) - $96 * 2
-4th Gen v6 Front Coils (free takeoffs from a friend)
-OME 2890 Rear Coils Used - $90
-OME Nitrocharger N182 Shocks (had them kicking around, swapped out the bushings with Energy p/n9.8108)

3) CB Radio
-Uniden PRO520XL $45
-4' Firestik antenna $25
-MK-204 Door Jamb Mount & Firering Coax $28

I'll post my thoughts on the process and application for each as they come up, hopefully if you have any input to make this work go easier for me, I'd appreciate it.

As far as the bumper goes, there's a pretty solid installation walkthrough on youtube with Timmy the Tool Man. I plan to follow that pretty closely, with the exception of mounting the winch in the bumper before installing it onto the brackets. Any suggestions on control box location or mounting method? I don't plan on having any in-cab controls, just the solenoid and manual control, I want to keep the winch simple and independent. In the video, they mention reinforcing the frame rails in the front if you're going to be doing anything heavy duty and winching, does anybody have a suggestion on how to do this, what metal to use, etc? I was thinking of using the square shaped pieces that are supplied in the ARB installation kit, just cutting off a 3x2 piece and welding it into the front? I have a question on the Hellas, I'd like to connect them up to the OEM fog light connectors, is this feasible? Are there any electrical issues with using that OEM connection for those brighter lights? Also, I know that on the 4th gens, it would switch off the fogs if you had your brights on, and you couldn't run them independent of the headlights; is that also the case with the 3rd gen? I did the mod on my 4th gen to allow them to run independent of the headlights, is there a similar mod out there for the 3rd gens?

Again, I appreciate any comments that anyone has, and forgive the long-windedness of this post. I should have photos coming up as I attempt to install all of this stuff myself!

The Hellas use the exact same bulb as the factory fogs (assuming you use 55W H3's) - so there shouldn't be an issue there. I run Rigid D2 DOT beam pattern fogs on an aftermarket bumper - just change over the connector and you'll be fine. They do switch off with the high beams, that is a DOT requirement. I have the notes on my hard-copy wiring manual (not with me at the moment) for changing them to be switchable either constant or with the parking lights (what I would do). It is just connecting one wire to a different location...

-Charlie

Thanks for the info Charlie, Seems like it's the same basic procedure I did with the 4th gen. I'll look into that and see if anyone has any info on it for the 3rd gen. Let me know if you find it in your notes anywhere!

Edit: Looks like someone did a decent write-up on yotatech. Now to figure out where the D8 relay pin 16 or maybe 14 for the 2000?

Did you ever get this all installed?

I've just been finishing up the install of the same bumper and winch combo on my 3rd gen and it doesn't seem like the winch will fit. When I measure it all out it looks like the winch is too large and will be hitting things when I go to mount the bumper with it bolted in there.

Did you have to do any modifications to get this winch to work fine?

edit: actually just realized mine is a gen 3 version of that smittybilt winch, so that might be an issue as it does look a good bit different.

yeah there was some interference with the winch and the body behind it. the only part that was touching was the winch clutch lever to a small metal bracket in front of the radiator. I took my angle grinder to the little bracket and cut away enough that I could move the lever with minimal rubbing. I sold the vehicle or else i’d send pics

I have a gen 3 XRC and it BARELY fits in my bumper (True North Fab). And I mean barely, like a HAIR in each direction, and that's with the engagement lever clocked backwards a position and control box relocated
Depending on your bumper you may or may not have to chop your grille to make it fit, if that's the issue you're having (this is actually a lot more common than it seems with our vehicles, it just often goes unmentioned when someone has to do it). But that said I don't recall ARB problems being that tight of a space and don't see why it wouldn't fit, from my limited knowledge on their bumpers
A little more info would help beyond "things are hitting", like what is and where