I decided to get a 3rd Gen 4Runner as my daily driver and occasional mountain exploration vehicle so I searched for a western states truck.
Requirements were little to no rust, a 5 speed manual and an E-locker. Factory leather seating was also on my list.
A nice looking 1998 SR5 popped up on Craigslist and after talking to the owner I decided to make the deal. We agreed upon a price and date for the sale and I reserved a Uhaul trailer to pick it up. It was in the western side of Colorado so that meant towing it up & over 2 high passes in the Rockies to the eastern side of the state- my 2003 Suburban should be able to do it.
The 1998 T4R had 226K miles, a 5 speed manual, 4.30 E-locker rear diff, leather seats, OEM floor mats in perfect shape, premium stereo with CD, rear cargo cover, new tires on 16 inch wheels, black OEM fender flares, running boards and an older Yakima roof rack. It also came with maintenance records from day 1, the owner's manuals and the window sticker. The vehicle was is great shape and had been well cared for.
Nice build! What are your thoughts on the alpine ilx-507? Been thinking of switching to it, and remember you had posted about installing it in another thread. Looks like a super clean truck and look forward to seeing whats to come.
It works great with my iPhone 15, connects to Apple Carplay wirelessly and so far it's been flawless. I responded to and created text messages via voice and it was amazing how well it worked.
The audio settings for the equalizers are different than I am used to but easy to learn.
I bought the head unit from Crutchfield as well as the Kicker speakers and JBL BassPro Nano subwoofer that I put under the drivers seat.
I bought a Kenwood KAC-M1814 4-Channel Compact Bridgeable Marine/Motorsports 400W Max Power Digital Amplifier from Amazon (it was $50 cheaper than Crutchfield) and installed it in the same place the OEM amp was installed.
Sound is very good though I do wish I had steering wheel controls. Alpine does sell a bluetooth volume knob and I'd buy it if it also allowed you to go forwards and backwards when listening to a file on the USB.
Before I installed it I found a video where anothe T4R owner replaced his and he had to file the posts a bit to make them fit - so did I. Here is his video -
After I completed that I replaced the interior bulbs with LEDs -
I had two of the mini bulbs burnt out behind the A/C panel so I ordered some green LED replacements...but they were too bright and didn't dim well. Ordered and installed OEM Toyota bulbs and that fixed that issue.
I also installed a set of clear turn signals in the front bumper-
There were two rips in the drivers seat and upon closer inspection I found the 25 year old leather on the passenger seat to be hard and cracked so I ordered sets for both front seats and a seat cushion for the drivers seat -
I wanted a double DIN head unit with wireless Apple Carplay, USB ports for storage of music files and good reviews. Normally I go with Pioneer but I kept seeing connection issues in reviews with them as well as others. One unit that didn't seem to be in that group was the Alpine iLX-507 so I looked for reviews and found this knowledgable pro's take on it very informative -
I like that it had physical buttons as well as the touch screen -
Hybrid Mode
