[brian2sun]

What’s up T4R! It’s been a long while since I’ve done anything to the 4Runner, but I gave it some love with all the down time I’ve had during this pandemic (I’m a working musician, so I went from playing about 10 gigs/month to only playing 3 shows since last March). Thank God for PUA assistance, haha! Anyway, first I installed a cop style spotlight in the A pillar last summer. It’s nice to have a point-able high power light, especially when trying to find campsites in the middle of nowhere at night!

Next was wheels and tires... I’ve been on 35s for many years now, and while they were great off road, I use my truck mainly for camping these days much more than rock crawling. My 315 MT/Rs were also about 8 years old and only halfway worn (I only put 3K miles/year on the 4Runner nowadays) and they would just not balance well anymore... honestly these MT/Rs never really did balance right, even when they were new. I did NOT want to have to deal with my steering wheel shaking at highway speeds for several more years while I finally wore these tires out! I figured I could still sell them for about $100 each (which I did) and that would pay for almost half of the cost of some new tires.

I went with the new Toyo Open Country AT3s in 285/75R17 (34s). I also picked up some 17” FJ Cruiser 8 hole wheels and painted them black. I had stock 16” 5 stars before and I wanted 17s because there are so many more choices for tire sizes and load ranges for 17s than there are for 16s. I only lost about .75” in tire diameter, but I gained a lot of other stufff... I got some noticeable power back, as well as mpgs! And these tires are about 10xs smoother and quieter than the MT/Rs. They’re a pretty aggressive A/T, so I have no doubt they’ll still do great off road, but they’re sooo much better for everything else. Another plus is they are 3 peak mountain certified for severe snow. I also got them in load range C so they ride so much nicer. I could not be happier.

Lastly, I just picked up a used drawer system/sleeping platform off a guy on Facebook. It’s build very solid, and I even beefed it up a bit more with better hooks to tie it down and put more support under the sleeping platform. It’s pretty low profile (about 6” tall), so I still have plenty of headroom to sleep on it, and I was able to fit a surprising amount of tools and spare parts, etc... in it! I also has 2 more shoebox-size storage compartments under the tubs in the pics. I got it for about what it would have cost me in materials and time to build it, so I’m stoked! I also finally found a nice spot to mount my shovel on my tire swing with some quick fists!

2021 marks 20 years that I’ve owned this truck and I love it more now than ever!

[brian2sun]

More pics...

[JBurt]

Glad to see you've still got the 3rd gen! That is a nice platform and shovel mount.

[brian2sun]

Originally Posted by JBurt

Glad to see you've still got the 3rd gen! That is a nice platform and shovel mount.

Thank you!

[LS-4Runner]

Originally Posted by brian2sun

More pics...

Nice rig, I like the drawers system and consider to put something similar in mine.

[brian2sun]

Originally Posted by LS-4Runner

Nice rig, I like the drawers system and consider to put something similar in mine.

Thanks!

[jehuh]

Beautiful rig!

[maclean216]

Glad to see you still owning and working on the rig Brian. Looking good as always!

[brian2sun]

Thanks Bill! Been a while! You going to the Hammers this year?

[rickashay]

I saw your thread pop up and was like... whoa, who revived Brian's old thread?! Pleasantly surprised it was you. Glad to see you still have the 4R - probably one of the first guys to put 35's on his truck. Crazy, now everyone just wants 37's or 40's ;)

PS - nice move on the tires. I've been running hybrid AT/MT tires for the last 3-4 years and haven't looked back. I would have got the AT3's this time around if they were actually available north of the border! Stoked to hear how you like them.

Cheers,
Addison

[brian2sun]

Thanks Addison! Yeah, I’ve been poking my head in here a little lately since I’ve been giving the ol runner some love the last few months. It’s so much more driveable with these 34” Toyo AT3s than the 35” MT/Rs I had. The new tires alone have seriously made me fall in love with this truck again!.. And that’s saying a lot because I got a brand new 2021 TRD Off Road Tacoma 2 months ago, which I am thrilled with!

[brian2sun]

Did a little more work on the 4runner this week... Chopped the hoops off the ARB (I also chopped 1” off along the bottom edge for ground clearance several years go), and I swapped out my crap stock ‘97 headlights for some OEM ‘99-02s in nice shape that I found on Ebay for $120 total, that were out of a junkyard donor ‘01.

[rics97toy]

Nice rig!
I have a white 97’ SR5 and I wanted to ask what size tire would you prefer for off roading 35” or the 34”. Another question are you running spacers?

[JBurt]

Have you checked out this thread? Those seem to be pretty vague questions and would vary on what type of offroading you're doing, and if it's also pulling daily duty etc...

Absalom's Cookie Cutter 4runner Builds - New and Updated!

[brian2sun]

Originally Posted by rics97toy

Nice rig!
I have a white 97’ SR5 and I wanted to ask what size tire would you prefer for off roading 35” or the 34”. Another question are you running spacers?

Thanks, I prefer the 34s over the 35s for all around, “do everything well” tires. I use my truck more for camping and overlanding these days more than rock crawling (although I do occasionally still crawl with it), so my truck sees a lot of highways in between the trails. The 34s are a great balance of power, MPGs, strain on the drivetrain/steering/suspension components, and good ground clearance.

But if all you want to do is rock crawl (which is what I used to use this truck mostly for), then I’d say 35s. The extra 1/2” of ground clearance can help... but for me, that 1/2” is not worth losing a little in all of the other areas.

Yes, I have 1” BORA spacers all around.