Undercarriage clearance design of 4th gen

JB.

JB.

New member
Disclaimer: Little experience/knowledge of the mechanicals and design of autos.

I've wondered for a while now why the undercarriage of the 4th gen
needs to be so "unclean". I parked next to a latest gen, Offroad pkg Xterra recently and looked underneath both vehicles for a while (neither had running boards). The Xterra had more clearance and was much cleaner underneath with very little below the frame rails. I did notice, however, that while the Xterra generally had more clearance underneath, the side frame rails were lower than the 4Runner as well as the rocker panels. In the case of the latter, it was a good inch and a half. I've been very happy with the side clearance of the 4Runner and have come to appreciate how important it is off-road. So everything else being equal, I'm not sure I would trade the overall undercarriage clearance of the 4Runner for the Xterra's.

For those with knowlege of such things, do you think the inferior undercarriage clearance of the 4Runner was likley an intentional design compromise to opt for more side clearance?
Might also explain the high floor some complain about.
 

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Your tires are bigger than stock, right? So, that may explain some differences between XTerra and your 4runner. The Xterra in the pic seems to have stock tires in the Off-road Package.

The underbody of 4runner allows you to have a flatter interior floor. More vertical room. If everything was tucked up, then your step-in would be higher and your floor would not be as flat as it is now. This is why a Toyota Land Cruiser has a higher step in height than 4runner. This is why a Hummer H1 has a huge tunnel running down the center of the interior.

My guess on the design.
 
Thai said:
Your tires are bigger than stock, right?..

..My guess on the design..
Click to expand...

Tires give me 1/2 inch more clearance but even with stock tires the 4Runner has significantly more side clearance and I believe the Xterra tires were 32" also.

Thanks for the info on design. Interesting.
 
Carnage

Funny thing, last time I was at Paragon I was with a group of Xterras, mostly the original model but a few of the new Off-road packages were there too. I managed to put a nice softball-sized dent in my gas tank, but one of the guys in a '06 Xterra managed to put a baseball-sized dent in his front rocker panel.

Now that I have my lift, I would be less worried about denting the gas tank (it's not like the West with giant boulders everywhere) and I'm sure the guy with the Xterra would say the same.

Of course, if we have actually spent a few minutes spotting, I'm sure we would have avoided the carnage, but that's why you live and learn.
 
Re: Carnage

sibanez said:
I managed to put a nice softball-sized dent in my gas tank, but one of the guys in a '06 Xterra managed to put a baseball-sized dent in his front rocker panel.
Click to expand...

Interesting. The locations of the two dents you mentioned on each vehicle is pretty representative of the clearance charactaristics of each. I may eventually lift, but I'm gonna go with 32" ATs and sliders for a while and see how much capability that gives me.
 
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