I just bought a 2020 Limited and was looking underneath to see how bad the under body protection was. . . It's pretty weak.

During my snooping I found a plastic "duct" dead center underneath the front valance. Looking at the second diagram from below. . .
Bumper & Components - Front for 2020 Toyota 4Runner | Toyota OEM Direct

I think it's #22, the air inlet duct.

Why is there an air inlet duct under the truck?

Probably for the oil cooler.

So when I tear it off on some wild flowers it won't matter much.

Thanks.

"wild flower" lol....

kind of weird to have an air cooler under the body...

It has a bit of an lip on the bottom so maybe it blocks some of the air flow. The air duct draws from the lower grill. Must be the high performance petrol convective lubricant cooling system.

There is a left and right, could it be used to direct air to cool the brakes?

It's not brake ducts, it's pretty much dead center and draws air form the lower valence that only the limited has.

The blue is the air inlet and the plastic duct is outlined in orange.


I suspect that what ever is behind this want's some air, could be the front diff?

I found http://www.toyota-4runner.org/4th-gen-t4rs/207277-oem-skid-plate-differences.html, which references Gen 3 but still could be valid.

AWD? Maybe to cool the center diff.

Yes, it's AWD. That makes sense, because it's being used all the time to some degree.

Very interesting. I just ordered an RCI plate. Now wondering if I should send back? Don't want to mess up air flow or something.

I did see an air channel going towards the Oem skid. But I removed it and added the TRD skid plate. Hope I didn’t mess anything up :-)

OK I actually found the right part now. It's called "Intake Duct - Toyota (52812-35010)". It in the Radiator Support section, not sure why, but I'm sure it involves an archaic process and 14 engineers. The previous picture is actually brake ducts. Sorry for the confusion.

As for a skid plate upgrade, I can look at the Toyota approved TRD skidplate. According to Toyota Parts the TRD Skid Plate, fits the 2018 Limited 4wd and the 2019/2020 4runner. The 2018 has the "Wild Flower Intake" as well.

If you look at the TRD Skid Plate it doesn't have the "Wild Flower Intake", but it does have vents in the middle. So I suspect the RCI should be OK as long as it has the vents. With that said, I'm not a thermodynamics engineer for Toyota, so use at your own risk.

Please post back when you get it installed!

Yes I have the Oem TRD skid plate . I have not seen any issues with my limited.

Maybe it for harvesting wild(wood) flowers...
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I have an 18 LE with and RCI plate. No issues to date, simple install...yes, that ducting all came off and I didn't think much of it.

Totally fine...