Just got my '20 4Runner about a month ago and slowly have been changing some things here and there. Got my hands on some of the ditch lights I've been seeing on some trucks and wanted to try them myself. I'd like to share my opinions and thoughts on them too in case anyone else was interested!
What you'll need...
-Install Kit (lights, harness, and brackets)
-Ratchet with 12mm socket (hood and battery)
-Open ended 14mm wrench for pod bolts
-Tiny flathead (removing prongs from button clip)
-Zip ties and snips.
So the ones I got in particular were these the 3" LED Pods. I opted for the white light fog light pattern style, 18W.
3" LED Pod Ditch Light Kit for 2014-2022 Toyota 4Runner | LASFIT
Product comes very well packaged. You get the brackets, harness, and lights all in their own packaging. I especially liked how each pod bracket hardware was in its' own bags. Didn't have to mess around with sorting on what bolts were what. A+ on that.
The instructions included are somewhat helpful. There's good spec data and mounting info at the bottom which helped me.
The lights themselves. Feel very solid and well built. Nice texture to match the 4runners trim. Also noted in the brackets too..
Mounting the brackets was pretty straight forward. I do wish they were labeled somehow to know which side is which. Not hard to figure out but a nice QOL change!
I liked how the passenger side was able to retain the stock clip location as well.
Bracket installed - notice the textures. They don't look out of place which was important to me.
I was worried and thinking there was no way these would mount and let the hood still open. I was wrong and they do fit, and there is nothing that touches with the hood fully opened.
Wiring everything up went pretty smooth. I do wish that the harness was vehicle specific to cut down on the amount of slack you needed to deal with. I prefer nice clean installs and dealing with extra wire can be annoying. I made it work the best I could without cutting/soldering excess.
You can see about 4-6 ft or so of wire wound up and tucked in the corner. Not too big of a fan. May look at other options down the road.
Passenger side wire running along firewall
Passenger wiring
Wiring the button, this is where I will knock the kit a little. I should not need to take this apart to feed it through the firewall. You'll need to remove the wires from the clip then feed that through the firewall. If you've done raptor lights, you'll know which gromet you drop something down. In this case you drop something down, attach the prongs (clip removed) then pull it through. The button is on the other side, so no way that's going through the firewall.
Once you've fed the switch wiring through the firewall, connect the lights to the harness, the switch to the harness, then simply attach the harness to the battery. It seems the relay is sensitive to voltage and will cut the lights if you do not maintain the 14.2 volts - meaning, the car needs to be running for these to stay on as they'll power off if you leave them on too long with the car in accessory mode.
Overall install took around 1- 1.5 hours. Not too bad.
Light impressions:
They're super bright - the cutoff is great! Below the lights aren't aimed properly, just trying to give a sense of brightness and overall appearance. Each model will be aimed differently and everyone has their $0.02 on how they should go. I do notice some slight bouncing when driving, something to consider. For around $200, if you've been on the fence I don't think you could go wrong with a set. I'm pretty happy with them!
Linear Mode
