I've been reading around about how to switch out the stock speakers in a 2nd gen runner... I'm finding that a lot of people have to cut and glue and remove all sorts of stuff to get things to fit. Is there really no speakers that go in as they're intended? I'm looking to switch out the dash ones that are apparently 4" speakers.

I installed some Pioneer's and only had to shave off a little bit of plastic with a razor blade to get them to sit flush. Really was an easy install.

Try the Crutchfield site, they should be able to tell you what will fit.

I've also got Pioneers in the front. Done by the previous owner.

I'm a fan of Pioneer in general.

X2 on pioneer great bang for your buck. Also a fan of cruchfield they are great to work with if you have any questions and they send you some surprisingly well detailed installation instructions.

As you know stock speakers are crap, and location and size are crap. That's why people usually customize and put in front door panels and don't use stock location. As others stated pioneer is a good option. At the end of the day, anything is better that old stock crap. Good luck!

Toyota has an obsession with using weird speakers in there vehicles my sc400 had required special mount plates to accept normal speakers in the doors...

My truck has alpine type r' 4" in the dash looks like some one had taken time to install them as they cut off one of the mounting ears and brandished the flashing to use the stock boxes the type rs sound like **** imo but i havent found time to custom fit 4*6 plates in there location with baffles dont doubt that you will have to modify speaker or the baffle the speakers are in

If you are looking for decent audio in your truck you should at least install 6" x 9" in the back, did it myself, very easy just cut off plastic where needed and secure them with long screws to reach the metal plate to minimize vibration when speakers are pounding hard, in the dashboard you are stuck with 4".
Consider the Pioneer TS-A6995S, these are 600 W Max (100 RMS) 5 way 6 x 9", installing an amp is a must to get the most of the speakers and believe me they do deliver, they are a very good bargain at around 70 $ or less.
I am facing a small problem now, even though the sound is nice and the base is awesome, the speakers are faced to each other and not pointing to the front and this is bad, i'm thinking of a way to re-direct sound waves to the front and i will share it here if i get a good result, and by the way if someone already figured out a solution for this sharing it with me would be great.

i put marine speakers on my first gen, love them, doin he fronts next

One of the previous owners of my rig installed some ridiculous Phoenix Gold 4" speakers under the dash. While I commend his efforts, there is really no good way to make a 4" speaker sound good with such a tiny space. I'm planning to install 6" separates in the doors and tweeters in the pillars. More work yes, but way better sound.

Hey MacGyver, what brand are those and did you custom make the brackets? Also, did you install an amp? If so, where?

Pair Rockville RWB65B 6 5" Black 2 Way 250 Watt Marine Wakeboard Tower Speakers | eBay

no amp, brackets included

Personally, I like Clarion. They have really good signal to noise ratios, even their lower rated speakers. The SRGs don't need a lot of power to sound good, which is great if you're using a head unit with an internal amp.

If you're using an external amp, you might want something a little beefier.