I know this is an old thread but google brought me here today. Wanted to add that I just swapped out the bulbs on my 2001 and had no problem getting the three screws out while leaving the assembly in place and this is in the rust belt. Just be very careful because I'm pretty sure they're JIS...
Head's up you have to pull the codes using a paper clip and the diag connector under the hood or the Toyota Techstream software, your standard OBDII scan tools can't read them. There's links to the factory shop manual around the forum here for all the code diag steps.
Yep I wanted to make sure the tires would fit, although I ended up getting the tires on a few weeks before I did the suspension and they actually didn't rub on the blown out stock suspension in the regular daily driving I did.
I went the cheap-ish route on my 2001 as it's mostly a on-road daily driver that we rarely load up with a lot of weight, plus I wanted assemblies for the front to change them out easier. I used Monroe Quick-Struts on the front and KYB Gas-A-Just shocks with Moog 81041 (the '99 tall springs) and...
it could be the VSV for EVAP under the hood. it's a vacuum solenoid that opens/closes to let fuel vapors from the charcoal canister go to the intake. if it gets stuck open, fuel vapors flood the intake while you fill up, causing the hard start. you can take it off and blow through it to see if...
I had a coil pack slowly fail with similar symptoms, had misfires on cold starts that seemingly went away after a short idle. Eventually they didn't go away and it threw a code.
check here for some troubleshooting steps, it's for p1120 but it's the same procedure as p1121- https://www.teamtoyota4x4.org/archivio/1996%20to%202002%20Toyota%204Runner%20Repair%20and%20Wiring%20Manuals/techinfo.toyota.com/ileaf/02toyrm/02toypdf/02rmsour/2002/024runne/di/eg5vzfe/cip1120.pdf...
check here for wiring diagrams, I'm not familiar with the different radios so not totally sure this will cover it but it seems to match my 2001- 96-02 Toyota 4Runner Factory Service Repair Manual