OK, so i took mine wheeling on saturday. this is my first 4runner (previously owned low tech off roaders, 1994 jeep wrangler, 1981 toyota pick up) so i don't have a great frame of reference in terms of how the TRDP compares to other 4runners, but -
we went to georgia pass (colorado). this pass connects jefferson and breckenridge. it's about 11 miles in total length. the south side of the pass is fairly easy, and the north side is significantly more rugged though not anything extreme (if you don't take the wrong turn, more on that later).
as far as how the truck performed:
the suspension is fantastic. as the reviews have said, it seems to perform better at speed. the south side of the pass starts as a pretty typical dirt road, and slowly progresses to more rugged terrain. but the first bits of rough ground were run at 20-25 MPH and it was buttery smooth. an involuntary grin came over my face - i've never felt rough stuff handled that smoothly.
took us about 20-30 minutes to get to the pass. we stopped, had some lunch, let the kids/dogs play for a bit, and then headed down the north side of the pass. we were immediately faced with a fork in the road that offered three different directions to go. after consulting the map a bit, we decided on the left hand direction (as it turns out the center path was the one we wanted). it was immediately more rough (which was expected) and there was more snow coverage (being the north slope). there were some fairly hairy downhills where i was able to put the crawl control to use (really like this feature!). we rounded a corner and there was a water crossing about 60 yards long. i was the lead truck, so i got out, picked up a long stick and started testing the depth. seemed to be about a foot deep at most (at least in the spots i tested), so i locked the rear diff and went for it. guess what? it was a bit deeper than i anticipated or would have liked - almost up to the bottom of the doors. but the truck handled it fine. we kept down this way for a while until we realized we'd gone the wrong way. getting ourselves out required some tricky backing up onto a hairpin turn and my buddy's jeep almost got stuck.
once we got back to the pass, we made our way down to breckenridge.
over all the truck performed fantastically, and i was able to use all the features. again, i really, really love the crawl control. was able to use it going down and up a number of hills.
i am a bit concerned about the water crossing though. is there any way to tell if i got water in the rear differential?
hwell:
