(a delicious slice of) humble pie

sandcrawler

sandcrawler

Senior Member
as a (former) '06 SE V8 owner, i'd done my fair share of teeth-gnashing about the 5G's debut—almost entirely due to its lacking the V8 and Torsen center diff i'd grown so accustomed to (since giving up my ailing '93 4R for an '06).

well, with a smiling mouthful of humble pie, i'm here to report that i made the <s>switch</s> upgrade. and after only a couple hundred miles, i'm very happy with my decision. despite all the "de-contenting" that's been detailed on this board, everything about my new Trail Edition feels like a step up/forward; consider it a "whole is greater than the sum of its parts" kind of thing. what's more, relative to my stock '06, it simply feels like a truck from day one—albeit a highly refined one. KDSS delivers handling that's nothing short of amazing in a BOF rig, and the redesigned cabin is just stellar. all in all, i'm loving it.

photo from the day it came home. since then i've put on my Thule rack and thrown in a set of Husky liners. (the completely covered 2nd row is clutch.) i wish i had thought to get a pic of my old '06 SE when it was parked next to the new Trail... it looked like the TE wanted to eat the SE. :D
 

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thanks, guys.
yeah, Clemsonfan15, since i was giving up full-time 4WD for a part-time setup, figured some real rubber was in order. :)
 
Nice ride...I love the TE too. I gave up a fulltime 4wd for the TE and don't regret it one bit. Having a locking rear diff will make up for most things I will see. It reminds me of my '97 4runner which I wanted to replace for years, but never did, until the 2010s came out.

Hopefully you will get happier as this grows on you more.

Cheers!!
 
Good to hear a positive outcome of a changed initial impression. I have had my fair share of teeth nashing, but now that I am starting to see them on the road, its growing on me, still dont like the rear view, but its an imposing vehicle coming towards you from the opposite direction, the desire to get a 5th gen is growing.

If I could just start disliking my '05.... ,but its not happening yet.
 
Glad you took the leap and enjoying it!! No worse feeling then second guessing a major move like that!

Best of luck, and one beatiful ride lad!
 
i must say, that salsa red TE is damn sexy.

the tires look like they came with the vehicle, but we all know they didnt :D

enjoy the TE!
 
sandcrawler said:
as a (former) '06 SE V8 owner, i'd done my fair share of teeth-gnashing about the 5G's debut—almost entirely due to its lacking the V8 and Torsen center diff i'd grown so accustomed to (since giving up my ailing '93 4R for an '06).

well, with a smiling mouthful of humble pie, i'm here to report that i made the <s>switch</s> upgrade. and after only a couple hundred miles, i'm very happy with my decision. despite all the "de-contenting" that's been detailed on this board, everything about my new Trail Edition feels like a step up/forward; consider it a "whole is greater than the sum of its parts" kind of thing. what's more, relative to my stock '06, it simply feels like a truck from day one—albeit a highly refined one. KDSS delivers handling that's nothing short of amazing in a BOF rig, and the redesigned cabin is just stellar. all in all, i'm loving it.

photo from the day it came home. since then i've put on my Thule rack and thrown in a set of Husky liners. (the completely covered 2nd row is clutch.) i wish i had thought to get a pic of my old '06 SE when it was parked next to the new Trail... it looked like the TE wanted to eat the SE. :D
Click to expand...
Very sweet rig - congrats!
 
Love the color especially. :art:

The 4th gens never got me this excited about owning another 4Runner and a 5th gen could come sooner than later for me.
 
Nice work sandcrawler - you certainly did your homework - and ended up with A+!
Surprised you chose red, but what a great colour. Hope to see some more pics of your offroad adventures.
 
It's interesting to me that so many people love the Duratrac tires.

I had them for 4 months and Hated them. Granted the type of driving I do is a lot different than what some of you do. I Commute through 30 miles of twisty mountain road M-F. They handled the twisties like Crap. Would get hung up in cracks in the road which in turn would set off the VSC. (not cool having the Truck power down in a turn). They also wore very quick and very unevenly. Honestly they were the worst tire I ever used so I went back to BFG At's.

P.S. the Red TE looks awesome. The one good thing I can say about the DT tires is that they look Bad a$$. I'll never buy another set though.
 
Timberrr said:
It's interesting to me that so many people love the Duratrac tires.

I had them for 4 months and Hated them. Granted the type of driving I do is a lot different than what some of you do. I Commute through 30 miles of twisty mountain road M-F. They handled the twisties like Crap. Would get hung up in cracks in the road which in turn would set off the VSC. (not cool having the Truck power down in a turn). They also wore very quick and very unevenly. Honestly they were the worst tire I ever used so I went back to BFG At's.

P.S. the Red TE looks awesome. The one good thing I can say about the DT tires is that they look Bad a$$. I'll never buy another set though.
Click to expand...

I've heard similar complaints but I ran the whole weekend at highway speeds with E-rated tires through twisties in the local mountains and I never even got so much as a squeal out of them (although my wife was making girly noises and repeating the Lord's Prayer over and over) through the whole trip.

What were you driving, what load rating were the Duratracs, and how fast were you taking these twisties?
 
No A/T tire is designed to be grippy through the twisties and the wider deep tread blocks don't help this. If my 4Runner rarely left the pavement I wouldn't have bought the Duratracs and went with something more street friendly.
 
They were the Lighter c or d rated. Didn't drive them any harder than the BFG at's I'm used to. In fact I had to drive slower they sucked so bad. Perhaps the E rated are stiffer but who needs a heavier tire when you can get better performance out of something lighter.
P.S. the Bfg's are better offroad too. IMO.

Wonder if anyone has had luck siping KM2's. Now there's a fine looking tire.
 
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