HELP: Thinking About Ditching My Jeep for a 4Runner

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Rocketmandb

New member
Looking for help on making my decision on whether or not I ditch my Wrangler and go with a new 4Runner. I've owned two Toyota street vehicles before and liked them both - my Jeep is getting to that age where things are constantly in need of attention.

I live in NorCal and get out to the Sierras 6-8 times a year. I tend not to go on trails that will break my vehicle, but I do get places where I need a fair amount of capability.

What I'm looking for:

- Front bumper/winch
- Skid plates
- 33" tires - I think I need a leveling kit for this on a 4Runner?
- Height at max of 78" including rack
- Locking front and rear wheels

My vehicles get dirty, so I'm not as concerned about interior, etc. This will be my only vehicle.

What model 4Runner would you recommend for me? I'm having a tough time discerning what the differences are between the different models. Off road capability is my biggest driver - cost is an issue, but not THE issue.

Thanks in advance.
 
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The trail/TRD Off Road trim would suit you well. Rear locker and all the off road tech stuff. No front locker is available from the factory, but using a trac can help alleviate the need for a front locker according to some, although I’m not sure of that.

An aftermarket hybrid or full bumper and a winch would add a decent amount of weight, you’ll want some new springs/shocks to support it and a mild lift of 2” up front and an inch in back. 33” tires will clear with a small lift and some trimming on the front bumper, but depends on if you do a full replacement or not.
 
Trail Premium.. most off road buttons with conveniences
Do a lot of reading on KDSS, some people love it some people hate it. Most serious off roaders dont want it and take it out. Make sure to add/remove when purchasing.

Not to say that other models aren't equally capable. I have not been somewhere that I couldn't keep up (I own a limited).

Its really the aftermarket stuff that you'll be able to much more easily modify a TEP and it comes well equipped stock.

Limited is great but i woudln't buy it for off road mostly (although thats mostly what she does now).. Too much to type but its a pain in the ars more to modify.

TRD has warrantied lift (not worth it in my opinon) and some other minor factor mods with a 5k price tag

SR5 is your basic beech... Again though, probably as capable. Less features and convenience

Good luck.
 
Rocketmandb said:
Looking for help on making my decision on whether or not I ditch my Wrangler and go with a new 4Runner.
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Is this a real question? HEH! 'Runner of course! It's a reliability kinda thing. Plus it's a true body on frame truck. I've had 1 SR5 and 4 Limiteds. Kinda partial to Limiteds for the amenities. Granted, I don't off road 'cept for every two weeks. I get to drive to the local quarry for shootin', that said, the off road guys will be of more help to ya in that area. Just had to add my 2 cents.
 

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For the price of a 4runner you can rebuild and maintain your jeep for a long time. Just saying. Wish I kept and rebuilt my Bronco, I can't get over the feeling that I'm driving my mom's car... And I have not done that in 30 years or so. If you can turn wrenches, keep the jeep. If not (like most in the 4Runner community) get a 3rd gen.
 
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I just traded my 2012 JKU for a 4runner. I was tired of the leaky roof, paint problems, repairs, etc... Something new everytime I turned around and it was still stock with less than 40k miles. My 2005 TJU gave me less problems but still more than my '04 4runner (flawless for 145k miles).
I chose a base TRD Off Road model. I love the locker and A-trac.
 
SR5 if you know how to wrench and can do your own work, I put a 2 inch Dobinson’s lift and ARB summit bumper on and stayed in the 38k range with all those goodies. Plan is to put ARB rear locker soon and do the install myself. If you want the rear locker from factory grab a trail or pro, in my opinion the pro would be better because of 1) looks really badass and 2) you get a 1.5 inch??? Lift from factory.
 
TRD Off-Road Premium. Get a 3" lift, plus UCA's, plus SCS 17x8.5 wheels plus your 285/70R17 tires. You will have to do some minor trimming on the fender liner and will probably have to take off your mud flaps. Body mount chop is possible as well although that isn't very costly. There are 3 winch options, one keeps the entire front bumper except for the hole you have to put in it for the winch line, one is a hybrid bumper which replaces the interior of the bumper with steel, and the last option is an entire front bumper. Since you also want a front locker (TRD Off-Road has electronic rear locker), you can get an Eaton E-locker or an ARB Air locker. This video gives you the pros and cons of each.

Your crawl ratio won't be the same as your Jeep if you have a Rubicon. You can replace the gears on the front and rear diff to 4.88 or even more if you want a better crawl ratio.

If you have a Jeep Rubicon, your 4Runner will not be as capable no matter what you do because of the lower crawl ratio and the solid front axle on the Jeep, but it is the most capable vehicle outside of the Jeep Rubicon.
 
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I may have missed it, but did anyone chime in on the 78" max height?

It sits at 75" now, with 33 on it and the lift, I think that will exceed the 78"?
 
4FL said:
I may have missed it, but did anyone chime in on the 78" max height?

It sits at 75" now, with 33 on it and the lift, I think that will exceed the 78"?
Click to expand...

I know this will sound somewhat lame, but let me tell you why I need the 78":

I live in the San Fran area and I frequently travel to the city (and out of SFO). The vast majority of parking garages have a 6'6" limitation for some reason. This will be my only vehicle, and not being able to fit into these garages is a key issue (I tried it on my Rubicon, and it simply didn't work for me).

I thought I saw that the '19 was 72" with rack - I was hoping I could sneak in. I might be able to squeak in at 79" with the rack. When I had my Hi Lift up top on my Rubicon for a while, I'm sure it barely exceeded the 6'6" and all it would do is bump the entry guards occasionally.

Thanks for all the info, guys.
 
How often do you run no top/doors? The 4R with sunroof does open up nicely thanks to the back window roll-down feature, but it's definitely not the same.

Like a previous user mentioned, be sure to check that height with lift/tires, it's likely to be very close...

Finally, assuming Jeep is paid off, why not keep it for wrenching/wheeling fun and get a 4R for DD and lighter duty trail trips? It'll still be very capable stock (plan on upgrading tires right away though), and you can beat the Jeep into oblivion on the tough trails while not having to worry about getting to work Monday.
 
I have a JK that is modded and now a 2019 TDR ORP.

Love the Jeep for what it is. Around town, top off, nothing like it. On the highway.....hate it. Back seat, horrible place to be for and extended time. I have had zero mechanical issues with it.

The 4R is pretty modded at this point, suspension is waiting on me to find time. But so much better to drive and on the highway in every way. Let’s face it, it takes a lot of highway and paved roads to get to cool places.

So if I had to own one it would be the 4R
 
I bought a '14 Limited and gave the '11 Wrangler to my son. It's still around if I think I really need it and around town with the top and doors of is a lot of fun. He doesn't get to remove the doors yet.
 
Get an SR5, throw a rear locker, sliders, skids, wheels/tires, and a lift at it.

I just bought a brand new 2019 SR5 for $32k with memorial day discounts, and a hungry salesman. You can do the above and stay under $40k for a brand new truck. Might even be able to throw gears at it.
 
I have a '15 TEP (TRD) with factory roof rack. I have 2" lift and 34" tires. It barely fits in my parking garage at 80". I think it would probably still fit 78", but it would be really close. All together I've added about 4" of height. So assuming it's about 76" now, it was 72 to the top of the stock regular roof rack. The pro roof rack must be it about 77-78".

There are some other great options for removing the roof rack entirely. But the roof does have a curve to it and the stupid shark fin sticks up too. So removing the rack may not gain you any actual roof height clearance unless you also remove the shark fin antenna.
 
Jetboy said:
I have a '15 TEP (TRD) with factory roof rack. I have 2" lift and 34" tires. It barely fits in my parking garage at 80". I think it would probably still fit 78", but it would be really close. All together I've added about 4" of height. So assuming it's about 76" now, it was 72 to the top of the stock regular roof rack. The pro roof rack must be it about 77-78".

There are some other great options for removing the roof rack entirely. But the roof does have a curve to it and the stupid shark fin sticks up too. So removing the rack may not gain you any actual roof height clearance unless you also remove the shark fin antenna.
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Shark fin sits a little less than 2.5" above the roof line. My garage at work is 6'8" so 80" as well, I'm lifted 2" front, 2" rear but on stock size nittos. I am about to go up to 2.5" front and leave the rear alone and go up to 33" tires. I had zero issues with my aftermarket cross bars that sit 4" above the roof line with my lift in my garage. A stock raptor sits 75-78" and we have a few of those in our garage as well and at least 50 lifted wranglers.
 
I really debated getting a Jeep Rubicon or 4runner TRD Off Road and opted for the latter. (I also live near SF BTW)

To be honest if the JL had more headroom, I'd have gotten that but it's really quite cramped in there; I can't actually sit with my head upright in a hard-top version.

My feeling on the 4runner is that it works pretty nice stock, but even slightly bigger tires need trimming and more than bolt-ons sometimes. It just seems like you have to make big compromises to get bigger tires on it, whereas on a Jeep it's easy just a few bolt-ons.

So my feeling is that the TRD Off Road is capable 'enough' stock with good tires to get me where I need to be, and it fits in parking garages and drives really great on the road.

I'm not going to lift it or mess with it because next thing you know I'd be into $10k and body mods to get to a level of off road competence that's really not hard at all to reach on a Rubicon. Plus I doubt I'd fit in parking garages anymore.

I paid $34.5K for my '19 TRD OR; I'd still be cheaper than the Rubicon if I put that $10k into the 4runner so even that wouldn't be a bad way to go, but warranties, etc are a factor to me.

BTW; I preferred the cloth seats to the vinyl that comes on the premium, and the sunroof cuts into the headroom too much anyway, so saved some $$ by going with the standard Off-Road model.
 
arehman11 said:
Shark fin sits a little less than 2.5" above the roof line. My garage at work is 6'8" so 80" as well, I'm lifted 2" front, 2" rear but on stock size nittos. I am about to go up to 2.5" front and leave the rear alone and go up to 33" tires. I had zero issues with my aftermarket cross bars that sit 4" above the roof line with my lift in my garage. A stock raptor sits 75-78" and we have a few of those in our garage as well and at least 50 lifted wranglers.
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Have you ever measured the garage? I think a lot of them say 80" but may actually be more.

Mine is almost exactly 80" - so no extra cushion built into the sign. If I have my awning on - it sits about 4" higher than the OEM rails - I will hit in my garage at work. I know. I've done it. Didn't damage anything. But it hits the sprinkler pipes so if I navigate carefully I get get into a couple spots and back out without going under any of the pipes. Fortunately I also have the option of parking outside if I need to leave the awning on. I definitely think very carefully about what mods I want due to this parking issue. I had GX460 air suspension in my 5th gen for a while. At some point I'd like to go back to them so I can have that adjustable height again. I'd like to re-visit the system again, but I could never sort out a viable solution for the front that is adjustable height on the fly, nor could I get a nice feeling rear shock setup to go with the air springs. I've been waiting for the Bilstein 8100 rears to come out if they ever do like the zonecontrol setup for the Tacoma. I think they'd be just the answer with the valving adjustment options to get something dialed in that works well.

At home I've always regretted not building my personal garage with 10' ceilings and 8 or 9 foot doors. It was a compromise of second floor shop space overhead vs height below due to some height/setback restrictions. My Land Cruiser has no chance at all of fitting with 7' door, but I store it at my parents' anyway - they have 14' tall doors in their shop, so it fits... lol.
 
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