IanB's re-introduction thread

[IanB]

Did my 1st oil change on this truck, between all the plastic and skid plates that need to be removed and replaced, and mucking around with the filter housing, its a bit of a PITA to be honest. I guess the silver lining is I'll be doing oil changes only every 15,000kms or 1 yr, which ever comes 1st.

The used car dealer I bought it from says they changed the oil as part of their getting it ready for sale process...I'm pretty sure they had the wrong grade or just some super cheap bulk oil as it seems to run noticeably stronger after the oil change. Maybe the VVT-i is super sensitive to oil weight? I short shifted the dealer's oil and changed it after 7,000 kms. I went with a Toyota filter, and Motomaster Formula 1 Synthetic (made by Shell for Canadian Tire), I've been using this stuff for years in all my gasoline engines, it goes on sale for about $17/5L, making it pretty well the cheapest full synthetic you can get, so I buy a case when it goes on the deep discount sale a few times a year.

Also changed out the air filter and cabin air filters today, wow, they got those right, took about 4 min to do both. Must have been a different engineer than the guy that worked on the oil change stuff, lol.

Next up is differential and transfer case oils, and I've got 1.25" wheels spacers at the border that I need to pick up.

 

[IanB]

I had previously purchased some 1.25" wheel spacers for this truck that were SUPPOSED to have been made in the USA, but when they arrived they were clearly made in China. Installed them, and when trying to torque the wheels on, some of the lugnuts seemed to be tightening and tightening, but never getting tight. Turns out the studs were spinning in the spacers! Back off those came, and it left me a bit gun shy about spacers.

Fast forward, and I broke down and ordered a set of Spidertrax 1.25" spacers for my GX470 which I recently installed a Dobinsons suspension on. But looking at the 2 trucks, it's the 4Runner that desperately needs the wheels pushed out to the corners, so I took another crack at it.

Install went much smoother this time around, but on the test drive I had tire rubbing on the fender liners...which was totally unexpected. I'm running 255/75/17's on the stock wheels, now pushed out 31.75mm towards the fender. In tire terms, that's like adding 63.5mm of tire width (on the outside edge at least), or a bit bigger than a 315mm wide tire with only a 1" front spacer. Maybe I should have expected this? The rubbing isn't too bad, it looks like I can remove the inner mudflap on the backside, and hopefully push the liner forward on the front to gain the room I need. No amount of rubbing is acceptable as this is the wife's DD, and I'll hear about it right away, and every day after until they get removed, lol.

It does look proper though!

Here's a before and after pic I got in the daytime this morning after a snowy drive in to work...I'm so over winter at this point.

 

[IanB]

Snapped a few more shots with the wheel spacers after a wash, and some work on the fender liners. I've pulled the front liners forward 1/2" without having to drill any new holes like guys with bigger tires have had to do, I think I'm pretty well good there.

On the backsides, I tried heating/reforming the inner mudflap pieces, drilled 2 holes in each bulge and zip tied them back to the body mounts, but was still getting rubbing. Then I removed the inner mudflaps completely, and I'm STILL getting a bit of rubbing in reverse with the wheel turned. My goal is zero rubbing in any conditions, so I'll be digging into that again this week.

 

[badattitude]

Welcome back, I remember you from the 3rd gen forum. I'm in a 5th gen now to.

I'm considering the 265/70/17 tire and wheel combo and didn't expect rubbing. Do you attribute your rubbing to the 255/75/17 tire size? Looks like 255/75 is 32" and the 265/70 is 31.7" very close in size.

Did 255/75 rub before the wheel spacers? Thanks

 

[IanB]

Welcome back, I remember you from the 3rd gen forum. I'm in a 5th gen now to.

I'm considering the 265/70/17 tire and wheel combo and didn't expect rubbing. Do you attribute your rubbing to the 255/75/17 tire size? Looks like 255/75 is 32" and the 265/70 is 31.7" very close in size.

Did 255/75 rub before the wheel spacers? Thanks

Welcome to another 3rd genner! The 4Runner's are a great platform, I'm happy to be back in one! I got my 4th gen fix via our GX470, lol.

I ran these tires and wheels all winter with no rubbing, I did install the Cornfed 1" front spacer before these tires went on though.

I do attribute the rubbing to the wheel spacers as there was zero rubbing beforehand, the additional spacing outwards is akin to stuffing a bit better than 315's in the wheelwell (on the outside edge at least), and it is the outside edge of the tires that are doing the rubbing.

265/70/17 is the stock tire size on 5th gens, you'd need a really aggressive wheel fitiment to run into any rubbing issues I'd think. There's a lot of great info in this thread on what will fit,and what needs to be done to make things fit:

https://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-...ire-fitment-guide.html?highlight=going+bigger

 

[IanB]

Some exciting upgrades in the 5th gen!

Factory nav headunit = gone! Replaced with a Pioneer AVH-W4500NEX head unit, went with the scoshe dash kit, and Maestro RR. Looks right at home in the dash, and it's SO MUCH NICER to use!

This head unit has wireless Carplay and Android Auto, so I don't even need to take my phone out of my pocket unless I want to charge it. Waze and Spotify load right up when the phone pairs, it handles 2X bluetooth connections at the same time, it's pretty great!

 

[IanB]

Spent the evening banging out some maintenance on the 4Runner.

-Front and rear diff oil change
-greased driveline
-inspected brakes and flushed fluid
-re-torqued spidertrax wheel spacers
-rotated tires

I think it's pretty well winter ready!

I haven't changed the transfer case fluid, the truck has 92K kms on it and this will be the 1st time any of the fluids have been changed on it. The rear diff was pretty black, and the front was medium dark (AWD). I can't decide if I should pony up for expensive 75w fluid, or just slam the same stuff in there as I put in the diffs (75w90 synthetic). Any thoughts?

I'm thinking I'm going to replace the factory fogs with some Baja Designs SAE Squadrons in amber. I need something that can be uncovered on the roads, the SAE designation checks that box, as the cops are looking to keep the roads $afe around here.

I recently read a review on a Tacoma forum linked from here, where they were railing on the BD's cutoff and glare specs compared to other SAE approved foglights. Seems these throw a lot of additional light outside of the narrow band many are limiting their output to in a foglight application, and could result in more glare for oncoming drivers. As a result, these are more like an SAE approved aux light than they are a pure foglight, and that's closer to what I'm looking for than a pure foglight, so that's the answer.

I'm not looking for something to run on the street when I'm going to buy milk, I'm looking for something I can run in rural areas to help pick up deer in the ditches, and things like that. I will treat them like high beams, and wire them so they can be used with the high beams for that matter (eventually).

 

[Rhino11]

Well, as predicted, I've been asked to replace the side steps and have complied. It was way too high for the 5 year old to get in and out, and she would have ended up wrecking the rocker covers trying to climb on them. It sure did look cool though...

I did find I missed them when drying the truck off at the carwash, but a sacrifice I would have gladly accepted if it was up to me.

Now to come up with a long term solution that brings the step up closer to the body, probably going to spend some time thinking about cutting the stock rockers, and then track down some steps for a newer SR5 or Trail.

Also, the Sprint Booster is money well spent, glad I pulled the trigger on that "snake oil". Set to green-9 it drives the way it should have from factory.

I removed the rockers off of my '11 SR5(same as the current limited). And used nfab steps up until this week. My 4 and 2 year olds were able to use it very well even with a 2.5" lift. I just removed them and installed RSG angeled sliders (with rockers still removed). It's a little tougher for them, but they can still use them as a step... kinda. They just have to be careful for the large opening where the kick out is. Trimming the rocker would definitely look a bit more finished. It doesn't bother me too much just removed though. Attaching some pictures for you to see.

 

[IanB]

You know, no rockers with the Nfab steps doesn't look too bad actually. They are the version Nfab steps for the shallow rockers that you were running, right? There's a version that fits the Limited and early SR5's as well that hangs lower I think, just want to be sure.

 

[Rhino11]

You know, no rockers with the Nfab steps doesn't look too bad actually. They are the version Nfab steps for the shallow rockers that you were running, right? There's a version that fits the Limited and early SR5's as well that hangs lower I think, just want to be sure.

Correct. The ones I bought were from a 14-current SR5. So they sit higher than the ones made for a limited or 10-13 SR5. Still a little bit of a gap, but not too bad.

 

[IanB]

Final update:

The Foreigner is on the chopping block, replaced with a '15 GX460 Luxury w/ driver support package and Mark Levinson stereo, in Nebula Grey Pearl on Sepia (brown) leather!

The roll down rear window will be missed!

 

[IanB]

OK, I lied. One final update.

Truck sat on the market for a couple months, not a lot of interest which surprised me a bit. Possibly Covid related, but I didn't get a single person serious enough about it to come look at it in person.

So the other day I spotted a yard tractor sitting in front of the same used car dealership I bought this truck from, ended up going down and checking it out, and we were able to come to terms on a trade plus cash for the 4Runner! So I'm now a tractor owner! It came with a trailer, front loader, ballast box, and 72" belly mower, which is perfect because we bought an acreage last week and I've now got 4 acres to mow! I'm hoping to pick up a snowblower for it before fall, very excited!

Edit: I can't get the pic to post right side up, any ideas?

 

[02SE]

I think the software recognizes that this thread is plummeting fast, hence the pic orientation...
















J/K, nice tractor.

 

[badattitude]

Hard to be satisfied with anything after owning a third gen. While I love my 5th gen, its not the same as the best vehicle ever made!