My Super White 5th Gen Build Thread

[91foxbody]

Hey!

I've always wanted to do a build thread on a vehicle but I've never purchased something this new and started modding it immediately, so here we go. After doing some dispersed camping last summer I got hooked by the "why don't we always camp/hike out here" bug and started researching 4x4's. I finally settled on a 5th gen T4R and got to work on searching. I typically buy lightly-used vehicles 2-3 years old but the value proposition didn't work on the T4R since they lose so little value over the first 40-50k miles, so we decided to buy new. After working with 4-5 dealerships over the course of a couple of months we were able to secure our low-option 2021 Super White Off Road Premium in early January, and we couldn't be more pleased. The only option from the factory was a sunroof, which I was iffy on, but the price was right so we went with it.

This will be my wife's quasi-DD and our weekend adventure vehicle. We love camping/hiking/skiing and this will be our vehicle to get us back/forth/through all of the stuff we want to see around the PNW. We've got a ton of plans that will come to fruition over the next 2-3 years as we figure out what we want and need out of the truck. I'm looking forward to keep y'all updated as we progress!

 

[91foxbody]

Working on image embedding...

Leaving the dealership:

Getting her first bath, pre-sealant/wax. I'm a bit of a car washing/detail freak so I love doing this kind of stuff.

The first "official" mod was to pull the front and rear valences off for plastidipping. I know that it's not the most permanent solution, but my wife loves the blacked-out look so we're installing OEM Toyota black-out badges and I wanted to do the valences to match. We'll see how durable the plastidip ends up being, but the worst case scenario is just buying the Pro valences online and installing them later. I have to admit that removing the bumper from a ~48 hour old vehicle was crazy, but it came apart painlessly.

The front valence removal was much easier, although reinstalling the clips requires some contorting if you have big hands or long arms.

Spraying the valences outside.

Finished product. I'm not sure I love the texture of the plastidip, but it seems pretty durable and is 100% reversible if I end up hating it.

As for protection, the car got one coat of Jescar Powerlock Plus and 2 coats of Collinite 845 that I allowed to cure overnight. Living in the PNW, she will see lots of rain in the winter and sun in the summer and I want to do everything I can to protect the paint.

 

[91foxbody]

I've always been a WeatherTech guy, but the forums led me to look into Husky as a cheaper, slightly "softer" alternative. I still have WT mats in other cars, and while I prefer they way that they look, they are hard and can be a little slick when wet so I found a great price on the Husky mats via Amazon and was able to get front/rear/cargo mats for the same price as just the front/rear WT's. I also like the fact that the Husky front liners to over the door sill and that the cargo mat covers the entire rear area, including the two bump outs near the door.

I set a new personal best for the least amount of time I've owned a car before swapping tires. The duelers only had 309 miles on them before they were removed in favor of 265/70/17 P-load General ATX courtesy of Discount Tire. I'm usually a Costco tire guy, but they screwed me on my last 2 orders and I've sworn them off. DT was fantastic to work with.

Cya, duelers:

Helloooooooo ATX:

 

[NotaTRD]

Those Grabbers need some dirt on them.

 

[91foxbody]

Those Grabbers need some dirt on them.

They've only been on the truck for ~3 hours, I'll get 'em dirty this weekend!

I flew to Phoenix and in order to purchase a 2018 TRD Offroad Premium WITHOUT a sunroof and then drove it 12oo miles back to Austin. That is how much I did not want a sunroof. Every off road premium in texas had a sunroof.
It seems to me that cutting a hole in the roof of an off road vehicle was just wrong.

I also changed tires as soon as I got back here. I ordered KO2s from tire rack.

I got a good enough price that I wasn't worried about additional cost, but sunroofs and the ~6 months of rain in the PNW don't mix very well. I've had bad luck on past cars and hope that it won't continue here.

 

[91foxbody]

The 4Runner has seen quite a few miles in it's first month of ownership. We had it out on some easy trails at Browns Camp with under 500 miles on the odometer.

This was "hoodraiser," which was a pretty easy beginner trail.

This was a connecting road out to another trail we wanted to try.

I don't recall the name of this trail, but this section was probably too much for a rookie like myself. The last section was rutted, slightly off cambre, and very narrow. It took a little momentum in 4L with the locker engaged to clear the last bit, and I hopped out of the truck afterwards to let my heartrate drop and check for any underside damage (there was a small scratch on the fuel skid, but nothing major).

The top section:

From the top (the majority of the climb was easy, but still fairly steep):

Top section from the side:

After that she had a week or two of daily driving duty and then we spent last Saturday exploring some of the logging roads near Oregon wine country. This was her first time she got particularly dirty, which felt pretty good.

Several hours of obsessing the next day and it was clean again:

 

[91foxbody]

Mods so far are mostly cosmetic, excluding tires. We've done the normal emblem blackout, glovebox/center console organizer, floor/trunk mats, and a dog cover for the rear seat. The ATX tires have been fantastic in rain, snow, and the small amount of ice we ran into while up on the mountain skiing. Next I decided to address recovery and protection, so I ordered a full RCI aluminum skid set (including gas tank), and I also snagged a set of Apex Overland front recovery points and a Factor 55 rear hitch mount. Finally, a set of LFD ruggedized cross bars and compressor mount are en route, and that will finish up the modifications for awhile. I'll post pics after everything is installed, but I'm really impressed with the AO mounts so far.

 

[ttime4four]

Subscribed from another PNW SW ORP.

 

[91foxbody]

Subscribed from another PNW SW ORP.

I think we chatted in the "what are people paying for 4R" thread. I'm not far from you, just west of Portland. We plan on driving the crap out of it to explore Hood national forest and Central/Eastern Oregon this summer, let me know if you want to tag along!

 

[genesis712]

One more from PDX!
Any plans with the nice snow on the ground? I bet Brown's camp will be fun now

 

[91foxbody]

One more from PDX!
Any plans with the nice snow on the ground? I bet Brown's camp will be fun now

My driveway and street are a sheet of ice right now. Brown’s camp is probably nuts this weekend.


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[genesis712]

My driveway and street are a sheet of ice right now. Brown’s camp is probably nuts this weekend.


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Ah thats not good!
I did go around town trying to help folks out but surprisingly no one was stranded (atleast no one was around in their cars! )

 

[91foxbody]

Ah thats not good!
I did go around town trying to help folks out but surprisingly no one was stranded (atleast no one was around in their cars! )

I probably would have gotten out and explored a bit if my driveway wasn't so steep and slick. It took 4H to get it up the incline even before the snow started really falling Friday night.

 

[ESS4RNR]

Any chance you could post a pic of the husky cargo liner in place? Wife wants the WT's but I would love a liner that actually covers the entire cargo area including the bump outs. Thanks.

 

[91foxbody]

Any chance you could post a pic of the husky cargo liner in place? Wife wants the WT's but I would love a liner that actually covers the entire cargo area including the bump outs. Thanks.

I much prefer the design of this to the WT.

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[91foxbody]

The after only 2 months of ownership the truck rolled over 3k miles this weekend while driving along the Oregon coast. We needed to get out of the house and I’ve always wanted to do this drive, so we spent the sunny-but-cold afternoon enjoying the salty air.

Spotted copilot

Peter Iredale wreck

Tried to find some forest roads to explore but every single gate was closed. Saw a few locals on the side of 101 when we headed home.

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[91foxbody]

So I finally got around to installing my Apex Overland (aka LFD Offroad) front recovery points. While they could be removed with the stock skid plate still on, it's much easier if you remove it and the associated black trim so that you can drop the sway bar more easily. I had to cut and remove some black tape-like substance over the frame to access the large 19mm bolt hole, and the bolts that mount the sway bar back to the frame were an absolute sonofa***** to get threaded on the driver side, but overall the install was pretty easy. My torque wrench was on the fritz and I snapped the lock washer on the driver side, but Apex helped me source new hardware for it. I'm hoping to stave off a front bumper as long as possible, so these make me feel better about either getting stuck or helping someone else that is stuck.

 

[91foxbody]

My other project over the weekend were Rokblokz mud flaps for all 4 corners of the truck. We spend a lot of time on gravel forest roads out here in Oregon, and my Grabber ATX's pick up and fling rocks like crazy. I already have a sizeable chip on my passenger rear door from a trip a couple of weeks ago which bummed me out. While I know larger mud flaps aren't the coolest thing in the world, I care too much about the paint and underside of the truck to let it get sandblasted constantly. These install easy and I think may even offer a little bit more clearance for when I upsize the tires due to the way that they notch near the frame on the front wheels. These are the normal size (not XL) and took about 10 minutes to install. So far I'm really, really happy with them, as they seem to have already put a serious dent (LOL) in how much gravel is kicked up by the tires.

 

[91foxbody]

I finally got to install my LFD ruggedized crossbar set and so far I'm extremely pleased with them. No wind noise with the integrated front fairing, but our PNW rain has found a few holidays in the powder coating. Installation is very simple and I was able to do it myself with a small ladder in the garage. I'm a nutcase and measured the distance between the bars to equally space them, which snugging the T-nuts allowed for. If you want a more sturdy and versatile option to roof-mount things like ski racks and traction boards, look no further. I can't see why most people don't install these over something like a roof rack.

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[91foxbody]

Also got to take the truck out for its first “shakedown” camping trip near me. It’s an absolute joy to explore local forest and fire roads with. Ran into a reasonably famous local YouTube personality after the local Rigs and Coffee.

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