Newbie Looking for Advice

[lmorgese]

I own a '97 SR5 Limited, 195K, and I have been using it as a daily driver for 4 years. I have recently purchased a new vehichle, and I really want to offroad with the 4Runner. (I couldn't trade the thing in I love it to death.) I have no idea about what my vehichle is capable of or what I need to do to make it offroad capable. Is there any preventative maitenence I should be concerned about? (As the vehichle is about to turn 200K)

Most of all I am looking for some advice. I am new to offroading, I have frequently rode quads i really want to take my 4Runner out. Everything on the vehichle is functioning I just want it to be offroad capable. I have a couple hundred bucks I plan on putting into the vehichle, what is the most logical first step I should take?

Thank you for your time.

 

[99runnerwa]

i would say that if you only have a few hundred bucks and want to go do some light offroading then some better tires would be a good starting point. that way you have better traction, and you can go up a size or two i believe with out a lift to get a little more ground clearance. If you have more that you can put into it i would go with a lift and larger tires. thats the direction i went with mine in the beginning. As for the maintenance, just standard stuff, change fluids, filters, timing belt if it hasnt been done. grease the zerk fittings on your drive shafts. you will enjoy the offroad ability of your rig, mine surprises me just about every time i take it out

 

[SCRunner12]

You can go a couple of different ways. What type of offroading are you trying to do? Just basic trail riding, mudding or rock crawling? I'm assuming you have a rear diff locker from the factory so that is a good start.
Tires are a great start depending on what you are planning on doing and working with intially. You can go with a lift, which will be a bit more money, but open up the trails you can go on. Some recovery gear might be good if you are going to keep it stock like straps and hi-jack. It really all depends on how extreme you want to go and how much you are trying to end up spending. A few hundred dollars will be a good start, but if you really want to get into offroading your going to have to open your wallet a little more.

 

[lmorgese]

Thanks for the advice. All the maitenence is good as it has been my daily driver. I think tires would be a good start. Do you know how big can I go before it will require a lift?

 

[lmorgese]

I'm not trying to do anything too crazy. I just want to do some basic trail riding and get my kayak into some better areas. Money is a slight issue (I'm a recent college grad and I just bought that other vehichle). However, I think tires would be a good investment do you know how big I can go before I would have to lift the vehichle? Are there even decent tires I can purchase - my budget is approximately $800?
I do have studded snow tires (I'm from Syracuse it snows 8 months of the year) would I ruin them if I ran them offroad?
Thanks a lot for the time - as you can see I'm new to this and ignorant.