Recommended Depth?

TeryT

TeryT

New member
Thanks! I would think that water could get in there as if a vacuum was created - and nature abhores a vacuum - it would try to relieve this somehow. They put breathers on the other items, what not there? Anyway, the rear breather should be "cheap insurance."

So does anyone know what the official water fording depth is?
 
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I would think that it would be as high as the bottom of the door or even the bottom of the air intake part. But then again, I wouldn't even try to go that high..
 
I'd take GoodTimes' answer, as he has had a lot of experience off-roading in his 4th gen.

Also, I got mud/dy water in my rear diff. in a mud bog no higher than the bottom of the doors.
 
Thanks Tracy but I consider myself a nub still ;)

Even w/ the stock 4runner (4th gen) it should be able to survive water up to the doors. once inside you risk shorting out some key components such as all the electronic goodies n stuff so I'd still say door high. Door high is pretty high to begin with so that's still pretty good.

You can even keep the stock diff breather on the diff and you shouldn't have to worry since the breather is setup to only let air out when there is excess air in there. once it's done it'll close due to compression in there. but to be safe a rear diff breather is always a good thing (better safe than sorry).

I've yet to see a 4th gen do some water crossings (as where I live we don't have much unless we hit the ocean but you know that's really not smart (w/ all the darn salt). )

This is pretty much a generic question that applies to all vehicles and I believe the limitation is all the same.
 
Unrelated (mostly), but cool:

offroad0401.jpg


:thumb:
 
TeryT said:
I keep hearing that this cap works so well - so how did 4Route get gook in his diff?
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I don't think she has drained her diff yet so she's uncertain. She just wants to drain it just incase the cap didn't work. I told her initially that she doesn't have to worry about since she was going to do a major service (or lack of service now) she was going to just have it changed and then verify if it works or not.

I haven't heard any word on the rear diff cap failing but i'm pretty sure it is possible but highly unlikely. but you know in this day in age, there really is no guarantee.
 
Probably not the smartest thing to do but we had some flooding last night and I had to get home. by crossing a flooded road. I would guess the water was at least to the bottom of the doors. No problems at all.
 
Pribilof said:
Probably not the smartest thing to do but we had some flooding last night and I had to get home. by crossing a flooded road. I would guess the water was at least to the bottom of the doors. No problems at all.
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Good experience! So how high are the bottoms of your doors? Did you get any water inside?

Also, how long was you in the water?
 
TeryT:

Are you planning to do alot of water fording? Because if this is the case, then it is recommended that you extend the breathers just to be safe. You can sit in the water all day and night as long as you don't get it in the cab (not fun to clean out if you do).

Also keep in mind that taking in more water beyond the doors will result in problems (not just electrical and mechanical). The water forces will/might cause ya to drift away and eventually sink... (there's a jeep video floating around that shows this exact scenario).

Just keep in mind that you really don't want the water to go beyond the doors (this applies to most all vehicles).

Good luck
 
As far as the diff breather caps go, they have had that design through all the runners I believe. My 1st gen sat through 3 high tides on the columbia river, the highest tide went 3/4 up the windshield. I drained about 7 gallons of milky fluid out of my engine, tranny, and transfercase, but none made it in my diffs. With driving in water, I found a little bit will make it in with alot of water crossings, but if you change your diff fluids every other oil change, it's fine. I had a 90 2dr runner that got stuck in a mud hole, I made it out, but muddy water covered my hood and was a few inches below my door windows, and my oil, air filter, interior was fine, and I spent a couple minutes in it trying to get out. 2nd generation on up has a really nice water baffle design on their intake, so you really have to submerge it for a bit to suck some in.
 
But don't take what I say as it being invincible, ARB Safari Snorkels are a good thing and on my list, I think they make them for all the runners... One of the next things on my list...
 
TeryT said:
Good experience! So how high are the bottoms of your doors? Did you get any water inside?

Also, how long was you in the water?
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I don't know how high the bottoms of the doors are but I'm not lifted at all.

I was in the water for almost a minute while crossing the flooded road.
 
My 90 2dr runner was completely stock and the water was between the bottom of my doors and my door windows for about 2-3 minutes and the door seals held up great. Infact, when I got out and checked my air filter and oil and saw they had no water in them (muddy water went over hood a couple times in like 3 to 5 second reps as I was rocking back and fourth, It reminded me of the "Old school" Toyota commercials where the dude's jumpin in the air all happy.

My 85 4runner on the other hand, soon as the tide reached my doors my pedals were under water. I'll have to find somebody with a scanner, I got quite a few pics of it flooded in the river, and the front loader it took to get me out.
 
So far the mud has not been an issue for me either. The stock intake is well routed to prevent hydrolocking - at least on the V6.

The air filter is actually a 2-part filtration so it would be impossible for mud/thick water to get in and very difficult for water to pass through.

The one weakness (if you can call it that) is that there is a tiny hole at the bottom of the intake pipe; it is right were you pop open the pipe to change the filter.

What happens is mud shoots up from under the truck, past the headers, hits part of the intake pipe and finally hits the underside of the hood.

A bit of mud shot through that tiny hole- a piece of tape or rubber plug would solve that. BUT even stock, it is on the correct side of the filter so no damage.

Of course it may not be an issue if you never go through deep mud or water but just a tiny bit of extra precaution, I guess. :)
 
Pribilof said:
I don't know how high the bottoms of the doors are but I'm not lifted at all.

I was in the water for almost a minute while crossing the flooded road.
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Thanks - did any water get inside?
 
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