Definitely going off road. This will be a 3rd vehicle.. so It’s going to be 100% for adventures
You will hear all sorts of opinions, of course.
The reality is that there is only ONE difference between a Pro and Off-Road and that difference is the suspension. Therefore, the ONLY functional reason to buy a Pro is the suspension. If you are going to throw it away, you are throwing away 1000s of dollars. Not everyone cares for the bottom line though so there is that.
So, how good is the Fox suspension? I have not driven it so I cannot tell. I can tell you that the stock suspension can handle anything the Fox suspension will BUT you will not enjoy it nearly as much. The stock Pro will net you zero trails over a stock OffRoad but you will have 1/easier time both in desert and in rock and 2/ a much more comfortable ride both in desert and over rocks.
The same effect can be accomplished by upgrading an OffRoad for a fraction of the money the Fox suspension costs.
Which brings the question just how good the stock Fox suspension is. While I have no answer, I can tell you that the stock Raptor Fox suspension is regarded as a gimmicky suspension in that while it performs great over a short time period, it does not allow for sustained high speeds.
And so, it comes to what you want:
Tier 1:
--Go very fast through the desert for extended periods of time (King, aftermarket Fox, Icon, Radflo all 2.5 coilovers and rears).
--Maximum possible performance (see above).
--You can bet your lunch that most people here that have Kings and 9/10 of Instagramers have never needed more than Tier 2.
--All these suspensions will require rebuilding and that's either work that you have to do or a cost you will need to incur. May not be too bad in LA due to abundant support locally.
Tier 2, which is me among many others here:
--Go at good speed through the desert for a long time and crawl over biggish but not huge rocks.
--Have good road manners
--Have a much lower cost setup than Tier 1.
This is where your stock Pro setups come in. Functionally, you will get the same from a cheaper setup like mine (1,000$ for Bilstein 6112 and Icon rear) or get other mid-range setups, some of which are adjustable like the new Dobinsons MRA (2,000+). Is the Fox OEM better than Dobinsons MRA in real life use? It is OEM so there is that. You can count on dealer support.
Tier 3, which is most people and is perfectly fine functionally:
--Quality aftermarket suspension such as Eibach or Dobinsons
--Allows the same 4x4 trail experience as any of the above but you will be more limited in the desert in terms of speed and maybe comfort (though I think Eibach may be very good at comfort due to the valving). These suspensions are capable yet very cost effective at the same time. Not having to rebuild them cuts dramatically on effort and cost. You will save money by rebuilding suspensions in the upper tiers only if you do all the work yourself and only if you keep the vehicle for a very long time. Otherwise, it is hard to argue with 100-140$ per new shock.
Tier 3 old school:
--Same as Tier 3 but using older design suspension, such as 5100s and OME nitro shocks. These are functionally equivalent to Tier 3 but will ride rougher per everything I have read. That said, I don't thing 5100s are rough but I have only driven those on X-Terras, not 4Runners.
Tier 4, Spacers.
Don't. It is less capable than stock. You will get the illusion of capability via an artificial ride height but if you are serious about offroading spacers are a bad idea. I have run spacers with no issues on a Subaru for years so I am not inherently biased against spacers or ignorant about them. On a 4R, they are a bad idea unless they are small and used to compensate for lean or add a tiny bit of lift.
Finally, these are the things you actually need to be comfortably doing lots of offroading:
--A more capable suspension than stock that
preserves your wheel travel or only takes away very little
--This means 2" of lift or less + 6112 front or equivalent and 5160/Icon/Fox/Radflo rear. You don't need "extended travel" you just need the little extra a good front suspension affords WITHOUT aftermarket UCAs (yes, it is so but you will hear many saying it is impossible).
If you want to drive the Rubicon all the time or Golden Spike and up then, by all means, go all the way to 3" lift and add aftermarket bumpers. But if you stay Hells Revenge/Fins and Things/Elephant Hill and lower, you do not technically need any lift at all, you would just want a better suspension for better experience and better skid plates for better protection.
So that's the strategic decision to make:
Good speeds+difficult trails=one story, easy to get there comfortably, and cheap, too. Arguably the 4R is the best all-around platform for this.
High speeds (sustained)+very difficult trails=another story and you don't have the best platform for either to start with. You can do all sorts of things with enough desire, but will never turn the 4R into a Rubicon or a Pre-Runner so bear that in mind before starting. There is a fantastic thread by LawnDart on the latter subject: you can see what it takes to compete with Raptors.
