I installed my TRD exhaust Friday...
I legitimately have waited years for TRD to come out with an exhaust for the 5th gen- have a 16 Pro the wife now drives and a 19 Pro. I’ve had several vehicles in the past and all but two have had exhaust systems, so I know the good and the bad. I wanted a “factory” system because I knew that Toyota would design and sell a product that has been tested, engineered, fitted, and assembled to work and work right. I’ve had to tweak many a system in the past, replace it because it sounded like crap, or regret it for being too quiet. Where I’m at now, I don’t have time to worry about spending a Saturday am at a muffler shop, figure out how to return a giant box filled with metal tubes, or have a non-operable vehicle in the garage because it didn’t fit right and I gave up at 2am for the install...
I was right to wait. The system came well packaged and was not scratched or dented. No instructions, but not needed. All hardware you need is in there with the exception of the front donut gasket which I re used without issue.
It fit perfectly and required no tweaking at all. Just hung it up, bolted it down. Use WD40 or silicone to slide the hangers on and off. Little pro tip. I did not even need to jack the truck up. Used a low pro creeper from harbor freight, dropped the spare to fit in the rearmost pipe, and I was good to go.
The worst part of the entire process was removing the old system. Mind you, I installed mine on and essentially brand new pro with 5000 miles on it. So it was not an issue of the bolts being rusted or seized. The problem for me was reaching the rear pipe bolts which are literally impossible to get to. I have a full garage filled with tools and couldn’t figure it out for the life of me. Since the nuts are welded on they need to be accessed from the top. If I had a lift I imagine I could have disconnected the front and then drop the system down to get access, but I’ve resorted to my sawsall which I should have done in the first hour rather than waste time trying to figure out how to get it off unscathed (only to go into the basement graveyard of 4Runner parts). Nothing scarier than cutting apart a virtually brand new exhaust system on a truck not knowing if the new system will fit. Lucky for me it fit perfectly.
The sound is very quiet at idle. Slight hint of a low rumble, you know it’s there, but don’t expect it to sound like a Chevelle. On acceleration the sound is very pleasant and even with the windows closed you can hear the deep rumble as a climbs RPMs. It’s loudest under moderate acceleration at 2,500 to 3,000. Sounds great when you nail it. For me, it was the perfect combination of sound and growl I was looking for. This is my daily driver And I spend more of my time driving to office parks than on slick rock in Moab. And a newborn is also riding in the back. I knew a Flowmaster 40 series was out of the question and this fits the bill perfectly, at least for me.
If you want straight pipes to wake up the neighbors, this isn’t for you. If you want a nice aggressive sound to match the truck, (maybe) free up some back pressure, and you own at least one Polo shirt, you’ll love it.
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