Water Clearance of 5th gen 4Runner for Flooding-Prone Areas

[Egstyle]

I had water over the hood and sloshing up to the glass on the FJ and she still ran fine. Buy an FJ, they're part amphibian, I think.

Wicked

 

[Thai]

A bump due to finally getting some reply from Toyota:


:wtf:

I am glad that Toyota CS knows how to read a brochure.

Mike, if you're that unsure, then don't ford. The 4runner is not built for repeated deep water crossings...none of today's vehicles are. A quick dip is OK, but follow the recommendations noted above. In other words, if you have an option of not going deep, then take it! Go around. If you want to play in deep water or mud, then you run a good chance of screwing up your vehicle. If your vehicle is valuable to you, then i would avoid deep water fording as much as possible and let other dumb-dumbs show off.

 

[SeattleMike]

Why on earth would you pull the passenger fender? All it's going to accomplish is you seeing a hole and saying yup, thats where the air goes in" It's not like you can seal it up or anything.

It's the difference between "knowing" and "guessing" for me. Pulling the fender might be a fruitless exercise or it might not. While you seem to be fine with ambiguity, this is *my* truck and I'm going to do what I think is best. Thanks for the advice but I prefer hard numbers to rules of thumb.

I am glad that Toyota CS knows how to read a brochure.

Mike, if you're that unsure, then don't ford. The 4runner is not built for repeated deep water crossings...none of today's vehicles are. A quick dip is OK, but follow the recommendations noted above. In other words, if you have an option of not going deep, then take it! Go around. If you want to play in deep water or mud, then you run a good chance of screwing up your vehicle. If your vehicle is valuable to you, then i would avoid deep water fording as much as possible and let other dumb-dumbs show off.

I'm not trying to create a river runner, I just want to *know* rather than assume. While I would prefer to avoid deep water, there may come a situation when avoiding it isn't an option. I'd at least like to know where the low point is in the air intake, where the breather tube are located, and prevent water from entering the cabin through the door seals.

 

[mgrande]

It's the difference between "knowing" and "guessing" for me. Pulling the fender might be a fruitless exercise or it might not. While you seem to be fine with ambiguity, this is *my* truck and I'm going to do what I think is best. Thanks for the advice but I prefer hard numbers to rules of thumb.



I'm not trying to create a river runner, I just want to *know* rather than assume. While I would prefer to avoid deep water, there may come a situation when avoiding it isn't an option. I'd at least like to know where the low point is in the air intake, where the breather tube are located, and prevent water from entering the cabin through the door seals.

If you'd like you can just use some common sense to get your "hard numbers". Pop your hood, locate the air intake on the left, with a measuring tape, measure from the ground up to where the bottom of the air filter box is. Volla!! your hard number. However this will do you no good, as I said before, unless you also measure the water at its deepest point before entering it. Also you must keep in mind that the vehicle moving through the water will displace the water in various ways depending on your speed. The member above mentioned water coming over his hood, this is very common, even when the actual water height is 8-12 inches below the hood. Its from the vehicle pushing the water up and onto the hood, driving faster increases the odds of this happening.

So go ahead and remove your fender. But simply knowing your air box is exactly x amount of inches high isnt important because even if you were to get out and measure the depth of the water, its going to change once you start pushing it around with your vehicle.

 

[SeattleMike]

So go ahead and remove your fender. But simply knowing your air box is exactly x amount of inches high isnt important because even if you were to get out and measure the depth of the water, its going to change once you start pushing it around with your vehicle.

Is this going to be an endless conversation where you keep insisting I do it your way and you keep riding my ass for wanting to do it my way?

Let me put it this way: It's my truck, it's my ass in the truck and I am going to do my best to make sure I fully understand where it's vulnerabilities are and aren't so I can address them as best I can. You think I'm an idiot for bothering, I get it. You seem to have plenty of experience crossing rivers and fording water but not one bit of it matters because I am going to do what I want to do anyway.

Do you want to know why? Because I don't want to find out later on down the road that listening to some random guy on the internet wasn't such a great idea. I want to see for myself what is under the fender and if it can be improved for *this* specific purpose. I want to know where things start, where they go, and where they end for my own education... just because I'm curious. I don't want to assume it's "ok" just because you said it's ok.

Thanks for the advice, but I'm going to do it this way for my own peace of mind. If that seems stupid to you, keep it to yourself.

 

[harper7]

I had water over the hood and sloshing up to the glass on the FJ and she still ran fine. Buy an FJ, they're part amphibian, I think.

So what your sayin Deke is the 4runners will do fine then.Because the 4Runners and FJ's are nearly identical in the drivetrain/frame and engine. Different body on the same frame is all.I looked!I admit ,I'm one of those wierdos that go to car dealers with a flash light and crawl up underneath things to see what and how their made.Was thinking about buying a FJ TT before the new runners were introduced.The FJ's do have stiffer stock springs that let it sit a little higher,about 3/4 of an inch.

As far as water crossing ,I'd go by the old rule of thumb of letting someone else go first or go around. I don't think I'd go in past my rocker panels myself unless it was an emergency.At least when the trucks are this new/valueable.

 

[SeattleMike]

As far as water crossing ,I'd go by the old rule of thumb of letting someone else go first or go around. I don't think I'd go in past my rocker panels myself unless it was an emergency.At least when the trucks are this new/valueable.

Looking at the weatherstripping around the doors on the repair manual, that might be the initial practical limit because it does not appear that they form a complete seal. According to the diagram there is a gap under the door sill but I haven't confirmed this because my truck is elsewhere.

 

[mgrande]

Is this going to be an endless conversation where you keep insisting I do it your way and you keep riding my ass for wanting to do it my way?

Let me put it this way: It's my truck, it's my ass in the truck and I am going to do my best to make sure I fully understand where it's vulnerabilities are and aren't so I can address them as best I can. You think I'm an idiot for bothering, I get it. You seem to have plenty of experience crossing rivers and fording water but not one bit of it matters because I am going to do what I want to do anyway.

Do you want to know why? Because I don't want to find out later on down the road that listening to some random guy on the internet wasn't such a great idea. I want to see for myself what is under the fender and if it can be improved for *this* specific purpose. I want to know where things start, where they go, and where they end for my own education... just because I'm curious. I don't want to assume it's "ok" just because you said it's ok.

Thanks for the advice, but I'm going to do it this way for my own peace of mind. If that seems stupid to you, keep it to yourself.

Have fun!:reddance: