water crossing

Mr. Leary said:
If you know how to properly drive in a water crossing (See Bow Wave above), there should be no need to extend the breaters on your t-case and front diff. The purpose the breathers serve is to create a time lapse between when your diffs hit the water and start cooling down to when your breather gets dunked. When your t-case or diffs cool rapidly, such as in a water crossing, the breathers suck in air to equalize the internal pressure. If you go slowly into the water, your diffs will be equalized before the breather is under water. The rear diff breather is on the axle housing and needs to be moved if you plan on any significant water crossings.

As rdgt4r noted above, the bow wave is your friend. I have seen too many people freak out during crossings and speed up, only to have one of the following things happen: A. Hydro-Lock the engine, B. Destroy a diff or t-case due to water ingress, C. Break the fan blades in the engine compartment.

These things are all bad, m-kay.

I can always tell how experienced for knowledgeable a person is by how they approach a water crossing. The folks that make the huge splashes at 40 mph deserve whatever mechanical problems they create.
The people who take time to investigate currents and depth, approach slowly, and maintain thier bow wave rarely get stuck and usually come out the other side none the worse for wear.


Advice. Proceed slowly through a water crossing. Do not shift while the transmission is submerged. Keep it in L or 1st gear. You should find the perfect speed that keeps the wave just in front of your front bumper, which will create a trough behind it that will reduce the water level in your engine compartment and will help propel your vehicle along slowly through the water, so if you bog down a little, the force behind the wave might give you just enough push so you don't get stuck.

The problem I have is my 4Runner is too water tight. I have been through crossings where no water leaked in and at around 4 feet deep, the rear end felt like it was trying to float. Water coming in means your truck doesn't float away. If you are worried about getting water in your ride, don't cross a river. The tops of the wheels is generally accepted as the safe wading level for most vehicles. Going in deeper will require modification and preparation.

Hope this helps.
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Very nice elaboration sir! =)
 
rdgt4r said:
Oh my goodness yes it is! I suggest it to most people for good overlanding info as you say Leary. It is addicting though!
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Yes. I'm definitely an addict. One look at my truck and you can probably tell... snorkel, small lift, 255/85/16s, winch, and custom cargo compartment... not to mention the ExPo stickers... 10hp a peice. :bluejump:
 
Mr. Leary said:
Yes. I'm definitely an addict. One look at my truck and you can probably tell... snorkel, small lift, 255/85/16s, winch, and custom cargo compartment... not to mention the ExPo stickers... 10hp a peice. :bluejump:
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Haha you mean this sticker and this size of tire. yea ExPo has rubbed off on me lol now i just need an ARB and a snorkel. =)
<a href="http://s39.photobucket.com/albums/e155/quik88/?action=view&current=IMG_1322.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e155/quik88/IMG_1322.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
 
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DewRunner said:
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/53818-snorkel-cost.html

works great, i did plug the drain holes in the bottom of the air box too. i was having to many problems just driving around town with my front bumper being so small and liners, and things trimmed. so i had to do something, and i have front and rear breathers extended too, ive been up to the rocker panels almost the doors, and with the lift and 255's "33's" thats pretty deep. same puddle who shut off my buddies danger ranger, he was going to fast. i crawled right threw.
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hey man thats exactly what I wanted to do...where does that setup take air from? cabin?
 
LINY4Runner said:
hey man thats exactly what I wanted to do...where does that setup take air from? cabin?
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looks like it...

I just wonder what I would do with the K&N CAI that I have if I did something like that...

You think that extending the diff breather to the gas tank would be high enough??

why not extend the front diff/transfer case to the cabin just like that interior snorkel??
 
Duhockey said:
looks like it...

I just wonder what I would do with the K&N CAI that I have if I did something like that...

You think that extending the diff breather to the gas tank would be high enough??

why not extend the front diff/transfer case to the cabin just like that interior snorkel??
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Many people extend the diff breather to the filler cap. A few others have located them in the rear tail light. I have even seen a few that have been run all the way up inside the engine compartment. I may move mine up there into a small plenum that will connect to the airbox along with my ARB compressor, so that all are connected into the snorkel system and can suck whenever they want. Its overkill though. Be very careful with water crossings with that CAI, as it is designed to suck up lots of whatever you put in front of it.

Bow wave... and you may put a blanket over the front of your bumper to help you to keep water out of the engine bay... just don't stop!
 
Mr. Leary said:
Many people extend the diff breather to the filler cap. A few others have located them in the rear tail light. I have even seen a few that have been run all the way up inside the engine compartment. I may move mine up there into a small plenum that will connect to the airbox along with my ARB compressor, so that all are connected into the snorkel system and can suck whenever they want. Its overkill though. Be very careful with water crossings with that CAI, as it is designed to suck up lots of whatever you put in front of it.

Bow wave... and you may put a blanket over the front of your bumper to help you to keep water out of the engine bay... just don't stop!
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I wonder if theres any way to put the actual K&N filter inside the cabin?? is there room behind the glove box or something??
 
Duhockey said:
I wonder if theres any way to put the actual K&N filter inside the cabin?? is there room behind the glove box or something??
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Sounds like a lot of work to try to make an elephant fly.

If you want off road safety, ditch the K&N and go back to the stock airbox or a Safari Snorkel. A properly installed snorkel will protect your engine from sucking water while reducing the amount of dust even more. The stock airbox is also designed to minimize dust entry, and it does a pretty good job of keeping the water out as well, as long as you aren't in the water too long.

I'm not a fan of the K&N anyways, and my impression is they allow way too much particulate matter into the intake to be used off road. Water will quickly damage an engine, but a filter that allows lots of junk to get into the engine will kill it too, just slowly. Any supposed HP gains from a K&N will just be compensated for by the computer after about two hours. An engine is, after all, just a big air pump that adds gas somewhere in between. If there is not increased flow on the exhaust side, such as a cat back, it doesn't really matter what is done on the intake side.

If you choose to relocate the intake to the cabin, you will be cutting through the firewall, and creating another possible leak point in close proximity to your truck's computer. The tube will also have to be located very close to your exhaust manifold, which will kinda defeat the purpose of the CAI anyways, and if its plastic, it will get brittle from the heat exposure unless protected by some sort of heat sheild.

It's your truck. Just understand that upgrade parts are designed with a specific purpose in mind, and the K&N was not designed for off road use that includes water crossings. A little ingenuity can alter these parts to serve a different purpose occassionally, but in the end, they are what they are. Pick your parts depending on what you wish to use the truck for...
 
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mine doesnt technically go through the firewall like your implying, it goes out threw the fender like your snorkel, but instead of going out again and up it just goes in to the cab. and yes it pulls air out of the cab click my previous link i put some pictures

hope this helps some...
 
DewRunner said:
mine doesnt technically go through the firewall like your implying, it goes out threw the fender like your snorkel, but instead of going out again and up it just goes in to the cab. and yes it pulls air out of the cab click my previous link i put some pictures

hope this helps some...
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is that noisy that way?

and aren't you concerned that water can get in still and damage the ECU/other electronics and soak the carpet?

also, can you get some under-hood pics?

this "taco tube" i'm assuming is that one that runs under the fender with the square inlet and round outlet in your pic?
 
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it is a little noisy at WOT but im getting used to it, yes if water was in the truck, on the carpet anything over an inch above the carpet would risk getting the ecu, thats pretty deep, im not planning on going that deep anytime soon, i dont want moldy carpet.

its a perfect fix for my tube bumper not covering the air box anymore problem.

the taco tube is i think on 96 to 98 4runners thats the tube the snorkel connects to anyways, and if you have 99+ you have to purchase that tube i think.

it looks completly normal under the hood

the only thing that kinda sucked was you have to tweak your antenna to get it to fit, i didnt want to bother with it because mine didnt really pick up signal anyways so i just didnt put it back on. i use my ipod all the time anyways.
 
DewRunner said:
the only thing that kinda sucked was you have to tweak your antenna to get it to fit, i didnt want to bother with it because mine didnt really pick up signal anyways so i just didnt put it back on. i use my ipod all the time anyways.
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Indeed. I have a snorkel... and my power antenna. It was a battle, though.
 
Does anyone have a pic of the front diff and transfer case breathers? What about the transmission breather, where is it located?
 
Here's some pics of my rear diff breather ran into the cab through one of the rubber grommets in the floor. I used the existing breather and removed the cap, spring and seal. Then connected some spare trans line to it. Drilled a hole in the grommet and shoved the line through. It's temporary but works well. When I Rhino Line the cargo area Ill bend some hard tube from there to a higher location.
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Here's a quick video of me going through easy creeks the hard way. Got bored of just crossing them, so decided to dig em out some. So much more fun!
YouTube - 4runner creek 1 crossing
YouTube - Bawlzdeep 4Runner digging out creek crossing
 

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