What do you check in your truck after offroad trip?

[scanny]

Normally I don't do anything crazy while offroad, I try don't go over a mud or water if it's higher than running boards and try to be careful around big rocks. It's never occurred to me to checks fluids or anythitng else after those trips, except looking under the vehicle to make sure nothing is torn off or badly dented. Manual says that if you "have driven through deep sand, mud or water, you must immediately have the above "Additional Maintenance Requirements" performed, as well as change all fluids, and lubricate suspension parts." Seems to be a little bit overkill to me though. Sorry if it was answered before, probably buried so deep I couldn't find it.

So I wonder what do you guys check and what maintenance you do after you've been offroad?

 

[<<<<]

Rear brake lines and Transmission oil pan. Anything else is well protected in this ride.

 

[Intruder]

If you take any hard hits you should have a look underneath for dents or anything like that. Never a bad idea to take a quick look for leaking fluids while you're airing up. It's easy enough to check some fluids like coolant, brake fluid, power steering, engine oil as well. While you have the hood open make sure there aren't any loose hoses or wires as well. If your off roading is fairly mild then chances are you haven't done any damage, but you've got time to kill while you're airing up so do a walk around.

 

[1engineer]

When I go off road I will of course do more checks than if I have stayed on the highway for 10K miles. Also what I check depends on what type of off roading I did. For example, if I just do dry dirt trails and fire roads with no rocky areas I will check:

Tires (both inside and outside side walls for cuts)
Air filter
Visual check underneath for debris like branches and critters and any hose, belt on line damage caused by sharp stones. (I bought home a copperhead once between the cross member and frame)

If it was wet and muddy I will check the same as above and maybe check diff breather depending on the amount of mud.

If rocky the same as above with more attention to physical damage underneath.

If doing a lot of off roading I will re-grease it soon after returning just to flush the grit out of the grease points. I have not really pushed the 4Runner to it's limits but if I did I would go to the severe duty cycle maintenance schedule.

Hope this helps!

 

[flyrv9]

I read on the Tundra site a while back they have a differential vent on top of the rear axel that could allow water in. They have a mod for it that attaches tubing that runs up and vents inside the fuel fill door. I don't know if 4runner axels are the same; but it would be a mod worth considering if they are; for those who run in deep water.

 

[eddiebx]

This is not necessarily a maintenance item, but I did learn to clear out all the stuck pebbles/rocks (and other hard debris) packed into the thread blocks before getting on the highway. I learned this the hard way but, apparently all the pebble stuck in my front tires become high speed projectiles flying straight at my own door panels at highway speeds. I don't even know how it's possible to bounce up from under the car and laterally back at my side body panels, we'll need Greg to draw up a power point presentation and explain the physics behind that

 

[Intruder]

I read on the Tundra site a while back they have a differential vent on top of the rear axel that could allow water in. They have a mod for it that attaches tubing that runs up and vents inside the fuel fill door. I don't know if 4runner axels are the same; but it would be a mod worth considering if they are; for those who run in deep water.

A lot of us have done the diff breather (aka scuba) mod. There's a link to a writeup in one of the stickies at the top of the page. Even if you do this mod, water can still get sucked into the diffs so if you're doing a lot of water crossings you should have your diff oil changed more frequently.

 

[scanny]

Thanks guys! I normally check visually for damage, but I guess I'll check fluids and diff breather as well. Don't do anything crazy though, just posted in http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/55529-new-vids-14.html my biggest encounter with mud last weekend. By the way I learnt that snorkel doesn't fully protect your vehicle in the muddy water, 2 FJs with snorkels had to replace alternator after getting muddy water over the hood for a few minutes. I took a bypass on that hole since I'm not good mechanically and not sure what to fix if something goes wrong. I have very general understanding how things work inside my truck. This forum helps a lot though ; )

 

[harper7]

Thanks guys! I normally check visually for damage, but I guess I'll check fluids and diff breather as well. Don't do anything crazy though, just posted in http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/55529-new-vids-14.html my biggest encounter with mud last weekend. By the way I learnt that snorkel doesn't fully protect your vehicle in the muddy water, 2 FJs with snorkels had to replace alternator after getting muddy water over the hood for a few minutes. I took a bypass on that hole since I'm not good mechanically and not sure what to fix if something goes wrong. I have very general understanding how things work inside my truck. This forum helps a lot though ; )

I just crawl up underneath and look for anything out of the ordinary. When it was super dusty conditions like the last time out I cleaned my TRD air filter as it was caked with about an 1/8" thick layer of dirt.

I avoid the mud holes like the plague and unless I absolutely have to go through them I'll look for an alternate way around .It's not only a pain to clean out from underneath, it's bad for all bearing surfaces ,especially the lower pulleys and wheel bearings.

 

[Intruder]

I avoid the mud holes like the plague and unless I absolutely have to go through them I'll look for an alternate way around .It's not only a pain to clean out from underneath, it's bad for all bearing surfaces ,especially the lower pulleys and wheel bearings.

Exactly! People always question if I actually take my truck off road because it's always clean, but I just stop at the car wash on my way home. Mud is murder on moving parts. Unfortunately there are always mud holes on the trails around here and usually no way to get around them.

 

[phillyd2]

4 tires still pretty much round? Check
Engine starts? Check
Same number of people as at the start of the trip? Check
Jessie done airing up with my compressor? Check

Off to dinner