What is the happy highway offroad medium

[4RnnrHntr]

Here's the deal. I really want to get a bit of a lift and some tires that will let me get through some mud when I go hunting and camping. However, I do a LOT of highway driving (just went over 5k miles in under 2 months). I do know that I need to install the VSC shutoff to be able to goose it through mud and not get stuck in the middle of an intersection going 3 mph(done that, not ideal when cars go sliding through past you). Why the VSC shutoff is not already installed on the guy stock, I will never know. If any of you T4R vets out there have any suggestions please let me know, I'm a noob. Also would love to get the tires out flush with the body so it doesn't look so damn top heavy and embarrassed/pigeon toed but with the amount of highway driving at 70-75mph I do I know that spacers arent a good option for the bearing geometry and have heard much the same with an offset rim. Would some bigger tires (BFG, or GY wranglers etc) get that job done on 16" rims?

2007 SR5 V6 4WD

also, does ANYONE have a tool kit for this guy that would work for under 80 bucks? I bought it private sale without one and am just waiting for karma to have her fun with me.

 

[Martinjmpr]

Here's the deal. I really want to get a bit of a lift and some tires that will let me get through some mud when I go hunting and camping. However, I do a LOT of highway driving (just went over 5k miles in under 2 months). I do know that I need to install the VSC shutoff to be able to goose it through mud and not get stuck in the middle of an intersection going 3 mph(done that, not ideal when cars go sliding through past you). Why the VSC shutoff is not already installed on the guy stock, I will never know. If any of you T4R vets out there have any suggestions please let me know, I'm a noob. Also would love to get the tires out flush with the body so it doesn't look so damn top heavy and embarrassed/pigeon toed but with the amount of highway driving at 70-75mph I do I know that spacers arent a good option for the bearing geometry and have heard much the same with an offset rim. Would some bigger tires (BFG, or GY wranglers etc) get that job done on 16" rims?

2007 SR5 V6 4WD

also, does ANYONE have a tool kit for this guy that would work for under 80 bucks? I bought it private sale without one and am just waiting for karma to have her fun with me.

As far as lift goes I have about the smallest lift you can get, and that's the FJC lift. I bought the FJC TT front and rear springs and front shocks for about $180 from someone on another board, and then another $150 or so for rear Bilstien 5100s. Installation was $500 including the alignment but that's because I wasn't confident enough to do it myself.

If you go to the link in my sig it's got the writeup but the short version is that I ended up with about a 1" overall lift as measured at the center of the wheel arches and at the receiver under the rear bumper. Along with a new front bumper that required trimming the inner fender liner that was enough to allow me to mount 255/75/17 BFG MTs on FJC 17" steel wheels.

My 4runner is not a DD but it is my designated tow vehicle for our teardrop trailer and that is on-road only so I need to keep my vehicle "highway worthy" too. I just recently changed to BFG AT's in 265/70/17 which according to my calculations is around a half inch shorter than the 255/75/17.

Overall I'm happy with it. There are times I wished I had a bit more lift just because my truck doesn't really "look" lifted now, but I have to say I haven't had any problems or issues with it during the relatively mild off-roading I've done with it. I think the next step up, lift-wise, would have been an OME kit and that would have been closer to 3", which is really a lot more than I need.

As far as tools, I just bought a tool roll from Northern Tool and put some basic tools in there: Socket wrench with multiple metric sockets, screwdrivers, pliers, vice grips, a hammer, an adjustable wrench, some metric sized combination wrenches and so on. These were all tools I had in the garage.

To be honest I haven't really needed much in the way of tools (knock wood!)

 

[robtmc]

I do know that I need to install the VSC shutoff to be able to goose it through mud and not get stuck in the middle of an intersection going 3 mph(done that, not ideal when cars go sliding through past you). Why the VSC shutoff is not already installed on the guy stock, I will never know.

Which flavor of VSC shutoff are you planning? The VSC only mod that leaves TRAC operating will not work in 2WD if you need it quickly.

 

[salong53]

Here are your options from least to most expensive:
1) Daystar or Cornfed spacer lifts. Cheap, fairly easy to install on your own, and minimally affect on road manners. They allow you to run 265/70R17 tires easily.
2) FJ Cruiser Trail Team springs/shocks. People say this improves ride quality both on and off road. This can also be combined with the first option.
3) Bilstein 5100 shocks with factory or FJ springs to level the front. A rear spacer or lift springs can be combined with this option if you want to maintain some forward rake.
4) A full lift kit from companies like OME or Toytec. By far the best improvement for off road performance, but they can be pricey.

No matter which option you choose, you will definitely need an alignment. Anything above about 3.5" and you'll need aftermarket UCAs and a front diff drop kit as well.

Going to 285 or wider tires, you may have trouble with the front tires rubbing the UCA, however, if you put wheel spacers on to fix this problem, you may have trouble with rubbing the firewall. Unless you have 3+ inches of lift and are willing to do some mild trimming/hammering, you're pretty much stuck with 265/70r17 or 255/75r17 tire options.

As for the stance, Spidertrax wheel spacers (hub-centric design) seem to be the fairly common cheaper option on the forum, or you could always get new wheels with a different offset. Toyota 4Runner Wheel Spacers

I suggest you just look through this thread and pick what you like.
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/4th-gen-t4rs/51742-lift-tire-central-pics-post-em-up.html

 

[progress4m]

Agree with response above, see my signature for my lift; as far as wider stances I would recommend FJ wheels, for my truck FJ wheels and Nitto AT tires (265/70 R17) made a perfect stance: tires are 1/8 inch “wider” from flare line on each side ! I would not go wider not just from the look of it, but as from practical point of view: on the tight trail wider is definitely not better;

P.S. keep in mind I have 2005 model which by default had better stance since fender flares are not sticking out as much as on 2006-2009 4runners;

 

[4RnnrHntr]

Which flavor of VSC shutoff are you planning? The VSC only mod that leaves TRAC operating will not work in 2WD if you need it quickly.

I was not sure at all hence my needing to post to ask. Also not sure if I would be able to do it on my own or have it done. I really hate the thought of digging into the electronics of the vehicle especially when relating to the driving bits of the truck. I have seen a video or 2 on the installation and it seems as though they just installed an interrupter switch. Then on the second one there was a box along with the switch that allowed the switch to only turn off the VSC and not all of the other shenanigans involved with it. Also, would like to be able to do it so I do not have to restart the vehicle to reset the system (not sure if that is possible). I appreciate the responses guys, THANKS!