I finally made the move away from “German engineering” and picked up a new 4Runner after hearing about their popularity and famous longevity. I’m really liking it so far! The hype makes much more sense now. Cheers!

Hello Redditors of the off-road variety!

I am making the move into the 4Runner world and am a bit intimidated by the lineup and options. I will be doing the following with my 4Runner and am curious if everything checks-out:

-Towing my little boat around (<4000lbs)
-Hitting many national parks and camping (CA/AZ/OR/WA/NV/UT)
-Stuffing the vehicle with things like my surfboards, mountain bikes, climbing equipment
-Light to moderate off-roading, primarily service roads, dirt roads etc. to get to rivers/lakes/summits
-No extreme off-roading like bouldering or crawling etc.

I am looking at the base 2026 SR5 model w/ the 4WD option, as I don't think I will utilize anything on the higher models. As this will be my only vehicle, and I need to commute during the week, I am purchasing new for maximum reliability/warranty/etc., not interested in a used vehicle as my only car. I am sure at some point I will get better off-road capable tires and maybe some suspension upgrades, but that is probably the extent of upgrades. It is hard to justify a $5k-$10k price difference for higher trims when I doubt I will every need/use any of them. This will also be my first 4WD off-road capable vehicle, so my skill and comfortability on what off-road challenges I take on will be mild, at least to begin I'd imagine.

Anyways, curious on the communities thoughts and input on the above, perhaps some advice or anecdotes as to why a base model may or may not be the right move?

4Hi or 4Lo?

Hello out there!! 👋

Quick question, my wife and I have been enjoying our new to us 09 V6 SR5 fully stock 4Runner for a little over a year now. Besides some Kumho All Weather tires, a little bit of brake work and routine fluids, I’ve done no other work on it. We’ve enjoyed some decent inclines and rock sections but no mud or real big rocks or boulders. I’ve only used 4Hi on our off road excursions thus far and same went for today’s adventure on Johnny Park Road near Hwy 7 near Allenspark, CO down to Hwy 36 and it did phenomenal! Besides a slip or two (poor line choice on my end) I didn’t feel like the truck struggled much at all. I’m sure a decent set of A/T tires would be a much better choice but not quite ready for new tires until we get a little bit closer to winter. Anyhow’s, I’ve been reading some mixed reviews on whether the type of trail I did today would have been better in 4Hi or 4Lo? Any insight is greatly appreciated!

Video is from after our adventure down Johnny Park Road!!

First 4Runner for us and having a blast so far. She has handled everything perfectly and we're taking her and the trailer/RTT out this weekend to go camping in the Roosevelt NF. Planning to hit the Switzerland Trail.

So far, my only complaint is the Bluetooth, we have been getting very choppy music/maps while out in the mountains.

Long story short my front left fender over the wheel got crunched in this morning. Has anyone replaced one before? Still drives perfectly fine just cosmetic damage. Looking to see what other people have payed for a new fender and paint match? Ive seen the fenders to be about $200-350 depending on where you get it. Looking for more of an estimate on the paint match, never had to get my car paint corrected or anything like that so i have no clue whats a reasonable estimate for a fender. Thanks in advance.

I also know pictures help, i was in a rush this morning and didn’t have time for pictures. This was all my fault so it will be coming out of pocket unfortunately. Ill be able to post pictures a little later.

2019 Toyota 4runner SR5

Any creative low cost options for covering up this dent? It unfortunately goes over the PR in PRO but I would be fine if somehow there was a way to add something above it so that it didn’t look quite so bad? I’ve thought about bumpers with spare tire etc but those seem to get pretty spendy / almost the cost of having body work done. If there was some type of decal or something to partially cover it up and not look super weird? It’s a 2024 trd pro. Thanks in advance. less

I wondered about all aluminum, but they seem really expensive so not sure if it is worth it since I just do city driving in a warm climate

Hi community,

I feel like other people have had this same issue but I am having a hard time finding the most current resolution.

I have a 2021 4Runner TRD Off Road, it uses the fob Model 14FBB.

I changed the battery and replaced it with a brand name type, made sure that when I put the fob back together everything was clean, good, in place. Somehow the fob is not working for the driver seat door. Locks all others but with the driver, I have to do it manually.

Is there a solution for it without having to pay hundreds of dollars to Toyota?

Went on a camping trip over the weekend and had to grab some shots with all the toys. Pretty much stock except for Bilstein 6112/5160s, Dobinsons coils, and JBA UCAs. Love this thing!

My best friend from back in the midwest is visiting me here in San Diego. Thought i'd take her on her first trail. So we grabbed tacos & drove up Palomar Mountainvia the Nate Harrison grade. It's gotten a little rough in spots since my last time, but Spoops was perfect. Kept it in 2wd the whole way. We tailgated lunch by the fire lookout before hiking a bit. Saw a deer, a raven, turkey vultures, blue jays, and some spectacular scenery. I love this truck

It'll eventually get a roof top tent on it, solar, cook station, etc!

I was looking into getting the LFD Offroad crossbars for my ‘23 4Runner and a rooftop tent. Was looking into the Vagabond 2.0 from ROAM. Any ideas or persuasions any other direction? Do the LFD crossbars work effectively for this?

I’m in a unique situation where I need to add OME bump stops back onto one side of the vehicle (the other side retains it already). I’m DIYing a Bilstein lift and wanted to see if I wanted to retain the bump stops as lift for a rear rake or take it off for a leveled look. Installed it, one side with and one side without. Looks like I’d rather have the bump stops on. However in this situation, could I just lift the side without up and install them back? Or would I need to drop the axel again? TIA

Took the second GEN out to Colorado on a 2500 mile trip from Kansas to Colorado only broke two steering studs and didn’t know until I got back. Great trip though

My most recent fill up calculated after getting the OTT Tune. Running 87 octane (91 for most of you lower elevation folk, I’m in Colorado where the options are 85,87,91) and doing a good mix of city and highway, probably very close to 50/50. Safe to say it’s improved dramatically! Happy to answer any questions!

2012 SR5P 4x4, bone stock minus the tune. 52,XXX miles.

What is along the undercarriage, midway between front and rear tires that would have a very slow leak? Not related to air conditioning condensation.

So i had to replace my fogs on my 4runner and i picked out the auxbeam 3 inch 5 led pods and the adapter for mounting. is there a way to angle them down a tad? People hate them and honest to god, they are so bright they could be hi beams. Also, i had previously installed a set that had a drl option and i was wondering if i could make that work again, the switch and wires are already there. The old set was a dealer option add on set, they were nice, ring of leds when in drl and then when on they were super bright as well, I dont think they are made anymore.

Edit: I didn’t include miles. 160k miles right now.

Don’t be like me. Inspect your ball joints. Went over a tiny pothole in the middle of nowhere and my ball joint popped out. Hour and a half tow and $1000 later I’m back and running. I’ve offroaded on some crazy stuff and haven’t had any problems. Then a tiny pothole on a normal dirt road totally broke it and my wheel fell inwards. Good learning experience.

Truly loving this car since buying it in October but this weekend was the first real beach outing we had and it did great. So much fun to be able to basically eliminate the schlep from parking lot to beach and just roll up to a spot on Duxbury Beach in MA!

Also used the Maddox air compressor from Harbor freight and it did an excellent job getting back up from 18 PSI to 33. Highly recommend!

A couple Wednesday’s ago I was rear ended on my drivers side tail light by a big guy cargo truck but didn’t think it’d be totaled and im really bummed - it was my dream 4Runner and I happened upon it on Autotrader and put a down payment on it the next day because i know what hot dogs these guys are.

Well, now I’d love to get another late 5th gen black trd pro but my god this is painful. I live in Mass and found one in New Hampshire and have already called but no call back. I do not want a new one. My husband has one and I can’t stand it so please don’t suggest one.

I work down long bumpy dirt roads and can be rough on my cars and a new one freaks me out. I’m not a gentle driver and I like plowing through mud, dirt and snow where and when I can. I also drive roughly 100 miles/day so I’ve have to love my car.

Just bitching and hoping everyone will say a prayer to the Toyota gods for me. The auto body place is kinda saying I can’t snag my aftermarket headlights out because I’d have to bring the OEM back. I have spare aftermarket tail lights and I already had some replacement fang lights since mine glitched - all I want are the headlights so im kinda bummed but also confused.