Overland 4Runner: Half 3 | RECOIL OFFGRID

Where the rubber meets the highway” is a saying that signifies a crucial level of success or failure — in different phrases, the second of fact. The logic behind this phrase is instinctual to anybody who has ever pushed a automobile  and struggled to keep up traction in rain, snow, mud, or sand. 4 tiny rubber-to-road contact patches are the one issues that hold your two-ton automobile beneath management, and by extension, hold your self and your family members contained in the automobile secure.  This is the reason good tires ought to be on the prime of your precedence record for each automobile you personal (like on our overland 4runner), particularly for these of us who get pleasure from off-roading, overlanding, and driving by way of distant and difficult environments. Within the metropolis, dangerous tires may trigger you to lose management and get right into a fender-bender, however if you happen to’re driving on a treacherous mountain highway dozens of miles from civilization, dangerous tires may depart you stranded in a life-threatening predicament or trigger you to slip off the sting of a cliff.

Above: Along with the wheels, tires, and suspension, I purchased a set of Westcott Designs rock sliders, which defend the truck’s decrease rocker panels from impacts and likewise function handy steps to achieve the cab and roof rack. I additionally put in a pair of Morimoto LED “Gen 2” taillights, which give the truck a cool visible signature at night time, in addition to brighter reverse lights and sequential flip alerts. You possibly can learn my full assessment of the lights on our web site at offgridweb.com/?p=27301.

Selecting the Proper Tires

So, what makes a great tire? As with many issues in life, it’s situational. The tires you’d need on a sports activities automotive are drastically completely different than what you’d need on a semi-truck. One maximizes grip for cornering and acceleration on easy, dry roads, whereas the opposite prioritizes load-carrying capability and longevity. Except for the truth that they’re each spherical and product of bolstered rubber, they couldn’t be extra completely different.

On the subject of pickup vans and SUVs, there are a number of several types of tires to think about, every with completely different traits and capabilities.

• All Season tires are often what your automobile comes with from the manufacturing unit. These have a comparatively easy tread sample designed to be quiet, snug, and light-weight sufficient to maximise gas economic system. Put merely, these are highway tires meant for nothing tougher than moist asphalt, a dusting of snow, or easy dust roads. If that doesn’t describe how you utilize your truck, it’s time to improve.
• Mud Terrain (M/T) tires are the alternative finish of the spectrum from all season tires, with massive, blocky tread patterns, extra resilient rubber compounds, and closely bolstered sidewalls. They provide excellent efficiency over deep mud, snow, sand, and rocks, so that they’re the only option if you happen to do loads of severe off-roading. Nonetheless, this leads to some substantial compromises for regular highway use — often steady noise at freeway speeds and lowered gas economic system.
• All Terrain (A/T) tires are about midway between an all season and an M/T. They’re significantly better than an all-season for driving past the pavement, however they’re nonetheless comparatively quiet for day-to-day use and received’t hit your mpg too laborious. Some off-road-oriented automobiles or trim ranges (for instance, the Jeep Wrangler Rubicon) come normal with A/T tires; for others, it’s an non-obligatory improve. In case your automobile is used for a mix of on-road and off-road functions, or if you happen to merely don’t plan to do loads of hard-core mud-bogging and rock-crawling, an A/T tire will serve you nicely. Remember the fact that this class covers a variety of designs. Some can be solely a tiny bit extra aggressive than an all-season, whereas others can be very near an M/T (these are typically known as Rugged Terrain or R/T tires).

Above: With inventory wheels, tires, and suspension, the 4Runner seemed a bit of prefer it had been skipping leg day. And on the paths, it continuously bottomed out and struggled to keep up traction over greater obstacles.

New Sneakers for the 4Runner

Even if my 2022 4Runner has the TRD Off-Street Premium bundle, it got here with a set of Dunlop AT20 all-season tires. Frankly, these are horrible, even inside the all-season class — in Tire Rack’s rating of 57 all-seasons from finest to worst, the AT20 took 54th place with an general score of “poor.” Toyota affords an non-obligatory improve to A/T tires, nevertheless it’s way more cost-effective to swap tires by yourself after leaving the dealership. You’ll additionally have the ability to store round and discover the precise tire that matches your wants, and also you’ll have the ability to take into account completely different tire sizes as nicely.

Above: As soon as the truck was up on the raise at SL3 Customs and the wheels have been eliminated, the primary order of enterprise was to take away the unique rear springs, shocks, and bump stops.

Talking of which, many vans can accommodate tires no less than one dimension greater than the originals with none modifications, or two to 3 sizes greater with a gentle suspension raise. Bigger tires present elevated floor clearance and extra cushioning in opposition to potholes, rocks, and different obstacles. My 4Runner got here with 265/70R17 tires, and after studying about tire fitment on the boards, I made a decision to go as much as a 285/70R17 (two sizes bigger). This may require a slight raise and another modifications I’ll focus on later.

Above: The +200-pound springs, load-leveling collars, and bump stops have been put in above the rear axle. Bump cease positioning was checked to make sure they have been in the appropriate spot to make contact with the axle at full compression.

My tire of alternative was the Nitto Recon Grappler. It includes a comparatively aggressive tread sample for an A/T tire, nevertheless it’s not fairly as deep and blocky as a full-blown M/T — in my view, that’s the candy spot for an overland automobile. In contrast to a rock-crawler or devoted path rig, an overland truck nonetheless must be able to driving a whole lot if not hundreds of miles on the freeway earlier than heading out on the paths, and plenty of of them (together with mine) are additionally pushed round city day by day. The Recon Grappler affords a pleasant compromise between off-road functionality and on-road manners, and it even comes with a 55,000-mile treadwear guarantee.

Above: Each collars have been measured and set to roughly 1 inch of raise. Later, as soon as the truck was on the bottom, the included adjustment software might be used to rotate the collars and fine-tune the rear experience peak.

Since I used to be already swapping tires, I made a decision to choose up a brand new set of KMC Affect OL wheels on the identical time. Their silver machined end seems superior and feels paying homage to the early ’90s Toyota vans I grew up round. They’re additionally roughly 5 kilos lighter per wheel than the 4Runner’s unique wheels, which reduces the uncomfortable side effects of including heavier tires. Swapping wheels allowed me to promote the unique wheels and tires on Craigslist as an entire set, successfully lowering the price of the improve by a number of hundred {dollars}. The 17×8.5 KMCs are barely wider than the inventory 17×7.5 wheels. Their 0-millimeter offset additionally creates a barely wider stance, however not so large that it rubs on the physique when the steering is turned to full lock.

Above: The Eibach Professional-Truck reservoir rear shocks have been bolted on to finish the rear suspension. These are an non-obligatory improve over the shocks that include the usual Professional-Truck package.

Suspension Upgrades

The fifth-generation 4Runner has been round since 2010 with minimal modifications, and greater than 1.3 million of those SUVs have been bought in the US since then. Because of this nearly each attainable modification has already been tried and documented on the web. A little bit of fast analysis informed me that with a purpose to clear my chosen wheels and tires with none rubbing, I’d must raise the entrance finish about 2.5 inches, take away the entrance mudflaps, barely trim the underside edges of the entrance bumper, and presumably lower a small portion of steel out of the physique mount (often called a “physique mount chop” or “BMC”).

Above: Distant reservoirs — the smaller cylinders hooked up to the shock physique — include extra shock oil. Throughout extended high-speed driving over tough roads, the oil inside shocks heats up, resulting in lack of dampening efficiency and a bumpy experience, however extra oil reduces this impact. It additionally affords barely longer suspension journey and reduces put on, resulting in longer shock lifespan.

Which may sound imposing if you happen to’re not mechanically inclined, nevertheless it’s the kind of work customized truck outlets do all day lengthy. So, I headed to 1 such native store, SL3 Customs, in Queen Creek, Arizona. Scott, the proprietor, stated he’s accomplished this work to many 4Runners, so I knew he may deal with the labor significantly better than I may in my very own storage.

Above: Transferring on to the entrance suspension, Scott unbolted the swaybar finish hyperlinks and eliminated the previous coilover shocks and higher management arms. A ratchet strap was used to carry the hub up briefly.

For elements, I turned to one of many greatest names within the suspension enterprise, Eibach. I began with their Professional-Truck Raise Stage 2R system, which incorporates adjustable entrance coilover shocks and reservoir rear shocks. I added Eibach’s non-obligatory Load-Leveling System, which comes with rear springs, bump stops, and peak adjustment collars. This mixture affords peak changes on all 4 corners of the truck, with 2 to 4 inches of raise in entrance and 0.5 to 2 inches of raise within the rear. This adjustability ensured I bought an excellent experience peak and the precise quantity of raise I wanted to clear the tires.

Above: Eibach’s Professional-Truck 2.0 coilovers characteristic anodized billet aluminum mounts, a monotube design with 46mm piston, and nitrogen-filled variable-force valving. They’re engineered, individually dyno examined, and manufactured within the USA. Scott set the adjustment collars to about 2.5 inches of raise.

The Load-Leveling system additionally affords three completely different spring selections — 0, +200 kilos, and +400 kilos — to help truck builds which can be carrying added weight over the rear axle. On highway journeys, my 4Runner often has a Dometic fridge filled with meals, a Aim Zero battery, 5 gallons of water, and a bunch of different gear within the again, so I chosen the +200-pound spring choice. Lastly, I added a set of Eibach Professional-Alignment higher management arms with factory-style sealed ball joints. These made it simpler to get the camber and caster alignment settings dialed in to acceptable specs after the raise was put in.

Above: The brand new Professional-Alignment higher management arms weren’t strictly crucial with the quantity of raise we have been going for, however they’ll make getting the right alignment specs a lot simpler. After attaching the ball joint to the spindle, don’t overlook to move a cotter pin by way of the higher gap and bend it to safe the citadel nut in place. You don’t need it falling off on the path!

On the Street Once more

I’m a agency believer that good tires is perhaps the one finest modification for any automobile, however robust, light-weight wheels and a correctly tuned suspension system aren’t far behind. These three modifications fully remodeled the 4Runner, each visually and when it comes to on-road and off-road efficiency. I now not have to fret continually about dropping traction on rutted or muddy trails, or about puncturing a sidewall on sharp rocks within the desert (however as at all times, it’s sensible to air the tires down to scale back the danger additional).

Above: After re-attaching the swaybar and ensuring the whole lot was moderately tight, Scott may lastly put the wheels and tires again on. All {hardware} was tightened totally with a torque wrench as soon as the truck was on the bottom and the suspension was beneath load.

On the freeway, the Recon Grapplers are very snug and comparatively quiet — actually nowhere close to the obnoxious hum of an aggressive mud terrain. Gasoline economic system took a success, as will at all times be the case with a raise and bigger tires, nevertheless it averaged out to solely about 2 to three mpg. I take into account this a small value to pay for the rise in capabilities, and even in inventory type, it was by no means going to sip gas like a Prius.

Above: I made positive to get a full set of 5 wheels and tires in order that I’ll have an identical full-size spare if I ever want it. The boards have been useful but once more, since they knowledgeable me {that a} 285 tire will nonetheless match within the unique location beneath the rear finish.

I anticipated that I would must have the physique mounts lower to stop rubbing in opposition to the tires, however Scott at SL3 Customs satisfied me to attend and see after the alignment. I’m glad he did, as a result of it seems that the tires don’t rub in any respect, particularly after the alignment store was capable of dial in 4 levels of caster utilizing the added adjustability of the Eibach higher management arms. This modifications the angle of the wheels very barely and provides a bit of extra respiratory room at full steering lock.

Above: After a fast check drive, Scott seen that the entrance tires have been making contact with the decrease edges of the bumper at full steering lock. He taped off the realm that wanted trimming and used an angle grinder and sander to rigorously take away the surplus materials.

As for the suspension, the 4Runner rides a lot smoother, feels extra planted, and doesn’t nosedive as a lot beneath heavy braking. With the stiffer rear springs, it additionally doesn’t sag as soon as I’ve loaded a bunch of substances into the cargo space. I’m glad I went with a 4-wheel-adjustable setup, because it allowed me to even out the experience peak front-to-back and side-to-side. The driving force-side rear nook of the fifth-gen 4Runner tends to sag a bit of because of the gas tank placement, and this was simply corrected.

I’m actually pleased with the present state of the 4Runner, and it has served me nicely on many highway journeys and path excursions all through the final 12 months. Within the subsequent a part of the construct sequence, I’ll focus on the objects I’ve added to the Westcott Designs roof rack, a few of that are already seen in these photographs. Keep tuned for extra!

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Written by Patrick McCarthy