New whip - '15 4R Ltd. (2 Viewers)

[IanB]

Got the wife a new ride last weekend, loving it so far! Plans include 1" cornfed front leveling kit, 255/75/17 Duratracs on FJ Cruiser 8-hole wheels, and Xenon Depot low beam HID kit.

I was surprised to find that the power was so much less than our GX470 despite having great figures on paper, I'm thinking the factory DBW calibration is largely to blame and a Sprint Booster or similar product may be needed down the road. The vehicles weight roughly the same, but the power is much different.

I'm looking for suggestions on a cargo area protector, the canvasback is looking like a frontrunner so far. We've got a dog and she sheds, looking to keep the fur out of the black carpet and I like the way the canvasback velcro's to the carpet so it should keep the fur from getting under the liner.

The dog LOVES the roll down rear window, haven't had that luxury since I had my '96 Hilux Surf and I've always missed it!

 

[eatSleepWoof]

Nice T4R! I had a Canvasback liner in my '06 ML350 and it was a great product. Really helped protect the interior from my GSD.

 

[IanB]

Tonight was the 1st mod, Xenon Depot Xtreme HID kit for the low beams with Phillips 4300K bulbs. The stock headlight output is underwhelming for sure, and I have the same kit in the low beams on our GX470 and have been very happy with it. Install took a couple hours taking my time, got the relays, and ballasts tucked safely out of the way under the plastic that runs along the inside top of the fenders.

The light output in the driveway against the garage was much improved, even if the pics don't seem to look that different. Much whiter light output, much more fill to the sides, same sharp cutoff. 1st pic is stock halogen, 2nd pic is HID's. The after pic is in the rain as well, so I'm not sure how much that affects the results, but in person it's pretty dramatic.

 

[IanB]

Got some Wagner 9011 HIR1 bulbs for the highbeams. I've used the 9011 bulbs years ago in a Subaru Legacy high beams and was very impressed with the results. They performed well in this application as well.

Here's a shot of just the HID low beams, and another with the 9011 in the driver's side, and stock high beam on the passenger. Out on the road they light up anything reflective for 3X further than the stock high beams, and the fill is much improved.

I hit a deer this weekend in my GX470, which also has excellent headlights (same HID kit in the low beams, low/high factory projectors), and it really drove home how important good lighting is when you're driving in rural areas at night. I had time to slow, but there was nothing I could do to prevent hitting it, just a matter of where it hit me kind of thing, came out of the ditch at a full run and would have hit the side of me if I hadn't slowed, and ended up taking it in the driver's corner of the front bumper, wrecked a lot of sheetmetal. Needs a bumper, bumper support, grille, hood, at least one headlight, foglight, fender, fender flare, likely some fender skirting, and driver's mirror, airbags didn't deploy, and it's potentially going to be a total loss when I take it in for an estimate. My 1st deer in 23 years of driving.

 

[IanB]

Installed the Canvasback cargo liner tonight. I've always had Weathertech cargo liners in other vehicles, but the 3rd row seats would require it be removed to use them, and the wife didn't like that. Looked around at all the options, and settled on this solution as it velcro's down tight to the carpet so it shouldn't allow dog hair to get underneath, and my dog sheds like it's going out of style. Also allows the 3rd row seats to be used without messing with anything else.

This isn't the vehicle that will see anything real messy in the back for the foreseeable future, my only concern is that the canvas will be slippery and the dog's bed will be sliding around back there. I ordered it with the 20" tailgate flap to cover the bumper and protect it from dog nails, and custom flaps so the tie down points are still accessible. Install went smoothly, and I think it's going to work well.

 

[KJ6IRM]

Hard to tell if you have them or not, but I would get the 2nd row seat covers as well. The fur from my dog is well embedded in the factory carpet seat-backs on the second row. I plan on really cleaning the second row and adding the Canvasback liners to my GX.

 

[IanB]

Hard to tell if you have them or not, but I would get the 2nd row seat covers as well. The fur from my dog is well embedded in the factory carpet seat-backs on the second row. I plan on really cleaning the second row and adding the Canvasback liners to my GX.

They are on the 2nd row seatbacks, as well as the cargo area floor/3rd row seatbacks. You can also get panels that cover the cargo area sides, and the tailgate, but I didn't feel they were necessary for my needs.

 

[IanB]

Installed a 1" cornfed front spacer in preparation for new tires later this week. Install was tricky as I have a broken rib right now, and laying on the creeper was no bueno. I really dislike the plastic fasteners Toyota decided to use on the skidplate trim underneath, I can see myself switching over to a different style down the road.

Tires will be 255/75/17SL Duratracs on FJ Cruiser 8-hole wheels, and that takes place on Tuesday, I'll have them do an alignment at the same time.

Gained a full inch up front, maybe a bit more even. The product worked perfectly, no complaints. XREAS lines could have been an inch longer, but I got it done.

 

[IanB]

New wheels/tires yesterday!

 

[orion]

Lookin' good!

I'd lose those running boards...would look SO much better.

- Brian

 

[IanB]

Lookin' good!

I'd lose those running boards...would look SO much better.

- Brian

It's in the works, the wife hates how shallow the Ltd. steps are as her foot has slipped off a few times already. I'm researching what is all needed to convert to a Trail edition lower door sill trim and non-SR5/Ltd. steps that sit up higher. Problem is this isn't a cheap conversion...

I'm also going to be adding 1.25" wheel spacers to push them out to the edges of the fenders.

 

[Moose545]

The wheels are on point, that dang Ltd front end not so much being so low, but if you're not wheeling it it's not a huge issue. Canvasbacks are new to me, pretty slick though.

 

[IanB]

I pulled the side steps off this weekend, and I think it looks great, but it's not gonna work long term though. It's a pretty high step up to get into for the wife, and the 5 year old needs help to get in and out which is totally unrealistic given this is the wife's DD and kid carrier.

 

[orion]

^^^ Looks a ton better.

Check out the N-Fab step bars...they are not rock sliders (so that might be shunned here), but they look great.

- Brian

 

[IanB]

Well, as predicted, the sans-running boards look was short lived. Kid couldn't get in and out unassisted, wife wanted them put back on. It looked really good without, but c'est la vie.

I'm looking into trimming the rocker covers and tracking down a set up '15+ SR5 or Trail spec side steps to try and get back a bit of that lost side clearance, and hopefully gain a bit of purchase for your boots on the step that the LTD. steps are lacking.

 

[IanB]

I had previously purchased some 1.25" wheel spacers for this truck that were SUPPOSED to have been made in the USA, but when they arrived they were clearly made in China. Installed them, and when trying to torque the wheels on, some of the lugnuts seemed to be tightening and tightening, but never getting tight. Turns out the studs were spinning in the spacers! Back off those came, and it left me a bit gun shy about spacers.

Fast forward, and I broke down and ordered a set of Spidertrax 1.25" spacers for my GX470 which I recently installed a Dobinsons suspension on. But looking at the 2 trucks, it's the 4Runner that desperately needs the wheels pushed out to the corners, so I took another crack at it.

Install went much smoother this time around, but on the test drive I had tire rubbing on the fender liners...which was totally unexpected. I'm running 255/75/17's on the stock wheels, now pushed out 31.75mm towards the fender. In tire terms, that's like adding 63.5mm of tire width (on the outside edge at least), or a bit bigger than a 315mm wide tire with only a 1" front spacer. Maybe I should have expected this? The rubbing isn't too bad, it looks like I can remove the inner mudflap on the backside, and hopefully push the liner forward on the front to gain the room I need. No amount of rubbing is acceptable as this is the wife's DD, and I'll hear about it right away, and every day after until they get removed, lol.

It does look proper though!

Here's a few before pics, and the one after pic I got in the daytime this morning after a snowy drive in to work...I'm so over winter at this point.

 

[LTSR]

Good to know it all worked out in the end. Mind sharing the brand of the “USA” spacers?

 

[IanB]

Good to know it all worked out in the end. Mind sharing the brand of the “USA” spacers?

Got them from ebay seller connectingrodmasters, here's their ad. 1.25'' / 31.75 MM Wheel Spacer*4 For Toyota 4-Runner & Sequoia 2001-2007 6941503371522 | eBay

 

[IanB]

A few more after a wash, still trying to get the tire rubbing resolved...

 

[IanB]

Head unit upgrade time!

We weren't thrilled with the factory nav unit in the truck, so replaced with a Pioneer AVH-W4500NEX. This is a non-nav headunit, but does have wireless carplay and android auto, so you can use Waze, or Google Maps, or whatever nav app you'd like. It auto connects when I get in the car, no need to even take the phone out of my pocket unless I want to charge it, it's been excellent! So much better than the factory unit.

Before:

After: