Hi there. I have a 2002 4Runner thats my main daily driver at the moment. Id like to make some changes but im not sure what limits to place on it. For example, I plan on using the vehicle for limited offroading/camping activities, mayby shallow water crossings, but it will still be my main daily transport. How much lift and how large a tire can I use before I get too far out of the city driver league? (I hope this is making sense.)

Right now its completely stock except a TRD supercharger... I wanted to do the deck plate mod but I had a terrible time locating a 4' deck plate - my google-fu is weak. I also like the TJM-15 bull bar.

Just looking for some pointers; looks like you guys might know what youre talking about

Thanks all,

Tom

 

You will hear this a lot, but search around. There are a lot of ideas here on this board - there are even pretty good starter sections for off road enhancements, maintenance, upgrading looks, etc.

No one will be able to answer your question about when mods make the truck not daily-driver friendly. It comes down to what will work for you.

Once you crystallize some ideas and can be more specific in your questions, you will find the folks here to be a good resource.

 

as a general rule, stay with 33" tires or smaller unless you want to regear your axles. to fit 33"s you need approx 3" of lift. So thats a pretty good limit, 3 inches and 33's.

 

When I say daily driver friendly, I mean something that will throw the handling off or greatly decrease the gas mileage.

Taco seems to have an idea of what I mean. 33s, thats a good start. Whats a good shock to go with? I have a performance catalog here but Im unfamiliar with what makes a shock worthy of a Yota .

Ok, more specifically whats a good compromise between city and off road driving shocks. I read up on some others experiences with different shocks but I get more confused the deeper into it I get, and Im pretty timid about asking a shop for help. (Dont want to be suckered into overbuying).

My search seems to be narrowed a bit now to shocks that give me 3" of lift, which really eliminates a lot of products in the catalog Im looking at. Awesome

PS - thanks for changing the intro line for me - much better

 

Just to make it clear, the correct term would be "coil-overs" and not shocks giving you the lift. Its actually the length of the coil, or spacer you insert into the coil-over (or strut) assembly.

I've really liked my Old Man Emu shocks. They are very good quality. If your looking for a minor lift that will improve the onroad and offroad feel, I would definetly recommend looking into old man emu shocks and coils at all four corners.

 

deckplate http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs...allpartial/0/0 also any other mods for the s/c

 

Tom, Why do you want a lift? From what you said (camping and limited off roading) your stock truck would do great... You don't need any lift to run 31's or possibly even 32's.... your mentioned that you might do more aggressive or extensive off roading with this truck in the future? If this is the case, I would stick with modifications that you wouldn't have to upgrade again. ie a 3" lift --when in a year or two you decide you want 35's or something like that. Just a thought. Good luck!

 

Don't do the deckplate mod without fuel/timing mods on that thing. In fact, you shouldn't even be running it hard as it stands right now. Search "Supercharger fuel mods" and you will have about 1000 pages of reading to do. In a nutshell, the 3.4 runs way too lean in stock form with the supercharger just bolted on. You have to gain control of the fuel and timing to prevent long term (or in rare cases short term) damage to the engine. Check out the mods in my sig for more info. Or, go to www.urdusa.com and www.gadgetonline.com for additional reading about this problem.

 

You can go a lot of places with a stock truck. And a couple of years from now you'll be where I'm at and know exactly what you want. From my experience, start saving now.

 

Well, my stock shocks are feeling a little rough lately, they have about 50k on them now. I thought it might be time to replace them anyway and why not get the goodness now... If I run on 31s (probably what I'll end up doing) I guess I'll give Old Man Emu a chance.

I tried to read Gadgets article on "high rpm lean out from an inadequate fuel system" but all I get from the link is:

Not Found

The requested URL /fuel.htm was not found on this server.

???

I'll search the forum to see what I can learn about this issue. Since my s/c is already in place I think I better use my savings for the fuel system before I mess my engine up.

 

id go with ome shocks..if ya got the cash..they have the best shocks/coil lift system ive ever ran, but that was on a jeep. they were stiff enough on the trail, and rode pretty smooth on the street.if you get a lift w/o shocks ive heard good things bout the edelbrock shocks, but there pretty costly too...if broke just go w/ the new rancho x 5000 or what ever there called, they run fine on my yukon.