The Enabler: 2018 Magnetic Gray TRD Off Road Premium build thread

“Hello everyone, and welcome to my 5th-gen build thread” - me, in my dreams, up until this very moment. I ended up in this position after falling in love with my 4th gen 4Runner (the thread for which can be found -- and which I admittedly am bad at keeping up on), but needing something that can withstand 30k miles/year of daily life as well as be the starting point for something I keep long-term, for both adventures and whatever life throws at me alike. And so...a 5th-gen was the only logical choice. As of this writing, I somehow own both a 4th gen and a 5th gen 4Runner. I’m a 4Runner lover...and apparently a 4Runner hoarder. (And there’s a ‘91 MR2 project out back, so I guess I’m a Toyota hoarder?)

This intro post will cover some of the back-story about how I ended up with a 5th-gen 4Runner as well as the truck itself, the plans I have for it, and so on. It will also serve as a landing page for the adventures I take with this truck, maintenance performed, and everything in-between.

First thing first: my 4th gen, which I've had since January of 2017 and is my favorite of all of the vehicles I have owned. “The Stormtrooper”--- a 2005 4Runner-- which I bought from a fellow Toyota 4x4 forum member while I had a WRX because I couldn’t stand not having an off-road vehicle. I still have the Stormtrooper and flip-flop between selling it and keeping it. It would hurt my soul to let it go, but selling it would allow me to do some mods to the 5th gen to allow it to do what the 4th gen does.





Long story short, I found myself wondering endlessly what the right vehicle would be to replace the WRX, ideally something that split the difference between the on-road ease of a Grand Cherokee and the off-road prowess of a Wrangler, with better reliability and longevity than either of the Jeeps. The answer was simple: a 5th-gen 4Runner. I love my 4th gen dearly and have loved every 5th gen I had test-driven for fun, but up until now it had been impossible to justify buying one. Seeing that new trucks could be had for less than the few 2-3 year old CPO examples available in my area, the proverbial automotive stars aligned, things clicked into place, and after a horrible situation with a horrible dealer selling a used truck I had a deposit on (*never* buy from Stephen Toyota in Bristol, CT) I found myself shopping for the best deal on the exact new truck I wanted.



And that exact truck was: a TRD Off Road Premium with the only major option being the sunroof. KDSS didn’t appeal to me in knowing the complications it can bring when modifying down the road, and especially since my 4th gen doesn’t have sway bars front or rear so a standard non-KDSS 5th-gen handles remarkably well relatively speaking. After months of research and a few missteps along the way, I drove up to Maine on Saturday, September 15th 2018 and bought a 2018 4Runner TRD Off Road Premium from Berlin City Toyota. I can’t say enough good about the salesman (whose name I will be happy to give out via PM) and the dealership as a whole. The entire experience was unlike any other I’ve had, with zero surprises and no real pressure whatsoever. It was an A+ experience.

In buying the 5th-gen, I may in turn sell the Stromtrooper 4Runner at some point in the not-too-distant future. Or...I might not. But if I do, I’ll be doing to the 5th-gen some of what was done to the 4th-gen. The new 5th-gen 4Runner also will need to be wholly daily-driver capable for my ~100 mile/day round-trip commute, so my plans are to keep it relatively simple, sleek, and functional. Modifications will eventually be as follows (the list of which is subject to change):
--Armor: Sliders, full skids, winch-ready front bumper (could be either a slimline or a full replacement...TBD...already have a Smittybilt winch ready to go), rear bumper w/tire carrier and hi-lift mount
--Suspension: Aftermarket UCAs and shocks/springs (coilovers?) better suited to off-roading (but still daily driver capable)
--Misc. mechanical protection: Snorkel, diff breathers, exhaust tuck
--Trunk LEDs, aux reverse lights, supplementary forward lighting
--Tires (wheels are a “maybe,” only if I am trying to find something lightweight to offset the added unsprung mass of the heavier duty rubber)

And that’s about it. In stock form I love the way the 4Runner looks and drives, so there’s not a ton I need to do to it to be happy with it for years to come. This truck really does mean a lot to me. For years I’ve been thinking and dreaming of buying a vehicle that I can own long-term, build up exactly the way I want to, and use as a backbone for some of my bucket list adventures (like a Moab/Utah/Colorado trip)....and this 4Runner is it. Because of the restrictions that came with my prior vehicles, how they interfered with my goals and life-long desires, and how much this truck can and will allow me to do, it only seems right to name it one thing: The Enabler.
[This name is subject to change if I come up with something wittier]

I will also be documenting the 4Runner for Hooniverse, the automotive website I contribute to semi-regularly. All posts about this truck-- and everything else I write for the outlet-- can be found here.
Current pictures as of 9/15/18:



(And yes, I did copy most of this intro post from that on the T-4R forum. Just wanted to get this going since I frequent TW more than any other forum...even though I'll probably keep the T-4R more current. This thread just needs to exist to keep a good parallel going and since I've wheeled with members from this forum more than any other and plan to continue to do so in the future)