2006 Prerunner OEM+ Daily Driver Build

Mileage Update: 170,000
Timestamp: 05/21

Wanted to start documenting the progress on my OEM+ Daily Driver build. Gonna start from the beginning. My truck is an 06 Prerunner TRD Sport. Bought the truck in 2021 with 170k miles from my grandfather in May of 2021, who originally bought the truck in 2009. Truck was garage kept for most of its life, but did heavy highway mileage between Florida and the Northeast.

The goal of this thread is to document building this truck to be the best daily driver possible, not a rock crawling king or overland monster. Just a truck that I can use day to day without compromising on-road performance and comfort, while also handling the occasional trail.

 

Mileage Update: 175,000
Timestamp: 08/21

Stop 1 on the modifications was some LED lighting. As much as I would love to say I did this all in one go, it actually took nearly 3 years for me to fully convert all the lighting on the truck to LEDs. I started with pod fog lights, which did the job for about a year, and then moved on to headlight bulbs, dome and map lights. More recently, I’ve finished the LED conversion, taking care of the rest of the headlight bulbs as well as the taillights and 3rd brake light. Also at this time, I picked up a set of 2013 taillights on Facebook since my stock set were cracked and resealed with silicone. Down the line I’d like to install a light bar but for the time being, this is plenty of light output.

 

Mileage Update: 181,000
Timestamp: 01/22

With this being a 2006 truck, I definitely felt the lack of modern tech driving day to day. I decided to put in a Joying 10.1” headunit. It was a night and day difference, especially with wireless CarPlay. While pulling the dash apart, I felt it was a good time to also pull the front seats out to install some Seat Jackers. For the amount of driving I have done these two changes may not be the most exciting, but drastically improved the day to day comfort and usability of the truck.

 

Mileage Update: 213,000
Timestamp: 03/24

After the headunit install I actually took a hiatus from modifications for a good bit. Working full time and getting a masters took up most of my days, but once I was done I slowly started looking for the next major changes. I came across a set of brand new set of 4Runner ORP wheels on Facebook for $200. I thought it was a scam at first, but was I wrong in the best way possible. Picked them up in the fall of 2023 and later installed a set of Firestone Destination AT2s (255/75/r17). Wanted to go the pizza cutter route, but after test fitting 255/80/r17s, ended up deciding to go down in size slightly to minimize rubbing.

 

Mileage Update: 221,000
Timestamp: 08/24


We’ve reached summer of 24! This summer has been filled with an apartment closet of modifications for the truck.

Bed Changes:

To make the bed of the truck more usable day to day, I decided to pick up a cargo divider and bed mat. Needed to do some slight modifications to the mounts on the CD to make everything fit with my undercover bed cover, but came out super well and couldn’t be happier with the result. With these mods I also took some time to do some maintenance to the bed cover. Changed out the gas struts and rerivited the mounting plates since the rivits were looses. I also installed a rubber mat on the tailgate as well to protect the entire bed.


Backup Camera:

This was one of those modifications that I personally was 50/50 on. I never have used a backup camera in any vehicle in the past, but with other people starting to drive my truck, I felt it was something that keep my mind at ease. I decided to purchase a rear camera that was integrated into the tailgate handle to try and keep the OEM look. Turned out pretty great, just needed to add some silicone to the bottom of the handle to block out the moisture.


Speakers:

After 3 years of listening to cardboard OEM speakers, I felt it was time for a bit of an upgrade. I decided to go with JBL Club speakers throughout, including their 3412T Tweeters, 9632 6x9s for the Lower front doors, and 6520 6.5s for the rear. Sound quality and volume is worlds ahead of what I was expecting, but even without a sub or amp. Some sound deadening was also installed at the same time, but I decided not to install an amp right now, but may in the future. (No photos)

Interior Updates:

Being young and stupid, I have had my fair share of dumb decisions pulling trim pieces out of my truck with no care for the OEM clips, and I felt that it was something that needed to be remedied. Along with this, I took the liberty to add some interior touches. I pulled the AC module out to change out the bulbs, as well as paint the fascia plate black and installed a set of AJT Design AC knobs. Along with that, the center console was removed to install the Guild Outfitters interior Outlet modification. The amount of road tripping that I do in this truck. I think gaining 400W inside the truck at all times will hopefully make life easier for myself charging devices and also for passengers as well.

 

Mileage Update: 230,000
Timestamp: 04/25

Crazy last few months! Hard to believe it’s been over half a year since my last update, and let me tell you a lot of things have changed. Took a brief hiatus from modifications at the end of 2024, but came back swinging in the new year!

Interior:

One of my biggest issues with early 2nd Gen’s (05-11) has always been the grey on grey on grey interior. Yes, if immaculate inside it actual can look quite good, but the second the truck shows any signs of day to day use, the mixture of stains and oily surfaces paints a different image. The goal was really simple, make as much as I reasonably could black. I was able to pick up a 2015 center console at a pick n pull for cheap, which was where the rabbit hole of this portion of the project began. Then, I thought it would be a good idea to take care of the carpet next, and if I could go back I would most likely go a different route.



I chose the cost effective route when it came to making the carpet black, using duplicolor fabric paint. Now before anyone says anything I will say this. It did exactly what I wanted it to do. The carpet is now black and that’s great, but for my OCD, I think down the line I will pull carpet from a 12-15 truck (already black) since it will have a more uniform finish. Regardless, I do think it came out well.




The final piece of the interior puzzle (for now) was for me to figure out what to do about my almost 20 year old seats. The cloth had served me well for the last 4 years, but I felt that the only way to give the truck a breath of fresh air would be to tackle either restoring them or changing them. As much as I would love to do a custom Katzskin replacement, I’m still balling on a budget, so covers were the way to go. I ended up getting a set of EKR covers in black, and the final result is absolutely fantastic.





Front End:

The other major project of mine recently has been updating the front end of the truck, which has been a roller coaster of a ride. I purchased new headlight housings and got them installed. Look fantastic and couldn’t be happier. I’m only slightly worried that they’ll condensate, but for the amount I paid I wouldn’t be surprised.
With the new housings in, I actually decided to do some touch up on the pod light brackets and the grill. The goal was to sand away the rust and recoat the brackets in flat black, and make my tired flat black plastic grill a high gloss black. Both of these goals were a success… mostly. First time painting mistakes were visible, but I have since learned from them and used them on a new grille that I just purchased.



I was rummaging around eBay when I came across a grill that I immediately pulled the trigger on. Like many of us, I’ve always loved the 2016-2023 TRD Pro grill. I knew that there was a version for the 05-11, but I never loved that the surround and the center were molded from the same plastic. I told myself I would only make the switch if the grill could be separated from the surround, so I could paint it. Luckily, someone had that same idea and made it a reality. This sent me down a rabbit hole of trying to fix my painting skills but also trying to paint match to my paint code. FUN FACT: Duplicolor Perfect Match for Toyota 1E7 is discontinued at all major auto stores, making it impossible to track the paint down. After a month of searching, I was able to get my hands on a couple of cans, and the process began. The goal for this was simple, color match the surround, and for the grill, keep it flat black with the exception of the letter bar going across the center in high gloss black. Photos are below and it came out better than I could have hoped for. Paint is as perfect as I could get it to match almost 20 year old paint.

Final Front End!