- Where do you plan to camp most frequently?
- Where do you plan to camp least frequently?
- Do you plan to add bumpers, winch, armor etc. in the future?
- What terrain or capability do you envision your 4runner achieving when its completely built?
- Are you concerned with fuel economy, parking garage clearance, family or pet accessibility, budget or anything else that may become decisive factors.
For winter camping, consider organizing the interior of your rig so that you have the option of sleeping inside of your vehicle. This will play into your refrigerator selection as well as your storage system and gear placement. Decent Sub-zero sleeping bags at $500+ are an investment all on their own, consider that. A Propex furnace might be a great investment if you're all about that Colorado Ski/Snowboard life, sleeping on the mountain getting first tracks after a new snow storm.
Since you're posting on this forum, its reasonable to assume your 4runner will leave pavement and that you will very quickly outgrow your stock passenger rated tires and comfy stock suspension. Go straight for E-range Light Truck tires in All Terrain or Muddy pattern. Durability is the name of the game. Stay with a ~31" tire to preserve fuel economy (range) or to avoid lifting the vehicle. Don't let anybody tell you that you need 33's to wheel your 4runner... Get a taller 32 - 34" tire only if you know you've got to have that 3" lift and a beast mode stance for Instagram or Moab or what-have-you. You've got to cut up your truck and run new control arms to get beast mode tires to fit and articulate on these trucks, and that requires more time and money than a lot of people prefer to spend, plain and simple.
You probably won't need a new roof rack to mount a tent. In fact those tents will occupy 75% of the roof, and you might find that a nice Front Runner simply becomes a $1200 tent mount instead of a useful place to store gear. You'll probably get tired of buying and managing ice during camping trips. You'll want a fridge, guaranteed. Why not plan ahead and drop the $800-1000 on your fridge, plus the $300 deep cycle battery you'll want to run it early on? Those two items will be game changers on a level a roof rack or even an RTT could never match.
Tires, tent, awning, fridge and battery/power management. Thats an awesome start in my book. Spend the rest of your time and money in the near-term geeking out on recovery gear, vacation expenses and quality beer. After a season or two, throw on a lift kit, winch, bumpers, auxiliary lighting etc.
Just one man's opinion. I didn't start my 4runner build this way, but this is how I'd do it if i could start over.
