My new to me 2009 4runner Trail Edition

chmura

Adventurer
I purchased a used CPO 2009 4runner Trail Edition with 50k on the clock.

Trail edition is unique to the 4runner in the 4th gen as they only offered a few of them for 2009. They came with rear differential lock, ATRAC, water proof seats, Bilstein shocks, etc. Its basically a FJ Cruiser in disguise.

I'm getting more and more into overlanding, so this will be a overland vehicle build.

Here are some pictures of it. Did not keep it stock for long.

SUSPENSION:
- ICON 2.5 extended coilover front shocks
- Total Chaos UCA
- Front Sway Bar Relocates
- ICON 2.0 Rear Shocks
- ICON Rear Springs
- ICON Shin Guards

WHEELS TIRES:
- 2013 Toyota 4runner TE 17" rims powder coated matte black
- 255/75R17 BF Goodrich Mud Terrains KM


ICON 2.5 front extended coilover shocks
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ICON rear coils
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ICON left, Toyota Bilstiens right
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Installed Total Chaos UCA
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ICON lift with stock rims and tires
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The Trail Edition comes with old FJ cruiser 16inch rims that I do not like. So I knew I wanted to upgrade to 17 inch rims. I was not sure which wheel. Then I came across a great deal on a set of 2013 4runner Trail Edition rims for $220. I immediately jumped on that and purchased them.

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Since I got them cheap I went ahead and got them powder coated matte black on BFG KM MT's.

As it sits with a 2" lift and new tires. Front ICONS are set at factory settings.

Tires are BF Goodrich Mud Terrain KM 255/75/17's.

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I took for new suspension for a 3 night camping trip to Death Valley last weekend.


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J

JWP58

Guest
Very cool. I didnt even know about the 4runner Trail Edition......
 

Martinjmpr

Wiffleball Batter
Awesome! One of the best looking 4th gens I've seen. Looks like not too much lift from your Icons, though - which I like (I don't care for "over-lifted" vehicles.)

Funny I don't think I've ever seen a 4th gen TE. I've heard of them but never seen one. You would think in CO they'd be plentiful but instead I see tons of sports, limiteds and SR5s like mine.

I've got those exact same tires (BFG MTs in 255/75/17) mine are mounted on black FJC steel wheels. I haven't mounted them yet, hoping I don't have any rubbing issues with my mild (FJC Trail Teams) lift.

Did the TE come from the factory with no running boards? That would make sense, it's just that I don't think I've ever seen a 4th gen that didn't have running boards on it (mine came off less than 3 weeks after I got it.)
 

chmura

Adventurer
Awesome! One of the best looking 4th gens I've seen. Looks like not too much lift from your Icons, though - which I like (I don't care for "over-lifted" vehicles.)

Funny I don't think I've ever seen a 4th gen TE. I've heard of them but never seen one. You would think in CO they'd be plentiful but instead I see tons of sports, limiteds and SR5s like mine.

I've got those exact same tires (BFG MTs in 255/75/17) mine are mounted on black FJC steel wheels. I haven't mounted them yet, hoping I don't have any rubbing issues with my mild (FJC Trail Teams) lift.

Did the TE come from the factory with no running boards? That would make sense, it's just that I don't think I've ever seen a 4th gen that didn't have running boards on it (mine came off less than 3 weeks after I got it.)

Thank you!

Yeah they sure are rare, I traveled quite a bit and drove the car home 1,000+ miles.

The TE came with the sport edition tubular running boards. I took them off since they hang so low and I will be getting real sliders soon.

Here are pictures of the TE stock after I bought it, you can see the running boards.

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p nut

butter
Those 5th Gen TE wheels are probably my favorite wheels. Looks really good. It is puzzling why Toyota only did one year of 4th Gen TE's. Probably to not hurt the sales of FJC's.
 

Martinjmpr

Wiffleball Batter
Thank you!

Yeah they sure are rare, I traveled quite a bit and drove the car home 1,000+ miles.

The TE came with the sport edition tubular running boards. I took them off since they hang so low and I will be getting real sliders soon.

Here are pictures of the TE stock after I bought it, you can see the running boards.

photo2_zps2c7c51fc.jpg

Interesting - those tubular running boards look kind of flimsy. The boards on my '07 SR5 looked pretty stout but I still don't care for them (though I haven't gotten rid of them either...)

Hey, how would you rate the ride/noise/performance of the BFG MTs? I've never had MT tires before and I'd be interested to hear how they do, especially for long jaunts on the highway. Here in the Rockies almost everybody uses ATs, including me, but last year I really wanted to try the FJC 17" steel rims and the ones I found had the tires already on them (with about 50% wear.)

The price I paid was what I would have considered a good price for the rims alone, so as far as I'm concerned, the tires were a "freebie." :wings:

However, I'm enough of a cheap SOB that I'm not going to throw away something that's perfectly good, so as soon as the threat of major snowstorms is over for all intents and purposes (I'm thinking early April), I'll put the FJC wheels and BFGs on there to see how they do. My only worry is that they'll be too noisy or rough on the highway, since I have some long trips planned. I guess if they get too annoying, I can pull them off, replace them with ATs and sell the MT's on Craigslist.

Nice to see how good a slightly lifted 4th gen with black wheels and 17" MTs looks though! Of course mine is maroon (salsa red pearl) so it will look a little different from your silver one, but the black wheels and MTs seem to be a good combination.

EDITED TO ADD: Another quick question - since you replaced your wheels, did you keep the TPMS sensors in the new wheels or did you just disable the TPMS? My FJC wheels don't have TPMS sensors (and my understanding is that sensors from my stock aluminum rims will not work in steel wheels) so I'm thinking a half hour with some wire clips to disable the TPMS sensor would be the best way to go (It's not like I've needed TPMS over the past 34 years of vehicle ownership. :rolleyes: )

EDITED THE EDITED EDIT TO ADD: Whoops, one more question: What are you running as a spare? I got 5 wheels/tires and if possible I want to use one of the 17" rims and 255/75/17's as my spare, too.
 
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chmura

Adventurer
Those tubular oem boards are just meant for being used as steps. When I took them off I was very surprised on how lite they were.

I did a lot of research when I was figuring out what tires/size I wanted. I knew I did not want to go with a 285 are many people run. I did not want any rubbing when flexing either. This size is perfect IMO for the 4runner. I flexed the suspension a bit in DV and the tires tuck in nicely in the fender well.

Just out of curiosity I measured the contact surface of my 265 AT tire and the contact surface of my 255 tire and it was actually bigger than the 265 AT tire. So when measured the 255 MT's are wider than my stock 265 AT tire. hmmm.

The BFG MT's are actually very quiet for how aggressive they look. Of course they are not whisper quiet as AT's. There is a slight noise, not a hum at all though. My wife did not even notice any noise changes when she drove in it.

I took a 500 mile trip with them to death valley and they performed very well. My buddy has a Tacoma 4x4 with AT tires came with my to Death Valley and he said he wants these tires also since how aggressive they look with the almost non existent noise they give out. Tire guy that installed these tires said once they start waring out the noise will increase. Even a AT tire will run louder when almost worn. So its expected for noise to increase a little I think.

About my spare. I actually have a 17inch FJ cruiser steel wheel as a spare that is in the stock location under the car. No problem what so ever with TPMS either. I transferred all TPMS sensors to all the wheels including the spare. Another benefit with going this tire size is the spare fits perfectly underneath the vehicle. Any bigger size will not fit seems like as I have 1/4inch space between the tire and the lateral bar of the rear differential. So you wont have any problems with TPMS and FJ steel wheels.

I say go ahead and get these tires. This vehicle will be used on a lot of road trips also. In two weeks im going to Anza Borrego for the weekend, April Mojave Road, and in may going for a 1.5 weeks exploring Utah and Flagstaff for the Overland Expo.
 

chmura

Adventurer
Those 5th Gen TE wheels are probably my favorite wheels. Looks really good. It is puzzling why Toyota only did one year of 4th Gen TE's. Probably to not hurt the sales of FJC's.

Yes I think that is it, not to hurt FJ cruiser sales as its bascially an FJ cruiser inside. Even the ATRAC is the more aggressive FJ cruiser type and not the standard sport/limited ATRAC, so I been told.

I really like the 5th gen TE wheels also, they have a slightly better offset so no spacers are needed.
 

Martinjmpr

Wiffleball Batter
Yes I think that is it, not to hurt FJ cruiser sales as its bascially an FJ cruiser inside. Even the ATRAC is the more aggressive FJ cruiser type and not the standard sport/limited ATRAC, so I been told.

Too bad you couldn't get it with a 6 speed manual, though! :drool:

I took a 500 mile trip with them to death valley and they performed very well. My buddy has a Tacoma 4x4 with AT tires came with my to Death Valley and he said he wants these tires also since how aggressive they look with the almost non existent noise they give out. Tire guy that installed these tires said once they start waring out the noise will increase. Even a AT tire will run louder when almost worn. So its expected for noise to increase a little I think.

Good to know. I think mine have about 50% of the tread left, maybe a little more. I guess they'll be noisier but then again, when I went from a 3rd gen (noisy!) to a 4th gen (quiet by comparison) so I think it will be OK.

About my spare. I actually have a 17inch FJ cruiser steel wheel as a spare that is in the stock location under the car. No problem what so ever with TPMS either. I transferred all TPMS sensors to all the wheels including the spare. Another benefit with going this tire size is the spare fits perfectly underneath the vehicle. Any bigger size will not fit seems like as I have 1/4inch space between the tire and the lateral bar of the rear differential. So you wont have any problems with TPMS and FJ steel wheels.

So you're running the same tire, too? A BFG MT in 255/75/15? I just wanted to make sure it would fit in the space left by the stock tire (which on my SR5 is a 265/70/16.)

I say go ahead and get these tires. This vehicle will be used on a lot of road trips also. In two weeks im going to Anza Borrego for the weekend, April Mojave Road, and in may going for a 1.5 weeks exploring Utah and Flagstaff for the Overland Expo.

Oh, I've got 'em already. It's just that the tires I have on my stock wheels (that came on the truck when I bought in in June) are Cooper Discoverer M+S in really good condition (maybe 80%.) They have the little "snowflake" emblem on the side indicating they are made for snow and the experience I've had in the snowstorms we got last week - biggest of the year so far at about 11" - seem to back that up.

So the Cooper snow tires will stay on until the end of March or early April when I can figure that we won't get any more snow. March is statistically the snowiest month for Denver so I'm definitely keeping the Coopers on for now, although I have to admit I'm sorely tempted to put the BFGs on just to see what they look like! :Wow1:
 

chmura

Adventurer
I'm actually coming from a 2002 Tacoma 4x4, TRD, Manual. I have to say I prefer the auto better. hehe. The 4runner auto transmission is butter smooth, I'm impressed by it. I even did a full 14 quart flush with WS fluid after I got it.

Yes I am running the same size in the spare also, 255/75/17 BFG KM MT, 5 total. Fits perfectly in the stock spare tire location. Stock TE tire size was 265/70/16 also. Not sure why they did not put 265/75/16 as the stock tire. This is what my Tacoma had.
 

chmura

Adventurer
I haven't done any new mods to the truck since the last update. Been too busy enjoying it as is. I told myself that every month I have to take a trip with it. Since February I been to Anza Borrego, Death Valley, and Mojave Road.

Here are some pictures of my recent 2,000 mile road trip to Moab and Canyonlands area in Utah. Truck does very very well off road as it sits. I would like to install a ARB bumper and GOBI roof rack next!

Baby Lion's Back Moab Utah - YouTube













 

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