The new family wagon! 2011 4Runner TE

[zidaro]

Im starting to like the Coopers or Falken WildPeak AT for a mellower aggressive AT

 

[huntsonora]

So I had a bit of good/bad fortune yesterday. I took the 4Runner through a car wash and the car wash caught on my rook rack and ripped part of it off. The owner of the car wash has his son working there and his son and his sons friend were not as accomodating as I felt they should be. They offered to pay for "part" of the repair. I let them know that this was completely unacceptable and that they would be hearing from me. I contacted USAA and they are all over this like Oprah on a donut! They let me know today that the ENTIRE roof rack would be replace, not just repaired and that there is no chance that my premium will be affected by this and that they will contact the car wash and deal with their insurance company to get this matter resolved.

Here is where it gets to be more good/bad fortune. According to the people I talked with at Toyota there are no replacement parts available for the Trail Edition roof racks and the roof rack itself is $800 BUT there is a "stop sale" on them right now. Because of this "stop sale" it appears that insurance will cover almost 100% of the cost for a new Gobi rack! WINNING!

I talked with Gobi today and I can get the Stealth Rack and ladder installed for $1150 and they will wire the lights for an additional $299.

I will be making a call tomorrow to set this up. Here is a picture of the rack I am getting....







I just need to decide now if I want to get the PIAA lights or step up and spend twice as much for the Rigid LED's. Any and all opinions will be greatly appreciated!

 

[zidaro]

Sweet, uhh, purchase

I happen to like LED lights, they put out a nice color and are very bright for the energy consumed, great as trail and camp lights. For a pure driving light, built for speed, HID cannot be matched. A combo is most ideal. maybe LED on the rack, HID on a bumper.

 

[huntsonora]

Sweet, uhh, purchase

I happen to like LED lights, they put out a nice color and are very bright for the energy consumed, great as trail and camp lights. For a pure driving light, built for speed, HID cannot be matched. A combo is most ideal. maybe LED on the rack, HID on a bumper.

Yeah, it works out for the better, these Gobi racks are damn sure nice! I am going to head over to Gobi tomorrow after I run a few errands in Denver and see them

So on the lights, should I do amber fog lights up top or save those for the bumper? I want to have as much light as possible because in the area I guide hunts we have a lot of deer and I've hit 2 in the past 2 years with my Dodge. The Rigid 6x1 LED's go for $200 per light and the PIAA's are $200 for a set of 2 so the Rigids are twice as much. The Rigid 6x2's are $275 a light and that is a bit much. I will have 6 lights total, 4 on the front of the rack and 2 in back. For the lights in back I will for sure do the PIAA's. I am thinking about the middle 2 lights in front be more of a spotlight type light and the ones on the ends to be more of a floodlight type light to get as much coverage in front of me as well as in the bar ditches

 

[Redline]

snip...

So on the lights, should I do amber fog lights up top or save those for the bumper? I want to have as much light as possible because in the area I guide hunts we have a lot of deer and I've hit 2 in the past 2 years with my Dodge. snip...

Hit deer because you couldn't see them or because they were in the road?

Sounds like a good argument for a stout front bumper.

 

[Redline]

snip...

I have a question, if I go with the Icon suspension, which I am leaning towards doing, what tire size would yall recommend? I dont want to suck the power and mileage out of the 4Runner as we are getting an average of 20mpg right now and this is one of the reasons we bought it. I am thinking that a good AT tire will suffice for what I do, maybe the Revo II's or the Cooper AT3's. I have the AT3' on my Dodge and they are fantastic.

I guess the main thing for my wife and I is to have a well thought out 4Runner that is practical for our everyday lives as well as for exploring our home state of Colorado

All good reasons to stay with a moderate sized tire. Your 4Runner has 17 inch wheels right? I suggest a 265/70R17... not too tall or too wide, reasonable price, plenty of tread patterns to choose from, etc.

If you want more tire the next step is a big one, both wider and taller, with a 285/70R17. There is ONE 255/80R17, the BFG mud-terrain, but it sounds like you would prefer a better, all-round daily driver tire, and good MPG... so back to the 265/70R17.

 

[huntsonora]

Hit deer because you couldn't see them or because they were in the road?

Sounds like a good argument for a stout front bumper.

Both times they ran out in front of me. I am hoping that the light setup will allow me to see into the bar ditches and on the sides of the road.

A front end bumper replacement is on the list but they are heavy! I've always liked ARB though. We'll see

 

[zidaro]

WE have the shrockworks front bumper with full light hoops for just that reason, maximum deer deflection.

 

[Redline]

Both times they ran out in front of me. I am hoping that the light setup will allow me to see into the bar ditches and on the sides of the road.

A front end bumper replacement is on the list but they are heavy! I've always liked ARB though. We'll see

Yep, sometimes you just can't avoid them... but trying with extra light is a good idea... and when you can't: ARMOR.

I'm with you on the added weight, I'm struggling with adding nose weight to my Tundra. But if I want front armor it going to be heavy.

 

[mebe4running]

I just need to decide now if I want to get the PIAA lights or step up and spend twice as much for the Rigid LED's. Any and all opinions will be greatly appreciated![/QUOTE]

DO THE RIGID'S you will never look back! Here is a snap of my setup:

Here is a quick video of them "Flashing" : [video=youtube;737411zOCV8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=737411zOCV8&context=C406a65aADvjVQa1PpcFPecs1mls5Qt_mWCY8_vnwX N9qR-AT4xi0=[/video]

 

[huntsonora]

That's a great setup! What's the size of your middle light? Are they fog or spot lights? The Gobi will be going on in 2 weeks

 

[mebe4running]

Thanks, I'm THRILLED with it! Great choice with the Gobi, you will be very pleased with it! The middle light is a custom Victory Series from Rigid Industries with the outer sides of the unit AMBER and the center a WHITE spot. The size of the center unit is 16''. I just had a look on rigid's website and couldn't see it on there. Maybe its just a special request now. Looking forward to seeing some pictures of you new rack!

 

[marshal]

any updates? id like to see some more of yoru rig

 

[Wainiha]

Ah yes, the Wagon Queen Family Truckster. Good choice Clark. Haa

 

[Wainiha]

From what I have read HIDs still out perform LEDs at long distance. Every other time I'd say LED. I have a 6LED bar at 3 watts each.



It still needs to be moved to the grill. Or just get another. I might try making my own. Matt on Pirate did. He has his write up in the Tacoma section I believe. IF building one is not your thing, there are a lot companies selling them now.