I had a first gen 4runner and even with the soft top I put on, it sucked getting to camp gear that was loaded at the front. You had to either remove everything in the rear, climb in to the front, get what you wanted/needed, climb back out, re-load everything, etc. Some of it you could get to by climbing through the passenger seat access, but that wasn't fun either.
I think once you reach a certain body length, the access becomes a problem. I would venture that the LJ is just about the limit of that extra length vs. accessability. Obviously, with the top removed that helps, but with a top on I think it would be a pain.
Jack