Enthusiast III
I've answered your query a couple of times shortly after I added the bumper and winch, but I guess I didn't know what I didn't know.
I knew it would need an upgraded suspension but hurricane Ida came and the calculus on anything NOT recovering from the storm changed.Recently I have finally been able to address the issue; which you probably have guessed consisted of poor fuel mileage, worn tires, and a vibrating steering wheel. At the time the 4Runner was my wife's daily driver and she was not real good about letting me know when the TPMS light was on. Therefore she had tires wearing prematurely as a matter of course. The fuel mileage I chalked up to the added weight. While she had told me about the steering wheel vibrations, oddly enough, it would only happen on certain stretches of road and/or road surfaces. , so I didn't follow up. When my son graduated high school I gave him my Tundra and we bought a Mazda CX-5 for my wife. Suddenly the cause of all of these issues was crystal clear... I HAD to get a leveling kit on this rig at the very least.
Of course I didn't REALLY want a leveling kit, I wanted a modest lift to be able to mount larger tires (285/70 R17) and get better off road performance. So.... I waited. I put up with the poor fuel mileage, I rotated tires and avoided certain roads until I could afford to buy, if not ant I wanted, at least a decent lift kit that I could expand upon at some point. I ended up buying an Icon Stage 2 kit and got it installed over the week of Thanksgiving as I was off from work all that week. I then shopped Tire Rack's Black Friday Sale and bought a new set of BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KO3 285/70 R17 tires and got them mounted last weekend. The mud flaps definitely have to go and there may be some more trimming needed as well but considering the fact that I bought the Southern Style Slimline Stage 2 "Wings" to add to the Southern Style Slimline Bumper, there is going to be some significant trimming of the bumper valance real soon anyway. After that I'll run it through full lock both way at full squish and full extension to see if I'll need the Body Mount Trim.
Anyway, the most surprising thing about adding the Icon system was how much better the 4Runner handles on the road and how much better it absorbs the hits on these cow paths that Southern Louisiana calls roads. Here is a few pictures until I can get some- better ones.
