New Rig; 5th Gen 4runner

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JSearles562

Rank IV
Launch Member

Enthusiast III

1,146
Potsdam, NY, USA
First Name
Jordan
Last Name
Searles
Member #

17749

Ham/GMRS Callsign
KD2SOC
My poor '07 WK overland rig spent the better part of last winter as a 2.5 ton paper weight after a slew of issues piled on seemingly at once around the 136k mile mark. One of the front struts went completely tits up, a catalytic converter started throwing an inefficiency code (which is an expensive fix thanks to NY emissions rules), my evap system sprung a large leak from some undetermined location and to add insult to injury, the dash started alerting of a transmission over-temp. Not wanting to dump a small fortune into it just to renew the NYS inspection, I picked up a 2009 Kia Borrego as a daily driver. The Kia was great. If you haven't heard of the Borrego you're not alone, it was a single year model (2009 only in the US) body on frame mid sized SUV with part time 4wd and 3rd row seating. It was truly a pleasure to drive. But in early April I finally was able to replace the Jeep with a proper overland vehicle; The 5th Gen 4Runner. I searched high and low for a Trail/TRD Offroad that checked all of my boxes but came up empty but I did find a beautiful SR5 Premium for the right price.
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So far I've done a few modifications starting with the badge blackout and roof rail painting. I added a dual battery tray from C4 fabrications and an isolator from Redarc to serve as the foundation for the future lighting/accessory modifications. Im currently running the factory battery and a second group 24F battery that i had from another project which is practically new. Not ideal, but I'll upgrade soon. After that was the obvious mod; Lift/tires. I knew the tires that came on it had to go, and i knew that i wanted 285s, in order to run then i had planned to run bilstein 5100s front and rear but they're back-ordered everywhere so i bought a cornfed suspension systems 2"/1.5" kit and when I can get bilsteins I certainly will. The cornfed uses a preload spacer in the front which really tightened up the suspension to a more sporty feeling ride which i like. I currently have a set of baja designs squadron fog lights coming that will hopefully be here this week and my next upgrade will be to extend the rear diff breather. I'm also looking for an antenna mount for my ham radio antenna but so far havent found one that I like. I have a comet sr2x4 antenna and an icom 2730A radio thats ready to be wired up. Its a work in progress and ill keep everyone updated as future mods are installed.
 

JSearles562

Rank IV
Launch Member

Enthusiast III

1,146
Potsdam, NY, USA
First Name
Jordan
Last Name
Searles
Member #

17749

Ham/GMRS Callsign
KD2SOC
Pretty sweet. What year / how many miles ? It looks like new...
Thanks! its a 2017 with 86k miles currently. There's a moderate amount of northern NY rust on the under side but nothing some POR15 didn't fix. I did however have heavy rust on the internal supports for the rear window motor inside the lift gate. It was obviously nothing you could see from the outside but every time you opened or closed the gate you could hear flakes of rust and sand rolling around, I completely disassembled it and sucked all the debris out then fluid filmed the rails and interior of the gate being careful to avoid the motor and electronics. I would have preferred to remove and coat them with something but that would have been a MUCH bigger project. All in all its a very clean vehicle.