Need help making a 4Runner Flood water ready!

Hi everyone! I have a completely stock 2006 Toyota 4Runner (4th Gen i believe)except that I'm using Nitto G2 Grapplers (love them btw). Due to us being hit by Hurricane Harvey I would like input on how to build it properly for Flood water safety, i don't have much money but i will save money towards everything that i need IE. Snorkel, Lifts, Drivetrain upgrades...anything please anyone help me I'm all ears. Thank you all in advance.

 

I would start by moving all of your vent lines as high as your can to keep water out of all the diffs/trans etc...

 

Thank you i will start with that first, i am making notes and steps to go by yours is 1st on my list!! I am continuing more research.

 

How much water are you trying to drive through? No amount of breather relocation or snorkles are going to help a submerged or partially submerged vehicle.

 

This hurricane did some drastic flooding that came up to the bottom of my headlights and slightly onto my hood but only in the front of it, so i want to make sure my Rig is ready in case this happens again, no damage has been done to it thank goodness

 

I would seriously look into getting your vehicle to a safe place. Like I said before, no amount of feasible waterproofing is going to make it well, waterproof. The manual says the max water fording depth is 26 inches. That is for mechanicals and electronics. Stay safe man.

 

Thanks a lot man for the advice, i will be cautious and try to make it a little more safer for flash floods in the future

 

At best I would say our beloved 4Runners in stock trim are water resistant. I had a Range Rover for a time and was quite taken with the depth specified and while I endured the relentless level of unreliability that this vehicle was about, the differentials did indeed have vent lines which were high up in the engine compartment. The AT must have burped at the filler tube when it needed too but I was amiss to know how the Borg Warner t-box was managed. The BECM was under the NAS passenger seat and for the P38 crowd this was rather low and met with dismay in Soggy dry lake for one owner. On the 2nd gens the ECM is behind the kick panel which is also on the low side and ponders the question at to how well water proof is the body and the doors?

Often the footage on Youtube by 4WD-Action from down under has them getting good and wet when they do the cape runs. They are always singing the praises about the winches they have and recovery strategy when considering a river crossing or a deep bogg hole. There are many videos in there footage were footwells and general cab partial filling have been the norm when the forward motion has stopped. So time in the drink and movement through it are paramount when your vehicle is devoid of an IPF rating for moisture ingress.

I have encountered three instances with water crossings so far in my life. The first was in my 1982 Toyota 4X4 long bed truck. I had put breather lines on the axles and was headed home from work in Irvine, CA and came to a barricade on Alton Parkway as the police had closed the road because the rains which were exceptionally heavy that week had caused the man made lakes to flood. I new the area and got around the closure to find this intersection looking like a lake in its own right. It was a straight shot to other side and this was new to me in doing this so the first thought was what gear do I use? It is absolutely pelting down and so I dropped the t-box into low range and selected 2nd gear (hubs were open). The water cleared the top of my 32 x 11.50 R 15 BFG's and that was about a third of the way up the door. The speed was gradual and steady and the engine was working to push through but no ingress.

Instance #2 I'm in a 7S Toyota racing in the Fireworks 250 in gosh the 1980's and we had left the start finish at the Barstow JC and were making our way to the Slash X Cafe and there were thunder and lightning we could see and hear above the race trucks groaning. We spit out of the mud hills and come to this sand wash which is a river it was 2 feet deep and 50 yards across and the 2wd 7S was shod with 31" BFG muds. Mike and I looked at each other and figured time is a wasting and plunged in. It was a bit touch and go for the first part as were we entered was the outside of a slight curve to the wash and the cut in the sand was the deepest. The race truck was devoid of all body filler as it had been acid dipped to lighten it up and so the floor was wet but we never got any standing water in it because we had speed and it drained as fast as it came.

Instance # 3 I'm in the RR and my brother an law wanted to see how the Land Rover does in deep water while out in Murrieta, CA during a particularly wet time. So I take the thing up this creek channel and had the water above the door sills and it never missed a beat. Except later when I had it home and was inspecting things I cam to realize that the CAT's were boiling off the water and ruined the heat shrouds under the floor above the CATs. I ended up replacing them with aluminum panels.