Building the 4runner's missing tech package.

Hey all!

Last year, as I was on the way out the door for a meeting, my Audi A3 decided to die. The next day, I vowed that I was done buying German cars for a while, and traded it in toward the most reliable thing I could find: a new 2019 4runner SR5 premium.

At first, I'm ashamed to say that I hated it. Every time I pressed the brake, the car dove forward. Every time I went into a turn greater than 10 degrees, its body rolled like it wanted its belly scratched. I stuck with it, because I knew it would never die – but I was miserable. I'd gone from a sprightly little Audi to a truck that couldn't get out of its own way. I admired other cars, looked at tuned Ford trucks, more German cars, etc. – but after a year, I decided to double down and just make the truck feel good.

I started with a new Icon Stage 2 suspension, which totally changed the character of the truck – it actually makes me love it. So much so that I decided I wanted to spend more time in it. I installed a new front bumper (winch, light bar), added a rear diff locker, took it camping a bunch – but there was something still missing: the technology package. Our 4runners are stuck in the stone age – for a very good reason: Toyota only puts the most reliable parts that trickle down the supply chain on our cars. They know that the 4runner is about getting you there, no matter what.

But that's not good enough for me. I'm an engineer (software, electrical, mechanical, etc.) by trade, and I work from home right now. Since this whole pandemic thing isn't going anywhere soon, I'm doubling down to make this the best off-road office/camper I can, so I can stay far, far away from the city while I conquer what's looking like another year working from anywhere.

Over the winter, I'll be developing the missing tech package for the 4runner, and designing (and possibly selling?) some custom accessories that may be of interest to many of you! Generally, I want this truck to support a few activities:

1. Remote work – Internet and power are a must for my job. It needs to be fast, reliable, and everywhere.
2. Remote construction – Sometime in the next few years, I intend to buy some land and build a house. This thing will be my base of operations while I do that, and I want it to give me power to charge tools, and air for pneumatic tools.
3. Camping / Recreation – It has to keep me (and possibly my girlfriend + dog) comfortable for a week at a time.
4. Bug-out / light first-response – Over here on the west coast, we're overdue for a major earthquake. If you've seen 2020: The Movie you can already predict the sequel.

Over the course of this project, I've got all kinds of fun things planned, including a new sleeping platform, custom roof rack, new exterior lighting, 400Ah of batteries and solar power, an improved user interface, augmented driving (thermal and near-infrared imagining, RADAR, LIDAR, surround cameras), full-time wifi, etc. If it doesn't exist, or I don't like the quality, I'm designing and building it end-to-end myself. Let's see if the 4runner really can do anything!

I've been lurking on here for a while, but I'm hoping I can finally contribute something interesting by documenting my work here, on Instagram, and on a YouTube channel I'm working on! Looking forward to trying to keep up with all of you

K

 

A very big welcome to the forum to you, i can hardly wait to see what you come up with.

 

Now that's how you do a first post

 

So...you're like...good in math, huh?
Sorry, I have 2 cousins in polymer science, another a mechanical engineer and my brother is a petroleum engineer. I say that to them when we're bored. ANYWAY...welcome! I look forward to seeing what you come up with.
-Mike

 

I am finding the 2020 has all of the tech I need and I am tech guy through and through but I get what you mean. Having gone from a 2018 Tacoma with no Android Auto or CarPlay drove me up the wall everytime I got into a rental.

 

I will take a LIDAR system when you got that figured out.

 

Welcome from Wisconsin! That's a REAL project, keep us posted.

 

Good luck. I too had another vehicle that i traded in for something reliable. I will also get a piece of land and build; you will need to carry a generator, no matter what solar panels you get. I settled myself for a 2000w Yamaha ES2000 to charge the batteries for the tools and a simple home made LED light setup connected to a deep cycle battery. The generator sits like 50' away behind a large plywood sheet, away from the camp, you can barely hear the thing, it is ~50db anyway. You will be hard pressed to camp a week a the time and still charge the laptop.
Oh yes, if that big earthquake comes around, your office will be the least of your worries, I would rather get some guns and get my ass out of town.
But yes, solar powered radios, some charging panels, a decent roofrack for the extra stuff, some decent fuel canisters, rechargeable batteries for the flashlights and maybe a nice rear bumper with the sliding table.

 

Thanks for the kind welcome, all! What do you think is the best way to document this? One big build thread? Thread-per-sub-project? Something else?

@canadian.bacon I appreciate the feedback! If I really set up a worksite, you're right that I'll probably want a dedicated generator – especially if I'm needing to do anything like welding, running larger air compressors, etc. I only intend to use the solar panels (nominally rated at 100Wh) to keep the batteries topped off during light loads (for example, when I'm using 60W to charge my laptop, 5W for a router, and ~3W for lighting). I'm currently planning for a total of ~5200Wh of energy storage – part AGM, part LiFePO4.

For us 5th gen folks, however, I suspect that the V6 itself forms the best basis of a generator for more serious loads. On my current trajectory, I'm intending to add a secondary 3600W alternator, and a custom controller capable of both moderating the load and engine idle speed. This should keep the alternator at its nominal speed to produce the correct voltage regardless of load so that, in conjunction with either a large capacitor (or a smaller battery, or both), I can tie it to the inverter nearly directly. Our engine can produce up to 201kW of power (obviously, not without a lot of air moving over the radiator), but placing a 3600W continuous load on it is only equivalent to ~1.7% engine load – which it should be able to sustain while stationary (in addition to standard alternator load due to accessories) with no adverse effect.

My current inverter is a pure sine, 2000W model capable of sustaining 3000W loads for up to a minute. It's only 90% efficient, so we'll say that at full load it's 2200W. Assuming that the alternator is meeting its power ratings, that's 1400W left over, even at full load, to charge batteries, run a compressor, etc. Basically, the car becomes a 2200W Toyota-brand generator. It's likely not as efficient as a 2200W Honda generator (~7kWh/ga.), but it should have excellent runtime, and it's one less thing to carry and maintain

 

Seems overkill instead of buying a 2000w generator. That generator can work for hours if needed instead of the runner, not to mention using a fraction of the gas. The investment is also much smaller, less complicated and doesn’t mess with the cars well being

 

Welcome. I can't wait to see all this!