NC 4runners

I am not sure if I am on that one too. Question, do you know any good offroad shops around your area? There is not much to choose from here in Asheville unfortunately. Want to upgrade suspension this coming spring.

 

I had Queen City overland install my suspension and which. He did a good job. He runs it out of his garage though and not a 1 day turnaround. There is a place that I brought my 4Runner to for off-road alignment. It was called BMF Motorsports.

 

Appreciate that. Ever heard of Ryan working out of Mike Johnson Toyota?

 

Nope. Can’t say that I have

 

It's called Mike Johnson Adventure Outfitters. I talked to him on the phone a while back and he seems to know his stuff.
Btw, I made sure to get updates from the overlander group. No surprise I didn't see anything about them going to Hurricane Creek...

 

@Mitsch25 are you still looking for a shop in Asheville? I think this guy works in a shop there and i'm told he does this kind of work. I took a class from him - seems to know what he's talking about... https://morrisonsoutdooradventures.com/

 

No way. Was about to book a class with him as well but so far didn't work out with my schedule. Will go ahead and ask him which shop he is working at.
Thanks for the information sir.

 

His classes are great - i was thinking about signing up for another one. His wife responds to email within a day typically - quicker if not during home school time.

 

Thanks man. I will certainly sign up sometime soon.

 

Hey guys - hope you are all doing well - anyone install LED grid lights or other lights for night trail driving? I'd be interested in what works. Thanks!

 

LED grid lights? I don’t know what this is.

 

Yeah, sorry - grill lights

 

I’ve seen light bars too - those are probably more effective

 

I don’t run with those. Aka: raptor lights. So many people have them that they are just something I don’t want on my rig personally. Plus my bumper bar blocks that part anyway.

I have ditch lights and a bunch of other lights and usually I lead the pack when off-roading because I light up the dark night and no one wants to be lit up by 30k+ lumens

 

Gastonia NC Here.

 

Not sure if I should put a like on this or not. Not but 20-25 minutes from downtown Gastonia myself.

 

Understood. I was born and raised here. I took a short absence for 27 years but now I am back home.

 

You go on the trails much?

 

I went up to Uwharrie (sp) with a friend in his land cruiser and had a Blast! I travel for work too damn much for work and don't have too much free time. Wadesboro is where We have property and get to mud up down there.

 

Hello. I am in Hendersonville and new to this forum. Just bought a stock 2018 Limited 3 or 4 weeks ago and am about to have some armor put on it in preparation for a 2 month trip to the San Juan Mountains of Colorado, southern Utah and northern Arizona later this year. Planning for the trip is what prompted me to buy my first high clearance 4WD vehicle because there were so many great places I wanted to see and photograph that I couldn't get to without one. I haven't seen anybody mention the 4x4 shop I'm working with - Asheville Vehicle Outfitters, which is located in Mills River. Here's a link to their website: https://ashevillevehicleoutfitters.com/ A young married couple runs the business and the people I've dealt with have been great. They have built a big off roading rig with a rooftop camper that they just took out to Moab for a week, I think for an overland convention.

They are going to remove the factory running boards and install powdered rock sliders from Metal Tech which are the only ones I found that fit the Limited Edition and the XReas suspension. They are also going to put on a set of 3 CBI steel skid plates over the engine, transfer case and transmission and I'm also going to have them remove the stock chrome roof rails and put in a little Toyota kit I've ordered to plug the holes. I've also ordered an Anytime Backup Camera kit from Cali Raised LED. It has a high quality camera for the front bumper and all the connections and wiring to link it onto the stock navigation system and put a switch on the dash so you can have the same kind of view of what's in front of you at ground level that's just like using the backup camera. DIY people can install it themselves. I'm having Best Buy install it for the $150 they charge to install regular backup cameras.

For anybody who is looking for some off road trails in the region and is willing to pay to drive and camp on private property, there is a guy who has a big property in Cosby, TN right at the edge of the GSMNP with a 4WD trail network that he's developed. He also has a primitive camping area. If the information on his website is correct, it's $40/day to use the trail network and $30/night for the primitive camping, by appointment only. I'm doing a day of off road driving instruction with him on May 2. I should have the armor installed on my 4Runner by then. His full day training class is partially classroom instruction on the capabilities of your vehicle and various techniques, then driving portions of his trail network that are of varying degrees of difficulty with him leading. The class is limited to 3 participants and I think he has one spot left for May 2. It is $399 for the full day program which is designed for beginners like me. Here's a link to his website. http://www.outdoorsinthesmokies.com...DVf94Ji7ji_Ua2n0BseWBk7CQ9Nc2AcL3EgSetH6QkuJQ

 

Spent half my life in wake county.

the good Apex, before it got crowded.



Would visit for a regional meet in a heartbeat.

 

Welcome to the forum. I am not sure if you are set in your ways or are open to suggestions/feedback on a couple items. Either way I will provide it and you don’t have to read it if you don’t want to.

I personally would not do steel skids unless you plan on going with serious rock crawling. They weigh a lot and will quickly get you closer to gvwr, decrease gas mileage, and rust. I would go with aluminum (yes they cost a little more). I would focus on suspension and tires. Being I am from the southwest (Arizona) the terrain is different back there for sure. Your biggest problem will be getting your tires eaten by sharp rocks. You are going to want some off-road tires for sure made to handle those rocks. You also will need to air down which lowers your ride height. So hence bigger tires to handle the drop in height. You will need a compressor to air back up. You will need a new front bumper for that limited. It hangs too low and I believe even lower than your skid.

I personally would never pay anyone to teach me how to off-road. The best way to get experience is to just go off-roading with other people. It is free and you will learn as you go from them. 1 day coarse may help you a little but you can learn so much about your 4Runner through YouTube. Plus you will not learn different terrain (they can’t reach you to off-road in the Arizona terrain), the beach sand, the sand in Moab (completely different sand back there), etc.

I would be happy to take you on hurricane creek (not a hard trail but if you are new it will be an experience). I have quite a bit into my 4Runner and know a thing it two because I have done a thing or two.

Anyways I hope that helps. Best of luck with your adventures.

You can see my build here:
https://www.4runners.com/threads/4runner-fun-build.21019/

 

I appreciate your feedback but am down the road on most of this. I don't know that it's being set in my ways, but I've been researching, weighing the pros and cons, considering how I will use my vehicle, and making decisions. One of my principles has been that I'm not going to start spending thousands on a lift (worse than stock for on road driving and towing) and replacing bumpers and new suspension and larger off road tires and new wheels and all that stuff before I even see what the stock vehicle (plus skid plates and rock rails) is capable of. I'm very wary of unintended consequences, as in the lift changed the way the vehicle rides and the way the parts are wearing and now I have to do some other things to the vehicle. It can be a money pit and I don't intend to screw up a vehicle I love as it is, engineered and built by one of the best auto companies in the world.

The steel skid plates are ordered and arriving any day. I know they're heavier than aluminum and knew that when I ordered them, but they're also stronger and I'm going to be an inexperienced off road driver for awhile. I'm very conscious of keeping the weight of the vehicle down. It will normally be just me and my dog in the vehicle and I'm not going to have a roof rack. The combined weight of the steel skid plates and rock sliders less the running boards that are coming off is basically adding a large passenger and the vehicle can handle that. I've done the weight calculations and even with the steel armor and the vehicle loaded for a long trip and the tongue weight of the trailer, I will be hundreds of pounds under payload and maximum weight. I will not go close to the weight or towing capacity under any circumstances. The 4Runner is rated to pull 5000 pounds but I wouldn't pull more than half that. My little teardrop trailer weighs less than 1000.

I've already put down a deposit on the driving instruction and it may be overkill, but I'm OK with that. I don't know anybody who does serious off roading and there aren't that many real off road trails in my area that I'm aware of. Also, the instructor has built an off road trail network on his property with sections of different difficulty levels and I may make more trips there. With regard to the tires and suspension, while I'm going to some easy to intermediate off road trails on my western trip, and on similar trips maybe once a year, the 4Runner also has to be my every day vehicle and to pull a small trailer cross country (and on shorter camping trips in my area). I am reading up on off road trails in the west that I'm considering and will talk to the local BLM offices about trail conditions, what I'm driving, how it's equipped, my level of experience as a driver, etc. If I'm uncomfortable with a trail I'll do something else instead. I'm not really interested in hard core off roading at this point and want to keep my 4Runner as close to stock as possible until I find limitations that I think are worth addressing. My only reason to drive off road is to get to places I want to photograph and/or hike. I have zero interest in trying to drive through a field of rocks and boulders.

I have bought a compressor that can reinflate all 4 tires in a few minutes after airing down, but am not going to air down to extreme levels, nothing below 20 PSI and probably not below 25 in most cases. I am wary of possibly compromising the sidewalls and increasing the risk of a blowout on the highway. I can live with bumps and jolts off road. Most of the off road trails I'm looking at are primarily gravel and dirt with some stretches that are more technical.

 

Headed up to hurricane creek tomorrow morning off anyone is interested

 

Very interested but not able this weekend - I bet the creek is relatively deep with all the rain but also seem to recall you are lifted - any trouble with the creek?

 

No no trouble at all with the creek. Stock 4Runner came with me. He did good as well and since I am locked I don’t use the other tools (eg: A-atrac) and I forgot about it. Pulled him out of 1 obstacle and then I was looking around and saw it on mine so I had him activate on the next obstacle (tree roots) and he made it up with no problem. There was 1 super sketchy part (last obstacle). Boulder in the ground with boulder on the front right with a clif and no trees to stop you and 100’ down. Needless to say my spotter had me on a line and my front left went up like it was about to roll. They came and sat on my bumper as I only had a few more inches. We used my max traxs for the stock vehicle and it helped him not go way up in the air (plus it helps he didn’t have 5 other people in the car plus a dog), so needless to say it was VERY sketchy and i could have sworn we were close to rolling. Should have winched off as a safety measure. Not worth the risk, but once I got up a couple more inches it was easy.

I had a pucker factor of about 12 out of 10 when that front started going.

 

Dang - i didn't realize that trail had anything that scary - we didn't go real far my only time on that trail - too icy when we got to an obstacle.

 

It was VERY similar to this…
https://youtu.be/hek8zWBLReA
Start at 24 minutes and watch the next couple minutes. My front end did the exact same thing. Very very similar this this exact same situations.

One might say I am exaggerating it but my front left came 2 feet in the air and everyone outside the car started freezing out. Even a lady was freaking out. I was super stressed and even the guy I went with was scared to even attempt. We talked about me winching him up. So needless to say it was no joke.

 

Alright my southern brethren, I will be honest that I haven't read through all these pages or searched for an answer yet.

Anyone have recommendations for offroading spots in the Raleigh area?

 

Checking in, Raleigh here.

Recent transplant from Atlanta area, somewhat recent 4R owner (2021), but had a Taco since 2012.