Steve(ME): Xterra owner of 12yrs looking @4Runner next spring

Hi everyone,
Steve, living in my house in Maine presently..with my 2000 Nissan Xterra(auto). Have been in IT for a couple decades down in Massachusetts until the Titannic-syndrome hit in 2001. Have been up here since..and still deciding what I want to do with the rest of my life;-) My X is up there in age and has the quirks of age in addition to the Xterra's quirks + Pros/Cons of design...leak in one side of head gasket and growls some when powering up some hills, but I welded new rocker panels, am having new brake line put in Thursday(OUCH!)...so it's been legal with just a few major issues. The engine(3.3L 6cyl) has been a beast, 230K+ miles, trans = smooth but I'm beginning to look at the 4Runner as a new replacement next year(hopefully) for Nissan's seemingly lack of interest in mods compared to Toyota's, but maybe I can get another year or three out of the X without complete failure. First car was a 73' Corolla...took it everywhere in the ME woods..;-). Have been working more PT than I'd like this last decade, but has left me more time for visiting the woodlands up here in northern NewEngland to check out the wildlife and woods/waters but am learning more so I expect to get back working FT soon. Grew up spending summers up with grandparents, especially a granddad who scaled(tallied) chord cut for weekly pay @Maine's largest timber/paper co(Great Northern Paper Co) back in the pre-mechanical harvesting days of hike to and from jobsites. I couldn't get enough of it...and today I enjoy checking out areas of old and new...uncut and somewhat cut...with others and sometimes by myself...adding in a hike/paddling well known or newly created waters...and even throwing the flyline once a month;-)
For tires...right now it's a toss-up between running some older 31x10.50R15 Cooper Mud+Snows which stop ok in snow but are a horrorshow starting in 2"+ of snow..(were el'cheapos online)..and are wussy soft in muck....but they're good on the highway. Cooper's STTs or BFG KM2s are heaven in the woods but half decent on the highway..and are work for my so-so head gasket...have just done the gasket plug sealant route so far..guess you can only have the smooth sound for just so many miles. General's AT2s were ok...think they're a definite snowtire over the Cooper M+S mess. Have a little larger exhaust(Gibson)...have replaced both converters.... My God I went for ~30yrs of small sedans before decent(31") tires..(think 32s, with the almost 240Kmiles, would need a little gearing mod and pushing my luck), but still somewhat small wheels.. ...that's about it...maybe too much rambling..LOL..but great to read 4Runner info without the quirks of Xterras...

 

Welcome Steve! I think you'll find a 4Runner to be just as reliable as that X, but with a little more power than that gutless 3.3L (I test drove a 2000 QX4 that had the same powerplant... yikes!). Welcome to the boards, and hopefully you can find what you're looking for to help get you into a 4Runner!

P.S., where exactly in Maine are ya? Part of my family lives right next door in NH and we have a favorite restaurant right across the border we like to visit. Sounds like you're more upstate though with all the logging talk.

 

OMG...nothing like being way late/absent. Good to have heard from you guys....yeah I made the break from the 3.3L X and got a great deal in August of last year(2017) with a 17' TRD OffRoad (Premium). Will be going for a suspension upgrade, with or without a lift..re-gear or not? (still bouncing that thought around in the brain......). Am in Bangor, but right now I have a very limited part-time job driving up into the woods just above Moosehead (Lake) ~once a week...spring thru early December, so I get to enjoy the off-road woods roads & old cutting roads/sometimes now only paths;-) ..but which I remember from decades gone by.
Will upload a pic of her when the suspension is upgraded. Right now I'm just thinking of getting a little bigger 32" tire and sticking with the stock gearing.....however I'm always open to ideas. One thing is for certain...I, for the most part, have been absent from skiing for the better part of a decade now...but will hopefully get back into it this winter.

 

Welcome, and enjoy the new ride.

 

Welcome Steve!

 

Welcome from Colorado.!