2022 Lunar Rock New Build

Wanted to document changes and progress I have made to the new 4runner I picked up the week of Christmas 2022. Had been looking for this particular model/color for months with no luck. Dealer said he had an allocation that was due in March 23. Family was getting ready to take a trip up to the cabin in the hill country when we got a call that it had came in the night before we were leaving 3 months early. We decided to go pick it up the night before instead of waiting until we got back. Drove it straight home from the dealer and loaded it up for the trip then took off in the morning in the pouring rain for my first real driving experience in a 4Runner. She handled great and felt like driving a luxury car compared to the Jeep Wrangler I just traded in. Glad to have made the switch. Been making changes slowly and will try top document most of here. Here are a couple of pics the salesman sent me to let me know it had arrived.

 

Wasn't a huge fan of the silver valances on the bumpers so swapped those out pretty quickly to black which I think goes better with the Lunar rock color. Also changed out the hood scoop to black as well.

 

Welcome from Arizona!
Looking good.

 

welcome, very nice

 

Looks good, I like the color. I'm not a fan of the silver valances either, but they actually didn't look bad with you color compared to every other.

 

Appreciate the compliments and the welcomes! And regarding the silver valances, I actually like them on most of the other colors, just something about it with the lunar that wasn't appealing to me.

 

Flashy against subdued colors usually don’t work well together.

Welcone and your rig is looking good!

 

Next up was a lift. Im a bit of an over thinker especially on large purchases so it wasn't an easy decision. Being completely new to modding Toyotas, I did a ton of research on this forum and stopped in to a bunch of local 4x4 shops. Finally settled on one I felt pretty confident in after visiting several times and seeing the vehicles they had in the shop on any given day. Talked about my uses for the vehicle, and as I won't be doing much rock crawling, decided to go with a 3" lift with adjustable B8 Bilstein 5100's, SPC control arms, and Toytec springs. Loved the way it turned out and how the ride and handling felt after. Also installed new wheels, Method 701's wrapped in 285/70/17 Wildpeaks. Here is a before and after for reference.

 

Smart choice on the lift. Bilstein's are looked at as budget, entry level shocks, but truly they will work flawlessly for the trails that 99% of the folks here will ever drive on. Plus, the 5100s and 6112s both have a lifetime warranty should they ever leak.

 

Basically what the shop said and finally talked me into. I appreciated the honesty instead of trying to sell me on something that was overkill for the type of offroading I do and future plans.

 

Next came tint and Prinsu full non drill rack. Was a fairly straight forward install. Definitely helped having an extra set of hands to lift up and onto the roof and also holding it in place while tightening the bolts.

 

Next added the Cali-Raised molle panels with top shelf. Bit of an organized, everything in its right place person. I like having everything up off the cargo floor and love the extra storage in the dead space up top. Really easy install. Top shelf was a little tricky by myself but no real issues. Very solid made product.

 

Love me some lunar rock

 

Congrats and very cool build. Welcome too from H-Town.

 

Thank you sir. H-Town as well. Beautiful rig you have built.