2011 4Runner Journey RSS

Nothing used was sponsored. Everything we used we purchased. Window seals. Not the things that swim in the 8 oceans of the world. I’m talking about the window seals on my 2011 4Runner. The exterior window seal trim. They just started to fall apart all at once. In some parts the seal started to break down and become all gummy. All four doors including the lift gate. Dry rot in the desert of Southern Utah is a thing. Not fake news. I’ll admit I wasn’t putting any type of rubber protectorate like silicone spray on the window seals. I did wash...

Nothing used was sponsored. Everything we used we purchased. While installing the suspension lift kit, the stock splash guards that keep some of the muck out of the engine compartment were like a hard brittle plastic after years to the elements. While removing the factory splash guards for the installation of the upper control arms, the splash guards just crumbled. I know some people that don’t mind not reinstalling the splash guards.   To each there own. I wanted to put some new ones back in the fender wells. I don’t want to make it easier for rocks, debris, or...

 Nothing used was sponsored. Everything we used we purchased. The rubber bits on my early 5th Gen 4runner just seemed to have slowly one by one dry rot out around the same time of 115,000 miles or so. You got to be careful with your rubbers in the desert. They'll dry rot. One of those rubber bits was the rubber cover for the lift gate / tailgate switch. It started to come apart from the switch housing. I found a new complete authentic Toyota branded lift gate switch on Amazon.com. I paid $35.00. Part number Toyota 84840-35010 Back Door Opener Switch....

Nothing used was sponsored. Everything we used we purchased. About maybe 3 months before I decided to tear into this project. I was doing an oil change and some other oil change maintenance stuff like replacing the serpentine belt and what not. While I was replacing the belt, I was checking the bearings on the tensioner pulley and the idler pulleys. Some of the bearings have seen better days. One bearing was just stiff the another was loud and dry sounding when I spun them by hand. A very light groove was forming on the face of the pulleys as...

Sharing my journey of maintaining and modifying my 2011 Toyota 4Runner. Sharing things such as maintenance, needed modifications, and fun mods (aka who cares I wanted to mod it). Plus just to share with others that may have some feedback. We call all learn from one another. So feel free to leave a comment and share as well. This is right before I started to upgrade my 5th Gen. I purchased the vehicle used with about 73k miles.  As it sits as of March, 2024. With 160K miles.