I always told myself that once I get my journeyman's ticket I will reward myself with a fairly new 4Runner. I was never able to find that fairly new 4Runner with the requirements I was looking for. I was not a fan of how the 2015 4Runners looked but always knew the potential in how good they could look. Just going off that I decided to buy one from the next big city over. I took a plane there and drove it back home.

It didn't take me long to get all the windows tinted. Those highway tires were also not cutting it either. I found someone selling tires that were taken off a jeep, they had a more aggressive tread pattern. From there I four wheeled the crap out of this truck! I've never had a truck with lockers, four wheel drive settings, and this much power before so I really made use of all that.

I sure was a happy camper driving the 4Runner, the luxury level was at the top of the food chain. All along this truck was meant to be the appointed camping rig. So thats exactly what we did, put the roof top tent on top. It was more glamping than it was camping.

For me to really love this 4Runner I needed it to be built to my standards. Before I could even afford the Icon Vehicle Dynamics suspension I pulled the trigger and ordered it from the states, along with Stealth Custom Series wheels and Goodyear Wrangler mud terrain tires.

This would be the third suspension that I've ever installed. First was on my Acura Integra back in the day, and second was my 2001 4Runner. I installed this by myself but obviously with the help of Google. It's actually pretty straight forward.

What a huge difference a lift and tires can do to a truck. I was instantly satisfied with how it looked.

My father actually had the same truck as me for a little while, it was the SR5 not the trail edition though. His 4Runner had a three inch lift also but was just lifted with a leveling kit. The funny part of all this was that his suspension cost around six hundred dollars, and I went into debt to afford mine and our trucks sat at the exact same hight haha. I think he loved rubbing that into my face. Obviously you wouldn't want to do anything too extreme with just a leveling kit.

After getting that suspension onto the truck, I was very quick to get myself into those very crappy situations. The first one I was out in a valley that I've never been to before, and I happened to get myself into a quad trail going up a hill. I didn't want to turn around because it was quite the uphill obstacle. I completely covered the truck in tree branch scratches. It was quite horrible to look at on a new vehicle. I don't even have photos of the damage because I was so upset with myself. I took it to Ron's Auto Detailing in Regina and they did an amazing job of wet sanding and waxing it back to health. The only place you can see it is the windows, and also some of the plastics. The second one I backed into a tree.... Its a little more complicated than that though. With the small damage that it had, it some how caused eight thousand dollars worth of damage! Here is the carnage.

Toyota auto body did a great job fixing her back to life.

These days the 4Runner is still looking pretty good. I made a big shift to not drive the crap out of it any more. That's the purpose of me building another 4Runner to conquer all of the rough stuff. I am just missing that middle piece of the bumper from going through a good sized puddle. It still is our adventure rig to get us out in the valley at least once a week.

A project I completed with the help of a buddy was a tool box in the very back where the sliding tray used to be. It was a must need for me, I needed organization back there. I had a mix of tow straps, shackles, tools, Maxtrax, hi-lift jack, hatchet, axe, and shovel sitting back there. They were sort of organized in a big Tupperware container, a few bags, and strapped down in a certain way. I needed something better than that though, so we started building a wooden box.

It turned out awesome! But the little lock I installed was definitely not strong enough to hold the hundred pounds of gear I had in there. I haven't even cared to fix the flawed design I came up with, so the box has been held closed all these years with two tarp straps and it has worked just fine.

I still have many plans for this truck to be a better camping rig. So I will keep adding to this page as long as I keep working on the 4Runner.