I was looking at lifting my 2013 AWD MKT, but that proved to not work well (unique, but not a good move). So, now I am considering upgrades on my stock 2012 4Runner limited 4x4. It does well off road, but I want to improve that along with appearance. I do have a Bull Bar on the front, which actually does work pretty well off road for certain things. 110k miles, but well maintained per spec's and I am the only owner. I did not touch the tranny fluid as that was a big question the dealers could not even answer consistently across several of them. Differentials, yep, tranny, nope.
Anyhow, I welcome your thoughts. Lift, tires, blower 🙂
One word: Budget.
That's going to go a long way in determining what you can/can't do.
I'd also do a drain and fill and filter replacement on that tranny fluid ASAP.
Not worried about budget, just reasonable upgrades. I am looking at tires as mine are all season. I would tell, I bought 250 wear rated tires 4 times and got about 15-20k out of them. The 800 rated are still going well after that.
This has a sealed tranny, so not sure I can do much aside from splitting it and doing the whole thing. Toyota did pretty good with those from the stories I see with their synthetic stull.
I would start simple, and over time build it up. Look at tires and suspension: what do you currently have, and based on your off-roading trips do you feel they need to be upgraded. When I got my off-roader rig several years ago, after numerous trips I upgraded my stock shocks (ACDelco) to Fox 2.0 Series mono tubes (to handle the many washboarded roads on the dirt road) and my tires to BFG Goodrich K02s. That was already $1,600. Then later I added real rock rails from some Utah company (I have the name someplace if interested) for another $800. And that’s all I needed for my rig as it was already capable, based on my time and experience on dirt roads. Don’t let anyone tell you what you need or don’t need; you should know what needs upgrading from your time out there.
This 2012 has an upgraded suspension in it for the 4x4 version. Bought this off a boat on the way here that would be modded for options in Jax FL when it got here. All the dealer owners here in Florida were buying them when the got here and that was tough competition just to get one, but I did.
I am thinking better tires first on the 20" rims.