The plan, in seven phases

The easiest way to spend a lot of money on a 4Runner is to start with the parts that look good on Instagram: a lift, big tires, a bumper, a rooftop tent. I wanted to start from the other end. Partly wisdom, partly not knowing what half those parts did yet.

The rule: protect, then capability, then comfort

Every phase is sequenced by one question: what protects the truck and the people in it first? Mechanical problems come before trail gear. Trail gear comes before armor. Armor comes before camping comfort. Things that only matter on solo, remote trips come last.

There’s no fixed total budget. Each phase gets scoped and priced on its own when I get to it, which keeps me from making early decisions just to stay under an imaginary number.

Named for what they deliver

Each phase is named for the capability it gives me, not the parts list behind it. “Armor Ready” tells me when I’m done. “Skid plates and sliders” doesn’t.

Phase 0: Mechanical Ready

A used truck at 140,000 miles has a history I don’t know. So before a dollar went to mods, it got the full list:

• Fluids: transfer case, both diffs, transmission, brakes.
• KDSS accumulators: a known 5th gen wear point.
• Diff breather tubes: if they’re routed wrong, the diffs drink creek water.
• Cooling: pressure test, thermostat, hoses, water pump.
• Brakes: pad thickness to a 25% minimum, lines.
• Electrical: battery load test, alternator output.
• Underneath: CV boots, ball joints, tie rods, and the frame.

My first draft of this phase didn’t mention brakes at all. In Colorado, with long mountain descents, that was the one omission that mattered. (How that got caught is its own story.)

Eighteen checks came back clean. The best result a checklist can give you is nothing.

Phase 1: Tire Ready

Pass/fail, not shopping. 5280 Offroad’s numbers: at least 4/32” of tread, a DOT date code under six years old, at least 31” in diameter, and a spare that matches the other four. That last one matters more than it sounds on a truck with a locking rear diff.

The stock 265/70R17s are about 31.6” and passed everything. Phase 1 cost me a tread reading and a squint at a date code.

Phase 2: Trail Ready

Split in two because there are two different standards.

Class Ready is what a one-day intro course actually requires. It turned out to be checks, not purchases: confirm 4H, 4L, A-TRAC and the locker all engage, do a leak walk-around, set cold tire pressure to the door placard, and lower the spare all the way to the ground. That last one earns its spot. The underbody spare hoist on these trucks is known to rust-seize, and your driveway is a much better place to find out than the side of a trail.

The list had exactly one purchase on it, a $12 tire gauge. I skipped it, because the ARB deflator I’d bought for the other half of this phase has one built in. Class Ready cost nothing.

Trip Ready is the standard for multi-day backcountry trips: recovery gear, tire repair, tools and spares, first aid, comms. Confusing the two nearly had me buying about $2,000 of gear for a $150 class.

The first Trip Ready order came to $258.58 landed:

• ARB recovery gloves
• ARB E-Z deflator
• Boulder Tools plug kit
• Rhino USA hitch shackle mount
• TIDRADIO TD-H3 GMRS handheld
• Tool bag
• Visor organizer

Add $35 for the FCC license and I’m legal on GMRS with a callsign. A mounted Midland MXT275 is deferred until the roof and lighting decisions settle, for reasons that show up in Phase 5.

About $1,800 of the list is still open: X-BULL recovery boards, a Viair 88P compressor, the AMK first aid kit, a Badland 1” kinetic rope, and frame-mounted front recovery points. 5280 is specific that tow hooks don’t count.

Phase 3: Armor Ready

Skid plates for the engine, transmission and transfer case. Heavy-duty diff covers. Rock sliders, which double as the rated jack points a Hi-Lift needs. Eventually a winch-rated front bumper, though that waits on Phase 6.

Skid plates are the easy part. Toyota’s TRD set bolts straight on, and Ironman 4x4, C4 and All-Pro cover the full underbody.

Sliders are harder, and the reason is my garage. It opens onto a narrow city alley, and I back in at an angle through a door that doesn’t leave much room. I know which sliders I want. RSG Offroad builds them locally, and the kickout version looks sick. The kickout is also the part that sticks out. That fight gets its own post.

Phase 4: Camp Ready

The original plan had a big fork here: ground tent or rooftop tent. That one decision was going to drive the roof rack, where the recovery boards live, and even where a permanent radio antenna could go.

I’m taking neither. I’m going to build a drawer system and a sleep platform in the back of the truck.

That’s a build, not a purchase, which means future posts with real measurements in them. What it does to the roof rack and the antenna plan is the next thing to work out.

Phase 5: Power Ready

A LiFePO4 house battery, a DC-DC charger (Redarc and Victron are the shortlist), 100 to 200 watts of solar, and lighting.

The trap is the A-pillar. Ditch light brackets and a permanent antenna mount compete for the same spot, so they get decided together. Until then the radio runs on a mag-mount. One counterintuitive note from the research: in Colorado’s terrain, a lower-gain antenna (around 3 dB) is the better choice, because antenna height matters more than gain.

Phase 6: Solo Ready

A winch and everything that comes with it. This is last on purpose: the school I’m learning from never wheels solo, and as long as I don’t either, a winch is a lot of weight and money for a situation I’m avoiding.

The parking lot

Some things are deliberately out of the order. Suspension is the big one.

Everyone lifts their 4Runner. Mine is going to wait. It has KDSS, so any lift over about 2” needs KDSS-specific correction hardware, an extended track bar and correction brackets. A generic kit won’t just bolt on, and neither will a KDSS kit built for a GX460.

When it happens, the options run from a Bilstein 5100 setup with correction hardware, to Old Man Emu BP-51s at 2 to 3 inches, up to an Icon stage system at 2.5 to 3.5. For the beginner-rated trails I’m driving now, stock is fine, so the lift waits until the trails demand it.

Where I disagree with the instructors

I’m learning from 5280 Offroad in Denver, and their materials rank protection as priority one, ahead of recovery gear. My plan has it the other way around: recovery and trail basics in Phase 2, armor in Phase 3.

“Harder” isn’t hypothetical, either. Kevin, who taught my intro class, mentioned that their 101 trail requires rock sliders. The trigger for pulling armor forward has a course number.

Where things stand

Phase 0 is clean. Phase 1 passed. The intro class is done, and Phase 2 is in progress, with the first round of Trip Ready gear bought and a GMRS license in hand.

The truck passed every check. The garage didn’t. It has no torque wrench, no bottle jack, no jack stands, and the prep checklist wants lug nuts re-torqued to spec.

So next is probably tools.

How I’m keeping track of all of this is its own post: how I’m using Claude to plan and run this build.