The new 2025 Toyota 4Runner is here, and I was among the very first journalists to see it. Naturally, I slid underneath to peek at the hardware, and now it’s time for me to show you what I saw.
Okay, so I’ve already taken you on a tour of the new 4Runner’s interior, and you saw that there really isn’t enough room behind the first row to sprawl out unless you take out the second-row seats. That’s a shame for anyone who enjoys overlanding, but there’s plenty that’s very much not a shame about the new 4Runner’s overlanding potential.
So let’s take a peek at the hardware.
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First thing’s first: This thing has a metal fuel-tank skidplate. This may not sound like a big deal, but it is, because none of the Tacomas I drove — not TRD Pro, not Trailhunter — came with metal fuel tank skids (it’s not clear if it’s optional).
You can see that the exhaust is tucked up reasonably high, and up front, there’s a skid plate covering the transmission on the Trailhunter model:
The aluminum transmission skidplate isn’t very thick, and felt quite wobbly. The fuel tank skidplate, too, felt very thin. But they were there, and so long as they don’t tear, and offer enough stiffness to reduce or eliminate loads on the transmission oil pan and blow-molded fuel tank, it’s fine.
You can see decent underbody protection from the chin all the way back behind the front subframe.
The TRD Pro, like the Tacoma TRD Pro, is less focused on rock crawling and more focused on high-speed desert running, so there’s not as much protection. There’s still a fuel tank skid plate and a skid plate at the very front (this time TRD-branded):
But there’s no skid plate below the transmission:
It does still have a tiny steel skid plate bolted to the transfer case:
The 4Runner TRD Pro’s lack of a transmission skidplate reveals a sway bar that, when compared to the last-gen 4Runner, has moved from ahead of the front axle behind it (note: The TRD Pro and Trailhunter 4Runners have no rear sway bar). You can see the front sway bar, as well as the sway bar disconnect mechanism (standard on TRD Pro and Trailhunter and pointed out below):
Both trucks feature a double-wishbone independent front suspension and a five-link, coil sprung solid rear axle, with the TRD pro featuring red aluminum upper control arms and shock dust covers:
 
The Trailhunter has Old Man Emu dampers, and a gold/black/white color scheme on the control arms and shocks:
With a 32-degree approach angle and 24-degree departure angle, the 4Runner should be decent off-road, though it’ll probably drag its ass and belly every now and then. All four-wheel drive 4Runners will get low range, Active Traction Control (A-TRAC), and an automatic limited-slip differential (Auto LSD). Limited trims will offer a full-time transfer case with locking center diff, and the Trailhunter and TRD pro get only a part-time four-wheel drive system with way bar disconnect and a rear locker.
You may be wondering how this underbody compares to that of the Tacoma, and the answer is: They’re basically the same, with the only real variation happening at the center of the wheelbase (the fuel tanks, for example, look totally different). Here are some Tacoma TRD underbody shots:
  
And here are some Tacoma Trailhunter underbody photos:
Anyway, that’s just my first look at the 4Runner’s underbody. The TRD Pro and Trahilhunter are just like the Tacoma TRD Pro and Trailhunter, except the middle bit is different and the 4Runner gets a metal skid plate for the fuel tank instead of just a plastic shield.
Toyota fanboys are aggressive today. Toyota knows their customers better than any other company, other than Ford. It’s silly to think very many people who buy any new vehicle is going to be out rock crawling. Some will, but most won’t. The serious off-road types will build their new 4 Runners to handle the extreme terrain. For most casual off-roaders, this will go where the 90% will take them.
What’s the deal with Toyota world? They really don’t seem to take the off road market nearly as seriously as most other OEMs, but the Toyota off road scene is huge. The Tacoma requiring a tank skid to start is pretty wild, but the 4Runner getting sorta just the impression of one isn’t much better. The difference between 20ga and 16ga steel is pretty trivial in the grand scheme of things. It’s sorta like how pretty much all their “packages” are just stickers. Why doesn’t Toyota… TRY? I want to like them, I just can’t…
It is ironic that the most off-roading done in trucks is done by the lower trim models and these “Super Rugged Trail Monster” models will probably only see a couple of dirt roads before they get the permanently installed baby seat and make supermarket runs. We use trucks on the ranch all day, every day, off road And ranch hands, while they love their trucks, and use them hard, are not in a position to spend the extra cash for the fancy trims.
Here’s my issue. I’m no offroading guy, though I very much appreciate it. But these thin, mostly useless-seeming metal skidplates… are they not just an attempt to placate the true offroading crowd who will crap on the car for being best suited for mall parking lots? So that folks will say “ohhh man, see, it’s not just a trim, they went to all this trouble to make it off-road worthy!”
Because let’s be real, we all know that 90% of trailhunter trim buyers are either A) wealthy duduebros who want to look cool but won’t take them off-road, or b) rich folks who want the most expensive and adventurous looking trim, who also do not intend to take them off-road.
I have to credit Toyota for making a cool looking modern SUV, I genuinely dig the looks. But the people who will actually take it off-road will buy the base or whatever base has 4wd drive modes they need, and then modify it. It’s just another way for toyota to make more money by selling an “off-road ready” car to folks that won’t take it off-road. The reduced approach and departure angles show that. But I digress.
What are you trying to say? That only Jeeps are allowed to go both on and off road? Because that isn’t true.
Nah, just that these will suffer from the same fate as the highly capable offroad, factory-prepped trims Jeep, broncos, etc offer. Most people I know who are into offroading are buying a cheaper AWD base model and modifying it. Meanwhile, almost everyone who buys these expensive, top-of-the-line offroad trims are never doing any more offroading than the gravel lot at their kid’s soccer game. They’re luxury trims in adventurous clothing. And the main difference from a Jeep in this case is that the jeep is a horrible road car in almost every measurable aspect
another “no one will offroad it” post from someone that knows so very little about…well, everything
I can’t speak for the new model but my wife’s 2019 has similiar thin(ish) skid plates and in my opinion they are fine for type of off roading you would do with a mostly stock vehicle. Ours have been scraped over rocks a few times and they have held up with just some scrapes and small dents, but they did the job and protected the components. Now, if you were to modify a 4 runner to handle tougher trails, then you would probably want to upgrade the skid platting as well.
I can’t be the only one who gets a little excited to see David Tracy’s face in the corner of an article image. But this one involved decidedly less rust than usual. Not sure I got my normal required dose of iron….
A person would be better off building a trail rig that gets you home, save some bucks and get a fun daily. Toyota is going down the mall wheeler road with very capable trucks few will use.
your first part here is great, and completely correct…and what people do. They grab an older truck/SUV, drive it, figure out what they like, and then plan accordingly. And mod accordingly.
But then you go down the full dunce road of “no one will wheel this” which is untrue. “No one offroads Jeeps….” people usually bleat, and they do all the time where I live. So, get out of here with that crap, dunce
Depends on where you live. If you live in California you’ll probably wheel 3%?? How much cash for that limited use? Do you do numbers or just trash talk, dunce 🙂
So, you’re using CA as an example for….anything? Where I live, and within several hours of where I live, quite a lot of offroading gets done. And here again: are you looking to be the offroad police, as in “people shouldn’t buy what they want because I said so”?
What sort of numbers would you like? More random stuff like the “3%” stat you pulled out thin air?
Wow, you really have some social issues. Seek help bud. No one ever said Off-road was bad. You poor baby. Maybe you’re a Karen, or maybe a Ken. 4-wheeling didn’t start with you , little boy. We’ve been wheeling from baja to Canada over the last 60 years. What about you, tiger?
I have a 4runner in Socal. You know where I drive it? Mostly to the grocery store or the mall, on road trips, to restaurants, and sometimes to the doctor or dentist. I won’t be going off road in it unless it’s necessary, but I like knowing I have the capability if needs arise. I’ve done off roading before when I was younger, mind you, and I noticed I was always getting muddy and dusty, and when I got where I was going, there were guys already there drinking beer and talking loudly about Birfield joints, guns and child support payments. No thank you. Anyway, I was thinking of getting a different, more appropriate vehicle this June, but thanks to your post, I’m going to get another new 4runner and I might not even let it get rained on.
I love you
I’m glad that another user was able to demonstrate how much of an asshole you are
GTFO with your stupid mall wheeler comment, dummy
Its interesting that they have the sway bar behind the front axle because one of the issues with the GX550 was moving it to the front. I suspect that was the only way they could fit the eKDSS.
Also, don’t let Toyota tell you otherwise, “Auto-LSD” is just traction control.
I don’t really know what overlanding exactly is but when I was a kid I used to head out to the BLM land in Montana and go get lost off logging roads they had tried to close with some rocks or dirt moguls. We’d do that in stock grand cherokees (zj) and f150s. Get stuck, spend the night drinking kokanee by a bonfire and then spend the next morning digging out and removing whatever stump we got high centered on. I don’t think we ever really did too much damage past say some rocker panel dents.
Did run of the mill SUVs get softer over the years or have folks got more extreme in their off roading shenanigans that they are now equipping stuff from the factory with OME and Fox shocks?
To your two end questions:
And prices go up, and up, and up…
My God does that rear axle look stout with it’s reinforcements! I’ve never seen anything like it before. I assume it’s nothing new, but I’ve just not seen it.
It looks similar to my wife’s 2019 although I don’t know about internals.
Toyota’s axles always have that funky shape, and it its just sheet metal of a certain thickness that forms the tubes, not reinforcement. But the TNGA-F trucks all get the same differentials (more or less) so they are pretty beefy, up to 9.5 inches in the rear (TRD/Trailhunter/off-road I assume)
This 9.5″ diff is the reason for the low ground clearance numbers that people are crying about, correct? I believe it’s 8.6 on the LC250.I’ll gladly give up some clearance at the pumpkin to know that I have a much stouter rear diff.
No, there is more clearance at the diff that Toyota is touting. I found the low spot in the front at a lower crossmember, but its only one small point of contact you would be unlikely to hit. The actual usable clearance on these is at least 10 inches.
Looking forward to the first one Matt’s Offroad Recovery pulls out of the sand/mud/rollover or tows because of busted suspension components – all results of inept offroad warrior antics.
Definitely going to be some broken front diffs if TFL’s experience wasn’t a fluke.
This looks very similar to the 5th gen, although I’m sure it’s completely different. I will say the increased beef in the front spindle is greatly appreciated. I am interested in why they changed it from a center, two tab lower coilover mount to a single edge (post?) mount? Maybe easier to assemble, relocation for other hardware? Either way, interested to see how much stress it can handle
Some images show a single shear. Some show a double shear. But it’s not entirely clear what’s going on because it looks like the passenger TRD Pro is single shear but there’s another image showing the TRD Pro driver side in double shear.
Most BOF SUV, including the 4Runner, started life as a “longroof pickup”. Nobody knew how big the market would be, so the cheap and easy engineering answer was to integrate the pickup box to the cab and put a sometimes fiberglass, sometimes metal roof over the whole thing. The new 4Runner kinda reverts to that thinking and methodology.
Check out the Nissan/Datsun 720 Bushmaster. Predecessor to the Pathfinder, they literally just cut out the back of the cab and front of the bed and welded them together. Then they put a full length fiberglass roof on it, that has full on sideburns that drop down to “hide” the welded seam between the cab and bed. Ridiculous! Awesome though. I love 720s and would love to own a Bushmaster (I know what I said).
Thanks for getting dirty for us, David! (Though we all know you love it)
Really impressed that Toyota now offers factory skid plates! Finally caught up. I wonder how much pressure they were feeling from the Bronco. Rear axle looks nice and strong.
I wish they’d used the money spent on the flashy UCAs on something that actually mattered. There’s not a whole lot of point to strengthening the UCAs relative to other suspension components. Except, in this case, the bling factor. I would have liked to see thicker tie rods or strength added to the lower links in the rear.
I thought rear sway bars were mandated by the gov. Curious omission.
From a purely off-road standpoint, what were the design goals of this vs the LC250? Is it purely a price and image difference? I’m struggling to identify what the Land Cruiser brings to the party that the 4Runner doesn’t have when it comes to modifying it for rock crawling or overlanding.
To be honest: I see no clear advantage of the Land Cruiser.
I read somewhere that the roofline on the LC is several inches higher, that might be nice for super tall people? And the LC looks a good deal better, subjectively of course.
Otherwise, I think the new LC is just a 4Runner for the parts of the world who don’t traditionally get the 4Runner. It is a bit odd they’re selling it in the US, although I’m glad they are.
Someome will reply saying that’s what the Prado basically was already, and yes, but this seems to be the next step in coaslescing production lines.
Actually, the Prado has mostly (apart from when it was a 70 Series Land Cruiser) been the premium ‘one size smaller’ Land Cruiser. For a few generations, it was even known as the Land Cruiser Prado. The RoW equivalent of the 4Runner is the Hilux based Fortuner.
Fortuner looks like ass though
No argument there since it’s a modern Toyota but what’s your point?
I think they saw people buying used FJ cruisers for stupid prices and realized there was still a market. My dads already set on the new Land Cruiser, he had back to back 100s(yes he drives that much) and an FJ.
Its a very thinly sliced pie.
4Runners have had factory skid plates for decades–and steel ones at that.
Hm. Then it’s doubly odd that the 3rd Gen Tacoma TRD Pro did not have anything besides a radiator skid.
Thanks for rolling in the dirt for us!
Anything for you!
The tie rod ends seem on the small side for something that will be banging off rocks & trails but maybe it’s just the picture. Nice looking truck.
A lot of newer designs consider the tie rod ends as sacrificial, as they would prefer the tie rod snap than for it to transfer too much energy into the steering system and damage it. That doesn’t count for much when you are on the side of the trail with a broken tie rod, but I wheel with spare tie rod ends for just that reason.
Makes sense and hey, that’s a smart idea!
You people who are prepared tend to annoy me. /s
Trust me, I annoy myself with it sometimes too!
They are smaller than previous generations and smaller than the 300 series, but I am sure they are interchangeable. 200 series rack conversions were/are popular for 5th gen.