Hey Guys____ How about you guys weighing in? Just curios what you guys with the Æ84 and Æ85 Runners weigh, and what kind of setup (no trailer queens)you have(anything affecting weight)._____THANKS BAYRUNNER

About 4600 lbs. for mine:
http://www.4crawler.com/4Runner.shtml#Vehicle

That was with 4 - 33x15.50 Swampers on 10" steel rims, nearly full load of trail gear and me in the truck. Had soft top on, sliders, front winch bumper (w/ winch) and rear bumper/tire carrier.

Weight makes a HUGE difference on the trail, and can be shed in many easy (and some not so easy) ways. Consider getting a soft top for your 4Runner or running without the top in summer. Also consider weight when purchasing tires and wheels. Typically aluminum wheels are less than steel and radials weigh less than bias ply tires. Some people have gone so far as to graft a pickup tailgate on their 4Runner, since it is considerably lighter (no rear window or motor) and offers more ground clearance. Synthetic winch line, smaller and thinner tube bumpers, and what you pack are all weighs to save weight as well.

Wouldn't you WANT weight in some situations? Especially in a pickup... more weight in the bed gives you MUCH better traction in the rear on certain types of trails, mainly mud I guess.

When would you not want weight... rocks?

-Scerb

hmmm...i'm not sure having more weight in the bed helps in mud in 4wd. i think it helps in 2wd because it changes the weight distribution so it is more over the only drive wheels. but in 4wd, i don't think that's much of an issue because the entire weight of the truck is over drive wheels (ignoring the ramifications of open diffs).

my totally unscientific personal obversations are that smaller, lighter trucks do better in mud than bigger, heavier trucks because the heavier trucks sink more.

based on this, i would think you would want to be lighter even for mud...unless maybe it is shallow mud and you can sink all the way to the bottom and find good traction.

having said all that, i have a cap on my pickup and prolly 300 pounds of tools, gear, and spare parts in the bed. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/shiner.gif" alt="" />

I mostly wheel rocks and avoid mud so most of my advice is from that perspective. I think that the problem with pickups is weight BALANCE, not the overall weight. I've done some tricks on that too like changing to a rear, centered fuel tank and moving the battery from the engine bay to under the bed. Our trucks are underpowered so I feel that we need all the help we can get, weight robs horsepower and makes the suspension work that much harder.

more weight puts more strain on everything. the lighter your truck is the less likely something will break. but weight distribution is important in pickups. i noticed i lose traction a lot in the rear, even in 4wd.