5th Gen 4Runner Snorkel

I decided some time back that if someone came out with a 5th Gen 4Runner snorkel, I’d run it for the “insurance” it provides.  When unkown-to-me FTS 4×4 came out with one, and a T4R.org member set up a bulk order from Taiwan, it was time to put the hole-saw where my mouth was (not literally).

I tackled the install with friend Mark Farage who jumped right into the 5-6 hour project (not knowing it would take that long…).  As usual, Mark’s expertise, attention to detail, and fully-stocked garage were keys to a successful install.  We made a few non-standard modifications along the way that added to the install time – a standard install would probably take just a few hours.

The last picture of the unadulterated fender…

We started off the install with a key “executive decision”:  Paint the snorkel.  We chose to do this because the standard fiberglass FTS snorkel comes in a gloss textured black finish.  While the quality of the standard finish is fine, we figured that the gloss would scratch easily on the trail and assumed that a flat black finish would match the plastic trail edition fenders much better.

Mark masterfully rattle-canning the snorkel

We divided and conquered the cleaning, priming and painting as well as the measuring, drilling, and prepping.  As you’d guess, the most stressful part of the job is drilling into the fender.  Holy crap.  Making things even more stressful was the HAND DRAWN template supplied with the snorkel.  I’m not kidding.

The hand drawn template…terrifying

We lined up the template to the best of our ability, marked drill spots with a punch, taped the surfaces to protect paint, and went to town with a big 4” diameter hole saw.  Using just the right amount of pressure and speed the hole comes out just right.  Get it wrong, and the damn drill will walk right down the side of the truck – I almost did that.  Comparatively, drilling the 6 mounting holes in the fender and 2 in the A-pillar were a piece of cake.

The picture lies…pretty sure my hands were shaking…

To work on fitment, we completely removed the factory air box and pulled down the fender liner.  Ultimately we had to cut off the “elbow” piece on the factory air box to get the snorkel tube to fit seamlessly into the air box.  Unfortunately our fears about the amateur template came true – only ~2 of the 6 fender holes lined up.  We had to “egg” the rest of them about 1/2” each in different directions to get the snorkel to line up.

The Dremel got a workout smoothing and “egging” rough cuts

Which led to another modification on our part.  The snorkel comes with recessed captive holes for mounting, which you are expected to find with a bolt while doing arm-gymnastics behind the fender.  We chose to use headless bolts threaded into the snorkel with nuts and lock washers on the back to make the install easier.  I’d recommend this to anyone else attempting the install and maybe even use the bolts to verify that the template is correct…

Threading in the headless bolts with a  little bit of Loctite

After all of the maddening hole “egging”, we got the snorkel all lined up and got the A-pillar mount location marked up.  Instead of using the supplied sheet metal screws, Mark suggested we use rivet nuts, which gave us a more secure and waterproof mount (we used RTV sealant).  Finally, in the home stretch!  Got everything bolted up and sealed the snorkel intake to the air box with RTV (it was a tight fit, so no huge gaps to cover).

All done!

All bolted up, the snorkel looked great and the flat black finish was a great match for the trail edition fenders.  Now here’s to hoping I don’t every really “need” the insurance it provides!

Happy trails!

 

Photo credits: Mark Farage