Ground Clearance, Approach Angle, Departure Angle, Breakover Angle (6th Gen 2025+ 4Runner)

[Administrator]

Highlighting these specs from the full specs thread (searchable text PDF version):

	SR5​	Sport, Limited, Platinum​	Off-Road​	TRD Pro / Trailhutner​
Approach Angle	18 degrees​	18 degrees​	19 degrees​	33 degrees​
Departure Angle	22 degrees​	22 degrees​	24 degrees​	24 degrees​
Breakover Angle	23 degrees​	24 degrees​	24 degrees​	24 degrees​
Ground Clearance	8.1 inches​	8.8 inches​	9.1 inches​	10.1 inches​

The TRD Pro and Trailhuter have the best approach angles due to their bumper design and lack of front air dam and higher suspensions (FOX on TRD Pro and Old Man Emu on Trailhunter). Both models sit 1" higher than the TRD Off-Road and 2" taller than the SR5..

The TRD Off-Road has a better approach angle than the SR5 because its suspension is lifted 1" higher.

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[andim]

Is the increased ground clearance and approach angle of the TRD Pro / Trailhunter because of the plastic air dam at the front of the TRD Off Road? If that's the only difference then that should be an easy fix.

 

[SAMYOTA]

I measured it as in the picture.

- With air dam, it gets ~22°, which is slightly greater than official 19°. Given that we'll air down when "offroading" where the approach angle really matters, it will possibly drop from 22 to 19° in reality.

- W/O air dam, it gets ~30°, which is 3° smaller than TRD PRO. I presume it's because of the higher ground clearance on the PRO.

Edited:
Make it an apple to apple virtual visual comparison, I also did it on the PRO.

 

[Gastan]

I measured it as in the picture.

- With air dam, it gets ~22°, which is slightly greater than official 19°. Given that we'll air down when "offroading" where the approach angle really matters, it will possibly drop from 22 to 19° in reality.

- W/O air dam, it gets ~30°, which is 3° smaller than TRD PRO. I presume it's because of the higher ground clearance on the PRO.

Edited:
Make it an apple to apple virtual visual comparison, I also did it on the PRO.

Thank you for the technical / visual analysis! Helpful to know that the better approach angle on the TRD Pro and Trailhunter is not just due to the lack of the front air dam.

 

[andim]

Great pics! looks like ripping off the air dam brings the TRD off-road to almost the same ground clearance and approach angle. Not perfect but certainly good enough.

 

[Boyds4Runner]

This is great information, thanks @Administrator and @SAMYOTA for posting.

 

[ngfilla94]

I'm foggy on remembering if the TRD Off Road has a different suspension than the TRD Sport. I do know the OR is running almost 33" tires, while the Sport is running 31.5". If the suspension is not. Do we know yet if 33" tires will fit on stock height Sports? I'm on the list for a Sport Premium, but I'm just not loving the look of the stock tires. This may have been proven on the new Tacomas, but I'm not familiar enough with those to know.

 

[Mad Ghost]

new to 4runners and trail driving. when the trail says high clearance vehicles recommend will a stock 4runner trd off road be high enough or should I plan on adding a few inches in lift?

 

[Mad Ghost]

I'm foggy on remembering if the TRD Off Road has a different suspension than the TRD Sport. I do know the OR is running almost 33" tires, while the Sport is running 31.5". If the suspension is not. Do we know yet if 33" tires will fit on stock height Sports? I'm on the list for a Sport Premium, but I'm just not loving the look of the stock tires. This may have been proven on the new Tacomas, but I'm not familiar enough with those to know.

The sport has road tuned suspension the off road has piggy back reservoir bilstiens I think

 

[Trailhunter4R]

new to 4runners and trail driving. when the trail says high clearance vehicles recommend will a stock 4runner trd off road be high enough or should I plan on adding a few inches in lift?

A "High Clearance Vehicle" can vary by location, but it's generally defined as a vehicle with at least 15" tire wheels and 8" ground clearance, can mechanically power both front & rear wheels at same time, and has a low gear transfer case.

So all 2025 4Runner 6th gen trims meet this criteria, except for the 2WD SR5.

 

[Black4Runner]

Does the offroad premium sit lower than the offroad? My supervisor has the regular offroad non premium and his sits higher then my off road premium

 

[Mad Ghost]

Does the offroad premium sit lower than the offroad? My supervisor has the regular offroad non premium and his sits higher then my off road premium

It shouldn’t But depending on which brand of tires that came with, they do have slightly different sizes despite being listed as the same size.

 

[drjim]

Based on this data, you could take a Limited trim, add the same rim and tire size of the Off Road, and add 1.1” of tire diameter, leading around .55” of additional ground clearance. This would get a Limited up to 9.3” of clearance, or .2” more than the TRD Off Road. If you remove the air dam you’re then also getting likely 31 degrees of approach as well

To me this is the ultimate compromise - you get the luxury features (dual zone climate control!!!), the leather, the third row and the fulltime 4WD of the Limited and then you’re getting a bit more ground clearance and approach than the Off Road. The only thing you’re really missing is a rear locker, but we all know with good tires, 4LO plus ATRAC will get you 80-90% of where a rear locker will. The big benefit here is that fulltime 4WD system in winter, rain and general light off roading is going to be a bigger benefit more of the time than a rear locker is.

 

[NotApplicable]

Based on this data, you could take a Limited trim, add the same rim and tire size of the Off Road, and add 1.1” of tire diameter, leading around .55” of additional ground clearance. This would get a Limited up to 9.3” of clearance, or .2” more than the TRD Off Road. If you remove the air dam you’re then also getting likely 31 degrees of approach as well

To me this is the ultimate compromise - you get the luxury features (dual zone climate control!!!), the leather, the third row and the fulltime 4WD of the Limited and then you’re getting a bit more ground clearance and approach than the Off Road. The only thing you’re really missing is a rear locker, but we all know with good tires, 4LO plus ATRAC will get you 80-90% of where a rear locker will. The big benefit here is that fulltime 4WD system in winter, rain and general light off roading is going to be a bigger benefit more of the time than a rear locker is.

Correct, Limited/Platinum only have less ground clearance from factory because they have 1.1" smaller diameter tires.


265/60R20 (up from stock 265/55R20) gets you to approx same diameter as the OR 265/70R18, resulting in approx the same ground clearance as a stock OR. The specs contradict themselves. They say Limited has 0.3" less ground clearance than OR but height is 0.5" less than OR (73.1 vs 73.6). Maybe the non-locking rear diff has 0.2” more clearance? This is all to say that yes, tires are the only thing adding ground clearance to the OR vs the SR5 or Limited.

Here is a photo of 265/60R20 on Limited rims. I got these and removed the air dam immediately -- very similar to what your plan is

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