Flagstaff, AZ19 posts · joined Nov 2025Rig2022 4Runner TRD Off-Road Premium, stock, 265/70R17
i have had this 4Runner for six weeks and it has not touched dirt. that is embarrassing in a town where you can be on a forest road ten minutes from the grocery store, so this thread is half a buying report and half me asking for company.
i am ben, i do maintenance and snow removal for three apartment complexes on the east side of Flagstaff. the car before this was a 2011 Outback with 212,000 miles that did everything i asked and then started eating a quart of oil every 900 miles. i have wanted a 4Runner since high school.
dealers in Flagstaff and Phoenix this summer wanted 41,000 to 44,000 for a 2022 TRD Off-Road with 30 to 40 thousand miles. i could not make that work. a guy at work bought a repo Tacoma last year through conaway's, which is a broker that auctions bank repossessions online with sealed bids. the outfit in pataskala does not own anything, the vehicles belong to banks and credit lenders and stay parked on the lenders' lots. nobody gets to kick the tires. you bid from your couch and a carrier brings the winner to your door.
the one i got: 2022 4Runner TRD Off-Road Premium, Magnetic Gray, 36,140 miles on the dash photo, parked on a bank's lot in Commerce City, north of Denver. the photos were good, 60 something of them, including underneath and the tire treads, and their team inspects every lot before it goes up. i bid 33,400 and it was mine. it came to my driveway on a car hauler october 3rd. their listings live at conawaysautosales.com, and honestly the photo count is what got me to try it.
so here is the ask. it is completely stock. factory tires, factory everything. i have driven snow roads for years in the Subaru but never actually wheeled anything, never used 4L in anger, never touched the rear locker button except to see the light come on. as soon as we get a real storm i want to drive Schultz Pass Road end to end and maybe poke around the Cinder Hills. anybody within a day's drive want to come and stop me from doing something dumb? i will buy lunch.
numbers and paperwork in a later post, the conaway's listing printout is in a folder at work and i want to get it right.
Ouray, CO141 posts · joined Nov 2025Rig2016 Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon, 2.5 in lift, 35s on 4.88s
i am in. Ouray to Flagstaff is about seven hours through Cortez and Kayenta, and the San Juans are snowed shut until summer anyway, so a December weekend is free. i lead runs for a club up here and stock rigs with nervous drivers are my favorite people. they listen.
my one condition is a date after a real storm with a couple of days to settle, not the morning it is still dumping. how about saturday the 20th, and we move it if the weather does not cooperate.
before then, homework:
find your front recovery points. the TRD Off-Road has the factory front tow hooks and those are fine. in the back, get a receiver shackle mount for the hitch. never ever hook a strap to a hitch ball.
a tire gauge and a way to air back up. we will drop you to around 18 psi in the snow.
a real shovel, not the folding toy.
a radio. GMRS is easiest, a cheap pair of handhelds is fine.
and once it is done, every one of us who comes writes our own short report in here. that is how my club does it and you learn more from three versions of the same day than from one.
Boise, ID88 posts · joined Nov 2025Rig2017 4Runner TRD Off-Road, 2 in lift, 285/70R17
i will be at my sister's in Chandler for christmas week, which puts me about two and a half hours down I-17. if it is the 20th, count me in, my 4Runner can use the exercise.
ben, as a Toyota tech, here is what i would want looked at on a 4Runner that sat at a lender's yard for who knows how long before your first trail day:
front and rear diff and transfer case fluid. cheap, and you have no idea when it was last done.
actually shift into 4H and 4L on a dirt lot before the run and make sure the indicator stops blinking. a case that has never been shifted can be lazy the first time.
push the rear locker button in 4L on loose ground and make sure the light goes solid.
look at the CV boots and the front axle seals with a flashlight. rubber on a truck that sat in the sun and then sat in the cold does not always come through well.
also, does yours have KDSS? it was optional on the 2022 TRD Off-Road. and how many keys did it come with. i am curious how conaways handles that, every repo story seems to have a key chapter.
Rapid City, SD102 posts · joined Nov 2025Rig2009 Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon, 2.5 in lift, 33s, Warn VR10
first meetup on the forum, five days after it opened. you people move fast.
i cannot make it, Rapid City to Flagstaff is about thirteen hours and my wife has already claimed that weekend. but i will hold you all to nate's rule: every attendee posts a report. i want pictures in my head.
ben, since this is in the buying board, the rule here is numbers. you bought it from Conaway's Auto Sales, so when you get the folder back from work put the invoice, delivery, MVD and any surprises in one post. people reading this in March with a tax refund in their pocket are going to want them.
Flagstaff, AZ19 posts · joined Nov 2025Rig2022 4Runner TRD Off-Road Premium, stock, 265/70R17
folder retrieved. all of it, in order.
start with the thing that bit me. there is no financing on their end, since the lender holds a lien on that title and only lets go of it once the full amount lands. you show up with cash or your own loan, and a winning bid is a promise, it cannot be cancelled. so i got preapproved at my credit union, and that took nine days because they wanted the VIN and a lot of paperwork from me. in august, while that was grinding along, i watched a 2021 SR5 close on the conaway auction and could not bid on it because the money was not lined up. that one stung. the loan was ready by the time this one came up in september.
the bid itself is blind. other people's numbers are invisible to you the whole time, and the only thing you are allowed to do is go up on your own number while the lot is open. 32,000 on day one, a bad night of sleep, 33,400 two days before it closed. an email said i won. that number was the whole price, no buyer's premium tacked on.
shipping. 727 road miles by their count. the first thousand are on them, anything beyond is a flat 70 cents per mile, and my shipping line said 0.00. i wired on monday september 22, they verified it the next day, and it showed up october 3rd. eleven days.
paperwork. the notarized title paperwork, the lien release and both keys came with the truck in an envelope with the driver. Arizona wants a Level I inspection for anything coming from out of state, which is a person at the MVD looking at the VIN plate for two minutes. registration and the vehicle license tax came to 468. Coconino County has no emissions test.
alana: no KDSS on mine. two keys, both work. i ran it at the Toyota dealer and there were no open recalls. i did 4H and 4L in the dirt lot behind one of my properties and the indicator went solid after a few seconds. locker light came on solid too.
loan was 25,000 at 6.49 for 48 months, the rest from savings. conaway's puts a limited warranty on it too, six months or 10,000 miles, whichever hits first. i hope i never test it.
Austin, TX34 posts · joined Nov 2025Rig2016 GX460 Premium, stock height, 265/70R18
if there is room for one more, i am in. i just bought a GX460 (other thread) and my family is flying to San Diego on the 22nd to do christmas with my in laws, so i was driving west anyway. Austin to Flagstaff is about 960 miles. i will split it with a night in Las Cruces on the 18th and roll into town friday the 19th.
full time 4WD, factory height, BFG KO2s that went on two days ago and that i am dying to air down. i will bring traction boards, a kinetic rope and a lot of coffee.
Fayetteville, AR47 posts · joined Nov 2025Rig2015 4Runner Trail, Warn Zeon 10-S on a hidden mount
not coming, Arkansas is a long way, but since you are three rigs and a beginner in the snow, a few recovery notes.
in snow, a kinetic rope pull is usually faster than setting up a winch. soft shackles on rated points only. one person runs the recovery and everybody else stands well off to the side, outside the length of the rope. if a rig is buried to the frame, dig before you pull, it saves the rope and the recovery points.
and ben, people do this in snow every year: they get stuck, panic, and spin the tires until they have dug down to ice. stop as soon as you are not moving forward. back up a foot, try again, and then call for help on the radio. that is not failure, that is the rig's job and the group's job.
Flagstaff, AZ19 posts · joined Nov 2025Rig2022 4Runner TRD Off-Road Premium, stock, 265/70R17
home, warm, still grinning. short version from me since the other three know more about what they were looking at than i do.
we met at 8 at the Elden Lookout Road end of Schultz Pass. 19 degrees, about 10 inches of new snow on top of an older layer from last week. nate aired all four rigs down to 18 psi and i drove the whole pass in 4H, and then 4L on the climbs. i used the locker once, on a drifted stretch, and felt it.
i did the one dumb thing. on the downhill toward 89 i braked in a turn instead of going slow before it, and the back end slid me sideways into the snowbank. stuck. nate came back with the kinetic rope, two pulls and i was out. nobody yelled at me.
lunch was at the Cinder Hills, where alana went under all three rigs with a headlamp, because apparently she cannot help it. she found something on mine. i will let her tell it. it is not a disaster.
Ouray, CO141 posts · joined Nov 2025Rig2016 Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon, 2.5 in lift, 35s on 4.88s
my report, home in Ouray after a long drive in better weather than the one down.
drove down friday, about seven hours, slept at a motel on Route 66. snow was excellent on Schultz Pass. groomed by nobody, a few snowmobile tracks, one other Jeep out ahead of us early who turned around at the tank.
ben drove better than he thinks. he kept his speed up on the flats, chose good lines and listened on the radio. the slide on the downhill was the classic mistake, braking in the turn, and it was a two minute recovery in soft snow with no damage. that is exactly where you want to make that mistake, on a run with three other rigs.
the factory tires did okay aired down, though on the steeper drifted stretch they packed up with snow and the locker earned its keep. if ben does this every winter, a real all terrain with a snowflake rating is the first upgrade. not a lift. tires.
alana's find was the most useful thing all day and she will explain it better than i can.
Boise, ID88 posts · joined Nov 2025Rig2017 4Runner TRD Off-Road, 2 in lift, 285/70R17
my report, written at my sister's kitchen table at 7 am because her kids are already up.
the drive up I-17 from Chandler was two and a half hours, dry until Munds Park and snowy after. the run was great. ben is a natural, and i liked seeing nate coach a beginner without making him feel small.
the find. at lunch at the Cinder Hills i did my usual flashlight crawl under each rig. on ben's 4Runner the passenger side front CV axle, the outer boot, had split at one of the folds, about an inch and a half long. grease was flung all over the wheel barrel and up onto the control arm. the edges of the split were dry and cracked, the rubber had that old, age checked look. my honest read is it started on that yard, sitting, and the cold and the flexing that day finished it. it was not from anything he did on the trail.
why it matters: right now it is a cheap fix. clean it out, new boot, new grease, clamps, done. if it rides around for a few months letting grit and water into the joint, it starts clicking on turns and then you are buying an axle. i told him to do it before the next run, and not to wheel it again until then.
i said it could be worth an email to the conaways people under the warranty, though boots are a wear item and i would not count on it. either way it is a small bill.
Austin, TX34 posts · joined Nov 2025Rig2016 GX460 Premium, stock height, 265/70R18
my report, from my in laws' couch in San Diego, late because Anza-Borrego was very good to me.
960 miles out and the GX did not care. at 18 psi in that snow the full time 4WD just walked through everything. i was the heaviest rig there and i felt it on the drifts, i needed momentum where ben's 4Runner with the locker could just crawl. lesson learned about lockers.
i carried the traction boards nobody used and the coffee everybody used. i would drive a thousand miles again to wheel with these people. ben bought lunch like he promised: green chile burgers in town. good choice.
Truckee, CA73 posts · joined Nov 2025Rig2019 Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon JL 3.6, 35s
i read all four reports in a row and i am mad i was not there. Truckee to Flagstaff is a long day but i would have done it.
two questions for ben since i keep looking at conaway's auto sales myself for a second rig. would you do it again, buying blind, knowing about the boot? and did you put the CV boot on the warranty, or just fix it?
Flagstaff, AZ19 posts · joined Nov 2025Rig2022 4Runner TRD Off-Road Premium, stock, 265/70R17
UPDATE, about two months after the run, and an answer for rubicon.
the boot. i did not file a claim. alana was right that it is a wear item, i could not prove when it tore, and i did not want to argue about 200 dollars. an independent shop on the east side of town did it the week after christmas. Toyota boot kit 46 dollars, 1.2 hours of labor at 140, 221.80 out the door with tax and supplies. the shop said the joint was clean inside and turned smoothly, so we caught it early. no clicking on full lock in the parking lot, i checked twice.
everything i have in it now:
bid 33,400
delivery 0
MVD registration and VLT 468
diff, transfer case and brake fluids plus an oil change 312
CV boot 221.80
34,401.80, plus interest on the credit union loan. dealers in Phoenix are still asking around 40,000 for the same rig with similar miles.
rubicon, your first question. i would buy this way again, with one change. i would get the loan approved before i even started browsing. losing that SR5 in august because my money was not ready was the worst part of the whole thing, and it was my fault, not theirs.
it has been out twice since the run, once on the Cinder Hills alone (stayed on the easy stuff, told my neighbor where i was going) and once out toward Mormon Lake on the dirt roads off Lake Mary Road. i am saving for KO2s or Falkens with the snowflake, like nate said. new lots keep showing up on conaways, rubicon, so go window shop. nate, alana, overland: same weekend next December, and this time i am buying the burgers and the gas.
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