Tucking 10-Inch Subwoofers into Your Toyota 4Runner Cargo Area

Basic woodworking skills can create a great spot in your 4Runner for big speakers without losing cargo space.

If you have been thinking about adding some big bass speakers to your Toyota 4Runner, this old-school YotaTech forums write up by “Bob_98SR5” offers a great deal of insight on what you will run into while modifying the cargo area to add speakers without killing the cargo-hauling capabilities. Sadly, the thread is 13 years old and the once-linked images are gone, but we found some general images on the site of an early 4Runner, similar to the one that would have been used for the initial project thread.

The Introduction

When the OP first posted his thread in the Tech Write-Ups section back in January of 2006, he included an array of pictures of his own vehicle with the added speakers, or at least that is what he seems to have included. The pictures have long-since stopped loading from wherever they were hosted, so all we are left with is the written information. Fortunately, that is more than enough to give a Toyota 4Runner owner a good idea of what goes into installing 10-inch subwoofers into the storage spaces in the rear of the cargo area.

It is a lengthy write-up, so we have only included the first portion of the write-up, but we encourage any first generation 4Runner owner to read through the entire thread.

The 1st generation of 4Runner offers a great way to increase your bass levels without adding stand alone bass boxes into the bed. It requires some fabrication skills and some small interior work-arounds, but the result is very bassin’, rockin’, and all those other good things.

The general idea is to build out the rear sections of the bed sides enough to fit a 10″ sub on each one. Using a larger diameter subwoofer than that is possible but involves building a deeper cabinet and a greater loss of cargo area. You will also need to remove the rollbar, temporarily, and then install it again minus a small amount of center section (a muffler shop can easily and cheaply do this for you.) The material for the sub baffles is merely wood; either particle board or plywood. On my 4Runner this wood is then covered with a heavy felt material held on by contact cement or other suitable glue. There are a lot of possible configurations for how you can speaker load the finished product. On mine there is a 10″ Kickersub and a 2-way ADS midrange speaker plate on each side of the bed, as shown below.

Again, this isn’t really a do-it-yourself write-up, but for anyone looking to add a couple of big subwoofers to the cargo area, this thread has great information to get your sound system project started.

The Results

In addition to providing a ton of details on what needs to be done to make this project work, the OP included a review of his Toyota 4Runner with a pair of 10-inch subwoofers mounted in the walls of the cargo area.

Well this is the best part of the write up. The sound. Its important to have enough power behind the subs of course, but these days that isnt hard to accomplish. Its also very important to have a head unit or CD player that has an adequate crossover circuit built into it. When I bought my 4Runner the previous owner had a nice but old stand alone active crossover. I kept it until it died and then replaced it with a modern CD head unit with lots of low frequency options built into it already. In particular, the new CD player lets you control subwoofer boost, the amount of boost, and the width of the bass frequencies that get the boost.

My 4Runner easily outperforms all other car stereos that I have experience with. The bass can be tailored to be smooth and not obvious or it can be boosted to give a loud and solid punch to the beats, and one that also vibrates every mirror on the truck so that you can barely see out of them. Its a great thing to consider doing if you have the inclination. Your ears will love you for it, but your neighbors will probably hate you, every time you crank up the volume.

Click here to head into the forum for a closer look at the entire write-up, as even without the original pictures, the information is great.

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Patrick Rall

"Before I was old enough to walk, my dad was taking me to various types of racing events, from local drag racing to the Daytona 500," says Patrick Rall, a lifetime automotive expert, diehard Dodge fan, and respected auto journalist for over 10 years. "He owned a repair shop and had a variety of performance cars when I was young, but by the time I was 16, he was ready to build me my first drag car – a 1983 Dodge Mirada that ran low 12s. I spent 10 years traveling around the country, racing with my dad by my side. While we live in different areas of the country, my dad still drag races at 80 years old in the car that he built when I was 16 while I race other vehicles, including my 2017 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat and my 1972 Dodge Demon 340.

"Although I went to college for accounting, my time in my dad’s shop growing up allowed me the knowledge to spend time working as a mechanic before getting my accounting degree, at which point I worked in the office of a dealership group. While I was working in the accounting world, I continued racing and taking pictures of cars at the track. Over time, I began showing off those pictures online and that led to my writing.

"Ten years ago, I left the accounting world to become a full-time automotive writer and I am living proof that if you love what you do, you will never “work” a day in your life," adds Rall, who has clocked in time as an auto mechanic, longtime drag racer and now automotive journalist who contributes to nearly a dozen popular auto websites dedicated to fellow enthusiasts.

"I love covering the automotive industry and everything involved with the job. I was fortunate to turn my love of the automotive world into a hobby that led to an exciting career, with my past of working as a mechanic and as an accountant in the automotive world provides me with a unique perspective of the industry.

"My experience drag racing for more than 20 years coupled with a newfound interest in road racing over the past decade allows me to push performance cars to their limit, while my role as a horse stable manager gives me vast experience towing and hauling with all of the newest trucks on the market today.

"Being based on Detroit," says Rall, "I never miss the North American International Auto Show, the Woodward Dream Cruise and Roadkill Nights, along with spending plenty of time raising hell on Detroit's Woodward Avenue with the best muscle car crowd in the world.

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