The best advice i can give is just get pit and find the limits of the vehicle and yourself before you start changing anything. I always start with basic recovery stuff. D rings, tow strap, first aid kit and ability to contact help if you need. And never go alone. My wife has gotten plenty of places in her stock GX470 right behind the big lifted vehicles
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I'm in the same boat, I just bought a new 4runner and trying to decide what mods to do first.
I went with the SR5 base model for a couple reasons - price was the biggest factor and knowing I was going to do at least a few mods over the next few years and to what end. This is my daily driver as well as my adventure vehicle. Until now the bulk of my dirt tracks have been throughout Colorado and Utah and I had no problems with the stock 2002 Chevy Avalanche that ran through anything I was comfortable on for nearly 250K miles. I'd like to set up for trails more aggressive trails than I did with the Avalanche but I'm not sure how far I'll go. I've watched tons of videos of rigs running on trails that I'm familiar with and look at the mods they seem to have - that is helping. For example - I drove Hell's Revenge in a rented razor and have watched numerous videos of people in their overland vehicles. I'm starting to get a sense of what I want vs need not only to run certain trail types but also to head out for a stretch. I'm very comfortable off-grid camping for days at a time so I'm good camp gear wise (although I plan to make some mods there too).
In any case, I like the advice to gear up on the recovery side, I am leaning to a hidden winch mount and winch sooner rather than later, sliders, and then it will be a toss-up between suspension and tires. I think ideally I'd do those at the same time funds will determine that outcome. One thing I am certain about is that I'll be making a set of custom drawers. That is something I have the tools and skills to handle - this is an example I'm working from - going to go modular with a system to remove simply when I need to.
I won't do the jerry cans inside other than that - I like this setup.