For most of us, Tonka might bring back childhood memories of playing with that big, yellow dump truck in the sand box, but the company isn’t exactly toying around these days. Tonka now has a motorsports team – aptly named Tonka Motorsports – that runs a full array of trucks in the exciting Lucas Oil Off-Road Racing Series, and to drum up some added publicity, it has developed a bunch of cool new trucks->ke1311, like the 2016 Ford F-750 Tonka, to show off at races and other events.

The company’s latest creation is a monster of a Toyota 4Runner->ke1844, which was introduced this week on the sprawling property of Tonka’s Pro2 driver, Myan Spaccarelli. Although I wasn’t among the select members of the media that were able to attend the event, I was able to talk to Kevin Bloomfield, Tonka’s vice president of product development, to get a little more insight about this crazy-looking 4Runner. As he put it, “Nobody makes aftermarket anything for the new 4Runners,” so essentially the entire truck has been fully customized by various companies (mostly off-road parts suppliers) to transform this stock 2015 4Runner SR5 into what you see here. In addition to the 4Runner pictures, Tonka also supplied some bonus images of its equally awesome Ford Super Duty affectionately known as T-Rex. Enjoy.

Continue reading to learn more about the 2015 Tonka 4Runner.

Exterior

Wanting a truck that appeals to both adults and children alike, the Tonka 4Runner is just outlandish enough to look like a larger-than-life toy for kids, but still fierce and functional enough that adults will feel giddy around the truck as well. Starting with a body wrap consisting of Tonka’s signature black-and-yellow colors, the 4Runner was given its show-truck stance with a 10-inch lift and 38x15.5 Mickey Thompson Baja MTZ tires mounted on Ultra Motorsports 20-inch wheels. Rigid Industries added a full assortment of LED lights, including a 50-inch light bar on the roof, a 30-inch light bar in the grille and various other LED driving lights at the front and rear.

The coolest parts of the Tonka 4Runner are the custom bumpers, fenders and roof rack, which were built by Bulletproof Suspensions. This lower exoskeleton wraps around the entire body, and it even incorporates a ladder to access the roof rack. The Tonka 4Runner is topped off – literally – with an Overlander roof-top tent from Smittybilt. Smittybilt also supplied the wireless winch that is hidden away behind the front bumper.

Interior

Tonka hasn’t released any shots of this monster 4Runner's interior, but the build sheet boasts a fully custom aftermarket leather interior from Roadwire, as well as a JL Audio speaker system.

Drivetrain

For now, this custom Tonka truck sports a fully stock Toyota 4Runner drivetrain, but Bloomfield says that might be revisited in the near future, including the possibility of a TRD supercharger. More than just a show truck, the Tonka 4Runner is ready to take on any terrain, and its debut had it jumping whoops and slinging dirt around a circle track. This was made possible with the suspension system, which was custom designed by Bulletproof Suspensions and has massive King Off-Road racing shocks and coilovers (with remote reservoirs) that provide 14 inches of travel at the front and 10 inches of travel at the rear.

Prices

Due to the heavy custom work that went into creating elements like the roof rack and lower body protection, Bloomfield estimates that the build would have cost about $150,000 including the price of the 4Runner. That’s a hefty markup from the $33,210 base MSRP of a 2015 Toyota 4Runner SR5.

Conclusion

The Toyota 4Runner will be on display for all to see at this year’s SEMA->ke216 Show, the 2015 LA Auto Show->ke211, various Lucas Oil Off-Road Racing Series events and other regional events. Just don’t expect to see it in a toy store, as Bloomfield said that there are no plans for Tonka to create a scaled-down version for kids... or my desk.