The C4 Engine Bay Accessory Tray For The 5th Gen 4Runner: Install & Review

Easily Mount Air Compressor Or Switch Panel Equipment With The C4 Engine Bay Accessory Tray For The 5th Gen 4Runner – Install & Review

C4 has released its version of a universal driver-side engine bay accessory tray.

This tray is ideal for neatly mounting circuit breakers, fuse blocks, Blue Sea accessories, and many different types of switches in your engine bay. There are even pre-drilled holes specifically for Blue Sea accessories and S-Pods. If you have any sort of aftermarket electrical accessories like lights, air compressors, winches, dual batteries, etc. the C4 engine bay accessory tray is the perfect way to clean and organize everything.

Find It Online:

• C4 Engine Bay Accessory Tray – Driver Side (5th Gen 4Runner): Check Price

Why You Might Need The C4 Engine Bay Accessory Tray

Parts included:

• C4 Accessory Tray
• Accessory Tray Arm
• (2) ~1.5″ length bolts
• (1) Carriage bolt
• (1) Nut
• (3) Flat washers
• (2) Locking washers

Tools Needed:

• 10mm socket
• 1/2″ or 13mm socket
• 1/4″ drive ratchet
• 3″, 1/4″ drive ratchet extension

The more electrical accessories you add, the more likely you need a fuse block and switch panel. Not only to help organize your engine bay but your dash as well.

The dash only has a few blank spots for OEM-style switches. Once those are filled, you either need to upgrade to a switch panel or add additional switches somewhere else inside the 4Runner. Many owners have started using switch panels as they keep everything tidy and make it easy to control all of your electronics from a central location.

Even if you do not use a switch panel, the C4 engine bay accessory tray can really help clean up your wiring in the engine bay. I am one of those guys who hasn’t invested in a switch panel, yet. I have one more OEM slot left and then I will need a switch panel. If you’re anything like me though, you still want your engine bay wiring to be organized and protected.

Once I installed my Lensun Hood Solar Panel, I added a fuse block and circuit breaker in the engine bay. I didn’t have this tray yet, so I mounted these onto the OEM fuse box. The problem? If I needed to get to any OEM fuse, I would have to disconnect the wiring to my circuit breaker and fuse block.

Moving these items to the C4 tray and an otherwise unused space inside my engine bay was a no-brainer.

Attach The Mounting Arm To Tray

The arm attaches to the tray with the supplied carriage bolt, washer, and nut prior to installation into the 4Runner. The arm attaches at the bottom of the tray. Once you attach the arm, the tray is ready to be installed.

Protecting The Tray

To avoid lead times, this accessory tray is only available in 12-gauge raw steel. Raw steel will rust, so I recommend some sort of coating to prevent rust. You can simply use spray paint or use some sort of coating to prevent rusting. I had extra Steel-It so I went ahead and used that.

Steel-It is a bit overkill for something that will sit protected. If I didn’t already have some, I would have just spray-painted it. The tray has some pre-drilled holes but if your accessories do not line up with them, you can add some additional ones. Just make sure to add the new holes prior to coating the tray. I decided to make the existing holes work with my accessories even though I was only able to use one hole per item.

Before Installation

Have a general plan and idea of how you will arrange everything on the tray. It will save you a bit of headache and time from readjusting later.

You also might want to install your accessories on the tray prior to installation as this may be easier than doing so after the tray is installed. Otherwise, you will have to reach underneath the tray and space can be tight. I installed my items after I put the tray on but it did make it a little more difficult.

Installing The Accessory Tray

This tray is very easy to install. Once you have the arm attached, the whole tray attaches to the engine bay with only three bolts.

One of them is the OEM bolt for the master cylinder, which is a 10mm bolt. I used a ratchet with a 3″ extension. Simply loosen it about 3/8″ – 1/2″ so the arm can slide in between the master cylinder bracket and the fender. Do not tighten it until you have all of the bolts in and the tray is in place.

The other two bolts go into the side fender holes that are already pre-drilled. If you have anything installed in the two OEM holes, you will need to first remove them. I test-fit everything before adding my relays back and tightening all three bolts.

The tray is now fully installed! You can start adding your electrical accessories if you haven’t already done so.

Electrical Accessory Setup

If you didn’t already, take some time to decide your layout and how you’ll route the wires. This allows you to see how the wires need to be run and cut accordingly. Measure twice, cut once!

You have a lot of options in terms of what you can install on the tray and how you want to set it all up. Also, take into consideration what you may be adding down the road.

I purchased my circuit breaker and fuse block from Amazon and they didn’t line up with the pre-drilled holes. So, I lined mine up with one hole each and that was enough to hold them in place. To attach it, I used some extra 1″ bolts and nuts I had laying around.

For my setup, I bought a 4 AWG wire to use for my power and ground. I needed just over 1′ of wire for the positive connection from the circuit breaker to the battery and about 10″ of wire for the negative connection from the fuse block to the factory ground connection on the fender.

I used red wire for both connections and used wire shields along with red and black terminal covers to mark them accordingly.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I really like the C4 engine bay accessory tray. It helps you get rid of any rat’s nests of wires and make your engine bay look a lot cleaner. If you have an electrical issue, it is much easier to troubleshoot when everything is organized and easy to follow. This tray allows for endless customization for all of your electrical accessories.

The tray is completely worth the price and I wish I would have purchased it before I did my initial setup. If you are going to add any sort of electrical in your engine bay, do yourself a favor and get this tray, it makes life so much easier!