Thank you for the write-up! Just inadvertently noticed the other day that the rear strap is bust. Hopefully, I have the same success as you with the bolts. Just went ahead and ordered all the hardware to minimize downtime. This is now on the to-do list along with the exhaust falling off! Damn Rust!
Good call on the hardware, I still haven't gone back and replaced those bolts or that rusty pin but I have the parts now. Just need to get around to replacing them lol. Thanks and I hope the writeup is helpful. Feel free to reach out with any questions!
Thank you for the write-up! Just inadvertently noticed the other day that the rear strap is bust. Hopefully, I have the same success as you with the bolts. Just went ahead and ordered all the hardware to minimize downtime. This is now on the to-do list along with the exhaust falling off! Damn Rust!
I ended up snapping off the bolt on the front strap so I drilled it out. Then I drilled & tapped a piece of scrap steel with a slightly larger thread and welded a piece of metal coat hanger wire to it. I pushed this into a hole in the frame and used the coat hanger wire to manipulate the now threaded chunk of steel so the threads lined up with the hole left when I drilled out the broken bolt. Turned a 1 hour job into an all day thing.
Just did this job. This is the best write-up that I've seen covering this. Job was easy. Longest part was restoring the skid plate and letting the paint dry. If not for that I'd say that this was doable in about 30-45 minutes. Liberal application of penetrant on the bolts several days before and the use of a moderate impact gun saved me from any broken hardware headache. Used OEM hardware to replace everything that I removed and went with the LILAND GLOBAL Fuel Tank Straps from Rock Auto as suggested.
I got lucky that only my rear strap was broken. I didn't bother with the ratchet straps and started off by lowering the skid with the jack. If the front of the tank started dropping, I would've gone back up to tie it up.
I also completely jacked the truck up with 6-ton stands which made moving around quite easy. Because of this, I found that a long extension with a swivel joint was able to get to the front inner skid plate bolt with the truck on stands and the rear-end hanging.
All the parts that I used (some P/N's y=mx+b didn't list):
77653-35040 - FUEL TANK PIN X2
77644-35030 - FUEL TANK BOLT (TANK STRAP BOLT) X2
77681-35031 - FUEL TANK BAND (RUBBER STRAP COVER) X1
77681-35041 - TANK STRAP SEAT (RUBBER STRAP COVER) X1
90468-14032 - FUEL TANK CLIP X2
90080-11373 - UNDER COVER BOLT (SKID PLATE BOLTS) X6
__________________ SOLD2007 4Runner Sport Edition V6 4X4 - Natural White - Perf:Doug Thorley Long Tube Headers | 4.56 Gears ARB Front / TrueTrac Rear Off Road: Fr: Bilstein 6112 w/1/2" Toytec Spacer / Rr: MT ICON Long Travel | JBA UCAs | VTX Rogue 17x8.5 -10 | GY Duratrac 285/70R17 | Rear Diff Breather Mod | 1" Toytec Body Lift | Custom Cut Axle Joints ICE: Auto Pumpkin 10.1" Android | 3.5" Tweeter ModExterior:Quad Bi-Xenon HID Retrofit
Just did this job. This is the best write-up that I've seen covering this. Job was easy. Longest part was restoring the skid plate and letting the paint dry. If not for that I'd say that this was doable in about 30-45 minutes. Liberal application of penetrant on the bolts several days before and the use of a moderate impact gun saved me from any broken hardware headache. Used OEM hardware to replace everything that I removed and went with the LILAND GLOBAL Fuel Tank Straps from Rock Auto as suggested.
I got lucky that only my rear strap was broken. I didn't bother with the ratchet straps and started off by lowering the skid with the jack. If the front of the tank started dropping, I would've gone back up to tie it up.
I also completely jacked the truck up with 6-ton stands which made moving around quite easy. Because of this, I found that a long extension with a swivel joint was able to get to the front inner skid plate bolt with the truck on stands and the rear-end hanging.
Thats awesome! Glad the writeup was helpful.
I wonder if the longer shocks helped the suspension droop out more to get the driveshaft down more? I think I didn't have the stock suspension quite flexed/drooped out enough, which probably would have helped me. I have yet to go back and put that bolt in, so its rubbing my driveshaft when the suspension compresses now that I've banged up the skid. I gotta put that bolt back in there soon lol
I wonder if the longer shocks helped the suspension droop out more to get the driveshaft down more? I think I didn't have the stock suspension quite flexed/drooped out enough, which probably would have helped me. I have yet to go back and put that bolt in, so its rubbing my driveshaft when the suspension compresses now that I've banged up the skid. I gotta put that bolt back in there soon lol
You're right and I didn't think about my rear suspension being long travel. That probably did help. Still not impossible to get to, just a PITA.
__________________ SOLD2007 4Runner Sport Edition V6 4X4 - Natural White - Perf:Doug Thorley Long Tube Headers | 4.56 Gears ARB Front / TrueTrac Rear Off Road: Fr: Bilstein 6112 w/1/2" Toytec Spacer / Rr: MT ICON Long Travel | JBA UCAs | VTX Rogue 17x8.5 -10 | GY Duratrac 285/70R17 | Rear Diff Breather Mod | 1" Toytec Body Lift | Custom Cut Axle Joints ICE: Auto Pumpkin 10.1" Android | 3.5" Tweeter ModExterior:Quad Bi-Xenon HID Retrofit
this helped tremendously. i actually didnt even need to remove the gas tank cover. apparently it all fell out on the road somewhere. got home with a the gas tank leaning under.
this helped tremendously. i actually didnt even need to remove the gas tank cover. apparently it all fell out on the road somewhere. got home with a the gas tank leaning under.
I'm glad it could help you! Bummer about the skid, sounds like it just disintegrated lol. At least you made it home with the tank at least somewhat attached, and not on the side of the highway somewhere
New to 4runner, just bought a 2005 for my 17YO son to drive. I took the front skid plates off, cleaning and painting them, I need to do the gas tank skid plate as well, those pics help a lot.
New to 4runner, just bought a 2005 for my 17YO son to drive. I took the front skid plates off, cleaning and painting them, I need to do the gas tank skid plate as well, those pics help a lot.
Awesome! Check out the straps while you're under there. It's not much more effort once the skid is off. Painting everything sure makes them look good!
While Offroading, I got this big ol dent in the front of the tank skid. This caused the skid to sit lower on the tank up front, and the arm with the pesky bolt I never put back to rub the driveshaft. You can see where all of the paint got rubbed off where it was contacting. I zip tied the hanger up the best I could, but it wouldn't sit flush with the frame bracket and would occasionally rub. Turning the radio up fixed the rubbing noise lol.
When I went to try and just replace that bolt to hold everything up, I found the dent was obscuring the skid enough that the hole for the bolt no longer lined up. There was really only one option, which was to drop the skid. I was dreading this, but the whole job only took me about 1.5-2hrs
Now I could pound the dent out. I used a 3lb dead blow
A bit Hard to see, but Before
After
Looking at where the hanger was rubbing the driveshaft, looks like my zip tie job didn't hold it up high enough lol. This bad boy was sharp
While the skid was off, I wanted to replace the rear strap pin. When I originally did this job, I found one of the pins was pretty rusty so I ordered an other. I needed to have it wrapped up over the weekend, and the pin arrived late. Since then, its just been floating around. Heres the rusty one, I previously had to reinstall. It had a decent amount of antiseize left on it when removed, so that was good to see.
So I loosened up the driver side strap bolt just enough to get the pin out and swap in the new one.
I started the tank skid reinstall with the annoying bolt behind the driveshaft. It wasn't really that difficult the second time around. Using an open end wrench, I was able to get a 2/3 turn on the bolt each time. I dunno what was up when I did it the first time around, but it could have been the heat and time getting to me.
I then moved to the three driver side frame bolts. If you're skid is mangled like mine, then a tip is to put a screwdriver through one of the holes in the skid and through the frame hole. Leverage the screwdriver until the skid hole lines up with the frame hole. Then the next bolt in line can be further encouraged with a hammer, or if you're lucky, thread right in without issue. From there, the remaining tank skid bolts are fairly easy
Done for Real
Now this project has been officially completed, I'm satisfied. I wasn't keen on reinstalling that one bolt, but also knew the skid rubbing the driveshaft was not good. In the end, the pesky bolt wasn't too bad, and I'm glad its all complete now
I was going through this job and ended up rounding the rear strap bolt.
How would I go about fixing this? I then tried drilling through but it kindof just made a mess.
Now I'm waiting for a ride to the hardware store. I was thinking of picking up a dremel to cut the bolt head off and then drilling the stud out. After that can i just tap to a bigger bolt size? I'm not sure if this will work since the bolt threads into a nut that's welded in the frame.
I was going through this job and ended up rounding the rear strap bolt.
How would I go about fixing this? I then tried drilling through but it kindof just made a mess.
Now I'm waiting for a ride to the hardware store. I was thinking of picking up a dremel to cut the bolt head off and then drilling the stud out. After that can i just tap to a bigger bolt size? I'm not sure if this will work since the bolt threads into a nut that's welded in the frame.
Hey there, sorry about your rounded bolt. I've rarely had success drilling out a bolt. I'd try one of those rounded bolt head extractors if the head is still on the bolt. See Project Farm video below, he makes good comparison videos and you can see how they work
If those don't work or the head is snapped off, you can try to break the weld nut in the frame by hitting up on the headless bolt. This would only work if the bolt was somewhat loosened, or the head broke off. If the bolt was still tight, then you'd just be hammering the head into the frame rail, rather than the threads into the weld nut, if that makes any since
Once the internal weld nut is broken, then drop a new bolt in from this hole in the frame above the strap. One of those thin magnetic pickup tools would be helpful to hold and guide it in. Then put a new nut on from the outside and tighten
The rear strap should be less complicated since its an open bracket. Again, break the weld nut by hammering up on the broken bolt stud. Then just bolt through as normal and add a new nut from the back
If all else fails, I've had luck drilling some of the frame weld nuts to the next size up. and tapping. Not a gaurantee that there will be enough meat on the weld nut to hold the new thread size, but could be a last resort. Also could look into rivnuts
Since the bolt is pretty much welded on with rust I may end up trying to cut off the head and hammer the weld nut out.
If I put a bolt through the top of the frame and then add a nut to the bottom would that make it so I can't take it off in the future? Since to my understanding the bolt/nut combo would just spin?
Since the bolt is pretty much welded on with rust I may end up trying to cut off the head and hammer the weld nut out.
If I put a bolt through the top of the frame and then add a nut to the bottom would that make it so I can't take it off in the future? Since to my understanding the bolt/nut combo would just spin?
That is a possibility, but that hole might been be big enough to get a ratchet and an extension in to grip the head.
You could also get a slightly longer bolt, drop it through the inside of the frame, add the one nut to tighten the strap, then add 2 jam nuts and tighten them against each other towards the end of the threads (don't tighten against the main nut used for tightening the strap). Then hold the lower jam nut with one wrench to hold the bolt from spinning, and use a second wrench on the strap tightening nut to snug up the strap
That is a possibility, but that hole might been be big enough to get a ratchet and an extension in to grip the head.
You could also get a slightly longer bolt, drop it through the inside of the frame, add the one nut to tighten the strap, then add 2 jam nuts and tighten them against each other towards the end of the threads (don't tighten against the main nut used for tightening the strap). Then hold the lower jam nut with one wrench to hold the bolt from spinning, and use a second wrench on the strap tightening nut to snug up the strap
I couldn't knock out the nut so i tried to drill through and ended up going sideways and only drilling out half the bolt/nut.
I'm really not sure what to do now. Do you think I could get away with grinding down the rest of that nut and then putting a bolt through the top like you described? The hole I drilled isn't very round and it's also off centre.
I have no idea how I'll end up approaching the front strap since the bolt is in the frame.