Fuel Tank Skid Plate - Install TE one on an SR5

westwind77 · Dec 6, 2010

I am thinking of swapping out my 'tiny' skid plate protecting my fuel tank on my SR5 with the one on the TE that covers it 100%. I was curious if this can be done? I would assume the fuel systems are identical, but wonder if they might have relocated bolt patterns on the TE because of KDSS?

Part is 77606-60190 - Parts manual on the forum says $287.54 but my dealership quoted me $301.89.

I know I have the 2nd option to go with the BudBuilt system, which is overkill for what I would need I think.

10+ 4Runner

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/68110-budbuilt-skidplates.html

The BudBulit Tank plate runs $379, then whatever it is for shipping. If I was local I think I would spend the extra $80 and do the BudBuilt, but I have a feeling shipping will run me another big chunk of change too, which makes me lean back to the Toyota TE one.

For those who have the TE, what do you think of the plate?

I am not going to be doing heavy trails or anything, not 'planning' on dragging it across rocks. I might do a couple trails here and there, lot of soft sand beach driving. My previous SUV had full coverage and when bouncing up and down on the deep tracks on the beach you could feel the whole thing bottom out, I hate the thought of the fuel tank taking that abuse directly.

Thanks!

Foosmatrix · Dec 6, 2010

The factory skids are not even in the same league as the budbuilt ones. Even if you never offroad your rig The extra cash for the budbuilts is well worth it

RocklandT4R · Dec 6, 2010

How about if you contact someone for the used one they took off, when they bought the BudBuilts?

westwind77 · Dec 6, 2010

Foosmatrix said:
The factory skids are not even in the same league as the budbuilt ones.

That I 110% agree with!

Foosmatrix said:
Even if you never offroad your rig The extra cash for the budbuilts is well worth it

That I disagree with....somewhat. If the TE plate would hold up fine for what I need there is no need for me to 'waste' money getting an even stronger one. Rather put the extra $$ into another area, like replacing the stock speakers.

It all comes down if the TE plate is decent, which I am hoping the elite members of the 'secret' TE Club here will chime in on

westwind77 · Dec 6, 2010

RocklandT4R said:
How about if you contact someone for the used one they took off, when they bought the BudBuilts?

I know Haper did his but his plate would have been the same as mine. I saw a couple other posts with people saying they 'were' going to order, but no real confirmations or pics of them installed on a TE.....BUT.....if any of you TE's have done this, and would like to part with your stock plate let me know!

03_4x4Runner · Dec 6, 2010

This was another of Toyotas cost savings on the 5th gen. All model 4th gens had full length gas tank skid plates.

westwind77 · Dec 6, 2010

03_4x4Runner said:
This was another of Toyotas cost savings on the 5th gen. All model 4th gens had full length gas tank skid plates.

Sure, I will agree with that....but I was reading through the 5 page thread on the 4th forum about what 'drives you all crazy about your 4th gens' and it was actually interesting too see what a lot of people complained about was addressed/fixed in the 5th gen, almost like 'someone' was listening. Sure, they took away some features on the 5th also. Seems like someone had a bottom line number they had to reach and corrected some things, but at the cost of others. No use to complain, just what can be done to 'fix' it

CmdrCody · Mar 16, 2011

To date, has anyone switched their SR5 / Limited partial fuel tank skid plate for the full TE OEM skid plate?

hoeftm2002 · Apr 5, 2011

CmdrCody said:
To date, has anyone switched their SR5 / Limited partial fuel tank skid plate for the full TE OEM skid plate?

I did this last weekend - I got the full trail part for a great deal from partznet.com (but don't order the one from the website without calling - even though the pic on their page shows the trail part the price is not correct and you will get the wrong part - trust me I found out the hard way).

I had a coupon and ended up paying less than $200 - no shipping - no tax (just not sure if they will do it again - they told me it cost them $124 to ship).

Its worth a shot and for me it was far less than the budbuilt and will serve its purpose.

CmdrCody · Apr 5, 2011

Excellent.

I ordered the TE skid, and it is due in this week. Hopefully I can install it this weekend.

T4Fun · Apr 5, 2011

hoeftm2002 said:
I did this last weekend - I got the full trail part for a great deal from partznet.com (but don't order the one from the website without calling - even though the pic on their page shows the trail part the price is not correct and you will get the wrong part - trust me I found out the hard way).

I had a coupon and ended up paying less than $200 - no shipping - no tax (just not sure if they will do it again - they told me it cost them $124 to ship).

Its worth a shot and for me it was far less than the budbuilt and will serve its purpose.

dude
what happened to your BP limited to trail conversion?

hoeftm2002 · Apr 6, 2011

T4Fun said:
dude
what happened to your BP limited to trail conversion?

New family member on the way!

hoeftm2002 · Apr 6, 2011

CmdrCody said:
Excellent.

I ordered the TE skid, and it is due in this week. Hopefully I can install it this weekend.

Cool - the bolt behind the drive shaft is a PITA - get to take it off and then put it right back on!

I found a socket wrench could get back there for part of it and then just an small pliers for the rest of the way (my socket was to thick to be able to get it all the way off - actually had to re tighten a bit so i could get the wrench out)

Also the part will not come with the two extra bolts needed to put the trail skid on - I went to my dealer with one of the bolts and they found two the same length and thread pattern and gave them to me for free - the dealer is next to a Home Depot so that was my next stop if needed.

Good luck!

CmdrCody · Apr 6, 2011

Thanks for the bolt warning.

I have actually been pretty impressed with the Parts Dept at the dealer. They have been helpful for years with my FZJ80 needs. When they ordered the skid for me, he pointed out that I would need two more bolts and included them in the order.

iDRiVaT4R · Apr 6, 2011

Before my lift I bashed up my gas tank skid in quite a few places. It's nothing compared to the budbuilts. If I was stock height I would definitely go Budbuilt, but since I've lifted it, I haven't hit the gas tank skid once so I'm waiting a while before I get Budbuilts.

When I order the Budbuilt skids, I'd be ordering the whole package to get the discount. I'm hoping maybe by then he will have front and rear bumpers available then perhaps I can possibly get a huge discount on everything.

As far as shipping costs go, about 4 years ago I ordered the complete package for my tacoma and the total UPS cost was around $180. AS soon as you go over 200# for a shipment, you save quite a few bucks. Each piece was about 30-45# x 5 pieces.

CmdrCody · Apr 11, 2011

Installed the TE fuel tank skid plate on my SR5 today. Here are a few pics:

The SR5 skid (lower, smaller one) compared to the TE skid.

This little white plastic guard needed to be moved from the old skid to the new.

hoeftm2002's description of the front bolt being difficult was spot on. I ended up lifting the rear, setting the frame on jack stands, and then lowering the axle until it was just hanging. This moved the driveshaft down enough that I could easily use a socket and ratchet for removal and installation of that pesky bolt (and I had a good look at full rear axle travel...)

The fuel tank with the skid removed:

The two extra bolts that are necessary for mounting have an odd diameter reduction at the end. However, they matched the other four that were mounting the original skid. The part number was unique:

And the TE skid part number:

If anyone is interested in the SR5 skid I removed, let me know, otherwise it is going to the metal recycler.

dron · Aug 3, 2018

CmdrCody said:
hoeftm2002's description of the front bolt being difficult was spot on. I ended up lifting the rear, setting the frame on jack stands, and then lowering the axle until it was just hanging. This moved the driveshaft down enough that I could easily use a socket and ratchet for removal and installation of that pesky bolt (and I had a good look at full rear axle travel...)

Hey Cody!

Didn't quite get what you did to get access to that bolt. If the frame was on jack stands, how did you lower an axle?!

cbielat · Aug 4, 2018

westwind77 said:
I am thinking of swapping out my 'tiny' skid plate protecting my fuel tank on my SR5 with the one on the TE that covers it 100%. I was curious if this can be done? I would assume the fuel systems are identical, but wonder if they might have relocated bolt patterns on the TE because of KDSS?

Part is 77606-60190 - Parts manual on the forum says $287.54 but my dealership quoted me $301.89.

I know I have the 2nd option to go with the BudBuilt system, which is overkill for what I would need I think.

10+ 4Runner

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/68110-budbuilt-skidplates.html

The BudBulit Tank plate runs $379, then whatever it is for shipping. If I was local I think I would spend the extra $80 and do the BudBuilt, but I have a feeling shipping will run me another big chunk of change too, which makes me lean back to the Toyota TE one.

For those who have the TE, what do you think of the plate?

I am not going to be doing heavy trails or anything, not 'planning' on dragging it across rocks. I might do a couple trails here and there, lot of soft sand beach driving. My previous SUV had full coverage and when bouncing up and down on the deep tracks on the beach you could feel the whole thing bottom out, I hate the thought of the fuel tank taking that abuse directly.

Thanks!

This is exactly what I did a number of years ago. Mine is beat to shit now and looking for another one.

dron · Aug 4, 2018

cbielat said:
This is exactly what I did a number of years ago. Mine is beat to shit now and looking for another one.

I have TE and as such a full length fuel tank skid plate is already in place. I just wanted to take it off for reshaping b/c it dented to the point that it is up against a fuel tank. Or may be that is not a big deal and I should leave it alone?

cbielat · Aug 4, 2018

dron said:
I have TE and as such a full length fuel tank skid plate is already in place. I just wanted to take it off for reshaping b/c it dented to the point that it is up against a fuel tank. Or may be that is not a big deal and I should leave it alone?

Well yeah, it'll do that with the weigh of the truck on top of it. It's not designed to hold that weight, more so just a scratch guard. I just don't like to keep adding weight and the steel skids are pretty heavy so I don't mind getting another one of these.

Fuel Tank Skid Plate - Install TE one on an SR5

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