Frame treatment and skids, ect

[4bammer]

Hi all,

I have a 4th Gen I bought a bunch of RCI skids for. Thus far I've detached the stock steps and XREAS system. This leaves a number of fresh looking bolt holes in the frame.

Would you treat these bolt holes with anything?

I also posted in the maintenance section, but I'm hoping you guys can give better advice.

I'm looking at installing RCI skids and rock sliders in the next week or two, and im not totally sure if these bolt holes are used with the new pieces.

Either way, would you treat them with anything? Would you put anything in them to prevent potential corrosion?

Additionally, i was surprised to see that the lower link skids require additional holes be drilled in the frame.

To be honest, I wasn't so worried about making these holes as i am making sure they are properly being treated for potential corrosion.

I'm not so worried about making new holes am i am ruining my rig :dancin:

Help a newbie please

 

[MSRP.]

Best would be to prep properly and POR15 for the most durable solution

 

[Erkelbot]

I can only speak from the recent experience I had when I replaced my skids… The bolts were virtually fused to the frame, so I ended up breaking at least one of them and drilling them out. With that said, I would absolutely advise putting an anti-corrosive material on the bolts before you put them back into the frame. It'll save you a huge headache when you need to get underneath there later. While you're down there, you might as well remove any of them that you see that look fresh -- ones that come out easy -- and treat them as well.

 

[CAN-03runner]

Drilling a hole in the frame is probably not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, I'm just a little apprehensive about doing it to mine. It's too bad you need to drill for those type.

For the bolts you removed leaving threaded holes behind, depending on which sliders you bought they might make use of some of them. My Demello bolt on reuse some threaded holes, but don't remember if they were part of the xreas system.

To protect them, the best overkill thing to do is to find out what the thread size is, get the same size tap to clean it out. Get a new bolt, apply antiseize and screw back in. But you could also just spray WD40 as a cleaner/solvent, for the threads and bolt. Thread your bolt in and out a couple of times so the gunk get pushed out. Spary again as needed, clean it out with small piece of rags, let dry. Then apply antiseize to the bolt and screw it back in for safe keeping. You can probably also use something like fluid film as your rust inhibitor. And respray every once in a while.

But really if you were able to simply just unbolt those bolts without issue, clean, apply antisezie and forget about it.

I'm not sure I would apply Por 15 to the threads. It will cure hard, and might make it difficult to thread the bolt back on when / if you needed to. If you want to apply something more like paint, spray on something like Rust Converter.

 

[truc.karl]

I would paint them and put grease or silicone in there.

 

[sonerick]

The frame has holes all over it already, I say just leave em and move one. Use fluid film on the entire undercarriage to slow down the rust in general. Couple of little bolt holes aren't going to cause your frame to rot and fall apart.

That might happen anyways, but it won't be because of those holes.

 

[RAD4Runner]

... This leaves a number of fresh looking bolt holes in the frame.
Would you treat these bolt holes with anything?

...I would absolutely advise putting an anti-corrosive material on the bolts before you put them back into the frame. It'll save you a huge headache when you need to get underneath there later...

Concur.
For unused holes, I'd do that and install stainless steel bolt in it so they do not fill up with junk that could cause rust and/or foul up the threads.

I used teflon pipe joint compound (water-resistant) on screws on my kayak that get exposed to saltwater all the time. Absolutely no rusting and easy to unscrew when needed.

 

[Sporin]

The frame has holes all over it already, I say just leave em and move one. Use fluid film on the entire undercarriage to slow down the rust in general. Couple of little bolt holes aren't going to cause your frame to rot and fall apart.

That might happen anyways, but it won't be because of those holes.

Agreed. The frame is already full of holes, I wouldn't sweat a few extra bolt holes IF they aren't reused.

 

[jahmes143]

I'm a member of several vehicle restoration and garage maintenance forums and by far the most frequent advice I've come across for rust prevention on threads is to use anti-seize. On the bolt head there are lots of opinions varying from motorcycle chain grease to clear coat.