Help! 2012 TE Running Boards Loose Nut

[bigbillyt]

I know, there is more than one loose nut in my 'runner. But seriously, I have a problem and I wondered if anyone here had any suggestions. I have searched and found a couple of mentions of this problem but nothing specific or what to do about it.

On the forward-most mounting holes for the OEM running board brackets, one on the driver side and both on the passenger side, the nuts that allow them to tighten up have come loose, or are missing.

To try and make a long story a little less lengthy:

A guy T-boned me a bout a year ago on the passenger side. When the body shop quoted to the insurance company they included over $800 to replace the running board on that side. I asked if they would just pay me for the running board, which they did. I took the cash and applied it to a nice set of Budbuilt bump out rock sliders with full tread plating instead. To get the passenger side OEM running board off, the body shop had to cut one of the two forward-most bolts on the passenger side. I didn't really worry about this because shortly thereafter I installed the Budbuilt sliders myself. Well, I recently noticed that the Budbuilt sliders were tremendously rusty. So, I contacted Budbuilt, who has amazing customer service, and they told me to check my e-mail for the FedEx label they sent, and to ship them back and they would redo the powder coating on them and ship them back to me. I know, incredible customer service and I will buy as many accessories from them as possible in the future.

Fortunately, I kept my OEM step rails and the hardware for them in my garage. However, when I went to install them I found that the inner-most bolt on the drivers side after it screwed in about half way just started to spin free. Also, on the passenger side, besides the one I already knew about that the body shop had to cut off, the other bolt hole on that side seems to not have the nut on the inside either. So, now there is nothing to hold that forward-most bracket in place for the passenger side.

So, now what do I do? It is not clear to me how to get a nut up in there and held in place while I screw the bolts in to hold those brackets. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. My wife is short and really depends on having something there to step up into the truck with so I have to do something to make her happy. Plus, in the future I might want to go to an N-Fab Predator type running board which attaches the same way as the OEM boards, so I would like to get this fixed properly

 

[mikey's2010SR5]

Ummm.....

Don't put the steps back on. Wait until the sliders come back. Be a gentleman and help the lady into the truck. And stick with the Buds and not the N-Fabs.

Boom....problem solved!!

 

[bigbillyt]

That was my first thought too. However, we don't really have a specific time frame for the Budbuilt sliders to get returned. Oh, and me helping her into the truck is not always the simple elegant operation it might sound like.

Only reason I would consider something like the N-fab is that I don't get off road very often at all and I think sometimes that sliders are kind of overkill.

Thanks for the input. I would just like to get my vehicle back to it's original functionality in spite of some poor design choices on Toyota's part.

 

[Stifler]

I see you are in Central Florida... if the wife is hot I will volunteer to hoist her up till your sliders get back :wave::roadkill:

 

[NoDak]

I see you are in Central Florida... if the wife is MILF I will volunteer to hoist her up till your sliders get back

there I fixed it for you stifler, that is more inline with your comments

 

[Stifler]

no milfs! that means they have kids!

 

[bigbillyt]

Thanks, the outpouring of concern and kind offers is overwhelming.

 

[shawn474]

Is it possible to get a smaller diameter bolt and nut and go through the existing hole - basically mount through the frame until the new ones come in. I haven't been underneath to see how they mount but off the top of my head if you could a smaller diameter bolt to pass through the mounting bracket of the steps and the frame and nut on the other side.

 

[Antman]

[MENTION=84640]bigbillyt[/MENTION]

Just to be clear-

These are the captured nuts that are now stripped and spinning inside, right?






Unfortunately, there is no easy fix for this unless you plan on cutting an access hole to allow you to hold a new nut in there.

1- You may be able to cut a hole from inside the truck- over the area that has the stripped nut- and seal it with a rubber grommet.

2- Maybe a nutsert would work, but I'm not sure. That would definitely be preferably to drilling another hole though!

Good Luck.

 

[bigbillyt]

Yep, those are the culprits. However, if you look at the forward-most set of mounting holes you will see that just forward of them is a rubber plug protecting a hole 1 inch inch in diameter.

See pics below, first with plug in place, second without. For orientation sake, the plugged hole is toward the front of the vehicle and the bottom of the photo is the outside edge of the undercarriage closest to the bottom edge of the passenger side front door.

I am wondering if there is a long flat wrench, with an offset on the non-business end that would allow me to reach in there and hold the nuts in place. The closest of the two is about 4 inches from the plugged hole and the other is about 5 1/2 - 6 inches away but on a slope. I imagine I could find some kind of "stickum" to temporarily hold the nuts in place on the wrench until the bolts grab and hold them. Anyone know of such a device?

Oh, and what does "captured" mean in this context? How were they originally held in place? Any idea?

 

[Stifler]

captured... in other words tack welded. Nutsert is going to be the easiest solution. If the capture nut is still there you will need to take a punch and pop it loose completely. Get a magnetic rod and pull that our of the body through the plug

 

[Antman]

You could also weld a rod to a nut. May have to make some creative bends, but if you get it just right you can line the nut up with the bolt hole and have the welded rod behind the big hole. This would allow you to hold the rod/nut while you tighten the bolt. AKA stick-nut.

With that big grommeted hole there your possibilities opened up!

 

[Stifler]

yep, I have tack welded a nut to a wire coat hanger before and snaked it through.... as long as you get enough RPMs behind the bolt it will catch

 

[bigbillyt]

Nutserts sound like a great idea. Do I understand correctly that you need a special tool to set them in place? Also, are they the same thing as what I see referred to as "rivet nuts"?

 

[NorthwoodsRunner]

Yep, those are the culprits. However, if you look at the forward-most set of mounting holes you will see that just forward of them is a rubber plug protecting a hole 1 inch inch in diameter.

See pics below, first with plug in place, second without. For orientation sake, the plugged hole is toward the front of the vehicle and the bottom of the photo is the outside edge of the undercarriage closest to the bottom edge of the passenger side front door.

I am wondering if there is a long flat wrench, with an offset on the non-business end that would allow me to reach in there and hold the nuts in place. The closest of the two is about 4 inches from the plugged hole and the other is about 5 1/2 - 6 inches away but on a slope. I imagine I could find some kind of "stickum" to temporarily hold the nuts in place on the wrench until the bolts grab and hold them. Anyone know of such a device?

This thread is old but helped me a great deal. I got the clues from reading posts from [MENTION=84640]bigbillyt[/MENTION] and [MENTION=65614]Antman[/MENTION].

Below is the tools that I used to hold onto the sheared 13mm nut and unscrew 12mm bolt.

 

[flyrv9]

Another option is to glue the nut to a rod or stick. Once you get the bolt started and tight enough it will break free of the stick and the stick can be removed and replaced by a wrench to tighten. Often when working in tight places on aircraft I would spray glue small connector nuts to my finger. Then I could position the nut where I could engage it with a small screw or bolt. Worked great.

 

[NorthwoodsRunner]

Another option is to glue the nut to a rod or stick. Once you get the bolt started and tight enough it will break free of the stick and the stick can be removed and replaced by a wrench to tighten. Often when working in tight places on aircraft I would spray glue small connector nuts to my finger. Then I could position the nut where I could engage it with a small screw or bolt. Worked great.

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-g...d-installing-oem-running-boards-2016-sr5.html

I drove my 4runner for a month with one loose bolt (5 out of 6 were tight and torqued). This was one of the most difficult jobs I had to deal with on a car. It is very easy once you can access the nut and grab it. I wasn't so sure but glad the nut was indeed 13mm.