What did I bend behind my skidplate?

[thomaspuzio]

I noticed a part of the underbody of my 2003 4runner is bent down. Is this something that can be easily fixed?

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[MN4RNR]

It looks like the transmission skid. The front and rear skids have puzzle fit pieces. Looks like where one of the front two bolts goes. A little hard to tell but if that is the case carefully remove the other three and hammer it back straight.

 

[y=mx+b]

I agree its the second skid from the front. You either lost the bolt or snapped it off. The size of the bolt is m8x1.25x20 or similar length.

If you snapped it, you'll have to extract and rethread. I drilled and tapped all 8 skid plate holes laying upside down, not a fun day. Something like rivnuts, these drill/tap combo boys, or a higher quality tap set with the proper drill would have made this easier. I'm about to drop the tank skid to replace the straps, so I bought these and a handful of m8 hardware in anticipation.

 

[GupsT4R]

I agree its the second skid from the front. You either lost the bolt or snapped it off. The size of the bolt is m8x1.25x20 or similar length.

If you snapped it, you'll have to extract and rethread. I drilled and tapped all 8 skid plate holes laying upside down, not a fun day. Something like rivnuts, these drill/tap combo boys, or a higher quality tap set with the proper drill would have made this easier. I'm about to drop the tank skid to replace the straps, so I bought these and a handful of m8 hardware in anticipation.

Boy are those ever fancy! My little brain is telling me those wont have enough flute clearance to drill and tap right behind each other and snap off in the hole. Maybe putting a new threaded hole in soft thin material...but id scared using it on a drill or impact driver to remove and re-thread a 1/4-20 bolt

but they are Milwaukee and my garage is full of their Fuel line of tools.

Let me know how those work and hopefully you prove me wrong!

 

[y=mx+b]

Boy are those ever fancy! My little brain is telling me those wont have enough flute clearance to drill and tap right behind each other and snap off in the hole. Maybe putting a new threaded hole in soft thin material...but id scared using it on a drill or impact driver to remove and re-thread a 1/4-20 bolt

but they are Milwaukee and my garage is full of their Fuel line of tools.

Let me know how those work and hopefully you prove me wrong!

You do bring up a good point, I'll try and clear the chips before sending the threaded section in. I just measured and theres about 15mm of drill before the first thread starts tapering in on the m8 drill/tap. The pictures I linked appear to only have a small drill before the tap begins, so I'm glad the ones in real life have a bit more drill to them. By the time the threads are entering the frame and weld nut, hopefully the drill has made it through. It might be a good idea for me to use a 1/4" drill first, then run the m8 drill tap in. I'll definitely update, hopefully they're better than the cheapo harbor freight tap set I was using before. There's only room for improvement lol.

 

[djpope09]

Boy are those ever fancy! My little brain is telling me those wont have enough flute clearance to drill and tap right behind each other and snap off in the hole. Maybe putting a new threaded hole in soft thin material...but id scared using it on a drill or impact driver to remove and re-thread a 1/4-20 bolt

but they are Milwaukee and my garage is full of their Fuel line of tools.

Let me know how those work and hopefully you prove me wrong!

I second wanting to know how these work. I have two skid plate bolts that broke off and need to be drilled/tapped. I was planning on borrowing a tap set from AutoZone, but I would buy this Milwaukee kit if it actually works.

 

[GupsT4R]

You do bring up a good point, I'll try and clear the chips before sending the threaded section in. I just measured and theres about 15mm of drill before the first thread starts tapering in on the m8 drill/tap. The pictures I linked appear to only have a small drill before the tap begins, so I'm glad the ones in real life have a bit more drill to them. By the time the threads are entering the frame and weld nut, hopefully the drill has made it through. It might be a good idea for me to use a 1/4" drill first, then run the m8 drill tap in. I'll definitely update, hopefully they're better than the cheapo harbor freight tap set I was using before. There's only room for improvement lol.

Any industrial supply place will have a decent set of drill and taps. Buying good tooling with save you time and heartache

I've got a left hand drill index up to 1/2 and i swear by them. pricey but work great.
Ill drill thru the bolt with a smaller bit then work my way up in size. Eventually it will grab and turn the bolt out leaving the original thread only to be chased.(LUCK)
If it goes right thru..then maybe a square extractor.
Last case scenario is drilling the bolt tap size because laying on your back upside down and drilling square and not eating any existing threads is tough.

 

[y=mx+b]

Any industrial supply place will have a decent set of drill and taps. Buying good tooling with save you time and heartache

I've got a left hand drill index up to 1/2 and i swear by them. pricey but work great.
Ill drill thru the bolt with a smaller bit then work my way up in size. Eventually it will grab and turn the bolt out leaving the original thread only to be chased.(LUCK)
If it goes right thru..then maybe a square extractor.
Last case scenario is drilling the bolt tap size because laying on your back upside down and drilling square and not eating any existing threads is tough.

Thanks for the advice, any place or brands in particular that you like for drill and taps? I definitely do need to get a quality set of metric taps and corresponding drills for future projects.

I bought some harbor freight stuff when I started getting interested in the wrenching. Some stuff has been good, but anything that needs to be sharp or hold an edge is not so good. Now that doing work on my own has saved me money, I'd like to buy once, cry once.

 

[GupsT4R]

Thanks for the advice, any place or brands in particular that you like for drill and taps? I definitely do need to get a quality set of metric taps and corresponding drills for future projects.

I bought some harbor freight stuff when I started getting interested in the wrenching. Some stuff has been good, but anything that needs to be sharp or hold an edge is not so good. Now that doing work on my own has saved me money, I'd like to buy once, cry once.

I use our industrial supplier thru work for stuff like that but for drill bits Cobalt is best, tho a good HSS bit is fine. Depends on what you want to spend but Osborn, Irwin, Dormer, Gear wench, Chicago Latrobe and Grays are all good brands.

 

[y=mx+b]

Sorry OP to take this kind of off-topic.

Let me know how those work and hopefully you prove me wrong!

I second wanting to know how these work. I have two skid plate bolts that broke off and need to be drilled/tapped. I was planning on borrowing a tap set from AutoZone, but I would buy this Milwaukee kit if it actually works.

I dropped the fuel tank skid and was totally expecting to break some m8 and m10 bolts to test my new fancy drill tap doodads, but by some miracle, I didn't break a single one. I was tempted to break one for the purpose of experimentation.

Heres some pics of these rusty bastards, going to wire wheel and paint before everything goes back together.

 

[MN4RNR]

While you have the fuel skid off take the time to inspect and change out the fuel tank straps. I looked at mine last summer and this summer saw that the rear one had completely split in two. It is an easy fix and peace of mind. If the bolts and skids look like that there is a good chance that strap, especially the rear strap exterior side of the tank will rust in that exposed area.

 

[y=mx+b]

While you have the fuel skid off take the time to inspect and change out the fuel tank straps. I looked at mine last summer and this summer saw that the rear one had completely split in two. It is an easy fix and peace of mind. If the bolts and skids look like that there is a good chance that strap, especially the rear strap exterior side of the tank will rust in that exposed area.

I dropped the skid to replace the straps. I got the Liland Global Straps from RockAuto. Working on a tank strap replacement writeup too. My rear was trashed and the front was barely hanging on.