What the heck is this?

[Strype]

Hello all I'm a noob to this forum. The wife has a 2005 4Runner SR5 2 wheel drive we bought brand new. I was trying to put nerf bars on the side and they hook to this strange looking bushing of some type.

So I loosened the bolt on it, and then the whole bolt started to turn. Then some kind of fluid started leaking out. I'm wondering if this is old water or hydraulic fluid but mostly, what the heck is this thing and is it safe to loosen the nut?

Sorry for the upside down picture... It's an iPhone thing :smash:

Thanks!

 

[Strype]

Thanks! I should also mention that my wife curbed one of the old runner boards so I took both off a couple of years back. I can't remember if they were attached to this or not. I wanna say they were and I screwed the nut back up for safe keeping. There's one forward of each back wheel and one behind each front wheel. Appears to dampen the body against the chassis or something?

 

[morphious]

Hello all I'm a noob to this forum. The wife has a 2005 4Runner we bought brand new. I was trying to put nerf bars on the side and they hook to this strange looking bushing of some type.

So I loosened the bolt on it, and then the whole bolt started to turn. Then some kind of fluid started leaking out. I'm wondering if this is old water or hydraulic fluid but mostly, what the heck is this thing and is it safe to loosen the nut?

Sorry for the upside down picture... It's an iPhone thing :smash:

Thanks!

That appears to be a body mount location, but others will chime in with more knowledge than I. I would assume the fluid is just old water as there shouldn't be anything hooked up there. You can smell and feel if it is hydraulic fluid.

 

[Troymclure]

Hello all I'm a noob to this forum. The wife has a 2005 4Runner SR5 2 wheel drive we bought brand new. I was trying to put nerf bars on the side and they hook to this strange looking bushing of some type.

So I loosened the bolt on it, and then the whole bolt started to turn. Then some kind of fluid started leaking out. I'm wondering if this is old water or hydraulic fluid but mostly, what the heck is this thing and is it safe to loosen the nut?

Sorry for the upside down picture... It's an iPhone thing :smash:

Thanks!

That is the body mount. Its one of 8 points where the body is bolted to the frame. It is safe to loosen it, and the fluid you see is most likely old water. The body mount is just some big rubber bushings with a long bolt going through, theres no fluid or anything. If you pull of the door sill trim in the back seat, and then pull the carpet back, youll see a little black plug. Under neath that is the top of that bolt so you can put a wrench on both sides. Hope that helps.

 

[Strype]

:guitar3:

THANKS!!! I will go put those suckers on right now. Yea I sprayed WD 40 on the bolt so I couldn't smell what it was. And I've been burned by hydraulic fluid before so that was a no go lol.