Love my first gen 4Runner. We affectionately refer to as ‘Rusty’. I’ve had it 25yrs and it was my daily driver for years until I got the 7.3 F350. Currently on 33’s with dual t-cases, twin stick, lockers, winch...




The reason those spring eye bolts require so much effort to remove is the thread locking compound Y2KW57 referenced on his new bolts. A little help from our friends oxy and acetylene will allow a good impact to remove them.

I’m not even shade tree certified, but I have never replaced those giant bolts. Re-install with fresh thread locker and on down the road they went.

U-bolts should never be re-used. These torque-to-yield bolts are not that big and I often feel like the initial torque is close to breaking them!

I will also never re-use u-joint strap bolts again AND they always get med strength thread locker.

Ive pulled a bunch of fuel tanks out of these trucks. Plenty of them have damage on the fuel tank skid plate that would have likely removed the sumps some people install, but definitely would rip the hose off of them. I had to straddle a big truck tire carcass one time that smacked my aft-axle fuel tank before doing $3500 damage to my camper that included a bent axle and broken black water tank. Fortunately, I was able to continue on my trip!

 

Love the 4Runner Jason!

I scored some new oem Ford u-bolts from a fellow internet friend on a different forum (rme4x4). They’ll do the trick for sure! He showed me his 7.3… Nicest crew dually I’ve ever seen that’s for sure—I should have taken pics it was a diamond.


My truck sees a lot of backcountry exploring I’d probably be one to accidentally rip off a sump haha.