Kevin286

Guess this *&%@##!! bolt










That's right; its the torsion bar adjuster bolt and nut from a 2nd gen 4runner.
Today I tried to replace my stock torsion bars with OME. I read up on the process and was ready to knock it out in an hour or so. WRONG! I began by jacking up the front of the vehical and removing the wheels. This, I thought would remove the tension from the bars. WRONG. So I then unbolted the antisway bar from the lower control arms, breaking the passenger side stem off. Grrrr. Now with that disconected, there was still tension on the bars. Humm. Well, after soaking it with penetrating oil, I started to loosen the adjusting bolt on the drivers side. It was VERY hard to turn so I tried the ol' tighten then loosen thing, trying to free it up a little bit. Well the good news was that it tightened up fine, the bad news was that it would not loosen, Well.. very very tough to loosen. So I tried the passenger side, since there is more room to work on that one. It was also VERY difficult to loosen. So I went to the store, bought a 12mm 1.25pitch nut, and used that to tread onto the part of the adjusting bolt that sticks above the nut, just to clean the treads off. After I did that, I again tried to loosen the adjusting bolt. HARD! I'm still using just a socket wrench to try and loosen with. The next thing I did was call my local off-road shop and ask for advise. They said to try and take the tension off by clamping the dogleg to the frame bracket. This I did with a giant C-clamp. Once I removed the tension to the point that the bolt was just little bit loose (Vertically) I again attemped to loosen. This time I gave it the ol' boy scout try and really put my back into it. It was turning.. but hard. Making those nice poping noises while loosening. Well one pop too many and I had the bolt fall out the bottom. Snapped it. Now all that is holding the tension is the C-clamp that is delicatly holding between the dogleg and frame bracket. Needless to say I was a more than a tad leary about working around it now, as I wasn't certain what woudl happen if the clamp slipped off. I was able to put a new bolt in, just temporary, as its a 3/8 x 7 standard bolt. The toyota dealer does not have the bolt or nut in stock. Gaa! After patching it up the best I could I limped it home, badly listing to one side. I will try to find parts tomorrow for it. Any Ideas for removing the bolt on the drivers side without breaking it? I do not want to snap it and cause a catastrophy with flying parts.

:pat: Kevin

Lt. Dan

Scrub the threads with a wire brush. Soak it with Liquid Wrench. Tap-tap with a hammer to set up vibration, allowing the liquid to penetrate the threads. Let it set for a while. Soak it again. Tap it some more. (lather, rinse, repeat...heh - heh)
Back it out some, tighten it back up. Back it out some more, run it back in a bit. Keep it moving back and forth, don't let it seize up. Take your time. It will come out.
Good luck!

leiniesred

buy two bolts/nuts and snap off the drivers too. NevRSeize on the new bolts.

Kevin286

Update: Today I spent 7 hours working on the drivers side bolt. Tap tap, back and forth, back and forth. ect ect. finally got it out and the treads are way buggered up. Ill try and get a pic up later. New bolts and nuts on order from the stealership, eta 3 days. I've got temporary bolts in place now. All said and done, What a PITA. With the new torsion bars in place though, the ride is much better. Less diving at traffic lights, ect.
-Kevin

Edit: Picture of the stubbern bolt

Lt. Dan

"Buggered" is right! I'm surprised that it even came out in one piece!
Good Job!!

rocket

iTrader: (1)

I ordered new hardware for my OME t-bars from TRDparts4u.com and received them 2 days later!
Thanks to strap22, I was made aware about the common problem of snapping and mangling the original bolts when replacing the t-bars. I haven't got around to doing it yet but when i do...I hope its not a nightmare like you described...


If you haven't bought the hardware already, the part numbers are...
bolt: 90101-12159
nut: 90179-12074

Kevin286

I ordered mine from TRDparts4u as well. It is a good thing you will be starting out with new bolts and nuts. I wish I had had that forsight. It may allow you to be a tad bit more "agressive" when taking the bolts out. Just stay out of the projectile zone. Good luck to you


-Kevin

Ganoid

I pulled mine apart Thursday to replace all the IFS bushings with energy urethane replacements. I had to break both of my bolts to get them out as well but when I called my Toyota dealer Friday i got the same story as you "we don't stock those". After calling every Toyota dealer in the state and some even out of state I found 2 that where 70 miles away. After several hours and 140 miles I had 2 new bolts so trust me when I say "I feel your pain". I actually stuck the new bolts into the antiseize jar and stirred the contents with the bolt before installing. I think the void section on top of the nut is a poor design since it allows the water and muck to site up on top indefinantly and corrode the bolt.

If you really want a fun project try removing all those rubber bushings from the suspension arms

LOCKnGO

I wish someone told me about those bolts a couple years ago when I installed my Downey torsion bars, i had to wait 3 days for the new bolts and anchors to come in from the dealer.
Ganoid those bushings are a piece of cake. I used two bottles of MAPP gas and burned those bitches out