Hi,

yesterday I check my 4runner "underbody" and I notice that the fuel tank has laceration and has very thin wall besides the rear Drive Shaft.

Seem that in max articulation with the rear right wheel compress, the drive shaft "touch" the fuel tank. ???

Any comments??

How to solve this issue?


Best Regards,

 

you could limit your articulation.....
I know, no fun in doing that, but ya might want to learn from others before you 4Runner goes k-boom. I believe there was some pictures of somebody else on this site that was driving on the freeway, and their drive shaft let loose, contacting the gas tank and resulting in sparks and fire....

OR, get a bigger lift.

 

pound the gas tank in so it doesnt hit or just add some extra armor to the outside of the tank where the contact is. it goes without saying that you should never weld onto the gas tank, even when "empty"

 

Thanks for the comments.


I will go for larger Bump Stops to limit the rear articulation.

I will take some pictures Before and After.



Regards,

 

I've never had the driveshaft damage the gas tank on my '85.

Of course having it raised 3" from stock might have something to do with that:
- http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTri....shtml#GasTank

But I don't recall it hitting before that mod.

On the 2nd gens, a panhard rod drop bracket:
- http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/ForSale/...anhardDropBrkt
or longer panhard rod or a smaller OD driveshaft can help with that problem.

 

I've had my rear DS hit my tank. We had to poind my tank a little and then ended up moving it about 3/4 of an inch. Still with all the flex I have it still hits when I am uber flexed. A tradoff I am willing to take for now since it is very rare - but I need to figure something out as well.

 

I would just knock the hell out of it with a hammer. Limiting your suspension seems like a bandaid fix to me. Just lose a bit of fuel capacity with out hurting the suspension.

 

The "temporary" (forever) solution was EXTEND Bump Stops to limit wheel travel in the rear Axle. This weekend I will take some photos to show the actual damage of the tank and the new Bump Stop extended.

?Someone else with a rear 4" inch Lift can send pictures of the space between the bumpstop and axle base?

(I think the BumStops are too large now...)


Regards,

 

So, did you install the 4" lift and leave the factory bumpstops (no extensions or new bumpstops?) I am curious about this as I am getting ready to do a 4"+ lift myself and am wondering about the bumpstop challenge too!

Thanks!
John

 

John,

the problem I have is because de rear coils and panhard setup. The 4 link suspension allow to the drive shaft (in extreme articulation) move lateral, this because the Coils dont provides any kind of resistence to lateral movements. (thats panhard work)

But, if you have springs in the back, probably you wont have any problems, because the shackles dont allow to much lateral movements.

photos coming soon..


regards,

 

Ahhhh - I didn't realize you were in a 4 link scenerio. I would be interested in the pictures too! Thanks for the info though!

John

 

So sorry, My mistake.

I post in the wrong sub forum... My yota is 2gen, with rear coils... 1990 ...


I will post photos soon.


Regards,

 

Photos...

 

More photos...

 

Nada problem about the mis-listed post. Us 1st Gen guys could have that possibly too! I did look at all for your pictures, and excuse me for saying but I don't see much damage aside from some rub marks. Do the pictures not do justice to the actual damage? Also, there seems to be a slight bit of movement on the gas tank skid plate edge. I was thinking from your original posting that it had literally almost opened up a huge hole in the tank.

John

 

Hi,

the damage is marked on yellow. There is no hole, but was close to it. The problem is that a hole means FLAMES and total lost... (search on 2nd gen forum to see it...)

This is very dangerous, and my idea was to avoid the posible future severe damage.

Is fuel on that tank... only a liltle spark and.... There is no way to shutdown these kind of fire with a simple "fire device" (extintor)

Best regards,

 

Some fixes are a longer panhard bar, or a panhard drop bracket :
- http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/ForSale/...anhardDropBrkt

or a smaller diameter driveshaft:
- http://toyota.off-road.com/toyota/ar....jsp?id=186350