Thanks dragon...pretty much what I figured, I'll have to replace the bolt. I will see if budbuilt has them, but I guess I'll check Ace hardware first locally. Lot of trouble for 1 bolt, I wish I was more careful when I was removing it, I wouldn't be in this mess.

 

it happens least it didnt break off in the threads

 

What about taking a center punch and put a dimple in it and then use a drill and maybe use an easy out?

 

hey cory,
wow i had a lot of catching up to do on your thread.
First off, well done on the map light.. i'd like to do that too, although i put an led in my overhead light and it lights up the cab pretty well, i'd still like to have reading lights. you say 2nd gen 4runner fits? what about 1st gen (sr5) ones?

Second, glad to see you got the lower t-case gearing, it was one of the best mods i've done!

3rd- i had some trouble with the budbuilt bolts as well, i didn't break an allen wrench but they would not come off for the life of me so i bought some of these specifically for that purpose:
http://www.harborfreight.com/9-piece...7880-html.html

i think the problem is that they are tapored bolts and that creates a lot of surface area = lots of friction so they get stuck pretty good. i put grease on the tapered section of the bolts when i put it back together in hopes that it would be easier in the future. just an idea.

 

Dragon - I like your positive attitude, you are right, it definitely could have been worse. Ruining a couple dollar bolt is really no big deal compared to what it could have been.

Terry - hmm, put a dimple in the broken allen bit? You know I might resort to that, I mean if I don't do anything, the bolt is garbage so I certainly can't make it any worse. I still think I'll check with Ace HW first, just to save myself the hassle of even messing with it.

Hey there's my 4Runner twin! Getting more and more like yours everyday, same color, same bumper and same lo gears. I just need that SAS now!

On the maplight, yeah there are different kinds of lights. I believe that the older 4Runner maplights are just that, maplights with no integrated rear view mirror. That would be fine, but I don't know much about mounting them,and I'm thinking you'd have to keep your existing mirror where it is and then mount the maplight in front of it not sure if there are bosses already up there to screw into. If you go with the maplight/mirror combo from a 2nd Gen then you don't have to do much, the bosses are already there for mounting. Just remove your old mirror, make a spacer, mount up the new one. I love having more light in the cab, definitely a weak spot on these trucks. You know come to think of it, you could have 1 more option as well, which is put a truck rear view mirror in that has a light integrated in it, the 4Runners don't have that. There would be nothing to do, except wire it up, it would bolt right in.

Thanks for the link on those allen sockets, those would sure be handy, I will get some so that I don't run into this problem again. Your explanation of why those tapered bolts get stuck makes perfect sense.

 

Holy BA'NESS! Great progress, brotha!

 

Btw, snapped off a Allen ball in the ac high pressure valve plate. After around 3 tries with pliers and a towel I finally got the vice grips out and put some leather around it and hit it with a hammer and holy crapola, it finally broke loose! ! Those allens are notorious for getting frozen in there! Especially if some idiot has been in there with an air tool before you... Sorry the head on that thing is different. I also wanted to mention Lowes because they had such a large selection of Allens and metric bolts and so on. I'm using the allen bolt differential drain and fill plugs now and I have the perfect socket for them and all my other Allens for my truck gear dual case crossmember allen bolts that go into the bombproof tcase mount, etcetera etcetera etcetera. I have quite a few of them everywhere in my mods and I have usually found them at Lowes. Home Depot sucks! Lol. Ace and true value are definitely still the best of the chains!

 

nice rear bumper

 

Thanks Chef. Yeah I checked Lowes already, I like their bolt selection much better than HD. They did not have the right size, gonna try Ace HW if I can ever get a chance to get over there.

Thank you sir, I like it as well. Hoping to add a tire carrier in the near future.


Anyone else get a check from Toyota as part of a class action lawsuit for that accelerator pedal thing? I guess they identified me from DMV records or something...anyway, got $20. Thanks Toyota, it will go to good use.

 

So I finally got around to asking BudBuilt if they would sell me 1 of those tapered allen head bolts...the one that I screwed up getting out of the crossmember. BudBuilt is such a standup company that they offered to just send me one, even after I told them I bought the crossmember secondhand from a forum...that is just good customer service right there.


Email from info@budbuilt.com
you just need one? Send us your address and we'll get you one!

BudBuilt Inc.
121 Pennton Ave. SW.
Lenoir, NC 28645
828-572-1202

 

Nice going Cory, That is total company courtesy.

 

I had a check like that and really didnt look into it and thought it was junk mail and threw it away. I have had my 3rd Gen for nearly 10 years now and other then buying some parts from Toyota, I wasnt sure what it was about.

No surprise a I threw away some other important paper work thinking it to was junk mail. Just now getting that straightened out. grrrr. It was some life insurance paper work. I probably need to look a little closer to things.

 

Hope everyone had a great holiday and a safe weekend here for the new year. My truck did get a little bit of attention from Santa...a diff drop from 4Crawler. I've been losing a drop of oil every now and again from the pass side tube of the front diff, probably because I installed those BJ spacers...and probably I need to replace the outer oil seals. I actually have the new seals from a long time ago but never installed them, so I might go ahead and install them when I put the diff drop kit on.

Also I've just about convinced myself to pull the trigger on a soft top from SoftTopper. I've had the top off the 4Runner since about February, so nearly all of 2014. Of course the truck has been in the garage about 90% of the time, lots of rainy days...the soft top would just be so convenient.

 

I hear ya on the soft top, I still want one so bad! Hopefully this summer!

 

X2 on this! I want one so bad. It would make me love it that much more

 

x3.... do i foresee a group buy??

 

Excellent idea! I just emailed them to ask, we'll see what they say!

 

Well, pulled that trigger on the top from SoftTopper....first thing I did was load up the family and went out for an early lunch. It sure is nice having a top over their heads back there. I can't say enough about the quality...this thing is nice. I had a used Kayline a couple years ago and did not like it, this SoftTopper is a much better top. I'm going to call them and ask about the rear corners, that's the only place the fit is not what I would like, but I think there may be ways to adjust it to pull it in a little there.

 

Nice! hows the road noise on the highway compared to the stock hard top?

 

Very nice! Love the look!