For those of us who pull interior panels for access to areas underneath them, you may have experienced what I call the "one time assembly fastener" that Toyota uses on plastic interior panels. These are prone to breaking, stripping out from repeated installation, wear, etc. Here's a pic of an abused panel for a visual example:




As you can see, one of the two fasteners is broken and the other one is well on its way.

Well, I just got tired of panels squeaking and flopping around loose, so I went to ACE Hardware and picked up a handful of nylon panel nuts to give them a try. At a whopping $.26 each, what did I have to lose? As it turned out, these worked perfectly. Here are some pics of the panel nut:





These are meant for a #10 screw with a 3/8" X 3/8" opening. The openings (for the most part) in a 3rd Gen. 4Runner are at least .340 X .340 making these perfect for the application. I did have to drive the panel nuts into the perfectly square openings with a 1/2" ratchet extension and a deadblow, but they went right in. Pics of the installation:


Door sill application


Rear Hatch sill application

After cutting about a 3/8 of an inch off the bottom of the interior panel standoff / fasteners, the door sill went in perfect and are mounted extremely solid using the factory screws. Not bad for about $6.00 and an hour worth of work.

Mike

 

Awesome find...I'll have to look into that for my 85.

Cheap and effective is my kinda mod!

 

Can you explain this further please? This is EXACTLY what I need to do to my drivers side door sill cover! Great thinking!

 

Sweet! I've had to take mine apart several times for wiring CB's strobe lights, and etc. so that helps out alot. Good job.

 

Buy the panel nuts. Smack them in w/ a 1/2" extension and a BFH and shave some off your trim piece on the backside so it'll sit flush. Screw it on. You Georgia bulldogs ain't too smart are ya?

 

That's about the long and short of it.

Mike

 

 

Thanks Mike. I looked at my local ace hardware with no luck. Was it in with the rest of the hardware in those little drawers? Or was it in another location?

 

Somehow I knew I was going to get a smarta$$ comment from you.

 

Yeah, they are in the Hillman drawers (Hillman is a major retail fastener distributor.) They are also likely available at Lowes / Home worthless Depot, etc. I'll try to get the P/N next time I'm in there.

The point of the ratchet extension was to drive the panel nut home since I was too lazy to look for my drift punches and I couldn't get the head of the BFH in there to drive the nuts into the hole. Dang, all of that does NOT sound right, but that's the case...

Mike

 

LOL!!!! Thanks Mike, that would be great if you could get the part number. These door sill covers have been driving me nuts!!!

 

You dawgs are such easy targets!

 

Napa part # 665-1002

$5 for a 20 count bag. Used 'em to fix the squeeks in my dash. Worked great.

Jake.

 

Knew I wasn't the first, thanks.

Mike

 

hey mike,

i had to do exactly what you did when i tore out my entire interior for my sound deadening mod. those things are the best!

they also work in the holes for the fender flare bolts.

bob

 

Thanks for the tip!! I just broke those tabs this past weekend on my door sills.

 

I picked up some panel nuts at Lowes, snapped them in and re-installed the door sill covers. Great idea!!!

 

Awesome idea, something to pick up at Lowe's this week.

 

Kudos, gents! A great solution for a common problem!