Survey, are the holes threaded on your frame rail to mount rock sliders?

[Gportizzle]

I purchased some Toyota OEM rock rails for my 6 Gen Off Road and the OEM instructions stated to use the included eight bolts to bolt the rails to the side of the frame. The holes on the boxed frame are not threaded that match up with the rock rails. My dealer confirmed that the OEM rock rails would not work since when the box frame was built, a threaded piece was supposed to be welded inside the frame. There aren’t any additional 6 Gens on the lot to compare but the dealer opened a case with Toyota. Thanks for the info.

 

[Trail4R]

Are those holes the same on the other side (inside) of the frame rail? You could possibly use a through bolt (roughly a 6" bolt) that would feed through the frame rail and then use a massive 1/4" square washer on the other side with a nyloc nut. If there is no consistent hole on the other side, worst case scenario... you can use a nutsert inside that open hole on the frame rail. That's a big ass nutsert though and it wouldnt be as strong as a factory threaded hole. You could also have someone weld them on but you probably don't like that option, neither would I. Sounds like you might need to buy a new set of sliders or have Toyota weld a nutsert in there for you if it's supposed to be there from the factory.

 

[Trail4R]

I just checked my TRD ORP Hybrid, and there are very few threaded holes on my frame rail as well. In addition to that, none of the primary outside holes have matching holes on the inside of the frame rail. You could tap and die out new holes (not ideal because the frame rail is not thick enough to support 1/2" of threads) or drill corresponding holes on the inside of the frame rail in order to pass bolts through the frame rail. That's probably going to be the best bet; just get a long 6-8" drill bit and create a matching hole on the inside of the frame rail for a through bolt. That's going to be the strongest solution.

It will be interesting to see what companies suggest for a step-by-step install on sliders in the coming weeks.

 

[Gportizzle]

Thank you for checking! I really don’t want to make modifications to the frame on a new vehicle. I’ll check with some of the rock rail vendors to see how they are installing on new 4Runners.

 

[Trail4R]

Thank you for checking! I really don’t want to make modifications to the frame on a new vehicle. I’ll check with some of the rock rail vendors to see how they are installing on new 4Runners.

Yeah, I hear. One of the downsides of buying a 1st year model. There are going to be some oversights by Toyota. I also have a set of CBI rock sliders coming in and will have to figure this out. I will keep you posted.

 

[Gportizzle]

NYTOP suggested using BoxBolts on frames that don’t have the threaded option. This will probably work but its disappointing having to find a workaround.

 

[Trail4R]

@Gportizzle - do you have the exact ID (inside diameter) of the frame rail holes yet? If not, I can measure, but I thought I'd ask first.

 

[TRD JON]

So with my CBI sliders, they came with these inserts and the tool to expand them into the frame rail.

 

[Archer80]

My Pro has the holes.

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[Trail4R]

I have the CBI sliders landing soon. I think I'm going to drill out holes for at least two through bolts on each side.

I have a titanium step bit that eats through frame rails, so it should go fairly quickly. I just need to source a few longer 1/2" bolts - roughly 4-5" probably.

 

[rustytaco]

Wonder if Toyota will add them... my 4G Tacoma came with the nuts in the frame.

 

[Trail4R]

We ended up drilling 4 holes in the frame rail per side instead of using nutserts where we could. We had to use nutserts in some locations because on the inside of the frame rail, there was either a cross-member that didn't allow a through bolt or something else in the way. On both the driver/passenger side, we ended up with 4 through bolts and the additional nutsert hardware supplied by CBI. We did have to drop the gas tank skid in order to get the additional through bolts in on the driver side.

We really depend on our rock sliders when we wheel, though, so I wanted to make sure they were as stout as possible. I would hate to have some movement on the slider knock one of those nutserts out of place. Once it's loose, it's over - you're never getting that nutsert out of the frame rail again. And even the nutsert seating process can be a pain if you're not very familiar with the process. And even if you are extremely familiar with the process, like I am, things still fail from time to time. Through bolts are so much more dependable and much easier to install/ uninstall.

It's still super irritating that TOYOTA forgot to add threaded holes in the frame rail, but at the end of the day, we're pretty confident that our sliders will withstand the abuse we put them through.

Additional through bolt:

We have two through bolts in the rear (one supplied by CBI), one in the center, and one towards the front on each side.

Hits to the sliders after one trip out:

 

[Archer80]

We ended up drilling 4 holes in the frame rail per side instead of using nutserts. We had to use nurserts in some locations because on the backside of the frame rail, there was either a cross-member that didn't allow a through bolt or something else in the way. On both the driver/passenger side, we ended up with 4 through bolts and the additional nutsert hardware supplied by CBI. We did have to drop the gas tank skid in order to get the additional through bolts in on the driver side.

We depend on our rock sliders when we wheel through, so I wanted to make sure they were as stout as possible. It's still super irritating that TOYOTA forgot to add threaded holes in the frame rail, but at the end of the day, we're pretty confident that our sliders will withstand the abuse we put them through.

Additional through bolt:

We have two through bolts in the rear (one supplied by CBI), one in the center, and one towards the front on each side.

View attachment 2301

Hits to the sliders after one trip out:

View attachment 2302

View attachment 2303

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Glad you didn't rely on those nutserts throughout, I have my doubts on them holding up with any type of abuse... Still can't figure out how some have threaded holes and others don't, hard to believe they'd run multiple different frame rails in production.
I'd like to hear an answer on that one.

.

 

[kophoto4x4]

I just came back from restless offroad and they are fitting sliders on my offroad and it does not have threaded holes but how they set their plate up they are just using 4 bolts on each side that go all the way through the frame and then using a washer and lock nut on the other side. On the passenger side they use some smaller nuts and a lock washer to clear the gas tank.

They are really focusing on strength as much as possible so the bolts are BEEF dog bolts haha and the sliders look real good too!

 

[Trail4R]

@kophoto4x4 what size bolts are they using? 1/2" or bigger? We used four total 1/2" through bolts on each side and then the additional 3-4 Nutserts per side, so around 8 total per side, although one side might have 7. I need to check again. One of the sides had fewer bolt locations, from what I remember. It would be nice to see what size bolts they're using and exactly which locations they are bolting onto the frame rail.

 

[kophoto4x4]

They said they use 5/8 M8 bolts so pretty hefty bolts and the photo of the slider on the group they use all those holes except the one closest to the back lest post it didnt work so just the 4. These sliders dont wrap under the frame either like ive seen some that bolt in from the bottom as well.

Once they are finalized and powder coated ill snap some photos of exactly where the bolts go and clearance of the gas tank too!

 

[Trail4R]

@kophoto4x4 5/8" standard would usually equate to a metric M16 bolt, I think. Maybe M14?

Regardless, yeah keep us posted.

 

[kophoto4x4]

Sorry my bad I meant grade 8!
So it looks similar to this.

 

[Trail4R]

Sorry my bad I meant grade 8!
So it looks similar to this.

Copy yeah that's the ticket. 5/8 grade 8