Cheese

[NFC]

Are all Toyota bolts made of this stuff?

Sheared another one this evening, putting the bumper back on.

So, in 4000 km, we have discovered that:
the battery connectors are made of tin foil
the rear bumper disintegrates
you can't clean the rad because the aircon's in the way
you daren't touch it with a spanner because things snap, despite liberal application of WD40.

Now, the L*ndR*ver may have been an unreliable heap, but in 30,000 miles I snapped only ONE bolt. Toyota beat that in a half-hour sitting!

Is there anything else I should avoid touching? Will the UJ disintgrate when I grease it? The axle drop if I top it up?

Seriously folks, I am severely unimpressed with the engineering. The thing seems virtually unmaintainable. Did I get a bad one, or are they designed and built to be particularly unmaintainable, thereby forcing the user into buying a new one every time a repair is needed?

[That Ruddy Squirrel]

Either I got a good un, or you got a friday afternoon one, only had one bolt (touch wood) shear and that's because the torque setting got cocked up.


Trev

[kitesurf_phil]

I can honestly say that the only bolts I have snapped is one of the small ones on the front wheel hub cover and one on the timing belt cover. I still have the original battery terminals on mine, although after having to take the batteries off and charge them today, I am considering changing them for something more robust.

I have had the dash out, the rear bumper off, fitted new inner and outer CV boots and steering idler arm bushes, stripped the tailgate, had the air con rad off, all with no problems. I even had to get a long extension (scaffold bar) on the ratchet to undo the centre exhaust bolts yesterday (what a PITA that centre exhaust support bracket is, whoever designed that needs stringing up). It is not perfect, but have you worked on a Peugeot?

[Gamedawn]

The thing that always impresses me is how you can undo a suspension bolt that hasn't been touched in 16 years and not only does it undo without major effort but it slides out of its bush showing no signs of corrosion. That is not bad engineering - it's quality parts. Oh and did I mention that the chassis it goes through hasn't rusted either

[andycook]

im always having bolts snap on the 4runner.
worst yet have been oneof lower suspension ball joints bolts,
and rear anti-roll bar brackets. and a bullbar bolt.
broke several on rear-bumper when i had that off.
This is always after them being doused in WD40.

I put it down to it living in Scotland for 11 winters of salty roads!

its always the worst part of doing repairs etc, if a bolt snaps it can often take ages to sort it out...

any tips on getting a seized bolt out? - often WD40 wont help, as bolt si seized well beyond where the WD 40 gets to.
I have often wondered about hitting head of bolts with a hammer/drift or using blowtorch on them before getting spanner out to hopefully un-sieze them ?

[kitesurf_phil]

If they are very badly corroded pour coca-cola over them and leave for 24 hours. The phosphoric acid in it get right down into the threads. Just imagine what it does to your stomach.

[dirtydog]

i had two rocker cover bolts go but that was wrong torque, my fault.
I find the surf is well engineered. Ive had parts on and off time after time and not a problem - its just as if you had never touched it. not had anything snap or shear yet.

[mickeyboy]

i had two rocker cover bolts go but that was wrong torque, my fault.
I find the surf is well engineered. Ive had parts on and off time after time and not a problem - its just as if you had never touched it. not had anything snap or shear yet.

Here here, same as!

[TonyN]

I daily take Surfs apart, broken bolts are rarely a problem unless the PO has done them up to tight.

A rusty bolts always gonna be dodgy, no matter what the car. The small bolts on the rear bumper are always gonna be hard to get off once they've gone rusty, you can't give them much effort before they snap, thats not a Toyota problem, its just physics!

[RSA Surfer]

Thanks Tonyn

Thats exactally Right

[logey79]

i've snapped the silly little things on the bumpers and the 2 that secure the air filter-turbo piping (because of overtightening on a warm engine) but other than that all the important stuff's been fine, even the bolts holding the front towing eye's weren't too much of a problem to remove and normally on a 20 year old motor something in that exposed area to the front of the motor would be near impossible.

body lift at weekend and have spent 2 weeks wd40ing and with the exception of the front bolts/nuts it looks like it shouldn't be much hassle (famous last words!)