sbman
Supporting Vendor
I decided to change out my radiator. The one that came with the truck when I bought it 150K miles ago was looking very brittle, the top tank had developed small crack lines in it and the fins are corroded where they meet the tanks. So, I waited for one of Toyota's holiday parts sales and ordered a new OEM radiator for just under $400.
To mount it, the FSM says to remove the front grill to access the mounting nuts. Once you do this, then you can at least see the nut holding the top mount of the radiator in place. However, with the head light and AC condenser in the way, there is no way to reach it with your hands, or get a straight shot with a tool to do anything with it. You really need to remove the headlight to get to it properly. Unbolting the top of the headlight gives enough flex that you can get it off, and then the nut drops off down into the abyss and you never see it again. To get the headlight off, you need to remove the lower valance which with my aftermarket bumper means removing the bumper as well. That's a lot of extra stuff to remove just to unbolt the radiator.
After I had it out, I found that the mount uses a stamped steel collar with an integrated bolt and a nut to attach the upper mount through a rubber bushing.
These are the three parts from left to right, Nut, Rubber bushing, collar with integrated bolt.
To modify the mount, I used JB weld to attach the nut firmly to the body of the truck (tack welding would be better). This is easily accessible with the radiator out. Then I drilled the integrated bolt out of the collar so that it was just the collar with an 8mm hole in it. Then I sourced an 8mm x 1.25 50mm long bolt (identical to the lower radiator mount bolt) as well as a lock washer and bolted the collar in place from INSIDE the engine compartment, while the nut remained stationary and fixed in place on the body. Much easier and now removal or installation of the radiator does not require any access from the front side.
The completed 'mod'. The bolt head is not in the way of anything, and really this is the way Toyota should have done it in the first place.
To mount it, the FSM says to remove the front grill to access the mounting nuts. Once you do this, then you can at least see the nut holding the top mount of the radiator in place. However, with the head light and AC condenser in the way, there is no way to reach it with your hands, or get a straight shot with a tool to do anything with it. You really need to remove the headlight to get to it properly. Unbolting the top of the headlight gives enough flex that you can get it off, and then the nut drops off down into the abyss and you never see it again. To get the headlight off, you need to remove the lower valance which with my aftermarket bumper means removing the bumper as well. That's a lot of extra stuff to remove just to unbolt the radiator.
After I had it out, I found that the mount uses a stamped steel collar with an integrated bolt and a nut to attach the upper mount through a rubber bushing.
These are the three parts from left to right, Nut, Rubber bushing, collar with integrated bolt.
To modify the mount, I used JB weld to attach the nut firmly to the body of the truck (tack welding would be better). This is easily accessible with the radiator out. Then I drilled the integrated bolt out of the collar so that it was just the collar with an 8mm hole in it. Then I sourced an 8mm x 1.25 50mm long bolt (identical to the lower radiator mount bolt) as well as a lock washer and bolted the collar in place from INSIDE the engine compartment, while the nut remained stationary and fixed in place on the body. Much easier and now removal or installation of the radiator does not require any access from the front side.
The completed 'mod'. The bolt head is not in the way of anything, and really this is the way Toyota should have done it in the first place.
