Adding studded fuel tank straps to your non-TRD Off Road Tacoma

Alrighty! Gonna do a quick step by step on this one, as there's been some interest in this particular mod. Here is how to add studded fuel tank straps and a tank skid to your non-TRD Off Road Tacoma! It's a bit of a dirty job, and you could use a helper, but it's entirely possible to do by yourself in about an hour.

This guide and part numbers should work for both 3rd gens and later 2nd gens, as they share all the same part numbers!

Straps:

$85 Spectra Premium ST323 Fuel Tank Strap

Spectra Premium ST323 OR Toyota 77601-04020 & 77602-04020

Nuts:
Toyota 90179-08241 OR a pile of nuts and washers that look about right

TRD Off Road Tank Skid:
77606-04020 (If you really want to pay $200+ at the dealer) OR hobo it up and see if someone will give you one for cheap/free. I got mine for $30 shipped from a lovely TW member.

Tools:
14mm socket
12mm socket
Jack stand or a ratchet strap

First order of business is supporting the tank. I used jack stands to do this, but it's also probably doable to use a ratchet strap, in fact that might make it more easy. I put two jack stands close enough to "catch" about 1/4" of play when each strap comes off.

Once everything is supported, loosen the 14mm bolt on your first strap and remove it. Also in this pic you'll notice my rear jack stand isn't actually holding anything up, so you can get away with just one.


This 14mm bolt is long. Trust me, you are very happy that this is long.


Now undo the cotter pin that keeps the retaining pin held in on the other side of the strap, closer to the drive shaft. It's kinda a strange setup when you first look at it, you push down on the hooked part to pull the pin out. See my little pic for a visual aid. It should slip right off when you push it properly- if you need to use pliers or really yank you're probably doing it wrong.


With the cotter pin out of the way, pull the retaining pin out and now you've released the strap. Match up which strap you've just pulled off to its new replacement.


Take the rubber tank protector off of your old strap, and put it onto the new strap. Easy stuff, it just takes a little patience to slowly work the edges of the rubber around. Do a little bit at a time, working both sides over the strap.


It was at this point I noticed that the gauge of steel on the Toyota OE is noticeably thicker than the aftermarket ones:


My understanding is that aftermarket is stainless and OEM is painted mild steel though, so it makes sense.

Anyways, now that you have your studded strap all rubbered up, get it into position. You'll attach the retaining pin side first. Line it up, slide the retaining pin through the mounting holes, and then clip your cotter pin through the hole in the retaining pin once again.

Now on the other side of the strap, use that long bolt and thread it up into the original hole. This gave me some trouble on the second strap, as I had to sort of elbow-force the tank upwards to give myself enough slack to thread it in. This is where a helper would be very useful. However fret not if you don't have help. I'm a wiry beanpole of a dude and I managed to push up enough on a 1/2 full tank to get it lined up.



As you tighten down the bolt on this side of the strap, don't fret if you hear a little "pop" a few times, the strap is actually lifting the tank upwards and returning to supporting the weight. It's simply the way it's put together- the "latch" that allows the strap to get lined up will dance around a bit as you tighten.

Get it nice and snug, and then do the other strap with the same exact procedure! Ta-da, now we have a studded tank!

If you are doing this mod in order to install an aftermarket skid, stop here and go follow their instructions!

If you have an OEM skid, read on!

Attaching the OEM Skid is trivial, you just line up the 4 holes with the 4 studs... it may take a gentle yank or bop to get the studs seated in the hole, gas tanks do distort slightly as they are full/empty. It's so light you probably don't even need a helper.

This is the orientation it should go in:



Narrowest section to the back.

The Toyota OEM flange nuts are 12mm. Get 'em nice and tight too, but you shouldn't see much more than a thread and change sticking out from the flange nut. Also don't be alarmed if the molded-in metal part of the skid doesn't quite line up with your flange nut:


And that's all there is to it! Enjoy your fancy pants TRD gear!

 

I just replaced my gas tank straps using your thread! Thanks a bunch!

 

Make sure the tank is nearly empty if you're going to do this, it's a lot easier to get the new straps in place

 

Gonna do this in the next few days. Thanks for write-up.

 

Wish I had of done this earlier lol thanks for the write up gonna fix this tm

 

I forgot I was going to do this, and filled up this morning...

 

Straps are on back order for me(spectra)..dealer wanted $106 CAD for just the one. Still need to figure out what I'm gonna do for a skid anyway ended up bending the origianal back with the vise

 

Nice write up. Definitely something to think about doing to my truck.

 

So if I'm reading your thread correctly, the Spectra straps should fit the 3rd gen trucks? Thanks

 

The quality is clearly lower than oem, but they fit. I put them on mine.

The spectra ones do not say they are “stainless”, so I painted them as well, hammered silver rustoleum.

 

Yes, this was done on a 3rd gen.

I have no complaints about the quality level a year and change later. Hopefully they haven’t changed suppliers or anything. Thicker isn’t always better as long as the grade of steel is appropriate and the manufacturing process is good.


Regarding the material, they may not be stainless but at the very least they do appear to be treated somehow. I am on lunch break and I just stooped down and took this:

Superficial oxidation on the spot welds is about all that has happened in a year plus.

 

zinc plated / galvanized

 

You can also just drill holes in your stock straps. Less money and still OEM straps.

 

Thanks @Nitori for the write up on this. I ordered the aftermarket straps from Amazon, got a set that someone returned for about $35. Used the ratcheting straps to hold the tank in place, super easy. Took about twenty minutes start to finish.

 

Thanks for the excellent write up, Nitori. Did everything as yours. Now I have the basic tank protection that I wanted on my 2018 TRD Sport.

 

Reviving this a bit. I have two questions.

1. For the OEM strap its says parts "Toyota 77601-04020 & 77602-04020". Do we need to buy both of these?

2. I have a 2016 SR5 V6 Automatic 4X4 DCSB. Does anyone know if these parts fit my truck? It is not 100% clear from the parts sites I've looked at. Thanks.

 

So, further attempt at revival. To answer my question in last post, RCI sells the straps.

@Nitori did you put any thread locker on the 14mm bolts when you reinserted them with the new straps? Thanks.

 

You knew this was coming, Right? DON'T USE RED!

 

heh heh...yeah...I should have seen that coming.

I am now conducting a little experiment. I have a spare Taco UCA bolt and I put one nut on it as a kid of backstop and then added another with red loctite and tightened pretty hard. Tuesday morning I am going to try to figure out the torque required to break red thread locker, at least in this setting.

That said I am leaning toward red locticte for the gas tank strap bolts because it strikes me as maybe...well, bad if one of those bolts failed.

 

Great write up! I may order the Amazon straps, but see others mention that the oem straps seem to appear stronger. Has anyone had success just drilling and adding carriage bolts to the OEM straps?