Passenger Rear Bottom Shock Bolt Loose But Seized?

Been hearing a clunk from the rear end over bumps. Narrowed it down to passenger rear end. Torqued down everything I could before I realized it was the lower shock bolt.

I notice it only has a couple bolt threads exposed through the nut while the driver side has 5 or 6 threads exposed.

If I put a wrench on the nut, the bolt spins around freely. If I put a wrench on both ends and try to torque it down, it won't budge. So it came loose but also appears to be seized in that I cannot tighten it.

What should my plan be here, should I just soak it in penetrating oil and then try to tighten it?

 

Soak to break loose and replace, simple really.

Or cut off and replace.

 

Take the bolt out and examine the threads.
Don’t keep tightening it. It will only make things worse.

It sounds like the thread are messed up on the bolt.

 

cut it off, unless you can snap it off trying to loosen it. Sounds like its fused to the nut. Replace it once its out.

 

The lower shock bolt, even if the nut has galvanic corrosion, is not likely to be the cause of your clunking.

In a 2008, I’d be more concerned about the leaf spring bushings and the shackles.

 

Good point.

A bolt in the condition described above is really a no brainer, replace it.

But the OP still needs to source the sound of said clunk.

Wonder how the carrier bearing is doing.

 

Okay, you guys saying remove/replace it, my concern is, if I take the bolt out, the strut is somewhat under pressure, right? will it be difficult to get it back into the mount once I remove it? Also, if I replace the bolt, Do you know what size I need incase I destroy it trying to get it removed?

 

Just use your hand to push it up.

Shocks are easy to compress by hand.

 

It's the lower shock bolt because I can literally see it shift and make the clunk noise while I hang off the back end and bounce the truck up and down. My suspension was replace with Dobinsons about a year ago so it's all newer components but obviously the shock bolts were reused.

 

Just making sure, its my dd and I don't want to be stranded in the parking lot of my apartment complex if I cannot get it back in place and get the new bolt threaded.

 

Your leaf pack is supporting your vehicle's rear weight.

Shocks dampen the ride as you drive. Don't recommend it but you could drive your truck with both shocks removed (had to do it one time).

If it adds some reassurance, I was replacing my rear shocks each time I'd go out on a multi-day trip. I'd get underneath and replace my shocks without ever using a jack, and simply compressed my shocks by hand.

And if you're wondering why, I ran Fox 2.0s that were awesome with weight in the bed. When I removed that weight (bed rack, RTT, etc) the rear felt stiff so I bought Bilstein 5100s. I'd swap them every 2 or 3 months for trips and it'd take me maybe 5 minutes doing a rear shock swap.

 

With that said, I'd buy 2 sets and replace those on the other rear shock as well.

That's just my OCD talking though. I do the same for tail lights, blinkers, etc.

 

Flange Bolt: M12 1.25 x 60mm Toyota Part No. 9155211260
Washer: M12 Toyota Part No. 9462251200
Flange Nut: M12 1.25 Toyota Part No. 90178A0057

Torque: 43 lb-ft
From a 3rd gen but I woul think same size

 

Then you literally have another issue; either the current bolt is too small in diameter, or the mount holes are wallowed out.

 

yep same size and part #
https://www.toyotapartsdeal.com/oem/toyota~bolt-flange~91552-11260.html

 

Bad bushing?

We need pics

 

Okay I have some evidence for you guys. It seems like the bushing in the shock may be bad.

Passenger side (the one making the noise):


Driver side (for comparison):


As you can see, theres more bolt sticking through the driver side mount... On further inspection, it looks like the bolt in question has a washer on it...driver side doesn't which would explain why I see more bolt sticking out on the driver's side. It's the same size bolt too, I've measured it.



Here are videos of it. In the first one you can see I can move it with my hand. In the second one I can bounce the truck up and down and reproduce the clunk I've been hearing over bumps.

 

Holy shit...those are only a year old?

 

Not even!!! I just checked my maintenance book. They were installed 9/26/22! 14k miles on 'em!

Maybe theres a warranty?

 

I'm guessing you wheel alot.