Striker latch rust access cab

Below our pictures of the door Striker on the driver side of my Access Cab. I'm going to replace the striker. But once I got it off I noticed that they're starting to get some rust on the body underneath the striker. Should I sand and paint this area before I replace it with the new Striker?

Is the correct Toyota part number for this Striker for a 2011 69420-35050 ?

 

Decided to wire wheel the existing Striker. Here it is after a few minutes of cleanup. going to rattle can it flat black for now. Then order the brand new one to replace it.

 

Crap! That thing is nasty! Looks like it was battered and deep fried.

Yes, I'd definitely remove the rust and repaint underneath the latch. It will only get worse if you don't.

 

What's the torque spec for the bolts?

 

Definitely clean up the body mount before you put the new piece in. Old striker cleaned up pretty goid though.
Jeff

 

Have you ever tried EvapoRust? I’m truly impressed with its rust-removing abilities, and it would get that striker spic and span in all the nooks and crannies prior to priming and paint.

Another option would be to use POR-15 prior to topcoating and be confident it would never rust again. POR-15 doesnt need a perfectly prepared surface, and in fact they recommend against it.

I’ve had terrific luck with both products, and I’m sure you can give that striker a new lease on life. The surface prep from the factory was clearly inappropriate for the job, and probably defective.

 

Oh wait, were you serious?

I rebuild vehicles, and have for most of my life.

I couldn't imagine worrying about the torque spec on an adjustable striker for a old used truck

 

sorry to revive... anyone know the thread size of these bolts in the striker???

got an issue myself..

 

That’s going to be tough to drill out and remove successfully. I have no experience with that on Tacos, but I have worked on those plates on other makes. There is a sheet metal box on the back sides that contains the plate before installing the striker. If the box is all 4 sides, you may need to cut open the top. I wouldn’t try to fix that in the truck. Either take it out and drill it in the drill press or make a new plate out of flat bar. The other choice would be to get a new plate out of a wrecked door at a wrecking yard. I doubt that Toyota sells that plate separately, but I could be wrong.

 

ended up drilling and fucking it up, but just welded a proper sized nut in place.... itll get painted and covered up anyways

 

Um, are you sure that new nut is lined up correctly? It looks a little off and if it is ...

 

haha yes theyre offset. works perfectly!

 

Would anyone know how to replace the backing for the door striker? The part that the striker bolts into, inside the frame of the vehicle. When I bought the vehicle used, both the bolts were loose and I figured it was a quick fix. One bolt was already out of the backing, and theory of relativity means my righty tighty was a lefty loosey. The backing nut plate fell right into the vehicle. How can I access this part inside the vehicle?

 

If you are talking about the striker for the front door latch, you should be able to get to it by removing the door panel on the access cab door. If you're talking about the striker that bolts to the rocker, I think you're SOL.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aitzr_3p9MM

 

Yeeaah, I'm speaking of the striker that bolts to the rocker.

 

Yikes.

 

Thread revival.

Anyone have a at home solution to dropping the backer plates?

I had the same issue happen. I was cautious and had a successful 1st bolt come out. 2nd bolt got me.

I had to drill out the bolt heads after a failed extraction. (yes i put the 1st one back in to try and add support to the backing plate)
Considering drilling a 1" access hole to extract the backing plates so they don't rattle around until the end of time. Then putting a plug cap over the hole. Sealing the exposed metal edges.
Also thinking of doing stainless Nut-serts to remount the striker plate.

Shocked there isn't more information on solutions available on this

 

Well. I got my striker issued fixed but it was not cheap.
Ended up taking it to a Toyota collision center. It was in the shop for 4 days, $650 out the door.
Pretty expensive for replacing 2 bolts!

The root of the problem is that once corrosion forms on the threads of the nut/ Bolt it increases the torque to remove the fastener.
That increased torque in combination of breaking the factory applied thread locker, exceeds the holding strength of the spot weld.
Once the spot weld breaks, the fasteners just free spin.

I considered nut-serts, but the problem is they don't sit flush on the top surface, meaning the striker plate would be offset from surface and unsupported.
Additionally, with nut-serts, the fastening method changes from a large surface sandwich effect to a small area, increasing stress in a small localized area. (Less support then original design)
Lastly, the striker holes in the rocker were intentionally designed oversized in order to give ability for small striker adjustments for alignment. Using a nutsert eliminates that ability for adjustment.

Others above had threaded inserts welded in, I considered this, but essentially eliminates the backing plate and therefore is less supported than original design.
The rocker is made up of a sandwich of sheet metal layers in this area. It would be difficult to ensure the weld penetrated and bonded to the 2 layers from the top, and there isn't ability to weld the bottom.
Also, lose ability to adjust. Ensuring alignment when welding in is critical.

In the end, the body shop had to cut section out, remove the backer plates that were rolling around, create a new backer plate, weld in new section, re-paint, re-clear, add new step pads.
I don't own a welder, paint equipment nor have the time to tinker with it so i saddled up on cost.
For access cabs, the "B" pillar striker is a critical part of the cab rigidity, It basically clamps the front and rear door together and provides support to the roof.
I didn't want to risk a shoddy repair jeopardizing my safety if a crash ever occured.

I would advise anyone considering this to NOT attempt to remove the bolts unless the striker is functionally broken.
Wire brush it in place, mask and re-coat it to an acceptable condition and forget about it.
My truck is 11 years old and in great shape, but still has corrosion on fasteners and other areas as to be expected for a truck that's lived its life outside in Ohio.
I was very ginger in my replacement attempt and still failed.
In hindsight, I didn't use a penetrating oil before removing bolts which didn't help, but there is no access from top side.
There are plugs on bottom of rocker that can be removed to stick a straw in to hit them with PB blaster, but it would be difficult to see, more like spray and pray you hit the bolt from the back side.

Anyways, not proud about the journey or cost, but wanted to share for those on the forum like me "it's only 2 bolts to remove and re-install, how hard can it be?"
Lesson learned.

 

Wow, if this happened to my '06 AC, I would be really pissed off. What a mess for what must be a really bad design flaw.

Question, is the corrosion happening from below or above?

I think I will attempt a PB soak for a couple of weeks and replace the bolts with a heavy coating of copper anti-seize.

Mmmmm, perhaps if it ain't broke.........