Tilt cab and bed to get to the top of the frame?

Im about to treat my frame, once it gets back from the body shop where the couple of holes it has are getting patched, body shop and i already checked it for other soft places and the ones being fixed are it.

But, im solo when it comes to working on the truck, dont have any friends or family that are able to help with something like removing the cab or the bed, or at least dont have ones that are nearby enough to be able to help. Also have no lifts other then a floor jack i use for the truck, it has enough lift to get the truck off the ground by several inches. And i do have a woodworking shop so can make pretty much whatever might be needed as long as it is from wood. No welding ability, but about to fix that problem with some classes.

So i was wondering, if you remove the bolts from one side, and loosen them on the other, could you get one side lifted just enough to get a hand in to remove the rust with a wire brush, and then paint on the por15, then tilt it the other way to get the other side. or, just lift the thing at all even if your not tilting it, just long enough to scrub and treat it.

 

Don't see why not. If your just talking lifting it 3 or 4 inches. Be sure to block it up. So it cant fall on your hand.

 

Maybe you could rent a forklift. They're pretty inexpensive

 

If you have a garage with an attic space, throw some 2x6 across joist and drop 4 eyelets thru the ceiling. Sling the cab from it.

 

I know someone who did this once and it didn't work out so well.

 

Really? I've seen it done a few times with a full size Chevy pickup cab stripped. They laid 2x6's across about 8 joist/truss's so the weight was spread out. You figure a 200 lb man can stand on one joist/truss with no problem.

 

They were lifting a SBC and one or two of the lower truss supports cracked and in turn cracked a large portion of sheet rock. The wife gave him hell about it for years even after fixing it

 

I was able to remove me bed by myself. Not to say I didn't scrape anything but did it nonetheless lol

 

If your just lifting one side at a time...
Take off 2 bolts holding bed on side your working on and loosen the 2 on the other side so they are almost off. They will keep the bed lined up but allow it to rotate up. Take the gas cap off and the filler outside plastic so the filler tube can go down through the bed when you lift that side.
I used a hydraulic bottle jack and blocks of wood on top of the tire and inside the wheel well to lift it up. Once you get it up, blocks of wood between frame and bed for safety.I didn't lift it more the 4-5 inches as the wires are still attached and used 4x4 wood blocks.

That's kind of what I did out in my shop with block and tackles. Beefed up the joist and rafters first though. Lifts bed and body off pretty easy.

 

I made a little tool just for the purpose of scraping the rust off the top of the frame:



Just slide it between the cab and frame and move it back and forth while applying downward pressure. Because of it's sharp edges, it will scrape the rust off. Better to work on small spots at at time than a big area all at once

By the way, it is about half an inch wide and 1/8 thick

it looks stupid, but it was a very handy little tool

 

Fantastic on all replys, removing one side and loosening the other is pretty much the plan i had, i didn't really see a reason why you couldn't do it, but figured with as long as these trucks have been around, i couldn't possibly be the first person to have thought of this. And also thought, i would see if anyone had done it and learned it was a bad idea for some reason.

Does anyone have any tips for cleaning as much rust from the inside of the frame as possible before i use the inside frame spray i got from eastwood? I was thinking a dryer vent style brush, or maybe a chimney sweep style one, attached to something flexible so it can get around the curves of the frame, and follow that up with a long piece of tube with either my shopvac or my dust collector attached to the other end to get any rust that gets knocked off out before i spray it

 

This seems to be the ticket for cleaning the inside of the frame, the description says that the pipe is flexible and can bend up to 90 degrees, plus it can be attached to a drill so it can spin. and the brush size seems to be about 4" dia so that should get pretty much everything.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-Drill-Powered-Duct-Brush-Kit-PCPBHD/203636793

not to mention how comical a person using this will likely look as they shove it in the trucks backside

 

I tilted the cab when I was installing new body mount bushings. I had to get it up about 4" to get to the mounts to remove them. Seems like that would be enough space to get a wire brush in there. The bed is actually pretty light. You can easily tilt it yourself, but if you can find someone to help just completely remove it. Two people can pick it up and carry it off.

 

Navel jelly

http://m.homedepot.com/p/Loctite-16-fl-oz-Naval-Jelly-Rust-Dissolver-Bottle-553472/203009241

 

you have an 04, it should still be covered so why aren't you getting a new frame free from Toyota frame recall?

 

Take it for what it is. I'm a ford diesel mechanic. When we have to work on certain year f250- f550s, we take out all the cab bolts but the back two. We then use a floor jack with some wood to lift the front of the cab 4" until we can fit a 4x4 between the cab mounts on the frame and cab. So id say your plan is kind of overkill, I wouldn't even loosen whichever side your going to keep down. Just make sure there's enough slack for all your wires, hoses, etc

 

Because it isn't a recall, and never has been, it is a voluntary extended warranty by toyota, previous owner never took it in prior to 2011 to have it inspected, i called toyota they said that it isn't included in the extended warranty because it was never inspected.

So i am sol on any help from toyota. Believe me, i would LOVE to have gotten a new frame from them, and when i called, and the person i talked to said it had to be moved up to a case manager, who would call me within 24 hours. I got my hopes up cause they didnt say nope, not covered, it was never inspected, right off the bat. But then i got the call the next day, and it was exactly what i was expecting based on what i had read about the extended warranty inspections ending in 2011 and if it wasnt inspected your just screwed.

 

did you honestly try that stuff??

 

hmmmm

did you end up using this tool?

 

I've used it before.