2002 Double Cab Frame Rehab

I found a couple pictures that show me what I need for the brackets, with the exception of where this tab is landed on the parking brake line. Looks like it would be under the fuel tank crossmember, but nothing is jumping out at me. A lot of holes got covered by the caps. Anyone have a pic or can talk me through where it needs to go?

 

Looks like it's secured to a mount point on the gas tank strap.

 

Perfect! Thank you! I hadn't taken the new strap out of the packaging yet but I see where it goes now. Now if the Packers would just hurry up and lose, I can make some more progress.

 

Now, where were we? Ah yes, reassembly mode.
I decided to delete the LSPV and go with a manual adjust style mounted near where the old one was. The old brake lines had rusted badly on the ends but the material under the plastic coating was still pristine. So, I removed the two feed and return lines, discarded the return and cut the ends off the feed line to get to good material and then put new nuts and flares on. There was plenty of material get to where I wanted to mount the PV and I was able to use the factory steel line rather than the cheap cupro-nickel tube that I was having trouble getting a good flare on. I made up new steel lines for the rear differential as well. Brakes are bled. Rear drums were adjusted but are really rusty and need to be changed soon but will do in short term.
New rear cross member got painted and installed and so far looks like it will do the job. Gas tank went back in and all the connections on the vapor canister were made. I bought a new fuel tank skid plate off Amazon for ~$150 and I must say that I am impressed with the quality. Heavy material, nice weld quality, and it fit the first time without taking a hammer to it. Only thing I would caution is the two holes where it mounts to the tank strap are a little generous and you need to use a large diameter washer to cover the hole. Trying to recall where the electrical harness was secured in the back but that may wait until the bed is back on.
I cut the old O2 sensor mount off of the exhaust pipe and replaced it with a new one. The studs were roached and wouldn't come out for love or money. The welding around the plate looked like hell anyway so cutting it off and going with new seemed like the best way to go. I still have to repair the pipe in front of the catalytic converter, but that will have to wait until later.
Right now I'm waiting for the shock absorber mount bushings to warm up so they will install easier and then I think I'm ready to fire it up and test the brakes. It was -12 F here this morning and my garage was a smoldering +9 F. The puny heaters I have got it up to +17, and I've just had to make do and work in short spurts then go in and warm the hands.

Once the shocks are mounted I'll see if I can get it started again after sitting for six months, and maybe if the weather calms down tomorrow I can drive it around the block to test the brakes.

 

I couldn't let the crappy repair on the cat section go, so I pulled it out, had to cut the bolts off of course. Seems that the pipe eroded around all the welds for the heat shields that protect the rubber hangers. Happened to have some 2.5" SS exhaust pipe on hand so cut a 1/2 diamter patch and just sealed in the old defects and then remounted the shields. I also took this opportunity to rivet the cat heat shields back on securely to keep them from rattling.






The flanges were badly eroded on the faces and about 50% of thickness missing so I had to build them back up and add some reinforcement. I couldn't find flanges locally in time so I will order some and pull it back out and fix them right at a later date. For now it seems to be OK but it's tenuous at best. Considering the cat section is $1200 from Toyota and $250-$350 for crappy knock-offs, it is worth the effort to rebuild the simple pipe fittings.

 

Excellent work.

 

Getting it running after having sat for five months had a little bit of pucker factor. It turned over but wouldn't fire. After mulling my options I decided the first thing to do was make sure it could get fuel. Apparently I did a good job draining the tank before I dropped it because I put two gallons in and it fired right up and idled quietly. Crisis averted and my welding on the exhaust seems to have paid off for now. I took it out to test the brakes and we still have an issue to deal with there. The pedal is pretty firm but it doesn't stop well at all. Several potential suspects for that issue. We got the bed positioned under the garage door and I put straps cross-wize in the bed and then hung a chain fall from a chain I have pegged into the door header. Lifted the bed with the chain fall and backed the truck under and dropped it back down. Super easy and I didn't need four or five people to do it. With the bed on I added some additional ballast and then went around and torqued all the suspension bolts that needed to have a full load so the bushings won't fail. Need to reassemble the bumper and get it mounted. One other issue that popped up late was the left blinker started going wonky and blink at twice the normal rate. Then I saw the backup light on that side coming on as well, so we have an electrical gremlin to chase down. Disappointing because I made the effort to clean the plugs and headers on the taillights before we put them on.