It all started with a cracked leaf spring ('04 Double Cab Partial Restore)

Hello everyone,

Long time lerker here and thought it would be interesting to those on this forum (and helpful to me to ask the brain trust questions) if I posted a thread on my partial truck restore.

I have owned my 04' Double Cab 4x4 since 2012. I think it had about 85k miles on it and very little in the way of rust as it spent most of its time in Ocean City, MD which rarely gets snow and MDOT doesn't salt the roads out there nearly as much as other areas of the NE. Unfortunately the previous owner ignored the frame recall and it was never rust proofed. I was aware of this when I purchased and I have been monitoring the frame over the years (as you'll see below I did a poor job). Initially after purchase it was my daily driver and I put more mileage on it than I do now. Professionally I am a pilot and I only put about 3k miles on the truck a year now, to and from work where it sits for a week while I am out of town. It has about 160k miles on it as it sits in my garage.

Last year I had been noticing a "clunk" when I was going around sharp turns and eventually figured out in December that the right leaf spring was cracked at the rear bolt.



As luck would have it while I was searching for leaf springs I stumbled upon a great New Years deal on an OME suspension upgrade (2" lift) from Wheelers. I think I got it for ~$1200 shipped! Thank you Wheelers.

While crawling around under the truck I noticed the rust was getting worse so I decided that I would take the bed off while I was changing the leaf springs and "clean up" the rust a little bit. I was in for a surprise...

(Special thanks to my 4yo for all his help, haha)



Rust I discovered after removing the bed:







I had a rodent get into my fuel lines several years ago and the shop "repaired" the damage but obviously missed some. This explains the random emissions codes I have been getting since then.



Note the rust and also the various rodent nibbles.



yeahhhhh there should be a hose there. Hopefully some squirrel died a horrible death because of the rubber ingestion.

I pressured washed the frame and got the majority of the surface coating off of the frame.



And into the garage goes the truck (at this point my wife became not.a.fan of this project).

I was able to remove the rear frame crossmember surprisingly easily, the next forward one was impossible to remove. BTW, to date I have broken 4 bolts (2 on the front bumper, more on that later), two removing the mud flaps (to be dealt with later) and one removing the spare tire hanger frame from the frame crossmember (I ended up breaking the weld nut off and I plan to just use a new nut when reinstalling - looking for nut replacement suggestions).



I ordered and replaced all of these rodent damaged hoses:







I have been using partssouq.com to find Toyota part numbers (very helpful) and using official Toyota parts ordered online or from the local dealer when available. Some of these hoses are discontinued so I purchased fuel line from NAPA/Autozone and cut to length.

Then I was on to wire brushing... have I mentioned the rust removal SUCKS?!



The frame has generally cleaned up very well and I have only found one area of minor concern. The rightside upper shock mount has developed some rust holes but I think it still has enough metal to be structurally sound. I cleaned out the rust and debris inside the mount using a magnet and vaccum. I think after paint it will hold up well. If rust continues I plan to weld in a replacement (I really hope I don't need to do this).



At this point I should mention my plan for rust proofing the frame against future rust. I plan to use POR15 on every part of the frame that I can reach and use Eastwood Internal Frame paint (https://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-internal-frame-coating-14oz-aerosol.html) for the parts that I cannot reach. I will then use fluid film annually. So far I have been EXTREMELY happy with POR15 even though the painting process is rather laboreous. I am being OCD about the process and so far it seems like it will hold up very well.

I received the suspension system from Wheelers back in January/February but never really unpackaged it. When I did... I was less than enthused. All of this superficial damage, and it was everywhere, was hidden under their packaging. I think it happened before it was shipped to me. Full disclosure, they were very helpful and sent me a full set of plastic liners to replace all damaged liners. I opted to repaint the leaf springs using the POR15 DTM spray paint. I am a huge fan of it, looks great!





(anyone know where I can get the OME stickers to cover the holes in the brackets?)

Some pictures of the POR15 setup, process and various parts:







I didn't take pictures of the process of putting on the first leaf spring, but went smoothly, and I think it looks great! I decided that I would also paint the rear axle, etc.



I was looking at the fuel tank after replacing the fuel pump (I figured now would be the easiest time to do the fuel pump) and realized it was developing more rust than I initially realized. So I cleaned it up and painted with three coats of POR15. (I used the frame to hang the tank for painting, worked well).





And this is where the project currently stands today. I am out of town but when I return I will be doing the POR15 process on the rear axle as well as right side frame. I will also paint the leaf spring and install everything. I will also clean and paint the frame up to the furthest I can reach with the fuel tank out. At that point I will have the entire frame painted aft of the mid frame cross member. I have a few questions but I will save those for another post in this thread below.

Cheers,

ltdpilot

ps. pardon any typos

 

I have decided that this project will extend to the entire frame and I am considering the best option to paint the forward frame. Obviously I will use the Eastwood Internal Frame paint but how should I reach the frame externals for the POR15? I am currently planning (subject to suggestions) to replace the cab mounts with the Energy Suspension Body Mounts and in the process of jacking the cab also paint the hard to reach frame areas. Unfortunately removing the cab from the frame fully is beyond my current capabilities (I may have a shop and lift in 5 years but not now).

I plan to use this truck as a ranch/farm truck on my 17 acres so I am considering a winch bumper to replace the stock front bumper... suggestions? (I am cost sensitive)

What else should I do?

 

What a great write-up! I know my springs need to be replaced soon, and now I'm wondering if that's the source of the clunking-sound-while-turning. I also wish I had the time, space, and body strength to do a tear-down like this, I'm envious!

 

If you want a DIY bumper, Coastal offroad

 

Two breaker bars from Harbor Freight have been extremely helpful after careful coating of PB Blaster/Free All/other. These breaker bars have also broken two of the four mounting bolts on my front bumper. Ugh

Yeah, finally a good use for my garage... my wife hates me right now though lol

 

I've been looking at those, the only problem is I don't have a welder and I last welded in aircraft mechanics school 25 years ago... maybe I can find a local guy to do it for me.

 

Grab a welder you will use it Im sure for the rebuild. The metal will still weld the same as you did 25 years ago.

 

Side note, the Toyota frame replacement guide has been extremely helpful finding part numbers and torques as well.

 

Now THAT is super handy! Saving that to my Tacoma Library.

 

I plan to replace many of the rubber bushings on the truck as I go... so far I am planning to replace the following:

Cab Mount Bushings - Energy Suspension (https://www.suspension.com/8.4112) because lifting the cab while I paint seems like a good way to gain access to hard to reach spots AND might as well replace the bushings while I am at it. Can of worms? yes... I will probably hate myself.

Front Rack and Pinion Bushings - Energy Suspension (https://www.suspension.com/8.10103)

Sway Bar Bushings - Energy Suspension (https://www.suspension.com/8.5117 or https://www.suspension.com/8.5118) I am not sure which one will fit my truck and since I am out of town and the sale I found will end before I return I will likely order both.

What other bushings should I consider replacing?

 

Nice write-up OP! I went through a very similar process with my truck. I have a similar pic from my very first post on Tacomaworld:


You mentioned getting evap codes, I also addressed that issue, and it was due to leaking gaskets on top of my gas tank.. My tank looked pretty similar to yours. Here are those part numbers:

 

Wow, that leaf spring crack looks almost identical. Amazing.

Thanks for those part numbers! I replaced the fuel pump and that included a new gasket. I will look at replacing those other gaskets as well.

 

Looks like you may have already used it but, a suggestion for the use of the garbage curly Q hose nozzles Eastwood sends with their spray cans that worked well for me. Get a piece of something like solder or copper wire and tape it to the hose so it will hold it straight and then you can also bend it in whatever direction you need as well.

 

Great suggestion! I actually used thick aviation safety wire to make the hose stay straight for my first can so yeah, "great minds" as they say. Thank you, suggestions like this are why I posted the thread.

 

Note on the fuel tank... mine was coated with some sort of rubberized coating. I found that the coating was hiding an immense amount of surface rust. Anyone repainting their fuel tank will need to remove enough to be sure they stop this rust. It was surprising to me!

 

I am finally back in town after a week of crappy weather flying in the NY area. Weather sucks at home too and it's too cold to paint the POR15 so I'm working on the cab mount bushings and associated attachment hardware. I've seen threads here indicating that the nuts are tack welded to the frame. Maybe Toyota got wise for the '04 as none of my nuts are welded.



They are 15mm and once I figured that out (I slightly rounded one using a 16mm, oops) I've been able to loosen several with the breaker bar. I suspect all will come off relatively easily as the rust isn't too bad.

I will be installing Energy Suspension 8.4112R - Body Mount Set which is specific for the double cab, this required a bunch of research as most websites will recommend the wrong set. Thanks to a TW thread, I was warned.

The fuel tank POR15 coats cured nicely and I have some touchup to do around the bolt holes I used to hang the tank from the frame for painting. More updates later.

 

Discovered a potential alignment issue while loosening the mid right side cab mount bushing. The right front tire is wearing on the inner side.



I will be getting an alignment after the suspension install but wondering if I should check some other things...