Odds/Ends, need help.

D

doubleA

New member
Need some advice/experience...

in two weeks my buddy is going to help me change the following:
radiator, fuel filter, change oil, and remove my rusting tow hitch/brackets (So I can remove the rust/paint). The whole bracket assembly/frame mount for the bumper looks awful! so so rusted.

Should I go with an OEM fuel filter? I saw somewhere once that some come with a new bracket, which would be a plus.

If we cant get the bolts off due to rust, were going to cut them, does anyone know what size bolts hold on the hitch? Or point me to where I can find the drawing. I looked in the fsm and didnt see anything on the rear bumper/tow hitch.
 
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First off, do yourself a favor and start by spraying any bolts or nuts nuts with PB Blaster or any good penetrant as soon as you possibly can. With any luck, you won't need any advice on what to do about rusted bolts.

This is gonna help a lot with the fuel filter as lots of people have issues with it. Personally it was the one part of my truck that wasn't a pain to get off because of rust.

You can go OEM, or you can do what I and a few others have done and get a NAPA Gold filter. It looks identical, most likely is identical, and cost me 60% of what the OEM one cost. You can get it with or without the bracket, just have to ask. If you can re-use your bracket, its obviously cheaper w/o. My bracket was fine at 180km and looks like it could go that distance again.
 
In the end, I change the radiator, and the oil today. I tried to get the trailer hitch off but one bolt kept spinning on me... ah well. It needs to get cut I think... but thats for another day.

While trying to get the farthest bolt on the exhaust side of my hitch, the hanger welded to the cat (was/is very rusty) pulled away and is no longer attached. Can it be welded back even though there is ton of rust?
 
On the hitch bolt, if it is the rearmost one, I was able to get out a spinning one (and put it back) without cutting. I had the bumper, off, too, and saw that I could go in from the rear of the frame with a long box wrench and just snag the nut inside the rail with a long box wrench. Then it unscrewed just fine. The second one in probably can't be done, unless you can find an 18" long box wrench.

The third and fourth ones going towards the front are actually screwed into threaded holes in the frame, so this won't happen to those.
 
TheDurk said:
On the hitch bolt, if it is the rearmost one, I was able to get out a spinning one (and put it back) without cutting. I had the bumper, off, too, and saw that I could go in from the rear of the frame with a long box wrench and just snag the nut inside the rail with a long box wrench. Then it unscrewed just fine. The second one in probably can't be done, unless you can find an 18" long box wrench.

The third and fourth ones going towards the front are actually screwed into threaded holes in the frame, so this won't happen to those.
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Mine was the opposite, the 2 holes furthest to the rear of the truck on each frame rail were threaded holes in the frame, and the 2 closest to the front of the truck were just holes that needed a nut welded to a piece of plate to keep from spinning. Weird.
 
the bolt spinning is on the drivers side closest to the front... i will try and peak down the frame. i sprayed the heck out of it with PB but no luck. best part was, it was the only not rusty bolt. go figure.

any opinions on the busted exhaust hanger? do you think it can be welded back on? any other options i can do myself? i am no welder!
 
doubleA said:
any opinions on the busted exhaust hanger? do you think it can be welded back on? any other options i can do myself? i am no welder!
Click to expand...

That sounds like a question to ask a muffler shop where they could look at what you need welded, as well as what you want it welded to. There has to be metal left, you can't weld rust. That hangar looks like it should just be replaced, and a muffler shop should have one in stock that would do the trick.
 
That hanger is a separate piece from the exhaust. I would get a new hanger grind the bolts off the cat and install.
 
rjaudi said:
That hanger is a separate piece from the exhaust. I would get a new hanger grind the bolts off the cat and install.
Click to expand...

ah ok. so the hanger will wrap around the exhaust... grind off the bolts and attach the new hanger. now i just need a grinder... lol. i may just take it somewhere
 
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IanB said:
Mine was the opposite, the 2 holes furthest to the rear of the truck on each frame rail were threaded holes in the frame, and the 2 closest to the front of the truck were just holes that needed a nut welded to a piece of plate to keep from spinning. Weird.
Click to expand...

OOPS, I might have that part backwards. I did it two or three years ago. But it was the rearmost of the two on the movable strap and I was able to reach it from the rear with a long box wrench through the rail. So it may have been the third one (one back from the front.) If OP's is the frontmost, that's a LONG way in and this probably won't work. I thought if I ever had to try, I could duct tape a box wrench to a stick or rod and go for the far one.
 
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