Canman’s build and misadventures

Clamps now cooling down in oven. Was using Gloss blk for the hardware/brkts, but then found a fan of semi-gloss. I’m a big fan of this paint. Painted both the ARB front and Slee Off-Road rear bumpers with it on my LX450, and both have held up very well over the years, but they were glass-media blasted, and several coats of self-etching primer. Used it on the frame, but not expecting it to really hold up that well as prep was practically non-existent.

 

Had to reheat the clamps. Temp needs to be above 500F. Just took them out of the oven. Looking good. I did a bunch of hardware for my flathead doing this.
Turned out nice.

 

Forgot to mention that you have to dip the parts back into the oil after removing them from the oven.

 

The brkt with the JB Weld. Added a bit more last night. Stronger than it was originally, but not as strong as the rust-free version. Forgot to check to see if it was available when I was at the dealer yesterday. Still needs to cure a bit before I can start sanding.

 

Not sure if this brkt can be saved. Will try to tack weld it up.

 

Haha! What a mess. Lets’ see if it can be saved. Much stronger already.

 

Starting to take shape.

 

Not perfect, but much stronger and it barely fits into the plastic piece (a bit too narrow between the flanges). Will coat with JB Weld, then top coat.

 

Time to feed the crew. Lol!



Why did Toyota have to design such a complicated brkt? Going to be fun sanding down this sucker. At least the JB Weld sands nicely.

 

Decided to attack what I was dreading the most. Attacking the rusted frame crossmember. DS frame rail is just packed with sand/dirt/rust. Got the rear bolt out on the DS sway bar brkt. The front bolt won’t budge. Don’t want to snap it, do have to clear out all the crap first so I can get some penetrating oil on it from the inside. No stuff like this on the PS frame rail. Once again, I have no idea why Toyota engineers would put holes on the sides of the frame rail knowing stuff would accumulate with no way of getting out. So, will spend the next 30 - 60 mins futzing around to get all this crap out.

 

There are no words for the absolute stupidity of how this was designed! Worse than I thought. Will have to pull the front plastic bumper portion to get better access to get in there to weld. The pics don’t do it justice as to the amount of dirt that has come out so far. Still lots in there I can’t get out.

 

Coat hanger has been the best “tool” so far to dislodge and get the dirt out. Hard to believe the toe hook mtg holes are located in this rusted mess of some engineers wet dream

 

Better pic of what I have to deal with. Time for a beer to ponder things…

 

So, while pondering about my dilemma, I decided to watch The Car Care Nut which popped up in my recommended YT vids.
Yep, Toyota is royally f’ked up! We won’t even get into Tacomas being built in Mexico, or the disastrous 3.5L engine recall…

https://youtu.be/7HyuriUhTSo?si=q-MfwarXSQrSkell

 

Everyone should watch this vid. What an eye opener. Very very bad design leads to removal of almost the entire interior to replace a seal for the panoramic sunroof. Seal was only $143, but labour was 12 hrs, with total cost of over $1,800.

 

Getting all the damn clips, screws, etc off to remove the front bumper. These tools are invaluable for removing clips. Got a set off of Amazon last year. Should have bought a set years ago. Still managed to break one of the studs on the PS piece under the headlight. Even watched a vid where the guy said to be careful. I sprayed all the plastic clips with silicone lubricant which I thinks helps a lot. Also use the silicone on electrical connectors to help get them separated.

 

Front bumper off. Not too bad. Anything seems like a piece of cake after watching that Car Care Nut vid. He has over a million subs, and I hope Toyota takes note over his concerns regarding some of their engineering.



Another view of the hole.



Next is getting off the aluminum bumper. This is nasty looking.

 

Power steering fluid cooler has seen better days.

 

The dirt that came out of the frame rail.

 

Was thinking of maybe buying a new PS cooler. I guess not!

 

Got the aluminum bumper off. Was hoping there would be a nice big hole at the end of the frame to get the rest of the dirt out. Guess not…

 

Will have to move the PS cooler out of the way to make room for the welding. DS front body mount should be replaced. PS looks good, but not right? Hmmm…

 

Well, that’s it for tonight. Found some scrap plate that is about 1/8” which I’ll use to patch up the hole. Hoping I can do it with one piece, but I’ll need to put a bit of a crown in it.

 

Got to a bit of a late start. Dogs woke me up at 4:30 and couldn’t sleep afterwards. Touched with a wire wheel for a few mins. Amazing how quickly it cleans up relatively nice. Wish I could media blast, but can’t do that in the garage.
There are a total of 33 holes/slots in this thing. What the hell for? Can’t imagine it is for crash reasons. I would like to close up every hole somehow, but no time for that. If I was an eager beaver, I would cut the whole thing out and replace it with 1/8” wall rect tubing. Bolts for mtg the PS cooler wouldn’t budge with my small ratchet, but with a bit of heat from the MAPP torch, they came out east peasy. Heat is your friend when it comes to rusted up bolts etc.

 

Another pet peeve. The Makita 5.0Ahr and 6.0Ahr batteries don’t fit my Makita recip saw, and my circular saw. For whatever reason, they decided to make these battery cases slightly different. The slot on the one side isn’t long enough. Of coarse, just I start the saw on the crossmember, and the 3.0Ahr battery dies. So, heat up the OLFA 1” blade with my trusty MAPP torch, and perform some surgery on the battery. Easy peasy. Why Makita!?

 

Noice…




I think the 1/8” thk plate is too thick. I have some 14Ga (I think).

 

I think that is about as good as it is going to get. Blew out was left.
Time for my second coffee…

 

Decided to keep the 1/8” plate. First piece tacked in. Started hammering it into position, and more rust scale started falling down/out. Should have done that earlier. Making the pieces is trickier than I thought. Will likely be at this most of the afternoon.

 

Just brutal. Now there is a small hole in the bottom surface after whacking it with the hammer. This is what came out still.

 

I think the holes are weight reduction but also are strong as well. I’m going to post a couple of products that might work. Boeshield is for internal rust resistance and the Cosmoline is a tough outer finish spray. Might work just as well inside structure but my feeling is not as well.
https://boeshield.com/

https://www.cosmolinedirect.com/cosmoline-rp-342-heavy-spray-military-grade-rust-preventive/