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Fuel line replacement on 2002 Chevy Avalanche 2500 series

CarMech1969

Full Member
Joined
Jul 1, 2016
Messages
498
Location
Scarborough, ON
Good day peeps!!  :wave:

Here we go - the project has just begun.
It's taken me the better part of the morning just to get the 7000 pound beast off the ground.
Will be taking pictures as I go along.
Here's what I got so far!

Oh yeah - under the plastic sheet is a BMW F800ST....anyone want to buy it??  :D

Ciao for now  :B:

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CarMech1969
 
Well....as luck would have it....
Ran into a couple of roadblocks along the way.
No idea why the fuel lines were not made with a braided hose section in order to pass the lines past the dogbone for the torsion bar, or the ABS module. And there was no way to get the bolts out, as one of them got blocked by a crossmember...preventing the bolt from being withdrawn  :E:
And the crossmember cannot be removed because it is riveted to the frame  :E:
There must have been a friggin' Nissan engineer that decided "Oh, we'll just build on top of this on top of that, and block everything.."
Jokes, boys....
The task turned into a giant mess, accompanied by the copious use of colourful language...wondering who the hell the brainiac must have been that decided, "Nope - you shall not remove the bolts to make room."
Stupid dummy!
So I forced the lines around the other side of the mountain, and managed to get them in there without kinking any of them. I was fighting for hours. What a bear of a job.
Pictures will resume tomorrow, as it got too dark to work comfortably anymore - and I am tired as hell....lol  :help:
Anyway - here's what I got for today - hope you enjoy the carnage  >:D

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CarMech1969
 
Looks like a fun project, you could air hammer the rivets and use bolts.???
GM had a small issue back in the day of running anything fuel system outside the frame. LOL
 
Sounds like a PIA project.. Glad mine has spent it's life in sunny California, that is until now.. I just moved to Reno Nevada, not weather like back East but snow just the same...
 
MS03 2500 said:
Looks like a fun project, you could air hammer the rivets and use bolts.???
GM had a small issue back in the day of running anything fuel system outside the frame. LOL
I had a fleeting thought of removing the rivets, but thought Nah, too much hassle.
I reworked the lines slightly so that I coud pass them along an alternate path.
No choice really. There is simply not enough room to pass a prebent line between that dogbone and the frame.
I tried to get that dogbone out as much as I could, but it was just not going to happen.
I'm glad I bought the prebents - as they came with everything I needed....but sometimes fabbing your own lines is better - especially in a situation like this. A piece of line off the roll would have slipped in there no probs, and then just work the line in any which way so that it is solidly mounted and doesn't rub on any moving parts....and good enough!!  ;D

CarMech1969
 
Randy said:
Sounds like a PIA project.. Glad mine has spent it's life in sunny California, that is until now.. I just moved to Reno Nevada, not weather like back East but snow just the same...
Must be nice!!
You would probably never have to worry about rotting hard lines.
The thing that irked me the most is the way they built this truck.
It's all about quick assembly - and now, if you have to fix it??
Not our problem, it's on you.
I mean, come on, really??
They slap a bunch of prebent lines into the channel of the frame, and then pile a million things on top of them, making replacement almost impossible.
Unless, of course, you disassemble the entire truck and start from scratch...but I'm not restoring it...lol. The truck is in decent shape for it's age. I just don't want the fuel lines to leak!!

CarMech1969
 
Bringing back bad memories of my summer.  Did you get new fuel pumps while you were at it?  They both look a bit crusty and I wouldn't want to get in there twice.
 
frito said:
Bringing back bad memories of my summer.  Did you get new fuel pumps while you were at it?  They both look a bit crusty and I wouldn't want to get in there twice.


Defiantly a good idea.. I would also coat, paint or do something to the fuel lines to prevent future s corrosion.. Probably to late now...

To coat existing fuel and brake lines that are in good condition a good product is Shark Hide.. You can put in a spray bottle and coat hard lines, brackets, screws/nuts/bolts and painted/unpainted parts under the vehicle and it will protect things from the elements.. I polished and coated my aluminum rims and the coating has lasted for years...
 
Gentlemen!  :B:

The job finally got finished Sunday around noon.
An absolutely horrific job to do - it's like doing 2 fuel line replacement jobs - one right after the other - as we all know the 2500 has 2 tanks.
This was surely a test of my tenacity as it took practically everything I had to get everything back in. So many lines, hoses and wires all over. Good thing I snapped a few pics along the way...had to refer back to them a time or two to ensure correct reassembly.
Will be feeling it for a while as my entire body feels like it has been thrashed with a 2x4. Lol, yeah - it was THAT fun.
Anyhow, here's some more pictures.....

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In the picture immediately below, you can see the bolt for that stupid dogbone assembly, and my redneck solution to work the lines past it  >:D

vvv 
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Randy and frito:
I decided to leave the fuel pumps alone, as the pipes are still solid with just some light surface rust.
Didn't feel like opening another can of worms - else I'd probably have to take the week off  :laugh:
LOL!
Upon reassembly, I did oil the crap out of everything (and I do like to do this periodically with oil in an undercoating gun), but this was a great time to get to those areas that you wouldn't ordinarily have access to. I mixed in some diesel fuel into the oil in my spray gun to help it creep and penetrate the rust better.

Hopefully, these pictures will help anyone to visualize where everything is on a 2500 truck.

CarMech1969
 
Well done, sir.

I admire your tenacity.

(y)
 
Nice job man!  (y)  Sounds like you even finished in time for a couple Sunday afternoon  :cheers:
 
Yes, Nice job.. Not an easy project to tackle.. (y)
 
Nice job  (y)


Spraying oil and diesel on the frame, that is old school.
 
MS03 2500 said:
Nice job  (y)


Spraying oil and diesel on the frame, that is old school.

Used to spray the crap out of my old work truck with it (1992 GMC Sierra).
Drove it for an additional 14 years, frame was still rock solid.

CarMech1969
 
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