Does anyone know what the piece of equipment pictured above does or is? I've noticed this thing before, and it bothers me that I have no idea what it's for. The smaller box says "To Canister" and a hose comes off the assembly heading toward the cab/engine. It's just forward of the spare tire mounting cross-member, and behind the rear axle.

I couldn't find anything about it in Chilton's manual, and it was conspicuously absent from their photographs of rear axle assemblies.

I sure hope somebody knows what this thing is, and what it does. Thanks in advance.

 

that's your evap canister and your canister purge valve. Its to keep hydrocarbons from escaping to the atmosphere, for emissions.

 

That doesn't sound too spectacular... Can I (legally) take it off? Also, it seems one of the hoses is missing (from the passenger side of the smaller box). Is this a problem? I have no CEL.

-Jeff

 

I doubt that you can legally take it off, I can think of no benefit to do so. It will turn on the CEL. If there is any electrical problem or a leak in a hose you will get a CEL. It can detect a leak as small as 0.020". All it does is takes fuel vapors from your tank, store them and then purge them into the engine, where they are burn't. If it didn't do that the fuel vapor would only be wasted. It is pretty trouble free on pickups, except on trucks that see a lot of gravel roads the connector towards the front gets beat up quite often resulting in corroded or broken wires and a CEL.