u2slow

Clamp the downpipe to the turbo by itself. No brackets. Fashion/adjust bracket till it meets the pipe.... not forcing the pipe to meet the bracket.

My bolt had broken off in the adapter plate. So the factory bracket was useless. This rigid bracket I made from an exhaust clamp has been lasting for years.

Morsel

Thats a nice setup. It took me a couple hours of CAREFUL measuring in order to meet the downpipe to the turbine and the downpipe to the outlet pipe. That was the biggest headache of my fix. I was careful not to have to force it in place.
I considered doing something similar to yours. I would have had I not had a box of old Toyota parts with some down pipe stuff in them.
From what I have learned it is pretty common those factory brackets break off or wear out and become useless. Unless you hear a rattle while driving it's not something you notice right away. Let it go and over time it will crack at one of the connections, possibly even crack the turbine.

thrashingcows

My 89 motor in the crewcab had the issue you mention.....no lower support bracket, and the down pipe V-band flange had cracked. Picked up a used exhaust system from a truck being parted out, and installed it and the lower bracket and never had an issue afterwards.

Nice fixes to the lower bracket everyone....really appreciate the pics, food for thought.