Is my frame bent? Warning Graphic Images

Without pictures of the frame it is impossible to tell if it is bent. I wouldn't make any decisions on the truck til you know for sure. The cab doesn't look that bad, but check the mounts and with all the rusty frame buybacks you could probably find a replacement box.

 

I would be surprised if there isn't at least some frame damage. But if you just want to make a wheeler out of it who cares if the frame is slightly tweaked? As long as it goes reasonably straight down the road it would be fine for that use. Bummer it was a V6 reg cab too. I had one of those pre-kid and loved it.

 

Take it to a frame shop or a shop that does frame work. A frame can be bent whether you can visually see it or not. You can get frame alignment specs just like you would with a front end aligment. I got rear ended at a stop sign in My 06 Tacoma which had a 3 inch lift and a 2" aal in the back with 33's (pretty tall rear end for a car to go under). To make a long story short a guy wasn't paying attention and ran his chevy lumina up under the rear end of my truck. You could visually tell the axle was out of alignment but everything else looked good. I was able to drive my truck home and although it really wasn't a signifigant impact the frame was pretty twisted. Good Luck-Jared.

 

How much to buy it? Post that- if its low enough, buy it, if you can part it out for enough to cover the cost. Once you have it, you can check out what it needs to fix it, then fix it o scrap it.

An insurance job would be $5-10,000 to fix that? I'd say it would cost $3-5,000 to fix it plus paint if you did the work yourself. Box, front fender, rear end, driveshaft, exhaust, etc.

Or find another one.

Don

 

Man I feel your pain. A guy hit me at 45 plus miles an hour and I was at a full stop at a light. Mine was not quite as bad but it was a small blazer is the vehicle that hit me I have a 2002 tacoma xtra cab and most of the energy got absorbed on the drivers side. When I showed pics of the damage to people it didn't look that bad but the bumper was even with the tail gate and the side buckled to the point it stuck out past the side mirror. It had 2mm of frame damage which the body shop popped back into place. They fixed all the damage which came out to 10k. My understanding on frame damage is measured in millimeters. If it gets up to 7mm and up that's considered major damage. Hope that helps but without taking it in to a body shop it's hard to tell. My bed bolts were halfway ripped out also.

 

An easy way to tell if it's bent that I was taught by a crusty old mechanic is look at the rust. I'm assuming your frame at least some surface rust on it. The rust will look flaky in areas where the metal was in tension. From the pictures, I'd look right under where the tree hit your bed. That impact would've caused a folding motion around the tree, putting the bottom of the frame in tension. Any slight bend here would've fractured the rust and you'd be able to tell pretty quickly if it's tweaked.

Again, though, pics of the frame would help

 

Pull the bed (whats left of it) and snap some pics.

I dont think its bent...

You probably wont be able to restore it to its original beauty without spending LOTS of money....but you can flat bed or tube bed it and make it into a badass trail rig.

 

Ahh alittle wax and buff and it'll be good as new!

 

The current insurance offer is $5,750 and I get to keep the truck. I told him I would take no less than $6,000 so he is looking some more things over. They claim the truck has a $2,275 salvage value, in other words that is what it would be worth to a collision repair facility or a yard that parts vehicles out. The $2,275 seems kind of inflated to mitigate their costs if you ask me but I have been wrong before. Thoughts?

Also, thanks to all that have chimed in with their $0.02.

 

Update - On Friday I went to look at my truck to get a better idea what I am up against for frame damage. I took more pictures to show you all which will hopefully help with your opinions.

Findings:
I was happy to see that it is only the bed/frame mounting tabs that are bent. This is why the tailgate is at such an angle (top of gate towards cab).

The brackets that bolt the bumper to the frame started to buckle as you can see in the pics. The arc from bending appears to all be on the bracket and not the frame.

You can see the bottom of the shackle swung forward pretty violently in its arc and is now stuck there because the leaf spring is so bent. The leaf spring actually dented the frame a small bit as it swung up into it.

I like to think the receiver hitch may have added some strength to the rear of the frame.

Thoughts are always welcome!


Untitled by xcmtb83, on Flickr


Untitled by xcmtb83, on Flickr


Untitled by xcmtb83, on Flickr


Untitled by xcmtb83, on Flickr


Untitled by xcmtb83, on Flickr


Untitled by xcmtb83, on Flickr

 

Frame looks pretty good except for that rust!

 

wouldn't touch it.

if it's not bent (probably is), it'll fail the hammer test because of that rust.

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

X2, I would not take a chance on it, looks like the rusting process is in full force and it won't take long for it to start falling apart....