frame repair( rebuild)

Now that I have pleaded to toyota about my rusted frame,I now have no choice but attempt a repair, has anybody done this, the frame was good 12 mons ago now has holes near the front spring hangers anybody got pics of their repair and how they did it you know the do's and don'ts

 

I'd look for a new one and swap it out.

Are you an experienced fabricator? If not I'd highly recommend to do a swap. Your trusting your life on those welds

 

Then box it in/reinforce it. POR-15 it or bed line it immediately after your completed and keep an eye on it weekly/monthly as to keep up on it as you obviously live in a rusty area

 

good with a welder what is por-15,bed line mean

 

1/4 inch plate, or 3/16 or whatever you feel comfortable with. Weld the shit out of it

por15 is a rust inhibitor/ convertor. My dad used it on his van, good shit

 

Bedliner isn't such a good idea. If there is a crack in the bedliner moisture will be able to get in and rust will begin again.

por-15 is a paint used to stop rust. Trusso24 meant "bed line" like spray on bedliner: linex, rustoleum, duplicolor, etc.

 

Here are some before and after pictures of my 2001 Tacoma frame rebuild. I had severe perferoration around the driver's side front spring mount which required a patch of about 18 inches by 4 inches. The rest of the frame, trailer hitch mounts, and back two cross members were rusted pretty severely and only required a few small patches and a good cleaning and treating. I used a DA grinder with a wire wheel or sanding flap wheel for most of the clean up, then treated and coated the parts and frame rails all of the way up to the front tires with POR-15. Then I top coated that with VHT Roll Bar and Chassis paint. Let me know what you think! I estimate that I put at least 120 hours into the job, and my friends added about 16 hours of welding and helping me reassemble the truck. I used as much new hardware as I could find and cleaned up and reused the rest. Besides the patched-in metal, I bought a new spare tire carrier and reel assembly. Everything else was reused.

 

If you have anyone local who can bend 1/8" or 3/16" I have special pieces bent that cover top and side .

I have fixed quite a few when mine gets to the point it needs work I plan to be build a new rear frame section .

You can for the most still buy all the weld on pieces from the dealer.

I was not about to give up my paid for truck just because a little frame issue.

I use to stretch over the road truck frames making these simple.

 

Thought about fixing mine, ended up selling. Wasnt worth me losing all the resale value over a patch job on the frame, and if I kept it I would have to keep patching rusty spots as they came up.

 

I used KBS Rust Seal to coat my frame, its the same as POR but cheaper.

 

There is a company that makes frame sections for Tacomas called Safe T Cap. Their prices are pretty reasonable. 4Wheeler also did a bit on frame repair http://www.fourwheeler.com/how-to/body-chassis/1603-toyota-tacoma-rotted-frame-fix/

 

I know it's a bit old, but here's to adding my .02 of experience (to come)

Much like the OP, I was aware of the frame issue when I bought the truck. Brought an inspection hammer with me when I took a look at it... but when this stuff rots from the inside out what can you do? Anyways, I found a dime sized hole about 3 months ago in the same spot most find the issues, at which point I bought a set of the Safe-T-Caps knowing I'd tackle the project this winter... well winter came early!

Here's how she looked Friday before I crawled under the truck to replace my 02 sensor...


And here is what I found...



SOO...... now the work begins....

**EDIT**

In case someone comes across this, I know I didn't grab pictures to do a full write up and how to but here's what I did to get to this point:

1. Removed all the wiring that was connected to the bed, which included taking the taillights off in order to unplug the wiring harness
2. Unbolted 4 of the six bolts that hold the bed to the frame. I believe they were 19mm. Not a huge pain, but a breaker bar is key. The rear bolts that are closest to the bumpers were so rust welded I didn't even try wrenching... just cut'm off using a cut off wheel. They will be replaced with new nut's and bolts later.
3. make sure your fuel neck is clear of the bed. I didn't have to take out my fuel door, not sure if that's standard or not.
4. Get your friend or two to help lift the bed off the frame and set aside



Here's the frame before some grinding and sanding....



And after...



My friend will hopefully have time this week to help with the welding (just one of those skills I don't have). I also have some frame plates coming to strengthen the rear C channels. I woulda gone with a fully boxed kit from either auto rust or another company, I just don't have the $$$. that's something I could take on in the future. I'll make sure to update as we go along. Any input tips and tricks on dropping the fuel tank?

 

it's pretty straightforward:

Undo the fuel lines fittings on top of the tank
Two underneath it, holding the skidplate in place
Three bolts on the front
Then a bolt on driver's side of the tank that holds the strap in place

Also, unless you want an heavy duty offroad rig, I don't recommend boxing the frame, as it will accentuate the rust problem. Especially since it is already rusty. It will trap the rust inside, making it harder for you to treat or repair

Boxed frames are both a blessing and a curse, the downside being that they rust and rot from the inside out. To avoid this, the inside of the frame must be rustproofed as well, not just the outside. But rustproofing when it is already badly rusty is too late

Anyway, good luck with your project!

 

Got the tank out with little to no issues... Getting the fuel out was the harder part really. Here we are one step closer...
*** EDIT CONT.***
6. Use whatever method handy to remove as much fuel as possible from the tank... driving it to 1/4 or 1/8 would be the easiest, I used a cheap syphoning hose... that didn't fit through the filler neck, which meant I had to unbolt the fuel lever sensor to get access to a bigger hole...just drive it and make it easy!
7 1/2. (duh forgot the fuel lines) Disconnect the fuel lines going to the fuel pump, and the breather line going to the fuel sensor, as well as the plastic clip holding it to the tank.
7. Unbolt the filler neck from frame
8. Remove the two outer bolts on the front of the tank, these hold on the skid plate... then the rear two bolts to drop the skid (make a note that the rear bolts are shorter!)
9. Place a jack under the rear of the tank, while supporting the front with your preferred car jack.
10. Unbolt the front center bolt holding the front of the fuel tank.
11. Now take out the bolt holding in the strap on the driver side rear... or remove the pin holding in the the other side of the strap... I did both
12. Your tank should be free to lower and move out of the way
NOTE... If you're not working on this side of the truck you don't have to remove the tank... but I can assure you that if the passenger side is rotting... 95% chance so is the drivers side... I'd want to be certain!
Now you have access to all the glorious rust and rot and CRAP

 

Leafs came out (which gave me the opportunity to add another leaf to my 5pack Dakar's), and I'm well into grinding off the original perches and cutting out the rot. I'm glad to find a lot of good metal left, but this was a needed fix for sure!
***EDIT CONT..***
13. At this point I've started grinding and sanding and grinding away at most of the rear end prepping for nice new welded safe-t-caps and some frame reinforcements for the rear (figured while I'm at it right?) But for the sake of installing the caps you'll need to remove the rear leaf springs. I won't go into detail on how but for me it was easy since I had installed a Toytec lift last year, so all my bolts were relatively fresh. If yours are OEM... get ready to cut and curse and shout for a few hours as you unbolt/ hack off the u bolts, rear shackle bolts, front spring perch bolts etc... it's, not fun!


14. Now it's the time to get nitty gritty... I want to leave as much of the original frame to weld to as possible, so I'm cutting out just enough to where I've got good thickness in the stock frame. This won't be the finished look... I'm still working


15. If you purchased the caps without spring mounts, you will need to either order the one from auto rust, order a set from Toyota or fabricate your own... to me it was well worth the extra money buying the ones with spring perches already attached. Now it's time to cut/grind of the perches.

 

I'm so glad I spent the extra $40 for the caps that already have the Leaf Spring hangers welded on... trying to get those off in one piece would be a bigger PITA than it already is to grind this off. I've got cut off wheels and a grinding disk... would a 30 or 40 grit flap disk work better for grinding the welds off... it's taking me an awful long time to grind those suckers down to the frame.

Ohh and one more thing, other than sticking a shop vac hose down there... any good suggestions on cleaning out the "DEATH" that's littering the inside of the frame??? I know I'll never get all of it, but I'd like to give myself a good fighting chance!

 

to clean the crap inside the frame, a good way is a pressure washing machine. Shoot water in there untill the water that comes out is empty of debris. But in the middle of autumn, like we are now, it may not be a good idea, as your frame won't dry completely (or very slowly, at least). Unless you still have hot and sunny days where you are...

Then you have the option of using an air compressor or, as you said, a shop vac

Also, a tip for you: before welding your caps, put some grease on the frame, where the cap will go. As you weld, the grease will liquefy and fill every little pore and crack of both surfaces, sealing the deadspace between the two parts. This will prevent moisture and rust from developing in between and eventually eat your caps and patches

 

I didn't think about using the pressure washer. I'm not too concerned with drying it out... it would never happen if I left it outside right now... Cold and wet for the next 6 months in SE Alaska! I'll be taking it to a friends garage to paint the frame after the welds, so hopefully I can get it dried out sitting in there for a few days. I could also try a towel or rag (or small mop?) to stuff down the inside to dry as best I can as long as I retrieve it... or better yet, just cut out the entire inboard portion of my frame... have C channel throughout... then I can really get it clean!

 

After loosing my 1984 toyota extra cab to rusted frame... body..... well all of it lol. I found a several used first gens with rusted frames and was tempted to buy low and then find a shop to weld and reinforce the rust. What i learned is that it's better to get a new frame if your going to keep the truck. it's a lot of work but it's a good time to find any other rust that may be creeping around other body parts also. I'm lucky and live in the NW so we have a good few first gens that have spent their life here and not on east coast. Anyways, my cents worth, I would hate to see you go through a lot of work fixing the frame to find out you have other hidden rust.

 

Finding used car parts here is pretty much impossible without me heading down to Seattle or sourcing them from other parts of the country which will get REAL expensive REAL fast. We don't even have a junkyard in town ( I'm in Juneau, AK....currently). They barge off any old/broken down vehicles.

When I found my first rust spot, I took the sharp end of the inspection hammer to the rest of the frame and any rusty areas I could see and everything else seems solid for now. I will take on any further rust issues as they arise in the future... who knows, might just have a whole pieced together frame in 20 years

Here's another question I've got. So a lot of folks recommend using POR15 for my coating, and while I do have it available to me, I'm not sure it's the best solution. One... I don't know if I trust myself to get all the nitty gritty spots free grease and grime. Second, while POR15 does cure with Humidity, to much of it can cause premature curing and subsequent flaking. I have never seen our humidity levels below 70% and I'm not even kidding! So i'm leaning toward something that may be a little more forgiving. Any suggestions? I will have access to a clean "dry" garage that's not my monsoon front driveway...