Quick Frame Rust Question

Hey Guys!

So my truck is an 03, been in Pennsylvania almost all its life. Today will spraying salt off the underside of the truck I noticed some surface rust here and there is nothing crazy about it or bad. But my question is that where are some of the most rust prone areas on the Tacoma's? Just so in the future if I happen to have rust develop in the next 3 years I can possibly get a replacement before the trucks frame warranty runs out.

I have some surface rust on the top side of the frame below the cab, and some surface rust on the rear of the frame where the bumper brackets are. Around the spots near the rust under the cab there small circles from the manufacturing of the frame, but I looked inside of them to see if the rust was penetrating at all and it was not.

Overall I am very pleased with how clean my frame is, and some of the typical spots where I have seen pictures on the forum, are very clean in my case (Ie: No rust around the leaf spring brackets). Plus about a year and half ago I had the fuel pump on the truck done at Toyota, they took the whole box off the truck and they said the frame looked real good. I am just curious about common rust prone areas.

The rest of the frame is nice and clean.


Thanks guys

 

If I'm not mistaken is the rear shackles area and the front portion of the frame.

 

Yeah that makes sense. Front end for me is good, may have to sand and paint the rear shackle area though

 

My experience as well as numerous other posters suggest that rust often first develops near the front box part of the frame near the cats.

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]For rust prevention/treatment discussion and alternatives see:
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2nd...on-thread.html [/FONT]

 

Gotcha, I see. The rust for me is on the driver side basically under where the driver sits. I will clean it up soon

 

I was looking at the photo links that you had on your thread and wow my frame is not as bad as some of those, or even remotely close. I am going to clean up the frame on the back end when I am home from college on break. And I will take a closer look at the frame by the cat but I would easily pass frame inspection for the next couple of years. 12 year old truck is going to have some rust, but I am glad its not nearly as bad as some others.

 

They tend to rust from the inside out, so sometimes it's hard to see.

 

Yeah I know, I have been keeping an eye on the C channel part of the frame. I have been checking the box beam section too and luckily the box beam section(s) are not rusty on the inside. The C channels have some surface rust on the back end but thats nothing that cant be fixed with some sanding, rust inhibitor and new paint.

 

Update:

Thanks everyone for the input!

After washing my entire truck the other day I was able to look at the frame a lot closer since it was warm out.
All of my rust on the truck is surface. There are some small portions where the rust is bubbling, but nothing intrusive to the point of it being structurally unstable, or even close to being intrusive. The rust I do have is easily stopped with sanding, and the typical rust removal and repaint. I would say for a 12 year old truck that hasn't had a frame replacement, that the frame looks pretty clean! Almost the entire frame is the black coating with some specks of surface rust. The most "serious" rust is on the top of the frame on the drivers side near the cab. I plan on doing some rust prevention in the coming weeks when it is warmer. Near the cab there are some circles and rectangles that are in the frame from manufacturing that allowed me to take a closer look on the inside of the actual frame. I did not see, or find any inside rust, or anything that was rusting through.

Thankfully my trucks frame does not look even close to some of the horror stories others have dealt with here on TW. I am lucky to not have serious rust issue, and that I am able to stop this early rust in its tracks.

Anyways, I will get rid of the rust I have now near the shackles, and under the cab in the coming weeks, and my truck will be good to go for some extra years! I also plan on repainting the skid plate and the gas tank skid plate as well!

 

Be sure to look inside the frame. My frame was sprayed years ago and to look at it youd think it was fine no rust spots and very clean looking. Then while working on a locker issue i had the truck jacked up and was underneath the truck and saw holes on each side where the shackles are welded to the frame. Even on the inside it looks clean. The one hole is hard to see because of the gas tank.

 

Yeah I got you man, I have been looking on the inside of the frame with a flash light into the small circles and rectangular hole that came with the frame and the inside of the frame from those various points are very clean. In about a month or so I plan on sanding and repainted the rear end of the frame to take off surface rust, as well as extend the life span of the truck. While having the bed off of the truck a year ago I was able to get a good look at the frame, while it was at Toyota, the Toyota techs said the frame was very clean compared to other trucks in Maryland that they have seen