Rust on frame - too much?

One of my pet peeves is salt on the roads. Those pictures look like the truck lives in Ohio or PA. I complained to MO Dot here in Missouri. The don't use as much as other places but any salt is too much. Here's what I do to pretty much eliminate the damage. I cannot see spending 30K$ for a vehicle and let the government destroy it for me.

You can get a sprayer and anti-salt solution that will neutralize the salt from Eastwood Co. in Pennsylvania. You mix it with water and spray the undercarriage let it on for 5 min and hose it off and wash the truck. There is also a company that sells SALTX and another product that has a detergent with the Salt X. I've used both and I think they work and are better than nothing and better than just rinsing. One nice thing about the 4wd Toyotas is that it's not that difficult to clean the under body. The best thing is to be proactive. Amsoil makes an product that doubles as motorcycle chain lube that is a metal protector and its works. I think they should ban the use of salt on roads as it destroys bridges and other things. Someone said that it attracts deer to the roads. Need I say more?

 

Or toyota could put on a worthy product for the 30+K truck that will protect it from the elements.

 

I have 05 with 135k miles. I have absolutely NO rust anywhere on my truck Gotta love AZ

 

Ouch that is nasty! I hope my yearly undercoating works. I have an 09 and its holding up pretty good so far

 

I'm sure this makes the OP feel real good right about now.

 

Interesting... There are better options though. There are coatings for structural steel that will be buried below grade and below the water table that impregnates itself into the steel and can NOT be removed. Can't remember what it's called at the moment but it's tough stuff!

Salt on the roads is nothing new so yelling at your local government for putting something on the roads that helps protect ignorant motorists who can't drive when it's below freezing will fall on deaf ears. Simplier solution would be for the manufacturers to properly coat the frames and stop cutting corners.

 

my '05 with 60k miles looked exactly the same way when i sold it 2 years ago. i live in upstate new york where they salt the roads like crazy......

sad to say though, my father sold one of his silverados ('97) around the exact same time i sold my '05 tacoma and his frame looked almost new. both trucks were bought in the local area and driven on the exact same roads.

i love toyota, but they really need to look into a different frame coating on the tacomas. my '99 tacoma fell under the rotted frame recall. my '05 looked worse than what my '99 looked like. maybe they could make a better frame coating and have it be a regional thing?

oh, and btw, my father owns an automotive shop, with a wash bay. my truck was on a lift weekly and the undercarriage was always heavily washed...

 

I disagree unless they start mandating that people have winter rated tires for the winter like they do in parts of Canada. People do stupid stuff and don't take care of their cars and reducing the salt they put on the roads would make it more dangerous for everyone on the roads. Plain and simple, most people don't know how to drive in the snow and unfortunately aren't smart enough to stay home when it gets bad out.

 

OP - let this be a lesson to you - look underneath and stop that corrosion before it gets that bad. A 7 year old Toyota with no undercoating in the salt belt = major issues as you now know.

I agree 100%. My Ford Explorer did 10 years and 200k of NJ/PA driving and I NEVER needed to coat the frame. My 08' Tacoma has had the frame painted twice already and I will do it again this fall and I just hit 80k.

Toyota undercoating just plain old sucks....the steel is also a factor.

 

I have an 03. It has some rust. But nearly that much.

 

another thing it could be is chemical induced

 

That's crazy. The '77 in my sig pic had less rust on it when I got rid of it back in 2003. Sand blast and repaint everything, then make it a habit to rinse the undercarriage every other week or so.

 

This isnt Toyota's fault, and it isnt the frame's coating or metal composition. Every bit of metal under that truck has rust. This truck was obviously in a very high corrosive environment for some time. Even after removing the truck from such an environment, if left untreated the rust will just continue to eat your frame.

OP if you intend to keep this truck another 7 years you need to attack this rust aggressively now. no rust neutralizing paint is going to stop the degree of rust you have. You're going to need to get a grinder with a wire wheel, a sand blaster, a ton of sand paper, and about 40 hours of elbow grease. Remove all the rust on the frame down to bare shiny metal. Then coat it with a high quality epoxy paint.

 

Nope THIS IS TOYOTA FAULT. Frame has crappy paint work as the rest of the truck. It's a way for Toyota to make sure that " most dependable" truck does not last forever. Mechanically Tacoma is best truck ever, so eng at Toyota gave it Achilles foot. A crappy paint job.

 

I'm on the fence about this... I think Toyota could have put a much better coating on their frames but the OP is not without fault. You have to help the situation at least a little by doing at least routine washings as preventative maintenance. At this point, the OP is in a tough situation. The rust has gotten so bad that even if he does sand blast and repaint the frame, all the bolts look like they're beyond salvage. You can't align it because those bolts are a ball of rust, you'll fight even trying to change the shocks, who knows the the brake and fuel lines look like but they should be inspected ASAP. It's fighting an uphill battle at this point...

 

Blue, do you really honestly think that Toyota did this on purpose? That the engineers gave it an achilles heel to produce more sales? And risk the company and public safety? Even though it's costing them so much to buy back the previous vehicles at top dollar only to destroy them?

Not challenging you, just trying to understand what you are saying and trying to understand your logic, what you think the marketing strategy is here.

 

So you're telling me they used bad paint on every nut, bolt, bracket, driveshaft, shock, differential, and swaybars? The picture in your avatar shows you driving through an area that snows, so maybe you should do yourself a favor and read up about areas that snow and salt the roads.

People's vehicles have been turning to rust for over 80 years in the salt belt, nothing has changed there. What has changed is the maintenance vehicles require, and the owners of those vehicles. Vehicles over the years have become easier and easier to maintain. And right along side this, the owners have become more and more oblivious to what proper maintenance is. The manufacturers have made them very easy to maintain, but they are not maintenance free, and they can not be to blame if you can't take an hour out of your life to learn what proper maintenance is for your THIRTY THOUSAND DOLLAR investment.

 

I believe the NTSB and the worry of another problem besides run away vehicles at the time made them buy back the vehicles. They in all honesty could care less. They do it to sell more in the future by keeping bad publicity down, they are a corporation that is in place to make money not friends.

 

But didn't they start the recall of the earlier frames before the runaway vehicle issue? And with as dependable as the first gens are and how everyone rallies around them, even WITH the frame issue, sales are still quite high from what I understand even after the pedal recall.

 

You got a point, there. Today's manufacturers do make it easy for us. Just look at TPMS. How many people actually check their tire pressure when they fill up nowadays? Or their oil and tranny, radiator, wash fluid and brake fluid levels? Granted, I do it every time I wash the truck but that's out of habit.

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Even though I dont' live in a salt belt, I still will rinse the underside when I wash it. If anything, I just keep in mind that build up of yuckies under there is just not good and can cause premature wear on parts.