2nd Gen frame recall hidden costs

Sharing this for a friend who is getting stone-walled by Toyota Corporate on his frame recall. They're going to replace the frame for free, but they're claiming they need over $5000 in parts for items that are not covered by the recall. The items involved are things that are rusted on and need to be cut off, which as far as I'm concerned should still be covered. Most google searches yield results from satisfied customers.

This is the site my friend created:

www.tacomaproblems.com

He'd like to hear from other people that have had the frame replaced on the recall and what they had to go through, and creating some exposure to get Toyota Corporate to do the right thing is worth a try as well.

 

Here's a lot for your friend to read.
Covered components - https://www.tacomaworld.com/attachments/covered-components-pdf.809899/

Thread1 -https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/frame-rust-recall.263311/page-62
Thread2 -https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/05-official-perforated-rusted-through-frames.300816/page-43

 

I had the frame replaced on mine 4 years ago. It went very seemless. Paid nothing out of pocket. Was provided a rental car 3-4 weeks, which I put 6K miles, massive road trip.

 

So they want to cut off things that are perfectly good? Ask them if they've ever heard of a DRILL. Drill out the bolt and the part comes off without destroying it.

EDIT/ADD:
The biggest *part* of that seems to be the *exhaust pipes*, amounting to a combined ~$2500. While the exhaust pipes could very well be thoroughly rusted away on a vehicle of that age (and correctly *NOT* covered by the frame rust recall), he certainly isn't obligated to ACCEPT a new exhaust as a part of the frame replacement process.

He HAS THE RIGHT to tell them to either put the old one back on, or leave it off and put it in the bed so he can do it himself. He has this right because the exhaust system is *NOT PART OF THE FRAME*. It only hangs from the frame, but by rubber hangers.


So here is the thing with the exhaust system; it is HIGHLY LIKELY that the exhaust system cannot be removed from the engine without drilling out the bolts in the flanges, and that is even assuming that much of the flanges are actually remaining after a decade of salt water splashing up on hot exhaust parts. It is RARE for an exhaust system that is more than a few years old (like a decade) to be removable by unbolting it. BUT, any competent muffler shop can weld new flanges on. And for that matter, while the dealer is screwing around with bolting on the gas tank and wheels and stuff like that, your friend could drag that exhaust system to someone who can weld on new flanges for cheap. Muffler shops buy all the different sizes of flanges in bulk to weld onto custom pipes.

** note: dealers don't like to "repair" anything. They just like to bolt on new parts, so it is not entirely likely that he could convince the dealer to actually fix the original exhaust system.