Another frame question??

Hello all

I recently picked up an 04 Tacoma 4x4 5speed and it’s quickly become my favorite vehicle. The truck has lived all its life in Ohio so the frame is rusty and scaly. I spent a weekend wirebrush the frame and use a small hammer tapped on the frame to remove the scaling rust. Good news, I have not find any hole yet. So here are my questions:

1. How do a vehicle qualify to get the frame replace by Toyota?

2. If I can’t get the frame replace, what do I have to do to protect the bare metal frame?

Thank you for your guidance

 

1. In all likelihood you cant. The extended warranty was 15 years from the original in service date. 2004 truck, most likely in service 2003+15= end of warranty 2018. You can run the Vin and see but we're closing in on the half way mark of 2019 so unless your truck was sold in late 2004 or sat on the lot until 2005, that program is done and over with.


2. Clean and coat it.

 

Welcome to Tacoma World, the most expensive free membership you will ever encounter. To elaborate just a bit, a 2004 truck is very near the end of the period when a replacement would be made, even if you meet the requirements of the frame having been treated by Toyota. It only extended to 15 years from the in-service date of the vehicle. If truly no holes, no replacement can be expected anyway, must be at least a 10 mm hole.

These frames typically rust from the inside out, more so than from the surface rust you can see. Most important to preserve the frame, you need to treat the inside of the frame. Treatments include Fluid Film, rust encapsulator products, spraying with oil, and others. Pick the poison you think best, and expect to do it often. It is a fight!!

 

I asked the LineX guy about LineXng the frame and he said he could
anybody ever heard of that being done before?

 

Dont. Heaven forbid any water gets behind it. It will rust through without you ever noticing.

 

https://www.toyota.com/recall...here is the website so you can run you vin and see if there is a recall on your frame

 

https://www.toyota.com/recall



Sorry first link was working..here the good link

 

1-800-331-4331 ... Toyota Customer Experience Center

 

I live here in Ohio too and Fluid Film is AWESOME! Spray it on every year after you have done the clean up. I brushed on POR-15 after I cleaned my frame and been fluid filiming ever since. Black and wet looking all the time and no rust!

 

So, to be clear here, you say you were tapping on the frame to remove scaling...

What the hammer is most useful for is to listen for a change in the sound. Since the frames rust from the inside-out, if you tap on it and get a nice metallic ping, you're probably fine, but if it starts to sound more like a thud, you've got some serious work ahead of you...

 

This right here. I was taping on my dads 08, even the worst looking rust spots still had a ping type sound. Then my hammer went right through with minimal effort at this tiny rust spot. Goes in for inspection this week.
Wouldnt bust through here

 

That’s good to hear. I was wondering if the Fluid Film can help if I coated the frame, but you’ve answered that. Time to get more intimate with the Turd

 

After spending hours and hours with the drill and wire brush, some of the scales are still on, so I used a small hammer to tap on them and knocked them off. I’ve also called the local Toyota dealer and they ran the vin number, they told me in 2011 the frame was coated. So I guess the frame replacement is definitely out of the question.

 

Actually, that's good the frame was coated. That means that IF you had hole(s) in the frame, you could get a new frame.

If the frame wasn't coated, and you had holes, you'd be screwed.

 

That coating only helps if the frame looked like new at the time it was sprayed. Mine was done in 2010, but the truck only had like 20k on it. All the parts Ive scraped off show a mint condition frame underneath, and from what I can see through the holes, it looks clean on the inside. The rear axle was crusty when I bought it in 2017 but a layer of paint and fluid film has taken care of it.

 

Oh really?? Time to bring out a bigger hammer and tap harder, lol

 

Weld chipping hammers work great Basically an ice pick lol.

 

I have an 04 and just got mine approved for a new frame a couple weeks ago. My in-service date was May 7th 2004, so I BARELY snuck in. Call that dealer back and ask them to give you the in-service date for that truck and you can see if you still have time. Since yours was undercoated by Toyota on-time, your frame is warrantied for 15 years from the in-service date. Unfortunately if you're outside of that, your pretty much SOL.

In the meantime, buy this:

$13 EFFICERE 22-Ounce All Steel Rock Pick Hammer with Pointed Tip, 11" Overall Length | Essential for Geological Study, Rock Hounding, Prospecting, Mining, Fossil Dig, Masonry Related and Much More

https://www.amazon.com/Choice-22-Ounce-Pointed-11-Inch-Overall/dp/B074GYGQXY/ref=sr_1_3?crid=3J1HZCOEQRU01&keywords=pick+hammer&qid=1555422785&s=gateway&sprefix=pick+hammer%2Caps%2C117&sr=8-3

That hammer, along with the fine folks here at TW, is the reason I'm getting a new frame haha. Focus attention around your passenger side rear leaf spring perches/shock mount. Any perforation will punch through easily, so you don't really have to go wailing on it. Also if you bring it in with crazy excessive hammer marks they may try to cite misuse/abuse and not warranty it. Message me if you have any questions, good luck brother!

EDIT: My frame thread, in case its helpful:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...e-off-my-frame-today-is-my-frame-junk.577543/

 

Yes he 'can', but he's just legally robbing you.

The problem is they can't really do inside the frame effectively. Either to prep it right or apply the product.

Killer rust happens from inside out, and products like Fluid Film are much easier to get inside in all the nooks and crannies.

The stuff Toyota applied after an inspection was just lipstick on a pig. But it was worth having done, if only because it met their rules for date extensions.

 

Agreed, all that will do is hide the rust, not stop it. It's the same thing with the Toyota undercoating they did as part of the recall. It made my frame look fantastic until the day my shock mount broke off from rust haha.

Fluid film is a much better choice IMO.