04 frame replacement

If you can unbolt the crossmember, I'll wager that you have no serious rust issues. Give it a dose of FF and count your blessings. We are all trying to put more life into trucks that coming up on qualifying for antique license plates..... all are over 15 now.

 

original owner of a 1997 too and truck has spent all its days on the western fringes of the mid west salt belt on the Missouri River, couple of winter trips to the Chicago area too a long time ago
i was not notified about the situation because i guess Toyota does not deem my state NE or IA to be problematic winter states and yet they so very are
I have always routinely hosed the salt off of my truck thoroughly (or so i thought) mainly in the attempt to preserve the body panels from rot but i guess not thoroughly enough in parts i cannot readily see standing or crouching

this is what i found going on internally and not sure exactly where this garbage coating is delaminating from friggn service dept at the dealer has no clue either when i bewildered them with my discovery and wanted to know what i should do about it
paint chips of this size i can only imagine will eventually plug up the drain holes and lead to more internal rot!

this is a very interesting point of observation!

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078N2LJNT/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

JAY "GQ7227" , just get one similar to this on Amazon.... i paid less than 20 ...now there is one for $21... you plug in an see where those pieces of metal came from.... with the one I got was easy to plug into the 17 inch screen computer and look and also take pictures of inside the frame.... the frames have always same weak spots no matter how good they look in the outside...,. I remember a post of a GREEN TRD EXTRACAB truck with very little mileage, the frame was super clean dark new color but with the hole next to the front of the leaf spring shackle.... he sold the truck in less than a week for $10K.

Take a look inside .... I have plans to look closer and work with different products to keep the frame in good shape.... I plan on picture the process and get compressor , gun , etc whole 9 yards and do a better job that I did in 2016.... now I got a littel more knowledge with these forums..

 

i did recently get one of those scopes, just been too cold out to see how hi-res it gets in the dark zone! i think it is more paint/frame coating with tiny flakes on the back that it peeled off from somewhere
the sooner i get it properly treated the better

 

It's from your rope hooks.

 

i just shelled out $40 for a new set of them hooks
now what color to paint them, maybe red like your truck?
army green?
blazing blue?

i used the hooks this week to tie and rope down some baja fenders i was transporting over 500 miles

 

If you USE your hooks, don't bother painting them.

 

i USE them occasionally, just want some pretty bling back in that newly LineX bed i now have and swap out different colored hooks as the mood dicktates

 

It is NOT a defective part. Every vehicle on the planet will rust apart when constantly exposed to brine chemicals/road salts. There is simply no practical way to prevent it. Even dipping the entire frame in bed liner isn't going to guarantee a permanent solution. 2nd gens have it. 3rd gens too. Fords, Chevy, Honda, etc... It's a pretty tall order to find any vehcile in those areas that's 10+ years old, that doesn't have a bunch of rust.

It is a regional problem. The majority of Tacomas do not have this problem. Only ones where the DOT salts the roads.

Add to that the fact that it is ENTIRELY preventable, or at least treatable if discovered early enough, yet the majority of people don't even look under their trucks for a solid 10 years and wonder why it's "all of a sudden" rusty pile of shit.

Also, the new frames are identical to the old ones. There are plenty of stories of replaced frames that are once again rust buckets.

Why?

Because those people never looked under their trucks to notice the rust forming.

 

I'm with you that is a regional problem, neglecting any frame will rust,

But the issue with Toyota frames is that are not C open channel , instead are close square cubes, that retains water, but regarless of the design is that they lack something in the process, therefore a good lawyer should convince them as " Faulty " "defective".
Someone else explained better some other thread about rust, the proper anti-oxidant coat in the chemical , is a process preparing the metal , that was never applied by Danna Corporation ( Manufacturing plant in Mexico ) Toyota sue them ..etc, they bankrupt later on ..etc... etc, Skipping that process in the fabrication of these frames is the reason why they became rusty faster to a brake point. There are layers of metal that without the proper treatment process , the oxygen and water got in between and that is why brakes from the inside out. Avoiding the word recall , they save a lot of money, I call that dishonesty , they will call a good move in their business

Maybe new generations are getting better? sure they need proper care as well.

 

Nah. Heres a 2017 I saw at Carmax a few weeks back. C channel frame on these too.

 

there has got to be some defect in the materials used or the design of, i briefly checked out a '98 Dodge Dakota with a real crusty exterior frame that any Tacoma in my area would probably be cracked in half at this point!

 

The dealer has nothing to do with this. They simply are a middle man in all this. Threatening them with negative publicity in this regard in order to try and get your own way is pretty pathetic advice, and ethics for the people that have actually done such a thing. They are just a business who upon Toyota approval in the matter gets contracted to perform the recall/campaign. If your truck doesn’t qualify, it’s not the dealer who is denying the work. They simply are the people passing the information to the customer telling them so.

As much as I blame Toyota for all the frame bullshit, this has been an ongoing problem for a long time and unless you lived in outer space for the last 10 years or under a rock everyone has pretty much heard of the frame recalls/buybacks. Bitching to corporate about it after them giving people sufficient time to get a replacement done, is just pulling resources and time away from people who have newer vehicles with issues who are trying to get their problems dealt with.
It sucks this is a problem and for the honest people who have to deal with this problem. Especially the people who brought their Tacoma’s in for inspection before and they passed and now that time expired they ended up failing. However it doesn’t seem this is the case here.

 

I don't think that's a good explanation of the rust issue. At best, it's an incomplete picture.

First, Toyota isn't adverse to recalls. They even had a recall specifically for frame rust (the spare tire carrier). But like I said, the 2nd and even the 3rd gens also suffer this same issue, they're just newer, so not as much time has passed for people to ignore their frames yet. The fact that 3rd gens are already showing signs is troubling.

What's interesting, is that everyone is blaming Toyota for the rust, and are leaving the DOT's who throw salt on the roads completely blameless. There are other reasons to look for salt-free alternatives besides frame rust. It harms the environment, too. But yeah, it's all Toyota's fault.

Since Toyota sued Dana over the anti-oxidant or whatever, you have to assume they aren't continuing to use the frames from that plant, and you certainly have to assume they are ensuring that process is currently being used, and yet the problem persists.

The fact that the new frames (+ the 2nd and 3rd gens) also suffer the same fate shows it isn't a matter of some coating that wasn't applied in Mexico for a limited time. I think they'd get in a lot of trouble if they were continuing to use surplus frames that Toyota sued Dana over.

 

You can buy a new frame if you really want to!

https://parts.camelbacktoyota.com/o...0YWNvbWEmeT0yMDA0JnQ9YmFzZSZlPTMtNGwtdjYtZ2Fz

 

i have been under one of those rocks until TW came along...
the dealer keep telling me my shits tight and all that but no other direction of advice to keep it nice and where the problems start when i asked them recently
other than telling me they can re-rubber undercoat it with rubber coating for 400-500 is all they know about
they have never even heard of or seen FF here, that is how clueless the local dealer service departments to me are that i expect Genuine Toyota Service and it seems BENEATH them to even help out a bewildered clueless yet loyal customer to them for 25 years now!

 

i have reasons to speculate it is also major insurance companies faults in possibly forcing the DOTs to use more chemicals to prevent more accidents and incur more payouts
the chemicals definitely cost states and munie's more money in road & bridge repair that this stuff eats infrastructure, bridges, expansion joints, etc.

 

Fluid film isn’t going to save any frame that’s already in an advanced stage of rust/rot. It’s just going to buy someone a little more time. Again it’s a shitty thing for anyone to have to deal with. It’s Toyota’s fault. Obviously they had some issue with Dana or whoever made the frames that were installed in the early trucks where the issued the buy backs. My buddy had a 98 that was bought back in 06 or 07 and his frame was toasted. Even Toyota changing frame suppliers they still had frame issues. Then it carried over to early second hens, than to all of them. And to see service campaigns continuing on the 3rd gen is just flat out ridiculous. I made sure to coat the hell out of my frame as soon as I got it. Even then I seen rust seeping through the welds and crevices after my first winter. Absolute junk. I was originally planning to keep my Tacoma for the long haul when I got it, but after not being able to deal with the constant shifting and having to worry about potential frame rot issues on this truck after owning a 1st gen before, it won’t be long before I dump this truck

 

Oh it's for sure the excessive use of road salt. However toyota still hasn't fixed rhe problem as evidenced by the frame recalls going on with the newer trucks and other model lines. Interestingly I dont believe the Japanese built and shipped over here 4 runners are affected by the excessive frame rot issues.

 

i have heard that too about the 4 runners