Too much rust on a 10 year-old TRD?

I am looking to buy a Tacoma and found one that meets all my required specs: 4x4, crew cab, 5' bed, under 150k miles, <=10 years old, and <$17k. The only issue is that it spent its entire life in Michigan (1 owner) and accumulated some rust on the undercarriage. I realize that pictures are really not enough to tell the full story. I plan on having a dealership give it a look before I buy it. Was wondering if you all had any insight though, based on these pictures.

 

It doesn’t look “too bad” by the pictures.
But the type of pictures you posted don’t really help with a “good opinions”.
You really need to crawl under and inspect the frame for delimitation, large scales of rust, and holes in the frame. Don’t be afraid to get up close and personal with the frame. Take a screw drive and peck the suspected areas.

Here is one of MANY post with examples.

I can’t and wouldn’t give an opinion on with out being there and myself and physically inspecting it.
What type of dealership is it?
Can you you have Toyota inspected it?

 

Pass

 

That’s actually pretty clean for a Michigan only truck. Did it have the frame replaced? It’s either been decently maintained, or the frame was replaced and what you see is the current owners neglect of the new frame.

Like what was said above, you need to really check this thing out if you are serous. Take a ball peen hammer and whack all around the inside of the frame that’s next to the cat converters. That’s where the killer rust starts.

I never trust integrity by photos or surface rust. These things rust inside out. It’s not about what you see, it’s about what’s on the inside.

edit: it also has plastic frame plugs on the middle half of the frame rail. This says to me it’s at least been to a dealer to be potentially looked at and sprayed under a campaign, OR the PO added themselves, OR again the frame was replaced. I’d dig deep in the records.

 

After looking at the photos again you can see it’s been sprayed with the white goop Toyota uses for the C channel seams,etc.

 

Get the history and see if it might qualify for a replacement frame. If so then maybe.

 

only can get a frame if it has a hole 12mm or so. Thats why its been sprayed, last inspection it passed.

 

Hard pass for $17k,rust and being 10 plus years old,no way !

 

Even if it qualifies for frame replacement, due to the mileage, other rusty parts and price, I'd pass. There's better trucks and prices out there.

Just last year, I spent 6 months looking for a truck, (the last 4, a Tacoma AC TRD OR specifically) I searched 7 states, went to see trucks in 4 on several occasions. I held out until I found exactly what I wanted, in very good condition for a reasonable price. It was an '11 w/101k and almost no rust. Advertised at 14,800 at a Toyota dealership. When I asked to see the bottom line otd, the price was 17,400. I was pissed even though that was still a reasonable price. (They pointed out fine print said not responsible for print or pricing errors, to which I said it's still false advertising...) In the end, I'm still very happy with it.

If you're not pressed to make a purchase soon, be patient. You know exactly what you want. You'll know it when you find it.

 

No $hit, I would of walked away even though it was still a good price , I would think its false advertising!! What dealer ? They need to be called out.

 

Pass, The rust and corrosion that’s eats the frame is inside the frame where you can’t see.

 

After living in Michigan for several years and then living in the south for the last decade, I’d never buy a vehicle that spent more than an occasional drive through a salt belt state like Michigan. Too hard to work on them, stuff breaks off instead of actually unscrewing. Every repair turns into a pain in the butt.

 

thanks all for the replies! decided to follow the consensus here not buy it. gonna be a little more patient

 

Good job. You would have regretted buying that. Look out west. You will find plenty of clean Tacoma's in that range.

 

You have become an educated buyer.

 

I wouldn’t have bought my 2013 if she looked like that.. That’s pretty ugly. Structurally- who knows? Until someone can physically see it and get a wire-brush and hammer down there, there’s no real way to know.

Find out if Toyota will replace the frame.

 

My consensus on rust threads:

Everyone from rust belt states:
That's not bad, hit the frame with a hammer. No holes? Surface rust? Buy it.

Everyone from literally EVERYWHERE else (looking at you Cali):
OMFG NO. Rust is bad, so so so so bad. Run away and take a hot shower or else you'll contaminate every vehicle you look at.

I'm in the first category. If it clears an full inspection, I would see no reason not to purchase. However people have their own comfort and risk levels.

 

As these frames already have a well documented history of rotting from within the issue is not it passing inspection now. It is when will it fail. If you already have visible rot you will have a problem down the road. I had a 97 purchased new in VA. Religiously cleaned the frame when on salted roads and by 2006 you could crumble the frame in your hand because it rotted from within.

 

Well, it was the nicest truck I'd seen in a 4 month search, had all the 4x electronics I need to get around on my property in snow (side of a mountain, 6 miles of hilly gravel to asphalt) not to mention I drove 4 hours to get to them. Believe me, I wanted to tell them where they could put the extra 2600 bucks. But, it was mid December, snow was coming and in the end, it was still a really good price for the truck. Now had I got it for 14,800, I'd still be whistling zippedy doo da out my butthole... lol

 

True,but why buy a truck that has any rust at all,
when there are lots of other Tacomas for sale a few states down or over with zero rust.