PennSilverTaco's "Perfect 5-Lug Regular Cab" Build, Aspergers, and General BS MegaThread!

I went to the local dealer (the same one that replaced my frame a little over a month ago) for the sole purpose of looking at a 2022 Tundra they had in stock; I saw a pile of frames out back and was able to recognize my own frame by the distinctive hole on the right side that led to it getting replaced to begin with (See quoted picture at bottom of this post; There are three frames and mine is the one at the bottom)...

I'm honestly not all that surprised that the frame is still sitting there, but it makes me wonder what becomes of the old frames.

Do they get sent back to Toyota to be studied or something?

Does Toyota USA scrap them and keep the money?

Does the Toyota dealer that did the replacement scrap them and keep the money?

 

what money?
it's steel, not aluminum

what is there for Toyota to study?
They already know what/how they fucked it up from the factory. What more is there to see?
They're not going to spend $300+ to ship a frame back.

I'm sure a metal recycler will pick it up. They are too big and heavy to just shove into a dumpster like smaller objects.

would be interesting if someone with a 2g taco out of warranty, grabbed one of those old frames
then got it refinished, to install

 

Yeah, but it's several hundred pounds of steel; Also, I'd like to think that Toyota is studying the frames to see how they can keep this from happening, but now that up through 2017 is eligible for the preventive treatment I highly doubt that is the case...

 

The Dealer should be proficient at doing frame swaps after seeing that pile, lol.

 

Yet they still forgot to reconnect the foglights and didn't connect the transmission shift linkage properly in my truck...

 

I cannot speak for Toyota but I know Ford makes the dealers hold onto recall parts for at least 2 months before we are allowed to trash/scap them.

 

Does everything else seem ok?

 

Why is that? Also, Ford hasn't recalled anything quite as major as a frame recently, have they? I know there was a recall on the subframes in Windstar minivans...

 

they probably shipped one back from the first time they did this years ago, to make a study on it

to my knowledge, the only way to improve rust prevention on something like that, is to hot dip galvanize it at the factory.
Toyota is all about being cheap as hell, but charging you a premium price.
So to make money they will simply avoid doing that.

Another reason you may not want a galvanized frame is because it releases toxic gas when you go to weld on it, adding all kinds of custom stuff.
But that is not why they did it. They did it for money.
If they count a million bolts to produce the trucks for $3/ea, and find a way to get it $1/ea,
they will still charge you the same high price, but keep the money for themselves
same goes for extra cost of galvanizing a frame

Audi has galvanized their unibodys for years. It's why they have a 12 year anti perforation warranty, and tend to not rust.
Subaru and Mazda on the other hand, have a reputation for rusting easily. Because they are cheaper cars that do not galvanize their chassis, even though Subaru is marketed at being for an environment (snow) where that is recommended.

But nobody welds cab mount chops/CMC to clear 35's on an Audi, so the aspect of galvanized metal toxic outgassing during welding doesn't bother anyone

there is also planned obsolescence
some engineers have the specific job of determining how long a part will last.
It's like that display I once saw at IKEA with a chair shaking. It had an electronic counter, showing how many times the motor shook the chair, without it breaking. To show reliability.
Test rigs like that can help determine when a part will fail.
Automakers make the most money in sales of a new car.
The typically expect, and want, the end life of a vehicle to last to 10yr/100k mi. So that a lot of stuff breaks really badly, isn't fixable or too expensive to fix, forcing people to trade in what they own for the latest newest version, even if the new version is actually worse, and comes standard with features people don't want (front camera) and higher maintenance cost (calibrate front camera during alignments, sensor malfunctions, etc.)
It's like a casino. The house always wins. The car maker is the house. They make the rules. If a part is $10 to produce, they'll make the price $200.
So that no matter what road you take, whether it's buying the new car, or buying parts from them to fix your old car, they are still making money

 

Yeah; Getting new front struts on January 3rd...

 

For what a Tacoma costs nowadays, the frames damn well should be galvanized!

 

Goes for all warranty work, Ford corp may call for the old recall/warranty parts from a particular RO for an audit. Same thing as some customers demanding old parts back as proof parts were replaced.

 

sounds like corporate trying to steal
as usual
Technician A r&r'd subframe, requiring x amount of stretch bolts replaced
Work was performed. Vehicle was fixed. Vehicle was QC'd, customer was happy. For warranty time that paid less than it took to do the job, with a book time that has been gradually cut over the years, probably invented by someone who doesn't work on cars or hit the stopwatch timing a veteran with tools already laid out who's done the repair 20 times before.
Done deal.
1 of 10 bolts gets lost a month later.
Corporate: "Well well well what do we have here, time to rape the dealer"

except from what I hear, they don't REALLY count the bolts that well; which is better
I don't know if the people they hire to do that kind of checking know what a bolt even is. If they're wearing a dress shirt they probably don't.

 

Other then the airbag recall its pretty rare for Ford to request the parts sent to them, parts with a core of course get sent back as well. Its more the threat to make sure dealers dont claim work they didn't do. As per labor times, they do suck but you get good at the work and gradually get close to beating time and learn how to story tickets out to get extra diag time.
Workshop manual says to discard the old one time use bolts, so most go in the trash can instead of being returned to parts.

 

Weren't the frames manufactured by Dana? So if the frames were going to be sent back to anyone, it would be Dana.

But Dana already knows where they failed, although it isn't clear if 3rd gen frames have addressed this problem fully.

 

In speaking with my dealership and from my experience on here, 2017 is included, but I haven't seen any late 2nd gens or 3rd gens even close to actually needing a frame replacement due to rust. I was informed that Toyota also started applying CRC from the factory in late 2016 (my VIN indicated mine had this done). The dealership stated that their front lot was filled with newer trucks they had purchased back on account of frame issues around 2009. They stated they haven't had to do that in years.

Toyota only recalled it due to lawsuits stemming from the first gen and early second gen frames. I've seen many 2 year old Chevy pickups with far more rust than my 2017 Tacoma has.

 

the dealers scrap them. or they let the techs take them for scrap


i've scrapped ALOT of toyota frames
now i get to add a 2021 tacoma frame to my collection though.. fresh off the press right into a pothole that ripped the front suspension off the frame... probably wont scrap this one once the new ones swapped under.

 

fun fact, my buddies 2012 f120 rotted in half and split on the highway. fords answer was "oh well"

 

I thought Dana went under?!?!