Tacoma frame crossmember

I am not an insurance adjuster, so I do not know the logic. I am telling you the damage that the truck has. my guess was that with parts shortages, damage + car rental + wait time + parts wait time had a lot to do with it. But I love the truck and will attempt to fix it.

 

Dealer close to me has sections of frame readily available, maybe a week or two wait. which is not bad. But for as for whole frame, this here https://parts.foothillstoyota.com/p/69089198/5100104708.html wait is about 6 months.

I found this place just need to rent a trailer and tow the truck for an inspection/quote.

 

A answer to your question is yes you can piece it back together and or pull the frame. DO YOU WANT TO DO THIS WITH A NEW TRUCK ????? I THINK NOT !!!!!!

 

Not a big deal. You just ran over a ladder. Imagine how badly things can get bent if you wheeled it hard. It's common to cut/weld/reinforce the Tacoma frame as needed for off-road use. Either cut and weld in a replacement crossmember or have an off-road fabrication shop make a beefier one from rectangular-section tubing.

All the 6" lift kits (BDS, Pro Comp, FabTech) cut out that crossmember and bolt in a drop bracket, to lower the front diff and to relocate the lower control arm mounts to a lower position. Some dealers sell brand new 6" lifted trucks straight from the lot.

 

I agree not a huge deal. A fab shop could cut that bent one out, confirm the frame is strait, and weld a new one it pretty easily.

I took a 6" drop bracket lift off of my 2nd gen. I just dropped it off at a fab shop and had them make me a new crossmember and weld it in. They did it no prob at all

 

If you can piece the frame back together with a factory bolt-on cross member like described above why wouldn't you do it to a late model (or new) vehicle? That's what we would have done in our body shop if the vehicle hadn't been totaled. We pull frames on new vehicles involved in accidents all the time. With the right technician and the right equipment this is a perfectly acceptable repair. Now if the frame is bend and twisted that's another story. OP's vehicle looks like it had straight-on impact damage. It all depends on the true extent of the damage (that none of us here can actually see).

 

I thought the truck was already written off?

It seems like you’d have a awesome brand new Tacoma for the price of the cross member and whatever the buy-out was. OP would make money in the deal if he re-sold it fixed. I don’t see the downside.

FYI: if you look at the welds on a factory Tacoma frame they are bullshit. Whomever programmed the welding robot did a super shitty job. Any fab shop that welds in a new crossmember will do a better job than Toyota. Heck……I could do a better job and I’ve never even used a welder.

I think this truck will be upgraded with the new cross member in.

 

I am not worried about how the welds look, I am worried about THE GEOMETRY OF THE FRAME being put back together. If you do not have the correct jig it will never be correct. SAI AND INCLUDED ANGLE WILL NEVER BE CORRECT. Camber and caster maybe set ok. This is a new truck.. do it right.

 

I'm confused what you think the right way is; possibly only because of the wording you used in your first post.

 

Well. I dunno. Have you noticed how everyone’s frame here is different? Like some guys fit the same wheels and tires with rubbing or not, some guys bumper gap is different, some guys can fit a 285 spare and some can’t.

Same guy who welds the frames musta made the jig to hold them at whatever budget fab shop makes the Tacoma frames.

The truck will be improved if someone who cares puts a new cross member in.

 

How much to replace all the air bags?

 

The salvage title value is shit. OP would have to find some clueless sucker to buy it and make enough $ on it to come out even with what he spent on between initial down payment and loan repayment or whatever they have into it.

 

Don't Toyota dealers have lots of past experience replacing frames?

 

All in for airbag parts I'm out about 4.5k some bought from a local who was parting out his tacoma, he let me come by and take them off and bought a few from the dealer like the driver side knee airbag, it was hard to track down used, seems like its the first to deploy. Also bought the dash from dealer as well, since passenger airbag rips it open, need to swap the whole dash. Will get these installed shortly, a bit too cold to work in garage. Need to invest into one of those gas garage heaters.

 

wasn't planning on selling, its brand new. for the price, if fixed, I'll drive it forever.

 

You’re killing us all. We need more pics.

 

Insurance made you even on it?

 

insurance paid out for the truck totaling it. I bought it back from them for partial cost. With all work completed and everything back to OEM spec (currently pricing in frame swap), I should be looking at 35k total for a 2021 limited nightshade. If I can get just crossmember replaced, it will definitely be much much less.

 

Will get more pictures. Waiting for snow to melt, will be taking it to frame shop next week.

 

Frame swap is very invasive, basically Bob the mechanic disassembling your truck and putting it back together again, with none of the factory tooling. With a frame swap, the likelihood of something going wrong is a lot higher than with cutting and welding in a crossmember. All it takes is one pinched wire, bent pin, or loose hose clamp for you to chase gremlins forever. 80% of the time it works out fine though...