'10 Frame repair recommendations after inspection

Hey All,
Had our new-ish to us 2010 Dbl-cab Tacoma frame inspected at a local dealer(New Brunswick, Canada) a few weeks back and they unfortunately hammered some holes in the frame. The Toyota service agent at the dealership that I dealt with was great and they knew it was past but tried anyways. Of course we are SOL and Toyota will not replace it as it is past the extension (even though they did the coating in 2020 and apparently it is that bad from then until now).

The holes that I can see are in both of the Front Cab Mounts, I see that Safetcap has the mounts, anyone have any experience with them? I searched and only found a few installs of the front frame sections, but lots of mentions of the company.
The CRC compound (& additional undercoating), which had hidden most of the visible rust when we purchased, has started coming off, do people remove this completely and re-coat with something more durable? We purchased this from a dealer, (not a Toyota one), and frankly got taken for but we like the truck and cannot afford to replace it as we traded in our other truck for this.

Pictures of the awful mess after the inspection to pay my rust/frame post tax. Third image is really blurry because it's a still from a video, sorry.

 

Were you not taking care and coating your frame every year ?

 

As stated, it is new-ish to us. We haven't even had it a year.

 

well if you read the first like 5 words of this post, you would see that this is new to him truck. that would imply he has not had it for long and thus could not have been coating it every year.

also, a lot of the time the rot starts from the inside out. if you live in a place that not only salts but puts down other chemicals during the winter, no amount of spray coating is going to keep you safe from rot forever

 

I think we're past that point. Time to look ahead.

If keeping it is a must, then your best bet is work on your welding skills or find someone that is willing to do some work to reinforce.

 

If you can find a local fabricator that is willing to be under your truck welding, that is likely the best bet for a solid fix.

Be sure to tap around at more areas to see if there are other weak spots. Usually the inside of the frame rails near the exhaust will go bad quickly.

 

Well in that case, probably should of had the frame inspected before buying maybe.

 

no shit. we were lead to believe by the dealer that the work/replacement had been done, the frame looked good from what we could see, the black coating and oil coating covered issues which has now started flaking off. (also written in the OP)

ANYWAYS this post was to ask about safetcap and about things that can be done to slow further damage. If you don't have anything to add, maybe just stop replying?

 

Was this a purchase from a dealer or a private sale? And if it was from a dealer was it the same dealer that then did the inspection after?

Safetcaps work well but it really depends on extent of the damage. One spot with a hole quickly becomes 5 new spots with holes. Then you go from $200-400 to buy a piece and weld on to 1000+.

I’d be doing my own self inspection to try and find more. You can search on the forum at hundreds of rust posts but key areas are the inside face of the frame near the cat converters, along with the C-channel portion of the frame that rusts between layers, and then back by the hitch and whatnot. Passenger side of the frame also gets ate up faster than driver.

You can also have a shop or buy your own cheap boroscope and scope the boxed section of the frame.

Either way even patching a frame will only buy you extra time. Been there done that.

 

Obviously you need a short term solution to keep the truck safe to drive. I wouldn't give up on hounding Toyota Corporate and the dealer though to cover it, especially if it had been previously coated by a dealer.

 

Not everyone that buys a tacoma knows the frames rot as bad as they do.

 

I would do some research and see if you can find a welder in your area that will take the project on. Have them inspect the entire frame and get their opinion if the safetcaps will be an option for you.

The safetcaps are great for repairing rotted sections but you still need to have good solid metal around the area to weld the caps too. If the frame is super crusty where the caps needed to be welded, they won't do much good.

 

*should have

and great insight!

 

You need good metal to weld too for repairs. It can be a real rabbit hole if you buy the saftcap and not being able to use them do to surrounding rotted frame.

 

This was a dealer purchase, it was from a Honda dealer, the inspection and the 2020 application was done by the local Toyota dealer. I thought with them doing the CRC application only 3 years prior there may have been some pull. Unfortunately I was not allowed to see the old service records to know if the previous owners had tried getting the frame replaced previously or not.

Okay great, I have been reading posts and saw some great info already, I will try crawling under it again this weekend and doing another check to see what else I can find. The dealer only mentioned the cab mounts and a small hole in the frame where the one mount meets the frame.

 

Thanks so much. Yeah I was concerned about the crustiness of it as well. I will probably crawl under it this weekend to see if the crustiness is just the old crc coating or if its tonnes of rust.

 

Good point. After looking through even more pictures on here I definitely think I know where to give everything better check this weekend. Hopefully I don't find anymore hiding spots but I'm not very hopeful haha

 

No but every buyer of a used vehicle should have an independent inspection done before buying.

 

So, the Honda dealer sold you an unsafe vehicle? I’d file a complaint with these nice folks https://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/departments/public-safety/attorney-general.html then sit back and watch the fireworks.

 

Mine had the same exact spot just under the bottom part of the frame

hey I had the exact same place I went to this website: https://www.autorust.com/product-category/toyota/tacoma-2005-2015-2nd-gen/

And bought the prebent shape for the frame section I needed (was $215, $250 shipped). I had to cut off one exhaust hanger and have it welded back in. Prime and paint. I bartered some work with the welder, or else it would have cost me $200 to have it welded in.