'05 Motor Mounts Failed/Failing

Update

I got the truck back today. Cost breakdown, $548 for the welding - he felt more comfortable dropping the differential and getting himself more room by removing anything he needed to as this was the first one he has done. He had it on the lift for a little over a full day. I know other people have paid less, but I felt he charged me fairly.

If he were to get another one to work on it would cost the person less because he's got some experience with the problem now.

$189 for the kit. I wouldn't buy this again, and probably could have saved money and time because I now know that my mechanic/welder would have fabricated a gusset that both he and I would have liked better than the one I bought ready-made. Neither of us knew this ahead of time, so it's water under the bridge, but I mention it because it might help somebody else.

About $300 or a little more for the rental car. If I hadn't ordered the parts from CA I wouldn't have had to wait, so the rental would have been a lot less. Again, water under the bridge. I didn't know what a straightforward job the fabrication part of the project is.

My mechanic made an interesting observation. The torque of the engine should tend to lift the motor mount off the frame if the welds are weak. But the mount crushes down into the frame. His conclusion: the frame is thin there, and the engine is heavy. The frame rusts and cracks - cracks because it isn't designed to carry the weight of the V6 engine. He figures that's the only way the mount could end up going down and staying down in the frame once it's broken.

Thought you all might find his thoughts interesting. I'll have some photos to attach in a day or so.

 

These are photos from in the middle of the fix, while the truck was up on the lift. He had heated the frame, pounded it out to get it back in somewhere near the right shape, and of course had hoisted the engine up out of the caved in frame.



Another of the front driver side mount in mid-fix:



This one is of the passenger side mount prior to clean up and gusseting:

 

Those are some nice pics of the fix. My 2005 mount also caved in, Toyota replaced my frame even though my truck was a couple of years past warranty. Put me in a rental vehicle for three months while doing the swap too.

 

Hi Fortech - I followed your story on here, too. Without this forum, I don't know what I would be thinking right now. Did you have a lot of rust elsewhere, too, or mostly just the thin metal under the mounts?

I hope the US members of TW with this issue are reporting it not only to Toyota Corporate, but to our US National Highway Traffic Safety Admin. Not that I have faith in anybody, but I do know that documentation is always a good thing. Or at least it gives people like me that Toyota isn't helping a semi-fighting chance.

It seems from reading here and elsewhere that Toyota Canada may be taking better care of customers than Toyota Corporate USA, but I'm not sure. I've read so much lately I don't know if I have everything straight. But I think there have been two frame swaps that have come out of Canada, and perhaps none documented here in the USA.

Your truck is in good shape now, right? At least I think that's what I remember reading. I've got the odd rattle here and there today, but I think it's the front skid plate. I'm going to take it off and add some rubber washers or something to lift it away from the truck a few millimeters and see if that makes the rattle go away.

Then, I'll take it to my Toyota dealer when I have time next week. They want to see it after the fix. I'm going to ask them to let me get under there when they have it up on the lift and take photos of the finished reinforcement, which I'll also post.

I hope that once I provide Toyota Corporate with all the receipts and documentation that they will pay for this. It's eaten up the Disney World budget pretty badly! (My 11 year old has had a Disney World trip promised to her by yours truly. Oh boy.) One can always hope. And document.

 

I am located in Canada and I have been fighting with thelocal dealer and Toyota Corporate and there not helping me at all. My truck is at a welding shop waiting to berepaired. I will post the results once it’sout.

Blackrit do you have any pictures of the finished fix?

 

Well thanks for the info blackbrit, sorry that it has been a paint, but glad you got it all fixed up.

 

I'll see if I can get a photo for you today from above, but the best shot is from below at an angle that's hard to photo unless the truck is on a lift of some sort. I'm going to take the truck in to the dealer one day this week, and plan to get a photo there.

I'm also planning (hoping) to take the skid plate off today as long as parenting doesn't eat the day completely, and that, too, will help me get you a good finished photo. But if parenting eats the day we will also likely be eating trout from our closest river, so that would not be a bad thing. Don't mean to make parenting sound like a drag...

I think there is a great finished gusset photo either here or over at Toyota Nation if you need it ASAP.

I am so sorry you have joined our club.

 

Just noticed my passenger side has failed on the bottom of my 05

 

So i have an early 06' model tacoma and i reciently had my motor mount bracket/frame fail identically to alot of the others on this and other forms. the driver side mount caved in about 3/16" where it meets the frame. there was a small amout of rust around the break so i know it had been fractrued earlier on and finally gave away. the passenger side is slightly indented and also has started to crack with a bit of rust ( not fully broken yet).

After a decent sized bump. The fan started to hit on the shroud letting me know i had a problem, i took it to a local shop and they said i needed to replace the bolt on motor mounts. i got on line and researched failed motor mounts on 06 tacoma and ran in to this forum. ( can i say life saver) i got under the truck the next day to find that it was not the motor mounts but the mount bracket where it hooks in to the frame.

I will be contacting toyota to report the problem and depending on their response. i will be reporting it to the NHTSA. I do a good amount of off roading and that is the very reason i bought a tacoma. I do not abuse my truck but i do off road alot. truck has never taken a really hard hit but has bumped and bounced. it is equiped with fox 2.5 coil over rr shox and fox 2.0 rear rr shox that soak up alot of bumps. again this truck has time off road but never jumped or abused.

My dad had an 05' and his frame broke in 2009 but at the time we didnt realize that there was a major problem with them. he demanded that toyota fix it. they would not fix it and would only give him a frame and said he would have to pay for labor about $10,000. dad said no he was not going to go that route and had his lawyer contact them. they eventually settled on a trade in for a 2010 model. but in my opinion he got hosed!!! his 05 was paid for and he ended up with a payment.

This is ridiculous and should not even be an issue. IN MY OPINION THERE SHOULD BE ALOT OF OTHER PARTS THAT FAIL LONG BEFORE A FRAME CAVES IN. i have owned a FORD F-150, A CHEVY , AND A DODGE AND NEVER BROKEN A FRAME ON ANY OF THEM!! besides that toyota knew they had a problem and fixed it in 07'.

We'll see how it goes with toyota corp. but as of right now i am not very happy. mean while i have looked at the repair option that www.dmzfab.com makes. I talked to tim there and it souds like a good option if toyota wont budge,but it seems like there might be a lawsuit in order.

 

I had this same thing happen on my 06 recently and will be contacting Toyota and NHTSA in the morning. Like many have said this is insane and should not be happening. Does anyone know how to get ahold of Cel4Soul so that I could get his court documents? This is just nuts......

 

This is such a rediculous issue that I've now been stuck with twice..
Two years ago I came across this on my 06 4Runner when my fan was eating the shroud. Cost about 400$ from Toy Connection in San Jose, CA.
Now, yesterday I finally get the chance to put my truck on my rack for what I thought was a wheel bearing issue, soon to find out the entire welds on my drivers side mount had failed and was rattling in the frame... Twice!! Two "totaled" rigs from this bullshit!! This is rediculous

 

Is this mostly happening to folks that off-road ? I have an 05 but have not noticed any cracks or flaws on my truck's motor mounts welds. I don't off-road or pull anything heavy with my truck. I might need to check more closely next time I change the oil or something.

 

Most I have read about have been early 05s, daily drivers, not wheeled hard or at all. The 06s and early 07s seem to require at some some hard use or wheeling to cause a problem. FJs and 4Runners also seem to require hard use to cause this.

Supposedly there was a welding problem with the early production 05s. Combine that with a weak design and you get failures under normal street use, instead of just hard off roading.

 

and people made fun of you when you got a Jeep

I think you dodged some bullets

 

Oh yay, another potential problem. Is there anything to prevent this if its not yet cracked?

 

yes, read the thread - all the info you seek is in here. Gussets must welded in.

 

I misunderstood and thought those were an after the fact fix. Sorry.