Is this rust something to worry about?

Mine lived in Roanoke VA its entire life until I brought it down to Greensboro last year. It was coated by Toyota in 2010 though. But they only coated the frame. I had to do the axles and cross members. They were pretty rusty.

 

Yeah wire brush it and if its just surface rust you should be fine.
But remember frames rust from the inside out so I would check the whole frame. Possibly set up a appointment with a dealer and have them check

 

Amen

 

Agreed, I'm definitely going to have a dealer check it just to have peace of mind.

Yeah the axle and cross members look coated but I can tell there's rust underneath it. Nothing crazy but might as well hit everything while im at it down there. I'm in the SF Bay Area not near the ocean so I doubt the rust would progress too much more.

 

@AtlasV if you are trying to track some down. I got mine here: https://www.japanesetruckdismantling.net/Toyota-Tacoma-U-Bolt-Seat-Plate-p/90117-14008.htm

 

Good idea, and worth the time. These frames are tricky when it comes to rust. I never saw how bad the frames were on several that I owned. Rusted from the inside out.

 

I got under the truck again and put my finger into the largest front hole in the frame. I am able to get material to flake off where the weld is, not a ton but some. Is there a good way of getting inside the frame to brush it out before fluid filming it?

 

Thanks!

 

You need like a sand blasting wand to really get all the rust off then coat it with paint. Gunna be a pain to get all the sand out though

 

Wire wheel, sand, wire wheel, sand, POR15 it

 

doesn't look bad at all.

Wire brush the shit out of it, treat with a rust killer or converter then repaint.

As for getting inside the frame, well, I used a shop vac with a long flexible tube taped to the hose and inserted it a few times into every frame hole untill I stopped getting anything.

Could also send some water in with a power washer, the debris and dirt will drain through the drain holes at the bottom (if you don't have, drill some). But then you will need to find a way to dry it, because don't go rustproofing it or painting it when there is still moisture in! It will just trap the moisture in, making the frame rust...

 

Sheesh mine is way worse.

I need to do some work but I have been spraying with fluid film and it hasnt grown



I scraped and beat off the loose rust hence the missing part.

That is the only spot on my frame that has it.

 

Yes. It is something to worry about. That rust is in an area where I would not want to see that much deterioration. Minds may disagree, but I wouldn't want to be traveling behind that vehicle down the highway.

 

It all comes down to just where one lives .

In the great Liquid brine belt that looks like my truck every spring

 

Update:

I pulled up the service records for my truck from Toyotas service website. Turns out the entire frame was replaced 5 years / 50,000 miles ago by the dealer, along with lower control arms, front springs, and some steering assembly components. ~$8,000 work order all covered under warranty.

I just dropped the truck off at my local Toyota dealership for a full inspection.

 

Seriously... The new frame was coated by the dealership which slowed it down a little bit? Crazy thing is the truck spent it's whole life in South Eastern Tennessee, the truck never saw salty/snowy roads as far as I know. Would the humidity out there really cause this?

 

Got it back from the dealership, just surface rust around the welds, nothing substantial inside the frame rails *phew*

Gonna bust out the drill and wire wheel to clean everything up.

Unfortunately the whole exhaust system is corroded pretty badly, so I'll be forced to do something sweet aftermarket.

 

I wonder in few years how people are gonna be really surprised since everybody keeps parroting that stuff doesn't rust here in Colorado and fewer people are worrying about cleaning and painting their frames. Especially now that CDOT is using salt brine, which they've never done before.

 

Well, I've lived here for almost 40 years now, so I have an idea how things rust. But I'll try to quite "parroting" how things really are. Just because CDOT uses salt on the roads it doesn't mean everything is going to suddenly rust away, like in the actual rust belt. How much do you think they actually put down over a winter?

 

Is that leaf spring mount original? The rust gives it a shop-weld appearance as though it had been tampered with at some point in time.