French Taco... joining the club

Hi everyone,

Well I just picked up a 2003 Tacoma Xtracab TRD with 132k miles that just looked to good and drove too well to pass up. I was looking for a vehicle that can basically do three things. First, get me to the trail heads to go mountain biking, second, get me to Home Deopt and Lowes, and back... a lot, and third, get me to work.

The truck is super clean and mechanically excellent. I had heard about the frame rust issue so I checked that as thoroughly as possible, spending quite a bit of time under the frame with a flashlight and looking for scaling, holes, etc... The owner was upfront and indicated that the frame had been inspected and repaired once, then treated with anti corrosion goop. I did see a bracket welded around the leaf spring connection to the frame on the right hand side, so everything checked out.

Out of boredom I took advantage of a bright and sunny evening to crawl under the truck today and spend a lot more time examining every square inch of the frame and boy am I glad I did!

As you may have guessed, yes the rust is doing the same number on the left side as it did on the right. Not visible to the naked eye, because the gas tank is in the way...you have to feel around the rail onto the outside of the frame, where I can barely fit my hand, but there is indeed perforation and severe scaling in the area where the leaf spring connect to the frame...

I am quite pissed at myself for noticing it only now, but I do feel that the previous owner did not try to hide this from me, though we will never know... with that said, I really like the truck and am hoping this can be repaired, vs. trash the whole vehicle.

I have contacted a couple of body shops in the area...if anyone knows a good one in central CT / western Mass, I would appreciate the info. Similarly, any wisdom on whether what I am describing is going to doom my truck or be a fairly straight forward (and inexpensive) repair would be great!



Well, here goes.. looking forward to the adventure. Posting a few pics

FT

 

Welcome aboard new member
2 suggestions

 

Welcome to the forum Frenchy
Check in over here and say hi :
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/hey-connecticut.309240/unread

 

Welcome to TW

 

Welcome to TW!

 

Thanks for the warm welcome and the suggestions. I'm dropping off the truck at a shop in Manchester that has experience in repairing Tacoma frames so we will see!

 

Welcome to TW!

 

Thanks all. So I heard back from the shop owner today and the French taco will need some lovin'. Multiple rotted spots on the driver side by the gas tank, some rot on the passenger side that someone apparently attempted to conceal with expanding foam inside the frame member and some corrosion paint on the outside (WTF?), A botched repair on the passenger side by the springs attachment point, etc..

Shop will fix it up with custom fabricated sleeves/caps where possible or replace frame section if needed. He also gave me the option to powder coat and treat the whole frame, which I decided to do. The whole job comes at a hefty price but it seems relatively reasonable considering the amount of fabrication and welding required. At least it is worth it to me ... Truck is worth investing in and can be my kids first ride in a few years since I take good care of my vehicles. The shop confirmed that the body is pristine and mechanically the taco is super sound.

So this will take 2 weeks. Shop owner will send me pictures of the before and after as well as the progress which I will share on here for educational purposes.

I also have a few parts at home waiting for the Tacoma's return to give it a good maintenance refresh (oil, filter, serpentine belts, valve cover gaskets, etc ...) She will soon be good as new!

FT

 

Only powder coated frames I've ever seen were stripped bare and sprayed on a rotisserie before going in the oven. Which is a big oven to do a frame.

If that's what they are doing you are approaching (or maybe passing) the price of a new frame.

If they aren't, I'd love to see the powder coat method, as I must be way behind on the 'how to'.

 

I'll be sure to share pictures and any info on the "how-to"

 

Good morning all,

I figured it is time for an update on the French Taco, as it has spent the last three weeks in the shop.

First of all an erratum. I mistakenly used the term "powder coating" when I meant to say "under coating", so no spit roasting the frame for a hefty price...

As I thought, the driver side frame rail behind the fuel tank was swiss cheese. The original plan was to do only the driver side and salvage what looked like a previous repair on the passenger side. Upon closer inspection, that repair was no good... cap not conforming to the frame, poor quality welds, etc... so it's gone!

So now I have matched frame caps on both sides. Another hiccup occurred on the driver side. The shop had to cut out the spring eye bushing and bolt as they were rusted frozen. Thankfully that was only a modest additional material and labor charge.

Enjoy some pictures I got from the shop below. The fabrication was completed Thursday and the truck frame and bed were primed and undercoated yesterday. It should get reassembled by Tuesday or Wednesday of next week, when I can finally bring the Taco home and perform the routine maintenance I have planned for it.

The passenger side repair that did not end up getting salvaged...


Built up frame caps before installation:












Prepping the frame and welding the caps on:












And finally... the bolt and bushing that could not be saved...

 

Nice job! My neighbor 06 just to Toyota fort a frame replacement under recall.

I think a super charger would be a sweet add on. I happen to have one if your interested.

 

Welcome to TW

 

Welcome to TW! Glad you are here

 

Hopefully they aren't using the OTC rubberized junk after what looks like a nice repair.

I'd want that painted with POR15 while all apart. And treat the insides of the enclosed spaces with Fluid Film since it's a bit easier to access with the bed off.

Then treat all the frame to Fluid Film this fall before winter abuse starts.

 

Evening everyone,

Finally got the truck home and am happy with the results and the overall bang for my buck here. I've attached some pictures. THe undercoating looks a little wet in some of them as it was soon after application. The shop used epoxy primer on the new caps and a canadian undercoating, not the OTC rubberized stuff. My only gripes, and I am a little OCD, is that the bed edge is not perfectly parallel to the cab anymore, so I may have them take a quick look. Not sure it is a big deal though, feedback /comments welcome. Thanks!

 

Welcome to TW!

 

Morning all,

I'm really enjoying this truck and just got it some new shoes yesterday. I went with the Firestone destinations A/T2 based on reviews on various forums and tire sites. Very happy with the look and the feel so far. Grippy and quiet, can't complain...let's see after a few 1,000 miles.

The previous owner had gone with slightly bigger tires than OE, at 275/70 R16, I returned to the OE size 265/70 R16 and really like the look. I know this is a bigger is better world but ... sue me

I also took off the ARE fiberglass topper to go pick up a desk I found on craigslist. I'm in the camp that prefers the naked look, no topper. I haven't put the cover back on and I'll see if I miss it at all in the coming weeks. If not, I may post it up for sale.

Lastly, I've updated interior lights and the licence plate ligths to LEDs, and they look awesome. I do have a couple of electrical gremlins I have to figure out, that were present before the LED swap:
1. the left side license plate buld does not illuminate
2. The interior rear dome light only comes on when the door opens AND the ignition is on. It won't come on when I just open the door.

That's it for now. I'm going to continue posting updates on my truck in this thread, but if I whould move it to a different forum, somebody let me know!

Next week ends I will be getting to some basic maintenance, oil change and valve cover gasket replacement.

Have a great day!

Frenchie

 

@French Taco , in one of the pics you posted, it looked like it still had the original spare tire, if that's correct, I'd advise getting a new one.