Rust Inside Frame

I recently acquired a '98 single cab which appeared to have a clean frame; however, upon later inspection, I started noticing chips of rust when I stuck my finger inside the frame holes, especially the ones inside the rear wheels wells, similar to the ones seen in this older thread: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/rust-chips-inside-frame.478746/. I've been washing it out and spraying WD40, but there always seems to be new chips popping up every week. Despite all this, the frame still seems structurally solid. The truck is from Virginia/Maryland and it has the original frame.

Basically I wanted to ask: is there anything that can/should be done about this? I've considered Corroseal or a similar product, but will that stop the internal delamination of the steel?

Also, I know this is hard to say without looking at it, but are the rust flakes usually a sign the frame is about to fail, or is it generally not a sign of impending catastrophic failure?

I'm asking since I don't want to spend more money on maintaining an old truck when it could be totaled in the next year due to a bad frame.

 

You can start with the hammer test. Take a hammer and smack the frame above the leaf hangers. If your frame is bad you will hear more of a thunk sound then a ping.
Also pictures of the frame can help.

 

Thanks for the replies, I can take pics when I get home from work. Basically the outside of the frame is decent, with some spotty surface rust, but the inside has rust chips of varying sizes. Most of them look a lot the pics from the thread I linked to above.

 

unfortunately, rusting from the inside out is what these frames love to do. Definitely do the hammer check method

 

Stop spraying WD40 inside frame.
Get a Undercoating gun and 360° wand extension and spray Coroseal inside frame. After it dries spray Fluid Film or Wool Wax inside frame.
Rinse undercarriage and coat with Fluid Film or Wool Wax in Spring and Fall.
You can drill 5/8" holes in frame bottom at front and back to help wash out frame while on alternating inclines before treating inside frame.

 

Frame rust and lower balljoints are probably the 2 most commonly discussed topics on this forum.

There is a plethora of information already on the site - just search around, you'll find tons of info and many many other people who've dealt with this.

Do the hammer test. Then realize that the ONLY real solution is to remove all the existing rust from the inside. It's cancer, if you don't remove ALL of it, it will grow back, even if you dunk it in fluid film or some other coating.

You need a grinder and a flap disk to actually remove rust. Unfortunately that's not really possible on the boxed frames without cutting them open, lol.

A bandaid fix is safe-T-caps, or some other brand of frame plates. This will reinforce the areas that are rusty, but again, it's a bandaid fix and only delays how long until the frame fails.

Or go to CA or AZ or UT and find a frame and swap them. THEN coat the frame fluid film to prevent new rust from appearing.

 

Rust Prevention/Treatment Consolidation Thread | Tacoma World

 

I have been reading the various threads on frame rust on this forum and elsewhere, but it's hard to gauge how concerned I should be, even with how much the topic has been covered. Below is a photo of the leaf spring area with one of the many flakes which can be found inside. As of now, there's no visible rot or holes. The hammer test just kinda resulted in a non-descript tapping sound; I guess more "thunky" than "pingy"? Seemed decently solid.. no visible holes or rot either..

I do plan on looking into some of the remedies discussed above, but as far as I can tell, there's no way to get to the root of the problem at this point. Apparently the steel they used was faulty somehow in these early Tacos?

In any case, I suppose everything rusts away eventually.. hopefully I have a ways to go before ending up on one of those frame fail compilations. I'd appreciate any further insights.

 

It all depends where you live Our Fair weather friends( Drier no Winter chemicals climate) would tend to tell you to scrap the truck or if you were thinking of buying it to run far away .

Here in the Northeast that would be No big deal ! What sort of winter do you see lots of winter chemicals or very seldom?

I can`t figure this out how this problem spanned so many years. Exposed long enough I have never seen Steel do anything quite like this Almost like the winter chemicals are leaching part of the steel but leaving a dead shell and nothing to weld to.

In any case fall and spring attention to the frame are needed.

 

I’m in northwest Arkansas now where winters are usually very mild. Very little salt on the roads. However, the truck lived most of it’s life in northern Virginia, so it must have seen road salt, but nothing like PA or western NY, where I’m from originally.

I also thought it was odd how it was corroding; I guess I have the DANA Corp to thank for that?

It’s a shame since the truck only has 163k and the 2.7 has good compression and runs like a champ.

 

before applying any product inside the frame, you must remove the rust chips and chunks. No point in putting anything in there if it does not reach the frame itself.

You could try to tape a piece of flexible pipe/tubing on the end of a shop vac tube and vaccum out the chips and chunks through the square holes along the frame rails

 

Thanks for the tip; I hadn’t thought of that. I suppose I could also try to go in through the c-section and see how far I could get down the frame with the vacuum.

 

Is it necessary to spray fluid film after the corroseal? I live in Arkansas now and I’m not too worried about salt or chemicals getting inside the frame, although I do go down some muddy tracks sometimes. I pressure wash the inside regularly as well.

 

Yes.
How do you pressure wash inside the box frame sections?

 

I just kind of aim it down the c section and spray it in some of the frame holes. Not ideal, but at least it gets some of the dirt and grime out.

 

no, you cannot go inside the boxed section through the C-channel section under the bed. It is closed off
well, unless that section is rusted away, which is usually the first section to rust through on these frames...

Anyway, the only access is through the square holes. Pushing the vaccuum tube in and out a few times on each hole should be enough to remove most of the rust chunks and chips

 

Gotcha, thanks. I guess I hadn’t looked too closely at the c-sections lol.

 

Yeah, C channels end and are blocked at shock mount on passenger side and LSBPV on driver side. Those big round holes are a dead end but it's good to keep those clean and Fluid Filmed.

 

A big part of the rust problem is the tiny drain holes on bottom of frame.
They get clogged and hold water and road salt.
That's why I drilled 5/8" drain holes.

 

My plan is to get a drain snake (at Home Depot) that hooks to a drill and attach a small chain on the end and feed it into the frame and let it rattle all the flaky rust. Then drill slightly larger drain holes on the underside of the frame to allow for better drainage and spray out the frame with high pressure water. Let the inside of the frame dry for a week or so. Then coat the inside with Eastwood chassie paint made for the inside frame rails, you can Youtube it. They have spray cans with a thin hose that connects to the spray tip allowing you to access the inside of the frame. Then I would fluid film it once the paint has had some good time to cure. Hope that helps some.