How screwed am I?

Dealership not wanting to play with you. Because they don't make money. In all this my local dealer changed hands .
It's neither here or there what's done is done.

 

Oh yeah I checked twice and they gave me the same story all looked good.
Documented with Toyota.

 

That’s a bummer, sorry to hear this.

 

Oh - sorry -you probably got the wrong tech/mechanic - hard to believe you got all the holes in your frame while it sat in the driveway and you drove a company truck. I was lucky to get someone who wanted to replace the frame - I treated the frame every year but he found a hole where the muffler was close to the frame - I think he must have known where to look - I didn't see it or treat it - the heat from the muffler and the New Jersey salt did it.

 

I think it depends on the dealer - the guys at my dealer must have figure out how to make $$$ because they found a small hidden hole between the muffler and the frame and they had frames piled high in the back lot.

 

Worked at a dealer in eastern Canada and frame replacement was a money maker. Toyota paid over 60 hours labor and parts were cost plus 35% markup. We had a couple of tecks that did most of them so they could do them in 35 to 40 hours. Great money maker especially during a slow week in the shop.

 

Fixed that for ya

Mine was about $12000 in 2021 (covered in full)..single cab though.

I'd think about another truck with a bum engine and swap yours, it might be an option.

I've heard of Saf-T-caps for frame repair but can't speak to cost.

 

Oh I'm good myself had fabricator and was not too bad. fixed all rust spots and woolwaxed.I'll takeit back next summer have em look over it again and touch up undercoating.

 

"frame replacement was a money maker." That's what I think at some dealer the guys learned how to knock um out and make $$ so they failed the old frames at other dealers they didn't have a clue so they passed them - If you try hard enough you could probably make it go either way.

 

A team of 2 guys could do one in 3 to 5 days depending upon a lot of other things. Frozen/rusted hardware I'm sure, the time they'd been on those jobs, extra customer requests, etc. Friend of mine's husband is a Toyota mechanic and they have the same people doing nothing but frame swaps.

That said if it's bad enough they have to put you in a rental long term, it's a money loser as well.

 

Went to an authorized installer from this site and they quoted me 1600 and were confident I'd be in good shape after. Will just need to keep fluid filming from here onwards

 

@Dennisi01 Well concidering your in the North East I would think that a fair price. What all did they say and show you? What are they going to do?
I don't think @Squirt would mis lead you.
And to let you know my guy is listed as one of their installers. Didn't look here but found word of mouth.
North Carolina

Buckeye Performance Inc.

5 Della Ree Lane


Swannanoa, NC 28778


828-779-2242

 

My local dealer put a new frame under my ‘07 in two days (under recall). I sold it a month later, but…

I think if you find the right dealer you might be able to work a reasonable price, maybe. As mentioned above, some shops were ‘bangin’ ‘em out’ and some wouldn’t even touch them. There might be a shop out there.

$1K/year in patches for the next 5ish years, or an all new frame for say $8K that would probably last for ten years and certainly wouldn’t hurt the re-sale value compared to what you have now.

I’d call lots of shops before I decided what to do

 

That’s great news!!!

 

I had my old 4-Runner frame repaired by a local welder. He cut out the bad section and replaced it with what looked like two sections of angle iron. Ugly, but effective. I got another 3 years out of it for something like $500.

At that point, the cancer took over, and I traded it in on a new Civic Sport Hatch… Which I traded in for my Tacoma.

 

They found both front side rails were bad, and would use 2 front repair kits to cut out the bad and replace it with new. The rest of the frame wasn't bad, and after getting some of the scale off and keeping on top of it with fluidfilm/surface shield, I should be able to stop the rot

 

That sounds great I would go that route. One of the best mods after you get it done is the A/C hose drain ran down past frame. I think that's where some of the bad frame comes from on the passenger side, that's where mine was bad. And like you I had them clean the rest of the frame and rust inhibitor paint and woolwax for under coating. And I will go back to keep up with the maintenance.

 

I'm having a hard time finding a writeup for this mod for 2nd gens.. do you happen to have a link?

 

@Dennisi01 Pulled it from 3rd gen. https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/rust-on-frame-with-a-c-drain-mod-fix.444138/ I used this one
Easy to do look up in passenger side fire wall and link will give you all the info you need.

 

Trying to sell my 2013 SR5 with 115k miles, it starting to feel like I'm going to have to pay someone to take it.