Are these rust holes in frame?

When I looked at these at first I thought they were weep holes. But the drivers side front one doesnt have them. Theses are the front arms welded to the frame that supports the cab.

Would these fail the "rust perforation test"?

 

Nope, just drain holes. You should take your truck in for the latest inspect, clean, de-scale, dry and coating process though. They - and only they - can tell you what kind of shape your frame is really in.

 

But theres no drain hole on the driver side forward. I will definitely descale and treat. Horrible place for a drain hole, on the weld.

 

Don't do anything to it until you get your friendly local Toyota dealer to inspect it. You don't want them thinking you messed with it. Oh, and the inspection is free.

 

It actually might be more than a drain hole.

Structural engineers will often avoid completely welding out a 90deg joint like that if it's a location with high stress. Filling the gap with weld is a good way to facilitate incomplete fusion of the weld, ensure shitty deposit of passes, cause cracks due to stress risers, etc. A good example is the use of "rat holes" beneath beam flange CJP welds in seismic LFRS moment frames. On top of providing easy access to the backing bar, it prevents the welder from completely fixing the con'n at the "k zone" of the beam flange.

Of course, it could just be a drain hole, plain and simple. Just throwing it out there in case someone tries plugging it or something silly haha.

Source - am a structural engineer and this technique is actually specified by AISC and other design codes

 

what year is the truck?

 

What you say is the way they weld bicycle frames, they tac weld as the heat weakens the metal and it would prevent a weld braking at the end of the joint.

its a 2012 and can have the inspection, june 3rd. Think thats a lot of rust? Doesnt seem good.

 

Components that go through a liquid dip-coating process usually have reliefs in the corners designed in them to let air escape. The relief releases trapped air so the corners get coated. That would be my guess if Toyota uses a dip process to coat frames.

 

It makes sense the weld is clearly missing several mm at the corner. What sucks is whats behind it, maybe toyota's rust treatment will solve that.
For the rusted welds I have a sandblaster and was thinking of using baking soda to clean it then use spray can por 15.

One more note, there are those holes everywhere except the front driver side.

 

A lot of folks use a phosphoric acid solution to parkerize the rust (IE - Oshpo or POR's rust converter) and then paint w/ POR FWIW

 

I love phosphoric acid. I just converted the headlight brackets that were almost all rust. Its not really all converted and will eventually fall off but you are "encapsulating" it. Thats a good idea I have a spray gun I could go over the entire frame with it.

 

Another thing to look at is your air conditioning drain hose. Toyota designed it to drain or exit right on the right frame rail, adding to the moisture and rust issue. It would be a good idea to add a length of hose to it and run it around the rail.

 

Although this may not make sense, even if Toyota's latest program doesn't stop the rust cold - which it will not - getting the inspection and treatment qualifies you for what amounts to a 12 year frame rust through warranty. Do you want to mess with that or pass it up? I think not.

 

THIS. Did my initial 2.5 years ago and it just failed the second one..wasn't due until Sept but I found 2 holes on the pass side.

OP, don't touch it until you get that initial inspection.

 

Thanks guys, good tip on not touching it. I was planing on descaling it but wont now until dealer checks it out. Is the rust on that wield really that bad?

 

Honestly, I don't think it's too bad. Nothing a wire brush, OSPHO (or similar) and POR can't handle IMO. Although, I will say I'm not from a salt state, so maybe some other folks can comment.

There's also a rust thread where you can see how bad "bad" actually is

 

My passenger side frame rail..bottom of rail where exhaust hanger sits



Outside of rail

https://www.tacomaworld.com/media/frame-rot-2-hanger-and-hole-1x2-inches.682475/#media

 

That’s advance rust, probably at the end of the rust process. Then failure if it’s structural.

 

Oh that's a fail all right. The exhaust one, the hole can fit a 13mm socket.

The other one (which only seems to show as a link but works) is a 1x2 inch hole.

 

Holy sh-t. That’s a hole! They inspected my frame and I am just getting a cleaning and spray undercoat. I decided I’d crawl under and snap a few pictures. I had some rust but did not find a hole. I’d take it to a good dealer and get Toyota to fix/replace frame. Never figured out why Toyota keeps having to fix frames/replace frames. Why not rustproof every frame.