frame ok?

im currently looking at buying a 98 tacoma from a guy. here are pictures of the frame. is it salvageable without a frame swap? will a wire brush and rust reformer keep it alive for a year or two? can it be safetied? i dont see any perforations in the photos nor did i notoce any when i went to look at it.

 

run

Edit: Id run even if it wasnt rusty cause of that huge body lift.

 

I'd buy it. But don't offer more than about $75.

(For real though, run. That is BAD)

 

Is this a joke?

 

Rusted from the inside out. If you can get it for dirt cheap maybe a trail rig or take it apart and see if it's salvagable. I've seen worse driving around my neck of the woods.

 

wouldnt spend more than 500$

it would be fun to have just depends what you want it for it

it probably has 20k miles left till it dies

 

That's a ton of rust on the outside, which suggests that the rot is far worse on the inside of the frame. It might be paper-thin in many places.

I wouldn't buy it if you're planning on driving it on the road for years to come. It could be a good parts truck, maybe?

 

1500 canadian bucks. want it just for a cabin truck moving stuff from the home depot to the cabin im building. and i like the look of it. just want it to be road safe for a year or two but if its that bad ill walk away thanks everyone.

 

Might not even make it a year. Like others have said the rust is going to be worst on the inside of the frame than what you see on the outside.

 

If it works offer 1000-1200. It's worth that as long as you know going in you'll have to get familiar with a welder from time to time

 

I mean you can tell that it's been patched together before, and now the patches are looking jus as bad... DO NOT BUY

 

For loads from home Depot even worse. Whatever load carrying capacity it has is greatly diminished by not only the rust, but those tack welded scrap tubes charading as a body lift that are likely to fail under very little dynamic loading. And that poses a greater risk to other drivers, too.

 

I'd be pretty hesitant to drive highway speeds in that thing... especially with any kind of weight in the back

If you have property though, snag it and just use it as a farm truck

 

$900 dollars and roll the dice

 

Pffft, that kind of rust? Spit shine it and it’ll buff right out.

In all seriousness, I wished I had gotten some pics of the rust piles after cutting up the frame on the truck I parted out. Could’ve easily filled a milk pail. Funny thing is it didn’t appear all that bad on the “outside”.

 

Walk, no, RUN away from this thing unless you intend to use it as a farm truck or something. Even then, expect to do a bunch more welding on this thing.

This thing has hack job written all over it.

As others alluded to, these rust from the INSIDE out. So by the time you see rusty holes (and repair jobs) on the outside, it's a safe bet the entire inside is FUBAR'd.

 

the OP I believe wishes to use it for temporary purposes?
trying to find out the 'value' for estimated remaining functionality
current mileage would be helpful so can compare with new findings of mine
i am so friggn perplexed!

 

OP also wants to know if this would pass a safety inspection. If I had to guess, I'd bet that's a "no".

Trying to give someone the "value" of their truck, especially in this condition is pointless. Vehicles are only worth what someone is willing and able to pay at that time and location. It doesn't matter that your truck has X miles and this truck has Y amount of rust. If no one near you is willing to pay for it, it's worthless.

You could try and find what similar non-rusty trucks nearby are selling for, then subtract at least $4-5k for frame replacement, but even then, you'd be hard pressed to find a shop that could do it for that much, so you'd need to find someone willing to do the work themselves.

Dude also has a homemade body lift. Commercial body lifts are crappy enough, and this guy booger welded some square tube to the frame and called it a body lift. What the hell else did he F up on this truck.

There are other fish in the sea. At best, this is a parts truck, and a parts truck only, IMO.

If you just want a cheap truck to last a couple years, DON'T BUT A TACOMA.

 

extremely valid points all around!

 

If you're really loving on the Toyotas, I bet you could find a mid 80's pickup with a 22re motor for a grand or two.

Trying to cram a Tacoma into a 1500 budget it's going to be a straight up pile of shit, as this one shows.