Frame recall!

Hi everyone,
I have been a member for a few years now. I don't post a lot, but have really enjoyed all the useful info, and ideas I have gotten off this site. I am reaching out on this subject, as I'm a little nervous and would like everyone else's opinion and expertise.

I live in Iowa and have a 2005 Tacoma Sport 4x4 that I put a TRD Supercharger on. The truck has right around 130k and has been an amazing truck. I have a modest 3" lift and some larger Nitto's. I received 2 recall letters from Toyota. One was for the leaf springs, and the other was for rust and corrosion issues on the frame. It said especially in the climate that I live in. I called the dealer back on Friday to get an appointment scheduled. I was visiting with the service writer on the frame recall. She said that if they tested the frame and the results came back showing excessive corrosion they would replace the WHOLE frame. This leaves me a little torn.. I obviously would love the fact of having a brand new spotless frame, but it also worries me in the same sense. I would assume they would strip the truck down to nuts and bolts to replace this. I know they should be qualified to do this obviously, but there are a lot of things that the ball could be dropped on when your undertaking that large of a project. I did undercoat this frame 2 years ago, and it spent the whole winter in the garage this year, so the frame actually is in pretty darn good shape. If anyone else has ran into this please let me know what you decided to do? Any other advice would be appreciated too. Thanks in advance!

Justin

 

Go get it checked it's free. They replace more then just the frame so bonus. If your frame is good they will tell you. And yes they are certified techs not a back yard mechanic so all the work is backed by toyota. I don't see your problem here this is a no brainer. Are you certified to check for a faulty frame ? Because toyota techs are. And it will give you piece of mind that your frame isn't rotten and if it is think about your safety.

 

Well I see that this truck seems to mean a lot to you. As does mine. If they do determine that the frame is screwed from corrosion then it would be an $8k job paid for by Toyota. It would scare the hell outta me too knowing that they were swapping my frame since any car taken apart after the factory never really goes back together the same. However, if you go to a good dealer with state of the art equipment with good reviews then you should be fine. A truck with a cracked/rotted frame is a useless truck and that badass supercharger of yours won't be able to pull anything at all at that point! Start using fluid film....

 

I understand you're dilemma as I'm going thru the same thing with my 06, after talking with the tech and finding out that they have done about 60 frame replacements and according to the tech, over 14k worth of parts, that I would have a new under belly to keep my truck like new, I figured what's too lose.
They said this would be at no cost to me, so I'm going to hold them to this and not accept my truck back until I'm satisfied it's back to what it was when I dropped it off. So we will see what happens in next 2 or 3 months that they said it would take for the frame and parts to come in so I can get a new frame. Plus side is that they said any new parts like shocks or struts that I buy, they would put on at no charge.


Remember, at the end of the day, it's just a truck and how bad could they actually fuck it up, compared a bad frame that would take the truck off the road in the next couple years (05's had bad motor mounts) so I say go for the new frame and if it doesn't work out for the best, you can always sell it and get a newer taco, win win in my book.

 

I took mine to toyota of Des Moines in February and they said the frame was fine. I can see some surface rust starting to form so it would have been nice for them to just replace it. They are the experts so if they say it's fine and something happens down the road it's on them!

 

As far as what to do, you've done it. You made an appt. to have it inspected, and not too soon either (the service campaign runs out @ the end of March).

Now there will be two outcomes. One (the less favorable as far as I'm concerned) where your frame passes, and gets a CRC coating applied on the outside, and the inside of the boxed section filled with paraffin wax.
The other where your frame gets replaced. With this option, you get the frame, rear leafs, lower control arms, wiring harness, and a bunch of smaller related items. If you replace the remaining suspension components (which many guys do) on your dime, you end up with essentially a new truck.

There are some cases posted where things got effed up, but as far as I've read, they've been relatively minor. In my case, my dealer has one tech that has been doing nothing but replacing frames for the past 6 years. So he has the process dialed. Ask your dealer about your concerns, they may take you back into the shop, and show you what's going on back there. Mine did, and it made me feel better about the whole thing.

Not really...

If anything happens to frame from here, they (Toyota) won't do anything further.

I hope you get a lot more years out of it, but keep a close eye on it.

 

I hope I get some good years out of her too. My buddy has a 2006 tacoma, iowa truck as well, and his was bad enough to have the frame replaced. Mines a 2008 so are they gonna reassess mine after another 2 years when it is bad enough? It just sucks that they are basically saying it's not bad enough now to fix it so you're good to go...but for how long?

 

get that in writing (that they will look in 2 years) I would not trust them, get it this week too. This is it, last week to save your truck.

 

I agree with Blue. Get that in writing if you can. I doubt they'll give it to you though. From this point on Toyota's cutting the cord. If your frame passes, the CRC is their final fix.

 

You might want to get clarification on that. Most dealers will replace whatever, as long as it's no extra labor for them to replace the parts.

When you buy shocks, they need to be assembled with either new, or existing coils.
My dealer was going to charge me $300 to do this. So I brought them in fully assembled, and they didn't charge me. In my case, I was buying new coils anyway, so I just needed to add new top hats as well, to complete the assembly.

 

This/\
My dealer said the same thing, they would install things if I purchased parts from them, and things like shocks required extra money.
than other things for example upper control arms can not be replaced with just new bushings that has to be whole assembly.

 

Surface rust and frame replacement don't have anything to do with each other.

 

Hey Justin, I live in Minnesota, I have a 05 Tacoma TRD Sport, and my frame had significant rust on it even after the local dealership here on the ND side (I am a border town) said it was fine. I took it to a dealership that was doing the inspections, which unfortunately was 5 hrs away but worth checking it out. The frame had some pinholes on it so they replaced it. It took like 3.5 months to get frame in and replaced but they replaced everything underneath. I had it re inspected here to make sure nothing was loose or missing and so far so good. The bad side is that I was without my truck for that long and the dealership was really rude to me and my family because they wanted the rental back within two days even though I lived so far away, and expected me to just leave my work to drop it off. Either way, bottom line is that get that inspected and if they find pinholes get it replaced. I just got it back in late January and so far so goo.

 

Isn't the recall for abnormal rust and corrosion to the frame? I can see some spots on my frame rusting but I guess it's not enough to replace the frame. I personally haven't done any preventative maintenance to stop the rusting yet or assessed the damage.

 

If your frame has a hole in it, you get a new one.

If your frame has surface rust, you don't get a new one.

 

They inspect it for holes in the frame due to rust, if they find some then it gets replaced, and if they don't find any then I was told they spray coat it. At least here in MN they do. And surface rust does eventually turn to corrosion and holes, in turn why my frame got replaced, so there is a connection.

 

I'll check again. Maybe I got a crappy inspector. I'm sure my buddy and I looked and some areas were pretty bad but they said it's still good and they did not spray any protective coating on it.

 

So your frame was replaced because it has surface rust?

Or did they just spray coat it like you said initially for surface rust?

 

Mine was replaced because it had pinholes from rust on it. The great state of Mn loves to put a ton of salt on the roads in the winter time.

 

Okay, so that isn't surface rust.

Surface rust doesn't mean your frame needs replacement, like I said.

Holes do.. also like I said.

Whether or not the surface rust of today means a hole in 7 years, surface rust doesn't warrant frame replacement.