Frame replacement at 38,500miles // 62,000km; anything to consider?

I have the paperwork somewhere at home. The frame replacement alone as $10K for the frame + 30 hrs labour, and right now the total bill is around $28K, this includes the frame swap, new composite bed, tail gate, bumper, hitch, some minor front-end plastic (we were pushed into the car ahead, but only a light tap), and spot-painting the cab corners where the box hit it. If you need more details, I'll try and dig out the estimate tonight or tomorrow.

 

Don't go out of your way, but if you run across it and don't mind sending it my way I would appreciate it. My estimate for frame, bed replacement, bumper w/sensors, and hitch assembly with labor and paint is right at 10k somehow.

 

Not a f***ing hope! Even accounting for the 'North of the 49th' mark-up, 10K won't even get the frame swap done once you factor in labour.

 

The only things that come to mind are having the frame powder coated and/or fully boxed.

 

That seems excessively long. I was rear-ended in September, shop didn't receive the frame until Nov 5th (a Friday), I got my Taco back Dec 9th.

 

Id spend the money to have it PC'd. Theres a local to me guy that does really high end work and is a friend.

 

I'd pay to have it hot-dip galvanized.

 

Thats super quick, how did your shop manage to get a frame that quick? I've been waiting since november, and nothing. Being told it can be up to 10 months wait time.

 

That's the word I'm getting too!

 

I was told at the start that it would be 12-16 weeks wait time for the frame. So you can imagine my surprise when they got the frame exactly 7 weeks from the accident, so probably 5.5 to 6 weeks from when they ordered it.

My guess, is the shortage of availability of materials to build complete Tacomas is the reason they got the frame so quickly. More assembly line down time to build replacement frames.

Call it a pandemic perk.

 

How long do you plan on keeping the truck? Less than 10-12yrs - I would just let them put it on stock Why fuck around with the dealer and the hassle of getting whatever done? You live somewhere where corrosion is not a concern. Life simplification, not complication.

 

I would strongly suggest you improve on the factory coating before you install the new frame. Hopefully the shop will help you with logistics.

My #1 choice would be powder coat with a zinc rich epoxy base. A good powder coated will have the proper wands to reach into all of the crevices. The tricky part is finding a good powder coated and then getting the frame there and back.

#2 is having the body shop hit it with proper 2 stage auto body paint. This will be an improvement too.

I don’t think they will want you to cosmoline it before. It will make the reassembly messy. But it sure would make things easy for you if you could pull it off. Powder coat +cosmoline would be bulletproof imho.

would be hard for me to not replace the body mount bushings but you really shouldn’t need to with such low mileage.

 

Yeah, I'm still waiting on the independent estimate I had done to see the difference. You are still waiting for this work to be done correct? Have you looked into the diminished value amount yet or is that a wait until the work is done thing?

 

Still waiting, based on the timeline the body shop is estimating now, I may push for a write-off, even though I don't want that. They're saying it could now be >12 months!