Is this rust something to worry about?

I recently bought a 2004 4x4 Xtra cab that was initially purchased and was single-owner driven in Tennessee from November 2003. It's obvious the frame was coated at some point. The coating is on the frame, all over the rear shocks, etc.

I inspected everything under the truck, found the gas tank skid plate is rotting off and there is substantial rust on the rear spring seats. I'm not going to worry too much about the gas tank skid plate as I am rarely driving off road. I found some salvaged spring seats that I'm planning on swapping when I replace the leaf packs later this year.

The frame as a whole looks pretty good, but there is rust developing on the welds of the frame. I did more digging and found one of the most prone spots to rust on these frames is the rear leaf spring perches. There are no holes in the metal, just a ton of rust around the welds. I whacked the spot all around with a hammer, not much debris is coming off.
What do you guys think? I've read that if a frame is less than 15 years old and was coated by a Toyota dealership at some point a frame repair / replacement may be covered. Should I just go to Toyota and see what they say?

 

Toyota won’t do squat, the requirement for replacement is perforations, i.e. holes in the frame. That rust really doesn’t look that bad, it honestly looks normal for your typical 15 year old 4x4. If I was you, I would wire wheel it and most of the rear frame, spray rust converter, and undercoat with Por 15. It probably won’t take more than a three day weekend and you’ll probably never have to worry about it again. As for the seats, replace those. I did my leaves last weekend, didn’t order new seats and I intend on replacing them in the next month or so, they were so rusted.

 

Take it to the dealer, if it was inspected and coated by the dealer it extends the warranty I believe

 

Probably worth a shot in any case right?

 

Stab at it and make a hole then get a inspection

 

with all those BBs on the frame I'd say that someone welded new spring mounts in, and those don't look stock to me.

 

Wire brush and then coat it with your choice of flavors. Welds will always rust before any other surface, its what the 3rd gen guys complain about. But your truck is an 04 so it's still under warranty and Id get it inspected sometime this winter. Thats what my dealer told me about my 2004.

 

Good eye. I didnt catch that. Those look nothing like the ones on my truck which is the same year.

 

makes me wonder what the story is... frame is in good shape, why the new mounts?

 

Pretty sure thats the oem Mount looks like my 04, though mine don’t have that many bbs on it
Remember this is the front one not rear

 

Weird. No accidents on record, the underside is fairly clean otherwise.

 

Not on mine. Mine are 1 peice welded to the frame all the way around. That piece that's bridging the joint with the holes in it is definetly not normal.

 

The rear has a shackle, so of course it's the front. I can't seem to find any pictures of an 04 mount, but I know it looks vastly different than my '96. of course the mounts move on later years so who knows... I agree that the joint piece seems odd. it doesn't seem OEM.

 

interesting... It still doesn't sit right to me...

 

Ok turns out I was wrong. My 2004 passenger side mount is identical to OP's. Pardon my ignorance. I didnt look at the drivers side, maybe its the one I'm thinking of not having the extra holes.

Edit: I dont have that line that Miguel shows in his pic. That's what is throwing me off.

 

If its rusted bad then could of moved and looks off to us

 

Whats that line that I dont have that you have in your pic?

 

Parking break on a 5lug

 

Wow both much cleaner than mine. Sounds like I just need to brush the crap out of the frame in general and coat it.