Look at this frame, please

Took a couple of pics of my '04 frame. Long story short, I'm the second owner. Called Toyota USA, I'm not covered due to the fact the original owner did not do the warranty work by 2011. First owner says he never received any notice....either way, I'm on my own. Not whining, just want to get it under control.

I just want to take precautions...so here are a couple of pics. Guy at my work says he restores cars and not to worry....But I worry. I started grinding today just to see how it will go.

Please give me your input....I did the hammer test and it's strong...just some minor flaking in the rear.

 

That looks like its just surface. Get ahead of it before its a problem.

 

I would coat the frame before it gets worse

 

Check the front hanger of the leaf springs. It tends to rust out before the rest of the frame.

 

From the pics, that we have seen; the frame looks to be in good shape.

Take another look, as KenLyns mentioned; and with a small ball peen hammer, lightly tap that area.

But look good so far.

oldracer

 

It's ugly but it looks like normal surface rust. Our Honda CR-V has double the miles of my Tacoma in Utah winters, and the subframes still look brand new, not even a speck of surface rust. I wonder WTF Honda is doing different?

 

take it to a good body shop and have as much of it that is visible sandblasted and have them shoot a coat of POR on it then a couple coats of any color paint you can get for a decent price to lower the cost of the repair. The POR and blasting is going to be a couple hundred plus a couple hundred for labor. Your frame is in good shape now but will deteriorate really fast if you don't stop it now. The inside of the frame is already rusting out and you can do almost nothing to stop it. Your main goal right now is to stop the outside of the frame from getting any worse. with a good blasting and POR you will get another twelve to fifteen years out of it.

 

My 04 frame looked great last time I checked, but I live in Georgia so that could be the reason. What state are you in icepuck72

 

Mine looked way worse then that when I had it replaced

 

Thanks guys. I think I'm going to just have to drop the $'s to get it sandblasted and coated. It's cheaper than buying a frame.

 

Coating the outside is a good rust preventive but these frames are also known for rusting from the inside out.

 

And there's not much you can do about that? What if you spray the inside of your frame with some foam spray like "great stuff" seems like it might slow down the inside out rusting. I guess you just have to figure out how to prevent oxygen from getting inside the frame basically?

 

I don't know how much it helps but i put my 4runner and tacoma on the lift, pull the wheels, use compressed air to blow off any salt or moisture and spray PB Blaster in thru all the holes to coat the inside of the frame. PB blaster is a water disapater [pardon my spelling] and it doesn't evaporate. Then i take a oily rag and wipe the frame down. I did it about 3 weeks ago and i rubbed my finger against the frame yesterday and i still had oily residue on my finger. Not sure how much it's preventing against rust issues but i'm sure it's better than nothing.

 

That will certainly make it worse. Don't do it.

Open cell foam (like Great Stuff) will harbor moisture being against the metal and almost never dry out. You will speed up the process of hidden rust, big time.

 

presto , more rust

 

" Oil the Frame"

1.Wire brush as much of the rust off as you can
2. Take your oil from your last oil Change and place it into a Bug Sprayer mixed with about a Half Pint of Diesel Fuel ( Thins it)
3. I Spray this all over the frame while the truck is at an angle so it seeps into all the corners. Its Messy at first , so be prepared..

I live by this as I can post pics of my 2004 that spent many days driving salt covered roads. When was the last time you saw a Truck/ Car that had an oil leak rust in the spot or area of the leak? I do this about twice a year especially before winter. If you want to be clean about it you can also use a paint brush, but the sprayer will get into the boxed frame easier.

 

Coming from a guy who lives in north east ohio just oil your frame. Cleveland salts the shit out of the roads and I oil my frame down 2 times a year just like stated above. But I use a product called lps3. My frame gets coated with that stuff and it looks great. I took it in to Toyota to do the frame check and they said they haven't seen a frame that clean.

Here is what I do. I have a steam cleaner at work so every spring I crawl under the truck and power wash the heck out of it to make sure the salt and extra oil is off. Give it about a week to completely dry! So a good week of sun would be perfect. Than I have a paint gun that I add a brass hose so I can flex it into those hard to reach nooks and crannies. Soak the hell out of the under the truck. Coat every thing! And your done. Do it again before winter and she's protected.

 

my buddys 94 was way worse then that. he still drives it in that condition and never really had any problems even up to now 350k miles on it.