My 2002 Tacoma may be History!

The gas tank on the Tacoma is stupid simple to drop. It like 5 bolts after the hoses are disconnected. The weld repair is far more of a PITA. I repaired mine that rotted out in the same spot as yours and mine cracked recently in the same spot as yours. "Easy" if you can weld, not so much if you can't. I can see why it would be hard to convince a shop to repair that under the fear they would get their ass sued off. Like others have said, find a local offroad shop NOT a 4wheelparts.

 

SafeTCap has installers and probably knows other shops that might be able to handle it if you can't
https://www.autorust.com/product/all-tacoma-safetcap-kit-locations/

I'm in the middle of doing my double cab. Gas tank is a non issue, drops out except for some frozen bolts. Bed comes off easy, hardest part was getting the plugs out of the taillight sockets. The patching and welding is very straight forward and nothing special is needed. You can use SafeTCaps or make your own from plate. I'm going an extra mile that probably isn't needed by patching and then putting on the caps. That's a nice truck, I wouldn't hesitate to fix it.
My thread https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/2002-double-cab-frame-rehab.774605/

 

I'm facing same problem on my '02. I've got the bed off and gas tank out, and I got the SafeTcaps sitting in my garage. Now I need to pick a welder and get it to them.
Anyone got any recs for Metro West Boston?

 

[QUOTE="suvslayer, post:
Anyone got any recs for Metro West Boston?[/QUOTE]

Rent a uhaul truck and trailer and drop your tacoma off at Autorust (the company that manufactures safetcaps) in Rhode Island.

 

This is probably late but I had a similar situation with my 03 taco for which I am the original owner. I had it undercoated at the dealership (they did a lousy job and just painted over existing rust). Fast forward several years later and a different dealer found a problem with my frame (they probably punched it with a screw driver and made a hole claiming frame damage as I knew it wasn’t bad since i personally undercoated it annually) but since I was in the system as having the job done by a Toyota dealer they covered the cost of a new frame replacement with a loaner to boot. They charged Toyota the manufacturer 12k on a 15 year old truck pretty stupid really but I was happy to have a new frame.

You might be past this but you should be in the system so I’d reach out to a dealer to see if that’s the case or if you’re just SOL. But shouldn’t matter if you are the original owner or not but I could be mistaken. If you don’t get the answer you want from one try a few as this isn’t huge money maker for them and they are quite adept at swapping frames quickly to maximize profit. Mine was done in 3 days.

Good luck.

 

If you are going to weld plates in make sure you cut them in properly and grind welds make it look factory if safety place sees that it doesn’t look factory they will fail it. It’s a lot of work cutting it out and making templates with cardboard but do it right the first time and you won’t have problems with safety

 

And you said something about taking box and gas tank off it’s a an hour job to do all of that trust me I’ve done it

 

Hey all anyone still following this thread? Anybody recommend where can get frame fixed near Philadelphia and estimate ??? Might just end up selling it too if I get decent offer ...it has 134,000 miles on it now

 

I was in the same boat and pretty much the same place needed repaired. I had the work done in central NC and paid about 1000$ for the repair. He cut out the bad metal and welded in a bridge piece. It has held up well and I have no regrets. I dunno how vehicle inspections are in your state, make sure it will pass inspection after the repair. Leaf springs and rear shocks helped mine a lot and I am glad I had it done. When you start down this road be prepared for a few more things to pop up. Not saying thats a 100% guarantee, but once I got into mine I ended up having quite a bit more done. It can become addictive working on these things lol. You are welcome to message me if you have any questions about my experience. I remember the amount of time I spent making that decision, best of luck no matter what you choose to do.

 

I just helped a friend swap his frame. Here’s what numbers wise he was looking at-

-Replace frame from local shop was $9000 just for labor, dni parts/fluids, it’s probably 80 hrs minimum of shop time.

-Expect a lot of hardware to need to be replaced, e brake cable was seized, bolts, brackets, his frame was worse than yours, rusted all the way through/broken

-He purchased a frame at a junkyard for $2500 and we did the work ourselves, but consider it part of the cost of having a shop do it.

-Also except to pay for new fluids; coolant, power steering fluid, front diff fluid, brake fluid, have to pull engine/trans/tcase, fluids won’t spill if you can pull those out without them tipping too much, shop may require it to minimize mess.

-Dropping gas tank, best to have it mostly empty.

-might be good idea to do some other things while bed is off; fuel pump, shocks if it’s time

-Need a cherry picker to pull the engine and transmission, we had a lift which helped to get the body off

 

I would definitely save the truck... it would cost less to buy your own welder and materials to fix the truck. Look up some tutorials on how to patch a frame and you will be well on your way.
The things you need to buy:
Grinder with grinder disks (usually come with it,) cutting disks, flapper disks, and a wire brush
Welder with welding wire, I would recommend mig welders for beginnners, but who am I to say I am one of the youngest members on the forum.
Steel plate, probably 2 inch wide x 1/4" thick... as long as you need. Wire brush the frame down to see if there ARE any holes in it, so if there are not you can save your back.
Used motor oil. This stuff is nasty (and illegal in my state... but I don't care). Take a day and find a dirt road and take gallons of used motor oil and pour it into the holes in the side of your frame with a funnel. The type of oil doesn't matter... and you can mix it. Once you finish pouring, drive on that dirt road for like half an hour to kick up some dust and help solidify the oil and help stop it from dripping out of your frame. It will always drip, but it is something you can live with since it is keeping the inside of you frame okay. Do this after inspection so the inspectors do not see you just sprayed oil on the frame, but the next year they will shrug it off because it is old.
Hope this helped some.

 

You can buy a brand new gas tank online.