My frame swap, with pics

I'm so happy with my frame swap, and my dealer, that I thought I would make a thread
I took my truck in for an inspection in November, it failed and was unsafe to drive. I was given a smelly, dirty Corolla for a rental. I complained about the car, and I live in the snow belt, it would have never gotten me through winter. My dealer actually went to auction to purchase a Rav4 for me. I was told that they also improved their method of cleaning rentals.

Fast forward 3 months, and my frame is in! After a short wait for a "bolt package" the work begins at 5pm and the techs work until 5am. They have 2 shifts and the truck needed to be put together enough to get out of the way for the other shift. The next evening the techs finished putting everything else together.

I sourced my own shocks, Bilstein 5100's, had those installed for an hour labor. I had my own alternator installed, also an hour labor.

When I picked up my truck, one of the service managers was happy to discuss the whole process with me, and was very knowledgable, I have had way too many experiences where I felt like I knew more than the service reps I found I had a couple of issues, and took my truck back in to have the rear brakes adjusted, they were dragging, and the access door handle was not operating properly after the recall work was performed. I was also missing a few misc. clips. When I came back in, I was able to talk to the guys that did the swap. One of them took pics! They fixed my access door, adjusted my brakes, and replaced some clips.

My only issue was that I ended up with a pretty significant scratch on the drivers door. It runs vertically, and goes through the paint one one small spot. They have agreed to repair the door, I will update on the progress of that. I know we are nearing the end of this frame program, but I would highly suggest to anyone that is still taking their truck in, to take photos before you drop it off.

If you are near Cleveland, Ohio, I highly recommend Motorcars Toyota

 

Man they charged you to put the shocks on?? Even thou they were going to put original ones back on... Man those dealers are greedy, But over all glad you are happy and safe now!!

 

They have to disassemble, and re-assemble the strut/coils to swap out the shocks with new ones. It is extra labor for them to do that. Not an unreasonable charge. My dealer quoted me 2 hours (I ended up buying the shocks, and coils, and assembling them myself, and brought them in as whole units to avoid the charge).

Congrats Dianna, welcome to the other side.

 

I did the same thing with my shocks. Some up front cost for the top hat, etc...but still should be cheaper than the $200 the dealer wants.

 

Glad to hear they are taking care of ya and the overall process when smooth.

 

Great pics and comparisons Thx

 

My old 98' regular cab had a rotted frame. I found that out on a cross country drive to California. I was in Telluride Co., when the frame snapped, both sides, right where the cab and bed meet. That was a fun trip! The insurance company totaled the truck. The day I got my check from the insurance company, I got a letter from Toyota saying they were extending the frame corrosion warranty. However, they would not honor the warranty due to my truck technically being a salvage title, although the DMV did not know it yet! I argued with Toyota, saying that the truck was totaled DUE TO that problem! Oh well, I still got over 9 grand for that old beat up truck.

 

Nice thread! Thanks for providing the pics and details.

 

They would have not charged me if I would have kept the original shocks on. They have 100,000 miles on them, time to upgrade! They only charged an hour labor, to assemble the shocks in the springs. 120 bucks was a decent deal, it would have cost more than that to have them done without the frame swap.

 

How bad was your exhaust. I thought about doing mine with the frame swap. Mine has some corrosion, but can't tell how deep into the metal it goes. (not gonna do the hammer test on it ). After seeing your nice shiny exhaust, it makes me not want to put the rusty stuff back on.

 

My exhaust didn't look bad, but being 10 years old and having 100,000 miles, I'm sure the rust was not far from eating through from the inside. A member here was kind enough to give me an exhaust a few years ago, when he upgraded, so I already had a new, shiny exhaust

A friend upgraded his and was pitching his old one, so I have another exhaust that I was going to offer up here on TW. Are you close to Cleveland? I'd be happy to pass it along.

 

Wow, thanks for the offer. I'm close, but not that close. I'm in central Illinois. About a 7-8hour drive.

 

Congrats I too had that titanic type rusted frame replaced on my 05tacoma .Not glotting but very happy.The dealer also did all other recalls too.Truck in wensday do Thursday morn at 9:30am!My dealer put my mood greaseable tie rod ends for me Hey they had to algin the front end.Hope many more members can get theirs fixed Dead Line 3/31/2016! Let them know.Information is golden!