Rusty frame strikes again

Does anyone think this is fixable? No clue how long I’ve been driving around like this without knowing.

 

Holy shit

 

Yea, that make caps you can weld over this.

but I’d take a screw driver and hammer and see how far the softness goes along both sides of the frame

 

If there's enough solid metal left -

https://www.autorust.com/product/mi...side-tacoma-96-04-xtracab-2wd-4wd-tac-157x-p/

Otherwise start looking for a used frame. Or part out.

 

A break like that should have made your alignment go out of wack. Should be a good indication of when it happened.

 

Yeah that’s a severe failure in my opinion. It would not hold up to the way I drive my 01 around. When the back is unloaded those Deavers like to flex and I don’t mind

Surely you can feel this when driving around, no? Or previously when you were, provided it’s off the road until….something.

 

I mean anything is fixable given the time and money. But seeing this makes me want to go weld some plates to my frame even though it's not rusting...

 

I don’t know how, but no, I never felt it. The truck was out of alignment and it was going in for a few other issues. So it didn’t drive perfect but no where near as bad as it should have been from how it looks. Maybe it broke on the way there? Who knows.

I’m just glad I didn’t die haha

 

Bad steel......nobody did anything wrong....
....except for toyota....wonder where they sourced that steel from.........know what everyone is thinking.....

Who dumps massive amounts of cheap steel on the world market trying to bankrupt the others......

 

Definitely fixable. The area around it doesn't look nearly as bad as usual when this type of failure occurs. Any fairly skilled welder could repair it for you.

Of course, check the opposite front mount point, and where the upper shock mounts attach. Those tend to go around the same time.

 

Black dog is right , get the saftey caps they work great . Ive done 2 trucks now. Im just glad theres an option out there for our rusty frames.

 

What are safety caps? I’m definitely considering getting it fixed though. I’m going to some shops tomorrow to get a quote on it

 

https://www.autorust.com/product-category/toyota/tacoma-xtracab-4wd/

 

With that do I cut off the portion of the frame that that replaces and weld it in? Or does it go over the existing frame?

 

I believe so but have never done it


@Speedytech7

 

After cutting out rusted area the caps are slid over and welded at top of old frame on both sides.
The safe T caps are one piece with two sides and a bottom.

 

Member Black Dog Lila is showing you the frame sections for 1st gen tacomas that you can buy they are called Saftey caps. Google autorust.com i believe they are outta Rhode Island.

I wish when i did both my trucks i would have taken step by step pics to post , but i didnt. Alls i can do is show you after the fact. I took 3 pics 5 min ago, i have 2 sections on passenger side and only 1 on drivers side. To do this whole process correctly you should take bed off and drop fuel tank it will be much easier. Grind off all the rust and you will find other weak points in frame while doing this Im sure ie. rustholes in frame. I even had my cab off but i went to extreme also. 1 truck i half assed it the other completely went through. Its very time consuming and very dirty grinding and chipping off all the rust but worth it in the end if ur a 1st gen lover as I am.

All the dust and rust clouds while you work will probably take 5 years off your life........lol

If you have a welder you can do this even a 110 will do it. Youll save alot of money doing it yourself but youll know its done right also. Watch the videos on the web site they will show you the process.

 

Not super fun work, the instructions say how much overlap is appropriate. I went with the overbuilt approach and cut out the rot and left what was okay noing I'm going to internally coat the interior of the frame with a corrosion coating.