Toyota finally agrees to replace the frame on my '04....however....

....I still have concerns.

A quick history. Truck made a loud, funny undercarriage noise this summer (August). Got home, crawled under it, there's no frame from the rear wheels back! Under the passenger section there are golf ball size holes everywhere. Exhaust system even seems compromised since the frame appears to be collapsing under the weight of the body.
Asked around, learned from a co worker there was a huge frame recall. Thousands upon thousands of soft frames. I never knew about it. I never got a recall. I learned they ALL went to the wrong address.
OK, after 6 months of fighting with Toyota, they just agreed to replace my frame just the other day.
So my concern is as follows:
The frame is gonzo. Everything has been eaten up by rust. Anything and everything connected to, or even remotely attached to the frame will need to be snapped or cut off. What will prevent Toyota from saying 'OK, we agreed to replace just your frame. EVERYTHING else is on your nickel.'

Under that scenario, I could still wind up paying thousands.

Thoughts?

tia

 

no, to replace the frame everything must be removed and reinstalled so all that is covered but anything broken like shocks springs u-joints will be on your dime to pay to replace but the labor is already included in the frame swap.

talk to the guys doing the work and see what they recommend and search the forum for frame swap threads to see the things others have done at the same time.

basically your getting free labor to install any new suspension parts or upgrades (springs, shocks, struts, front end parts) to your truck instead of putting the old stuff back on. but that's only if done at the same time so you have to give serious thought to doing anything and everything at the same time to save money and talk to the mechanics to se if they have any advice or ideas since they know these trucks well.

this thread has some good advice http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2n...05-frame-being-replaced-what-else-should.html

bottom line is, they don't care if they bolt your old busted shock or strut (as an example) back on it or not so if you make sure to supply new replacements for stuff like that im sure they would be happy to do it at no charge because they are already paid to bolt something on so why should they care if its new or old stuff.

 

the previous owner of mine got the frame replaced

the dealer told him anything that falls or needs to be cut off will be replaced by them, anything that they can reuse (shocks, etc. as mentioned above) could be replaced by him.

So in theory, they should pay for all your suspension too if the rust has already ruined it. Push them if they say otherwise.

I believe the bill for my truck was over 6000$

 

The replacement frame for the rust campaign is a specially put together "kit" with control arms, rear springs, fuel and brake lines. Anything else that gets destroyed is on them. You may "want" to have some things replaced while it's apart. They usually will give you some kind of recommendation on those things.