Toyota Frame Rust Recall

I'm curious how many frames Toyota allowed to fail like yours without the 10mm hole? I have seen a few people have frame fail for that, but more have their frames passed.

 

Mine failed in December and I have been driving mine since. I signed a piece of paper and kept my truck. I will have the rental for a week whenever they get to me I was told.

 

That piece of paper would be a liability waiver

 

The gap was pretty big between the rails and their was a lot of metal flaking off above the rail.Perhaps they actually saw a 10mm hole somewhere???... It wasn't questioned by toyota corp after the dealer sent the pictures.

 

Another update - 2/24/18:

I've stopped by the dealership 3 weekends in a row. 2 weeks ago, when I saw the frames come in, I thought my truck would get one of them. Last weekend I found out that was wrong because my truck was moved to a further away parking lot, and suddenly more Tacomas appeared. 12 trucks, 5 frames, what gives?

On Monday, I asked my service advisor for an update. He was out of work for Monday and Tuesday, but would send me an update asap.
Friday morning, he sends me a message
"It looks like your truck will not be completed this week. They are still working on it. Latest will be next Tuesday."

I thanked him for the update (although the update was days late, and didn't tell me the fact that my truck was even being worked on before this) and I said if my truck is waiting until the next shipment of frames comes in, that is fine. Please, just please keep me in the loop so I know how to plan.

No reply.

So I go to the dealership and I see they got several more frames in!


And there's another old frame being discarded


Rusting through in the same spot. Again.

For some reason, this one frame is matte compared to the rest, which are all glossy. Hope that one didn't escape rust protectant/prevention again


I looked around the lot, more and more Tacomas parked there every time I come. This time there were 20 Tacomas between the two parking lots. Half with new frames.
For the first time, I saw trucks with the "CRC" or frame goop.
This stuff looks a lot more 'vile' than what they sprayed on my 2000 Tacoma.



Then I snooped around until I saw that my truck was on a lift in the garage. I played nice until one of the guys said it was okay for me to come in and look around.
Apparently, my truck is actually all done. But the master tech has to do a final inspection, test drive it, and do an alignment. So won't be ready until Monday or Tuesday.



The rest of these pictures are of my truck.

The old frame is sitting under the truck with its new frame installed.
You can see some of the old parts sitting on the frame: leaf springs, control arm, rotors, skid plate.




What's weird is the rotors. When I was looking at the truck, I saw the rotors and got a bit excited. I happened to look through one of the front wheels and see nasty rotors still on the truck. I shrugged and said to myself "must have been rear rotors replaced then."
Then I got home and said "wait a minute...these trucks have drums in the rear..." DUHHHH. Silly me.
Then I zoomed in as much as i could and those rotors look like 5 lug rotors (there is a 6th hole, but it looks like an access hole because it's not symmetrical). I guess it's possible someone just threw the rotors from another vehicle on top as a junk pile.

New tire carrier comes with the frame. Thank God because those always go to shit.


New lower control arms w/ball joints on both sides


New brake lines

New nuts and bolts and brackets here and there


Pretty new frame with those sexy leaf springs


Apparently my frame was pretty chewed up on both sides: (You can poke through and pick chunks of rust off with your hand, by the way.)



Twelve.Years.Old.
Truck/Frame is twelve years old, and I can pick off chunks of rust the size of my hand.
And remember, these things rust from the inside-out.

 

My last topic here is about non-frame parts being replaced. As I was leaving, a tech walks over and told me he worked on my truck. He told me that one of my rear shocks was too rusty to put back on - the top mounting bolt rusted off, and cannot be reattached.
I asked, in a nice tone "isn't the policy if parts are too rusted to put back on, they must be replaced for free?"
He said "the frame is on us, the rest is on you" and walked away.
I don't like being a jerk, so I didn't make a scene, but I didn't feel right about it.
I'm not 'trying to scheme the system for free parts', but, in my opinion, a shock absorber being too rusted to put back on falls pretty clearly in the frame replacement category. I'm not arguing a rusted bed, or chrome bumper, or even the nuts and bolts...but they literally can't reinstall the passenger-rear shock absorber.
I went home to ask the forums about it. I also called 'Toyota Corporate' and the guy couldn't offer much help. "I can only tell you what the documents say, sir. And they say nothing about any components other than the frame."
He didn't even confirm new brake lines or control arms, which, in my understanding, are always automatically given with the frame. But I could be wrong.

I'm not really sure what to do about this one. On one hand, I shouldn't be greedy, but on the other hand...if I spent 5 minutes being a loud-mouthed jerk, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'TOO RUSTED TO PUT BACK ON??' DO I HAVE TO CALL CORPORATE AND RAISE HELL?" they would probably just give me free shocks.
The reason I'm having trouble is because I'm not the loud-mouthed jerk type of person lol.
I don't know if they can release the truck to me knowing it wouldn't pass a safety inspection due to having a broken shock, but I don't know if they will try to hold my truck ransom unless I pay the stealership prices for an OEM shock.

Kinda feels bad because otherwise the dealership has been A1 about not trying to scheme me for any extra money or expenses.

 

Mine should be done on monday.

 

Thanks for the update with pictures and details. If it was me I would take it home, order some rear Bilstein shocks and install them myself. The rear shocks are really easy to install, I didn't even need to remove the tires nor jack it up either.

 

Question after frame replacement? I've had my truck back for a couple weeks and notice the steering is wandering on the road whenever there is ice or snow. On tar it's not bad. I don't know if this is something the dealer didn't check or what to think of it? Anyone have any idea what I should do?

 

Just follow-up on mine (2010 Tacoma TRD V6). They checked it and it will get coated, not replaced. I have a rental car until later this week and it will be done.


Thanks all for the comments.

--Kevin

 

Kevin, I think why my coating hasn't flaked off and looks almost new 3 years later is that 1. I gave it plenty of time to cure properly, 2. I have never used high-pressure water to clean my frame and 3. It seems using Fluid Film on my frame keeps the CRC compound pliable and doesn't dry out.

 

Thanks. I had the coating treatment done to the 2002 I had before this truck. Had that truck until 2014 and never looked at the frame once after it was coated. Probably around 2007-2009. There's no way I have the time or brain cycles to worry about it.

--Kevin

 

Life is so short, I should be more like you. Welcome to TW.

 

Anyone ever hear of them replacing the backing plates on the rear axle during the frame swap? Mine look like swiss cheese.

 

the backing plates on the rear axle....? The only backing plates I know of are in the drum brakes.

Either way, I'm not sure it's so easy to get parts replaced for free. My rear shocks were legitimately too rusted to put back on. I haven't had to do any 'fighting' yet, but I'm only just getting started in investigating if they should be covered or not.
It's less about the cost and more about me being curious, and having my own 1st hand experience answering a question like yours since I've heard for years on this forum "if it's too rusted to put back on, then it gets replaced for free" regarding the frame replacements. I've also heard that exact quote from several Toyota truck enthusiasts in person who had their 1st gen frames replaced.

It's possible that either the attitude of "get it for free if it's too rusted" was never true, or it's not true anymore. As always, it can vary from dealer to dealer, and even from which service advisor is on shift that day.
My frame replacement experience also seemed to be very different than the norm.

Never once did a service advisor tell me "labor is free if you want any parts replaced at cost" or any of those other quotes that float around regarding the frame replacements.

 

Update. My truck went in Monday for the frame replacement. They said it should only take a week and im in a Carolla until I pick it up.

 

Im not looking to get a bunch of stuff free. Toyota is doing enough in my opinion. I will probably buy a set of the drum brake backing plates and have them do my axle seals and put the plates on while its out of the truck and lying on the ground.

 

backing plates =/= frame
"not looking for free stuff"

 

So have they addressed this with newer Tacomas? Do new owners of 3rd gens need to worry or take preventative measures now?

 

I would def keep it clean and use fluid film on it !