What should I do about this frame? (pics)

Hi everyone,

This is my 2006 Toyota Tacoma. I am the 2nd owner. I use it as a work truck, often on dirt roads and towing <3500 lbs. I recently had this frame dry ice blasted, painted and coated by a professional. He said he thought it looked fine, however I am concerned about the expanding bottom of the c-channel on both sides in the rear, and this hole that has developed in the outer layer of the box frame on the driver side. Does this look concerning, and is it reparable? Thank you very much.

 

A professional said that looked fine?
I’m an not a professional, and I don’t think that looks fine.

Patch plates and weld. That’s my advice.

 

I was serious on the patch plates.
https://www.autorust.com/

 

Interesting, those seem very affordable. Do they go on top of the existing frame, or does that section need to be cut out?

 

I believe the directions say you should cut out the “bad”. And weld to good existing.
But I have seen others say they welded the plates over the existing.
I am not a welder, so I can’t say. I’d probably leave that up to the guy welding.

I will see if I can find the post where one member on here used them.

 

Your 'professional' must be

1) legally blind or
2) ignorant or
3) a liar

IMHO you got snookered on his work.

As soon as he looked it over he should have called, showed you what was wrong and declined to do the job (ie take your money)

 

Hey where did you get that picture of my Friday date?

 

It looks like all that the "professional" did that included ice blasting was getting blasted with hard liquor over ice while rattlecanning krylon paint on the rusted frame. Likely much worse than what's shown.

 

I generally try not to be an ass, but have to agree. I am no 'professional', in regard to frame restoration, though do take pride in anything i do. I do not lack courage in taking on projects i haven't done before, and if i don't know, or haven't done something before, i research the shit out of it before i start. I would be embarrassed to call that my 'finished product', even as a novice in that arena.

I only say this here, so as to give you a sense of being 'in the right', when you try and recoup your money. Good luck.

 

The problem with media blasting the outside of the frame is that it does not address the main area of corrosion - which is inside the frame. That's right, Tacoma frames (and many other things) rust from the inside out. Blasting the exterior does pretty much nothing to extend the life of a frame. Unfortunately, you pretty much wasted your money on that process.

Basically, you have limited options right now. If the guy who did the work said he was only going to blast and refinish the exterior, he did what he said. The best thing you can do is take it to a reputable welder / fabricator and have the patch panels mentioned in the previous post correctly installed, then painted. I'd also recommend Fluid Filming the crap out of everything when you're done.

 

There are likely additional holes where you can’t see them. Near the cats and where the AC drains for instance.

IMHO that frame is toast.