Where's them Rusted Frames

Has anybody heard how the appeals are going?

 

I hope so . I'm going to look into it for sure!

 

Just that there was a good number of them submitted.

 

Three as far as I have been able to determinel...

 

I sprayed off the undercarriage and found my situation has advanced considerably faster than I would have anticipated.

 

My exhaust hanger has rusted from the frame so now I'm developing a leak at the union.
This is what's behind the hole on the passenger frame rail.

 

This one's of the driver's side.

 

And this here's a new one. I sprayed the area with the water hose and guess I knocked the slab of rust that's been covering it up.
This is the first holes to develop on the underside of the frame rails. Located on the driver's side rail by the catalytic converter.

 

Holy shit!

 

So bad batch of steel or ... ?

 

Serious question? The official story is that the company that made the frames, Dana, fucked them up. Dana went bankrupt in 09-11 or so but were still held liable for them to a small degree (25 mil, which was peanuts). Meanwhile Dana made frames for a bunch of other companies that don't have this level of frame rust issue, although GMs of the same era aren't far behind. So many think it was a Toyota spec issue, so people are still worried about the frames on the 2010+ Tacoma. Time will tell. The good news is that if the 2010-20?? frames deteriorate in a similar manner, the probably of winning a class action about it is high.

 

Yes ... so Dana messed up the steel somehow ?

 

http://autoweek.com/article/recalls/toyota-frame-settlement-could-cost-company-34-billion

 

"which lack adequate rustproofing, were supplied by Dana"

Got it. Sucks ... probably trying to save a dollar by cutting corners & look how that turned out.

 

Bought a 2014 Tacoma new.... the frame was coated inside & out, the springs, axle, front suspension, all either coated or painted...Before the undercarriage got wet, I put it on a lift, removed all the wheels, wrapped the exhaust system & rubber boots and sprayed the entire undercarriage with Cosmoline RP-342 military grade translucent wax coating...Everything got sprayed oil pans, transfer case, drive shaft, anything that could get wet in a rain or salt storm storm.... Toyota in their wisdom covered the holes in the frame behind the front wheels with one time use plastic clips...which broke upon removal...There's about 12 of them at $7.50 each... $90.00 for $24.00 worth of clips at 2 bucks a clip of their worth...As I was doing my rustproofing I discovered a 2-1/4 hole right smack on the side of the frame rail behind the cab mount behind the front wheel....You got to get down with a flash light to find it...but its there, I promise.... So all of the splash from the front wheels kicks up all the dirt & salt and packs nice and tight in an area most Tacoma owners don't know about, as its so well hidden...This very large hole is in the boxed section of the frame..... You just have to wonder after this bloodbath of frame replacements for Tacoma owners, and Toyota which I don't feel sorry for, would simply ignore addressing this hole to cover it with a plastic 2-1/4 CAPLUG....My local dealer told me the visible plastic clips are available, but the cap for the hidden secret is not..and I'm having a difficult time trying to find something to plug this hole with....But the bigger problem lies with the states using these harmful chemicals to "pre treat" the roads prior to snow fall... It really doesn't matter what you drive as that liquid chemical is far worse than salt will eat away anything that drives over it.......

http://www.cosmolinedirect.com/cosmoline-rp-342-heavy-spray-military-grade-rust-preventive/

 

I would put my money on it being a temper issue. It seems that the metal is delaminating like a soaked piece of plywood.
I had a piece the size of a hand fall out from above the fuel tank and when I broke it in half there were 4-5 layers all separated by a thin red line of rust. Each layer was 5-10 mil thick.

 

Edit: Found the previously referenced TW thread, it states exactly the opposite of what I said!

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/under-body-rust-what-is-acceptable.439254/

 

Perhaps I should have mentioned that I'm located in upstate NY, and the truth is in those photo's. I'm pretty confident that the states that border the great lakes are the worst for rust issues...Anybody who is a car nut usually has a winter beater... In as much as I rustproofed my Taco when new, I'll never drive it on the wet winter roads...I lay the blame on the government that allow the use of those chemicals that destroy any metal object in the name of safety....I'd be curious to see how many rusted frames were replaced out west?

 

I posted these earlier in this thread. This is what the frame on my '09 DCSB--always a Florida truck--with 141k miles looks like.

That being what it is, in my looking at the photos that have been put up here and in other threads, my opinion (and yes, I have one of those apertures too), is that the cold rolled steel used by Toyota¹ to form these frames was not of the "finest kind" by a long shot². And that when subjected to the corrosive effect of the crap spread on the roads in the "CRC States" (as defined in the Brian Warner v. Toyota USA suit), and when maintained as any "normal" person might (define that as you will), it could not hack it and almost literally fell apart.

Perhaps they should have included a warning indicating that "special maintenance" was required in the rust-bucket states...

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¹ - Or more likely their sub-contractor, with piss-poor QC on Toyota's end.

² - The lamellar and exfoliation corrosion endemic in the Tacoma, Tundra and Sequoia frames in question is a near textbook example of poor process control during the manufacture of the steel from which the frames were formed--most likely a result of temperatures being too low during the rolling process (heat = energy = $$$).

 

Took another peak under my 2008 with 98000 miles .