Yet another rust story - how screwed am I?

Keep us posted. Hope everything turns out ok for ya...

 

Call Toyota Corp with your VIN, don't call a dealership about the frame recall especially not one in SoCal. They hardly if ever have to deal with frame swaps out here because you hardly see frames that bad here. I certainly would not put a long travel kit on it until you get it worked out; wheeling a long travel truck with a bad frame is asking for trouble.

 

Good luck, keep us updated please..

 

This same sort of thing happened to me recently. I purchased a super low mileage (47k) tacoma from a small dealership in Massachusetts. The truck has already had the frame replaced under the extended warranty back in 2010 but to be safe I also had a Toyota dealership do a pre purchase inspection since I was buying the truck sight unseen and having it shipped to Atlanta.

Well sure enough, when I received the truck, besides the check engine light (o2 sensor) and the struts leaking all their oil, the truck was rusted... bad. The rear axle housing was rusted through and everything from the gas tank to the shock mounts were covered in rust. I initially listed the truck for sale but couldn't bring myself to sell it private party even though I would obviously have disclosed any/all information. I ended up trading it in at a dealership at a loss and figured they could deal with it.

If you decide it's not worth the headache, check with a Toyota dealership to see how much they will buy it for as a trade in.

 

Wait you had a Toyota dealership do a pre-purchase inspection for you and they didn't say anything about the rust?? I'd be livid, makes it seem like they didn't look at it at all.

 

Could be worse...

 

Yes, and I was. To be honest, I think the service advisor at the dealership was friends with the dealership that sold me the truck. I was beyond livid. I called and complained to Toyota USA and they didn't do anything except return my $130 bucks for the inspection.

 

Oh, that's bad.... But don't give up yet. May be rusty as hell and probably rotten on some spots, but your frame could still be salvageable.

What you have to do is bang the frame with a hammer. This will show you what is still solid and what is not and will need to be patched. You'll then have a better idea of all the repairs and work it will require

Good places to start with are:
where the leaf springs attach to the frame, right behind the cab, as this area is usually the first place where these frames start to rot.
frame rails by the gas tank and the catalytic converter, as these are commonly rotten spots

 

To me it does not look bad at all !!!!

No big huge holes

some good cleaning and keep after it you should be fine.

My truck looks like that every spring with patches of good paint here and there.

While your cleaning things don`t forget the back side of the rear axle they like to rust as well

Don`t be to hard on the seller there are still quite a few people clueless about the frame rust issues

 

https://www.toyota.com/owners/parts-service/history

sign up and enter your VIN

it could be bad but like @Wyoming09 said could just be lots of surface rust. start tapping places.

And since it is in CA it shouldn't progress rapidly like it would over here.

 

Thanks - just signed up. Could see the Toyota service history (Carfax showed other non-Toyota dealer service as well). Paints a pretty clear picture that the truck has been brought in to Toyota pretty regularly up until Feb of 2016.

It's only in CA for the restoration work - new paint (a bit faded and some scratches), suspension mods, etc. When I drive it back home it'll be nestled in a nice warm garage when I'm not driving it and I wash my cars pretty regularly - getting a car wash that sprays out the undercarriage is huge now that every street seems to be treated with that brine solution.

 

Got through to Toyota Corporate this morning. They are going to assign a case worker for it. My hope is that a So Cal (Orange, CA) dealer can take a look at it and see if it would qualify for a frame replacement so I don't have to drive it ALL the way back to VA in order to get it checked out. I'll update this thread as I learn more.

Again, thanks to all for the comments and suggestions - super helpful.

 

All part of the Friendly TW service!

 

The only bad thing How much frame Rust does a South California dealer see??

Your Truck might freak them out .

Also why all the West Coasters think it is so bad .

Me I have seen and Repaired far worse

 

Looks solid enough to be patched up with reinforcement places

 

I agree with most of whats been said. go around the entire frame and bang on it with a hammer or something, inside and out. If it doesnt sound weird or go straight through, you're good. Get a can of POR15, spray paint, and (in my opinion) grease. Take the bed off and sand the frame down to bare metal if possible and make sure the frame is still structurally sound, paint it with a few coats POR, a few coats paint, and grease. Like onakat said, the rear end is generally where its worst. You can even get frame plates, like Wulf said, or box the rear end. It looks salvageable to me, just needs some work.

 

OP, send the PO a 3-pack of asbestos underwear, with a "Jockey" label...

 

It never ceases to amaze me how Toyota could build such a reliable long lasting truck and then screw up the frame. I could understand one batch or even one year of bad frames but this has gone on for many years. Until I bought this Taco 4 years ago my only car for almost 20 years was a '73 Cadillac Coupe DeVille. It was originally a NJ car and I bought it in VA in 1996. When I gave it to a friend back in 2015 the frame was still in perfect shape and it had been in UT and NV for 15 years where they salt the roads big time. It had rust but still just surface rust after all those years in the rust belt. I undid bolts on the underside of that car that I know for a fact hadn't been undone since it was new and they came right out. The body, of course was a different story when I first bought it but since I painted cars back then I spent the 400 hours and put a real nice paint job on it.

I just don't get it. Whatever Toyota has saved with cheap assed frames with the wrong metallurgy has probably costed them 1000 times what they saved and probably far more than that. From what I understand it was the nickel content in the metal that has caused these rust problems. I forget whether it was not enough or too much.

 

Dana Corp was at fault for the frames. Toyota sued them for it as well. But you're right, you'd think after a couple years of bad frames you'd crack down on the company that was making them for you. Not a decade + later.

 

The thing was it was a few years down the road to the problem was noticed on a National level at least in the Northern States .

The liquid Brine caused a major impact not only on the vehicles but the steel in bridges as well

I had already fixed a few of these Trucks before the Buy back Started .

Buying bed mounts ,shock mounts and cross members I remarked to the my dealer what is going on here 20 year old vehicles are not this bad .

Did Dana spec the steel wrong ?? Did the Steel Mill pour it wrong Fudge the spec sheets that go with each coil who can say.

The former Dana plant in Reading Pa is now a Parking lot . I feel sorry for all the employees that lost their jobs over this .

Will the new frames hold up to the liquid brine we can only wait and hope