Frame Rust on Toyota Tacoma's

This should be your focus, not blaming Toyota for the previous owner's actions. You NEVER weld on a frame unless you know exactly how it's done, and even then it's a pretty bad idea. This is probably the source of your problem. If you're smart, you'll get rid of that truck as fast as possible. Most likely some other mistakes were made with the "rust-proofing", since this is also not Toyota installed.

It's not hard to understand your frustration at being screwed on the purchase, but you DID have an opportunity to discover these problems before you paid, didn't you? Stop blaming Toyota, it's got nothing to do with the quality of the frame or materials.

Do you liver in a harsh winter area where the authorities use salt on the roads? that would helf the frame get cancer easily?

I also have a '99 Toyota SR5 extra cab 4X4 with the V6 engine. The frame is pristine with 95,000 miles on it. It is a Texas truck and has seen very little road salt since it was born. But, when it has been exposed to salt the under carriage has been washed ASAP to remove the salt.

Heh -- well,l don't look to Nissan for any answers.

My '95 Nissan pickup is sitting about 50 feet from my office, parked in my back parking lot, with the same exact problem. The body is pristine, the engine runs flawlessly -- and the frame is rusted completely through. It is not safe to drive, and Nissan will not stand behind their product.

Now, of course, their stance is "Hey, it's 12 years old!" To which, my response is: "Hey -- the frame isn't supposed to be the FIRST thing that rusts on a vehicle! You built a faulty piece of crap."

So, I bought a '95 Toyota T100 instead. (These vehicles are purely knock-around trucks, used only to haul stuff.) It's been exposed to Iowa winters for 12 years, lots of salt and snow -- yet the frame is perfect. Go figure.

So it's NOT *all* Toyotas.

I don't know the answer to your problem, but I've certainly learned to look UNDER every vehicle I might be buying.

-- Jay Honeck Iowa City, IA '95 Toyota T100 4x4

He as much as said that it had undercoating applied on top of the rust, so I think that pretty much explains the problem. That and the welding. Applying any coating on top of rust will usually accelerate the rot.

Got a 2000 in the warm SE U.S. and I know not of what you speak, sir. Seriously.

There's the real problem - someone tried to repair the frame before, and hid what they did under some undercoating. They don't come from the factory with either fishplates or undercoating on the chassis - they are made and then painted.

Bet you the truck was in a severe collision, and they had to heat and tweak the frame back into shape, reinforce where it bent, and then put on goop to hide the damage and the repairs. But when rustproofing is done improperly, the water and salt gets underneath and the rust is even more vicious.

And you probably didn't have the truck inspected by an independent mechanic before you bought it.

If it turns out that this frame was modified or repaired before you bought the truck, you really can't blame that on Toyota.

And this isn't something that you want to pay full-pop dealer rates for - You can DIY this, there are two hard parts. One is locating a replacement frame.

The other is documenting and registering the change of chassis VIN with the state DMV - If you don't do it the right way and they ever have a reason to look at the Chassis VIN, you could end up in jail on a stolen truck beef till it gets cleared up.

The rest is all wrench-work to move all the good parts over to the new chassis, and a lot of time to do it right. And if the truck was indeed in a wreck as I suspect, you may find a few other "surprises" hidden under a layer of Bondo that need to be dealt with.

Even if you have to buy a gantry crane (Harbor Freight 41188 $578 on sale) and a couple of chain-fall hoists ($50 each) to pick up the cab while you slide the old chassis out from under it and the new chassis in, you're still ahead.

No, the steel was fine - they needed to learn the finer parts about undercoating and painting the internal parts of the car, and sealing those internal cavities from the outside so water and salt couldn't get in to the pinch welds and cavities and merrily rust from the inside out.

Now that the unit-bodies get fully welded and then dip-tank primed and painted before final assembly, and the chassis gets powder-coated, that doesn't happen nearly as fast.

Older American cars rusted out the same way in the same conditions - only difference being they used thicker steel so it took longer.

The Chinese are still learning how to make a whole lot of things as cheap as possible and not get caught at it, including tires - we've had several big recalls where they left out critical layers of gum rubber at the steel belt edges, and the tires are shredding themselves from the inside out before they blow out.

Then there's the toothpaste with poisonous Ethylene Glycol as a thickening agent ("Ethylene, Propylene, what's the difference?"), the wheat gluten with Melamine in it, and the new one with all the Fisher Price kiddie toys deliberately painted with lead-based paints...

And yet they keep their Most Favored Nation trading status. What's up with that?

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If you want some pics of a frame swap check out DeepCove4x4.com in his my build section. Personally I think it's pretty sweet.

-Andrew

I have to agree with you. I live in upstate NY where they use LOTS of salt, but the frame on my 1989 Toyota 4wd PU was the first thing to rust through on my truck (even before the body). I have had it professionally welded twice now. The welder says he does at least 20 Japanese trucks per year. He even made a template for the most problematic area. He said he uses this template for all Japanese trucks because they are all sourced from the same place. I don't know if this is true, but that's what he said. I love everything else about my truck except that the frame went first. I would think the body would be pretty shot long before the frame went. LarryD