Frame check? 2006 Double Cab

I believe we've seen this one and concluded the long frame sections looked ok, But the lower seams and the body mount in that one picture tell a story of pain to come. It was a unanimous pass. Too much visible delamination and too much undercoat / paint hiding the evidence.

 

Don't worry y'all, we heeded the advice given here and by the mechanic at the prepurchase inspection, and passed on this one. The mechanic said someone had welded a plate over that hole, and poorly at that. Plus it needed a lot of other work like you said. We were also wondering why the bed had a bunch of particle board in it. And the door swung open on me as we pulled out of the lot too. We're going to keep looking. Hopefully some good options show up.

 

I gotta say though, as bad as that is , it's not always the end of the world. You find a good welder / fabricator, and they can do frame fixes for a decent Price, especially if the rest of the truck is really good, maintenance done ect. Obviously depends on case by case basis

 

It's been my experience that when steel is that badly delaminating, multiple layers deep, it's an exercise in futility. You must have at least some decent core metal to weld new frame sections onto, else your patch is going to fly off and kill someone one day while casually driving down the interstate.

 

Good!

I found my truck a few weeks after I looked at the one you saw. Guy listed it on Facebook Marketplace, it was in much better condition. Might keep an eye out on there.

 

The frame issue, although the most grievous, is not the only issue on these rusted trucks. Maintenance and repair / replacement of parts will be a pain as well. All the bolts and fittings will be rusted and corroded. Things will begin to spring leaks, like fuel lines or brake lines. Save yourselves the pain and find one that is not suffering from rust. Unless you enjoy the pain.

 

For sure. Im in the process of pretty much doing that, doing all sorts of maintenance and upkeep, repairs and mods along the way. Its a process, but when you consider what these platforms are capable of, how nice of a size it is compared to modern trucks, and the price comparison, its not the worst.

For example I payed 14k CAD for mine, and boy is it rough. But its got some good as well, definitely has potential. Even if I drop another 5k in maintenance and upkeep, for 19k CAD, to have a truck thats all up to date with maintenance and has new bushings, bearings, tie rods, control arms, frame repaired and coated in fluid film, ect ect ect.... thats decent, and it thens become a solid platform to build on for adventures and whatnot.

Anyways not trying to convince anyone, just my thought pattern. But like I said though, case by case basis obviously, if your frame is cracked in half...maybe not? depends

 

for sure! Can always cut farther away until you meet the good metal, make a bigger patch, ect. But , as I said, it just depends on case by case

 

I'm still amazed by how terrible the frames are on these trucks. I'm pretty sure we've lost more first gens to rust than wrecks. I wonder if Dana Corp used Chinese steel back in the day. I have to assume that if you were lucky enough to get a new frame, they are much better quality...?

 

I've seen a few vids of replaced frames years later and still talking about rust build up... but not sure if it's normal amounts or excessive for a newer frame

 

I've got another frame I could use opinions on. Not sure if I should make a new thread, I don't want to spam.
https://vidmails.com/v/C9sqIH5EXy Not sure why they sent me a video instead of pictures, but whatever.
This is an '01 from Greenville, South Carolina. It's farther away than I'd normally look, Autotempest defaulted my search radius to 300 mi and then showed me this truck 426 mi from me anyway. I'm willing to go that far if its a good truck, but I'll probably complain the whole time.
It does have a P0161 O2 heater circuit code. Which other than rusty hardware doesn't seem like too bad to fix.
What do y'all think?

 

Not sure if you been looking OP, but i'd also check out FB marketplace (where I got mine, you might have to borrow a family members account) or craigslist. While obviously fb has its own shitpile of issues, you usually have a better selection from private seller for these trucks rather than from a stealership. Why? most of the used car dealerships get their older inventory from an auction, not always a bad thing, but where you run into issues just as hidden accidents, paint jobs, flooding, and rust coverups. Why do you think dealerships always post the most shittest pictures (hide imperfections), plus they pressure you like no tommorow.

At least with fb marketplace for the most part, you can usually know what you're getting, either through pictures or their maintenance history. Plus, you can relatively use your BS meter to gauge whether a sellers being shady or not. Usually their main focus is getting the most $$, especially if it's in good shape.

 

I might be wrong, but from this angle, does this look like a crack in the metal to others?

 

Id say unfortunately that video does not show much at all. While needle scaling my entire frame, I can tell you that some areas look awesome. Other areas my needle scaler chopped off a bunch of plates of rust, and unfortunately in a few areas, it went through. Point is, you really gotta spend like 15-20 minutes with a hammer tapping away, enough to feel any part of the frame, cross members, anything, giving way when you tap. By giving way I mean crunching in

 

They have 11 photos of exterior/interior but no pics of frame at below link. Video is very lacking but can give somewhat of a look. I would ask for pics if really interested and say screw them if not willing to provide pics.

Used 2001 Toyota Tundra For Sale at Fairway Ford | VIN: 5TBBT48141S131265

 

The T100s were just as bad. None exist around here anymore.

 

The video is what they sent me when I asked for pics of the frame. I wish sellers would just add those pictures to begin with. But I know they do it hoping buyers don't look at the frame before they buy the car.

 

That one is in decent shape with just surface rust on the welds and elsewhere.

 

It's an 01. It could still have an active frame recall on it. You need to see if it was sprayed previously thus fulfilling the recall (junk) or if someone has ignored it and it's still active, then see how bad the rot is on the spare tire crossmember. Get the VIN to determine recall status on toyota.com/owners.

The company that bought Dana still makes the frames about an hour and a half away from me. Probably using the same steel and E-coat process as we use here at our plant. Not sure where we source our steel from honestly.

 

Do I just create an account and put in the vin as if I already own the truck?

 

Yes.

Looks like a solid southern frame to me. It's probably either seen some beach time or a little salt road, but nothing worse than you'd find anywhere from North Carolina downward. Very structurally solid looking to me. I'd probably still clean up a few spots at the welded seams and if it would be up north I'd coat it after the paint had a full 2-3 weeks to cure.

Are you talking about the thing I'm circling in red or blue? I think the thing I'm circling in blue is just an artifact/illusion. The thing I'm circling in red is just the sloppy ass weld job you typically see on the 'rabbit ears' gusset plate they use at the body mounts.

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I don't see frame work anywhere in the service records, and it says no open recalls in the recalls section. Is there somewhere else to look? They declined service on the front strut assembly but replaced the shock? Aren't struts and shocks the same thing?

I did see the following in the service history. Can someone decode this for me?



They declined service on the front strut assembly but replaced the shocks? Aren't those the same thing?

 

"Strut" is colloquially reference to the entire assembly: Shock, coil, and buckets.

I see upper balljoint referenced too. My guess is the stealership did the typical stealership thing and tried to upcharge in order to get work extra work out of the job. "Well, we're replacing the lower ball joint, may as well refresh the upper ball joint and strut assembly also, for a small upcharge of $2,500 just to be safe. Wouldn't feel great about you driving outta here knowing we replaced the lower balljoint but didn't replace anything else between the upper and lower control arms, because, well you know, you can't be too careful with your front suspension and steering and safety is our #1 priority!"

 

Anyway, haven't seen the body, but that is definitely a clean frame.

 

The link BubbaW posted earlier goes to the listing.
I'll attach the initial list of problems below. Upper ball joints, sway bar end links, and driver cv axle. Are these expensive repairs? Toyota also doesn't list the timing belt in the service history. So I can use that to haggle them down hopefully.

 

While the TIS record is not 100% conclusive IMHO, it shows Recall 90M was "Not applicable for VIN". Agree the frame looks very decent and not surprised it does not qualify if true.

 

So it needed (needs) all that front end work, has a questionable timing belt and frame, and has a check engine light on. Awesome truck. Also want $10k for it with 240k miles on the clock.

 

Ah holy crap, I read that as "7/2007", I didn't realize it was 6 weeks ago.

Yeah, that's a lot of stuff to do. Unless the price was right, I'd be passing on it too. I'd need to see whether 4WD works or not, and inspect the front-end myself to see what's wrong. Grease sling is often overstated. Metal on metal is probably a strut failure (probably on original struts) and a cheap fix most people can DIY. It could also be swaybar bushings or other things causing the clunk/metal on metal.

 

I mean tbh if I was if I was expecting to sellor trade to a stealership in the upcoming months, I wouldn’t get any of that work done either. My guess for the refusals