Frame rust opinion needed

Hey, I have been looking for a first gen for a little while now as a second vehicle and ran across the forum a month or so ago.

I found a 2005 DC pretty close to me, and I wanted some opinions on the frame before I go look at it. Both the truck and I are located in TN. Not the best pictures but its what he sent..

 

Looks good to me. 20 years old with hardly any rust.

 

Frame looks pretty good from here.

Muffler looks like it might be installed backwards (arrow on muffler can is point towards the front of the truck).

Shiny carrier bearing on driveshaft. I'd inquire what brand was used. Anything other than Spicer/Toyota is junk.

Shiny tie rod end jam nut means it could have new tie rod ends.

Watch out for ducks (I see a Jeep JK in the background).

 

Check the bed for rust if there’s a liner. These trucks are known to rust from the underside up into the bed. From what I see it looks okay. You’ll want to check the reinforcement in the rear of the cab for delaminating and rust through (not shown here; in front of rear wheel wells on inside of frame area).

 

Slack ebrake cable. Scaling rust on rear differential and spare tire. Surface rust appearing directly underneath where the overlap delaminates. Others mentioned the newer looking bits, muffler TRE, rear bullies, carrier bearing etc. make sure those are OEM and not cheapy junk.

 

The frame stiffener brace in front of the leaf spring perch is pooched, you can see where it bulges the frame outward. Pretty much every one we see is bulged out there though so i cant say its bad bad but we have definitely seen worse.
The majority of the frame looks ok from the pictures shown, little bit of surface rust scattered but nothing deep and pronounced. The frame stiffener brace i am talking about though is the one that keeps the frame from bending if you load the bed heavy or hook up a trailer with a high tongue weight. I would certainly NOT plan on towing a massive load with it and the frame stiffener brace at 50% capacity or whatever it may be since its delaminating and the OEM frame is bulged out due to the rust growing and expanding between the stiffener brace and the actual frame. I cant tell you how much or what percentage its compromised but you can see the lower frame bulging under it, so the brace is certainly delaminating and layered and pooching the frame outward.
I would venture to say the load capacity of the bed, or tongue weight of a trailer should be lowered in half as a safety measure. So dont plan on towing anything super heavy otherwise you could potentially risk the frame bending in that spot. Some good pictures of that area once you see it would definitely help to figure out how bad it is, but the rest of the frame around it isnt terrible but the stiffener brace is critical to the frame staying straight when loaded.

 

Looks about the same as my frame. There's certainly worse out there, and better too. I'd check around the frame reinforcement areas, and also around the leaf springs.

 

This right here. I know we're spoiled down here in Texas, but unless the price is just mind blowing I'd steer clear.

 

Indeed, those two bumps on the frame are where the stiffener rivets into the frame, just inside the frame rail.

It is weird it’s bowed like that. I assume that means the stiffener is delaminated inside the rail. As we see so often. It could be a good price reduction point, then pull a new one from a wrecked frame … support the frame firmly on each side of the stiffener, I’d use a wood 4x4 under the rail with a jack to push it up tight, then pop the delam’d stiffener out and bolt the new one in.

The rivets pop out of frames if you grind or shear the lump/head off, then hammer out the center of the rivet where the head was.

 

Didn't think Toyota sold those? I know one member made his own. Mine is slightly delaminated on one side. Not ideal but hasn't gotten any worse in the 9 years I've owned it. I've pumped it full of PB Blast and Fluid Film.

 

“then pull a new one from a wrecked frame”

I mean, “new” is relative, maybe “good” would have been better received in my reply?

If mine ever delaminated, I wouldn’t hesitate to find a parts truck, and pop its stiffeners out, then bolt onto my frame. It’s just critical any time you do this, you only do one side at a time, use high-grade hardware with poly-lock nuts and washers, and you support the length of frame rail across the span you’re working so it doesn’t buckle. I’ve seen it too many times when people notch their frame rail to drop/bag their trucks.

 

As suspected delaminating in the stiffener. I didn’t see much more then that other then surface rust. Otherwise the truck is very clean inside and out. I ended up picking it up for 6k.

Once it warms up a little I plan on taking the bed off and really cleaning everything up and coating everything to hopefully stop it from getting worse. I’ll also be keeping my eye out for a frame to pull stiffeners off of. At the very least I’m clean it up and coat it in PB blaster and fluid film until I find some.

oh and I guess I should mention it’s a 2005 DC 4x4 with 270k miles. I don’t plan on towing anything more than a utility trailer. Mostly be using it for trips to Lowe’s and camping

 

Congrats! Holler if you need anything or want to hit some trails around Tellico. I'm just up the the road in Knoxville.

 

Figured I should post a picture of the actual truck. Thanks for the advice.