How bad is this frame rust?

Hi,

This is my first post as a new member and I hope I’m posting this in the right forum. I was about to pull the trigger on a 2005 Tundra with low mileage (121k) which I found on Craigslist. I thought it was a private sale but the guy I spoke with said he was a dealer. So we chatted a bit and I asked for a VIN which checked out.

When I asked about the frame, he said it has some rust but was painted and undercoated. The truck apparently was in New York for 3 years and then spent 11 years in Florida. I then asked for photos of the frame which were not included on the original ad (see attached).

It doesn’t look too bad to my untrained eye but then again I figure I better get a second opinion.

Thanks in advance.

 

It's worse than it looks at first glance. Needs an inspection.

 

Well, its impossible to really tell with the coating over it. Which I would consider a red flag in itself unless I could get under there and bang about with a hammer and see if anything flakes off.

The fact that it looks like they sprayed it right on the U-joints and everything seems a little...odd...as well.

 

Agreed. The only reason to paint over rust rather than stripping it off before hand is if you are hiding something. General rule, dealers are trying to screw you. Do not trust anything they say.

 

Need to know what it is coated with too. If it's the rubber crap like ziebart then it just seals in the problem and hides it from view.

 

It doesn't look terrible.* *A terribly rusted frame will show scaling, rust at the mfr'd holes in the frame, etc. Sure, they could have scrubbed some of that away but given the extreme laziness shown in spraying on the silly paint, it doesn't look like anyone would have been scraping off any rust.

Do what we all do and crawl under it and whack it with a ball peen hammer to see if it sounds solid or crusty.

 

I agree with this and most of the other sentiments replied. That undercoating is brand new, which, considering it's a dealer, likely done to conceal how bad it is.

Hard pass from me. There's too many really nice rust-free trucks where I live (and low $$) to warrant buying lipstick-on-pig garbage like this.

This tells me everything, here. This is what the rest of the frame looked like pre-spray. This truck'll rust from the inside out, and you'd never know b/c of that coating.

Run, Forrest, run.

 

PS - if you let me know what part of Gulf Coast/TB area you're hunting, roundabout, I can give you some links to search tools.

 

Thanks all, this is super helpful. If I were local to Tampa, I would definitely check the frame in person and probably get an inspection. But unfortunately I’m not, so will pass on this one.

 

Thanks, I’m in Orlando but willing to drive pretty much anywhere in Florida or even further out.

 

Don't buy a truck with an undercoating over the frame. It's just a problem waiting to happen.

I can already see some rust issues where it gets rough looking on some of the frame portions.

 

I would concur with @jimf909 . I've seen worse, but I've seen better too.
The thing that has me concerned is the sprayed coating on the driveshaft. If it was a situation where the owner told his lot mechanic to "take care of the rust", he may have just got under there and sprayed everything with rust on it. No bueno, as our southern friends say...
Surface rust is not a big problem. Definitely needs a Detailed Visual Inspection to get my vote.

 

Got it. Spent plenty of time there, and actually drove down to check out a Tundra at a dealership over by The Florida Mall, a couple miles from my old lighting gig off Sand Lake Rd. I spent a good 10 years in Central FL, it's changed a hell of a lot since I left.

Here are a few search links that may help out, I just modified some of the searches I'd been doing for downtown Orlando's zip, basically drilling down to Toyota Tundra, and setting a "Max Year" of 2006, so only 1st gen trucks. You could further refine by miles, and you can setup search alerts on the first couple of links with CarGurus, Cars.com etc. You can also refine by cab type if you need to.

The cool part about using these is, many will come with a free CarFax report so you can check which states it was registered in and/or received work in, which will let you know if it's seen salt roads or not. CarFax will sometimes also tell you if the timing belt work has been done through maintenance records, or if the truck has been maintained. Timing belt is important, if it snaps, engine is trashed, and it needs to be done every 9yr/90k mile per Toyota, although 10yr/100k plus/minus 10%-20% is cool.

https://www.truecar.com/used-cars-f...in-2006/location-orlando-fl/?searchRadius=150

https://www.cars.com/shopping/resul...k_type=used&year_max=2006&year_min=&zip=32801

https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/inven...rivate&modelChanged=true&filtersModified=true

https://orlando.craigslist.org/sear...to_year=2006&postal=32801&search_distance=200

 

Yup, driveshaft is a balanced component. You don't necessarily want to be coating it with something uneven in texture.

 

Awesome, thanks for putting this together. Greatly appreciate the links and the advice!

I've been mostly looking at FB Marketplace and a bit on CL but will expand my search.

I also asked the dealer if they changed the timing belt and he said he wasn't sure. So probably a bit of a red flag since the truck has over 100k.

 

Yeah, it's anywhere from $800-1500 to get TP/WP changed regardless where you go, so it's a big maintenance item to factor into purchase.

And of course, if you find one that's 4WD, you'll want to confirm 4HI engages, just don't turn the wheels while it's engaged. 4LO requires being in 4HI and Neutral, IIRC. Just replacing a single actuator can be north of $500.

If you find one that's 2WD, you'll want to check the transmission crossmember mounting bolts, especially if you hear clunks while turning, but you can do that after the fact.

I can't recommend enough using True Car, Car Gurus, Cars.com over FBM or CL. You're going to get more dealers, so you'll potentially pay at a higher price point, but at least you can see the seller's reputation immediately from others who shopped there, often times see CarFax to know some history, get the VIN so you can potentially lookup Toyota's records on the vehicle and see how it was optioned via the Toyota Owners website. Private sell comes with a lot of word-of-mouth, but potentially higher reward.

I ultimately found my truck through True Car, USAA was partnering with them at the time, so I got 5% off my purchase and a buyback guarantee if anything was wrong. (Sadly, it expired before the alternator caught fire a couple weeks later, but I would've kept the truck anyway!)

 

So newbie question here. I'm trying to figure out what an original frame in good shape without an undercoating looks like. Would it look something like the one in this thread but with less surface oxidation?

 

Here are some pics of my frame. My truck was originally sold in Birmingham, AL and pretty much spent most of its 1st 60k miles there, only to see about 6k more not far away, then traded-in at a dealership in Auburn AL. It may've seen a few days of road salt from freak snows in north AL & GA but not much.

For us in the south, you'll pretty much want to see totally oxidized black paint, to the point it's basically charcoal grey. No rust at the joints. If remotely shiny, that's a red flag unless there's proof the frame was recall/replaced, which does happen. In that case, everything else around it is going to look rusty as hell, and the frame will look virtually new.

Another place to look for rust is inside the engine bay. If you notice a lot of steel fasteners in the engine bay are rusted, the vehicle has seen a significant salt.

Here's some reference from mine. Not perfect but most of the rust is strangely limited to the OEM tow/trailer mount. And this is with a camera flash, which makes any hint of surface rust light up like a reflector.

 

Oh, and it's worth mentioning what may be obvious, but I dunno.

You and I both know how many snowbirds saturate FL. Lots of folks commuting from NY and Ohio year in and year out. Making that commute back and forth. They're not dumb, they know they'll get more $$ for their rusted out shitboxes in FL than they will in NY because FL folks don't know what to look for the way buyers in the rust/salt belt do. Your market will be peppered with those vehicles more than inland areas around me are.

Pay special attention to steel clamps and bolts under the hood of the truck, in the engine bay.
Look very closely at the "X" shaped steel brace/crossmember above the spare tire, expecially where it connects to the main frame rails.
Look very closely at the areas where the leaf springs and their mounts connect to the main frame rails.
Pay attention to any welded joint, look carefully for rust in those long welds, rust will often attach there before hitting the long flat rail surfaces.

 

@shifty` How much are you asking for it???

 

Yeah, that would be typical surface rust. The original frame is typically a matte black in color, not shiny.

The problem with undercoatings is that water can get in between the coating and actual frame to rust your truck prematurely. So unless you plan to strip it all off and leave it exposed or protect it properly (i.e. a rust inhibitor like POR-15 or Chassis Saver), you'll always be at risk.

 

Ditto. lol

 

I feel personally attacked being from NY

Cars barely last 3-4 years up here before the salt literally eats away at everything. I have to use Krown rust protection just so I can keep a car longer than 5 years. An undercoating like that I would pass on the vehicle.

 

Thanks again! What a gold mine of info and advice. Speaks to the quality of this forum and its members

 

Like a lot of things in life, "Nature of the Beast". I have friends from upstate, I wouldn't want to deal with your salt roads, your winters, or your deer issues

But man, do I have a great time when I visit! They're scattered around Ontario, Seneca, and Tompkins counties.

I'll take $40k!

In all seriousness though, when I took the 2020 Highlander in for a recent traction control recall/ECU reflash, about an hour in, I got a call from the dealership. I thought it was my service advisor, but it was their used car sales guy wanting to buy the Highlander and Tundra off me. IIRC they wanted to give us 50 for the SUV and 20 for the truck. I wrote what the actual numbers were in the Lunch thread, I think.

 

Oh awesome! I am in the finger lakes region.

 

Geeze, that's pretty. I thought cars in the west had little rust but that looks new.

 

If I ever find a replacement frame, I’m going to have it hot galvanized dipped so I never have to worry about rust for as long as I own it.

 

PHM was a big proponent of lathering the frame up with Bearing Grease..

I'm fortunate to have access to a decent supply of Fluid Film and one of those handy-dandy spray hoses with the Aerator tip on it, so you can get in all kinds of places.

 

I’d rather just treat it once and forget about it. At least with a hot dip, it'll coat the inside of the boxed frame area.