New 2004 Tundra and i discovered frame rust :(

Well i guess it's time to become a welder, I bought this truck and got ripped off pretty bad. 04 Tundra, test drive was fine. Frame painted and looked great (I did not inspect with a hammer, like your supposed to, now I know better).

Mechanical fixes- drive shaft u joints and carrier bearing, driver side rear wheel bearing with ebay tool. Bent rear rim (hmmm same side as the bearing....)

Went to hunt down a noisy clunk in the front end and found paint over spray foam, a big hole behind the driver sway bar bracket mount. Yep Spray foam!! Too late now, it's been weeks since I bought it, My problem now.
I did text curse the seller for being such a nasty and deliberately concealing a rusty hole like this, no response.

Moving on, I am now in the acceptance phase, and have a good friend that specializes in car restorations. We are going to repair weld the bad spot, and probably find a few more as well.

Diving into this after the fact, I am very disappointed in the amount of rusty frames out there. There are probably loads of these things rusting away without the owners having any idea.

Spray wash, fluid film, a bunch of welding and maybe just maybe i get to keep this for a few years at least.

One area i see alot, the rear frame re-inforcement brackets, mine as well as many others are seperating from the lower frame. Can you buy these backets new, and re-install?

 

I hate to hear that, but the folks on this forum can likely help you identify the best courses of action. Welcome from LA (Lower Alabama)!

 

Welcome from NY.
Sorry to hear about how you got scammed.

 

That sucks. I'd get it inspected by Toyota and see if they'll replace the frame.

 

Welcome, we like pics

 

Welcome. Pics of offending spray foam.

 

First of all, small claims court is there for a reason on private sales, and most states have a Consumer Protection Division for dealerships in cases just like yours. Someone cannot knowingly sell you a dangerous vehicle, and it sounds like that vehicle is dangerous as hell.

What state do you live in? What state did you buy it from? Did you buy it from a private seller, or a dealer?

It doesn't matter if it's been weeks. It's very easy to legally prove that damage didn't happen in weeks. You just need photo documentation and a report from a dealer or other authoritative place. You cannot be expected to find every single bit of problem especially when the seller clearly went out of their way to hide, mask, cover up, deceive. They'd have no legal ground to stand on saying that damage happened after purchase, or to claim what they did with foam was a "repair" to a structural body.

If you choose to bend over and take it, uh, I guess you'll find lots of info here: https://www.tundras.com/threads/so-you-wanna-buy-just-bought-a-1st-gen-tundra-eh.115928/

(Including frame restoration parts)

Seriously though. Lawyer up, dude. Else this fraudster is going to fuck over someone else.

 

Please answer shifty’s questions, you may have some recourse!

 

OP, check out this thread. Buyer purchased from out of state, discovered terrible frame rust, and was still able to recover 80% of his purchase price.

I got screwed | Toyota Tundra Forum (tundras.com)

 

Hi guys, I am in the acceptance phase of this journey. I bought used, private, and from what appears to be a shady bugger, he has disappeared. $9,800 CDN. So onto my new learning experience. It seems that the frame is in good shape except for the hole above the sway bar bracket. The plan is to remove the sway bar, clean up the area, cut out the section that is rusted. Butt weld in a patch, and weld over a fish plate re-inforcement patch.

The rust is from the inside. Shop vacumed it all out. Wow what a mess. For now this will keep me going.
Long term fluid film can slow the process down. I'm on Vancouver island BC. We do not salt the roads, i have that at least

The repair caps available look great, but very expensive. I think i can get ones fabricated up at my daughters school shop for way cheap.

If i ever sell this truck i'll go over the frame with the buyer and have them agree and sign a "as-is' frame has been repaired/modified bill of sale. At that point it will only be worth $5000 or less anyway. We have plenty of 4x4 groups here and that's all they do.

Thanks very much. Without sites like these i'd be really disappointed and not able to think a clear repair path out of this mess.

 

I'd still check to see if Toyota will replace the frame. Not sure if that a Canadian thing though.

 

Welding is not that bad. It is actually fun. Especially, if the rest of the frame is intact.

I would actually cut the frame in a few spots with the best guts observation, then vacuum clean/power wash it good, weld back and spray some good cavity wax with a long flexible 360 degree wand.

 

I checked with Toyota, recall is over in Canada, and they say no frames available. Hmmmmm seems like a brush off eh. I'll post pics today when i get under it in the day light.

 

1. https://www.autorust.com/product-category/toyota/tundra-2000-2006/2000-2006-tundra-double-cab/

2. https://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-internal-frame-coating-14oz-aerosol.html

 

Damn, out here on the little islands they love the road salt…
Good luck on the repair, post pics of it all