2nd Gen bed rust.

Well, I bout my 2011 about 4 months ago and it’s in great shape minus a few scratches and a couple parking lot door dings.
I pulled the plastic liner out yesterday in hopes to soon raptor line the bed. I was surprised with rust in all 4 corners of the bed. The under side of the bed is in pretty good shape. I’m wondering if anyone has ever fixed their rust themselves by cutting out the rust and welding in some new metal?

 

Some more of the underneath.

 

Yes, it's possible. That's what I hope to do.

https://www.tundras.com/threads/bed-rusted-through-what-can-i-do-with-it.49097/

 

Here's mine. Yours doesn't look too bad by comparison.

 

Thanks Man, hope to get it fixed ASAP. Living in the rust belt sucks. Gotta stay on top of it.

 

My box is about to fly off on the highway it’s so rusted out from underneath up

 

Mine feels like that too. For a while I thought something was bouncing around back there. But I took everything out of it and out of the back of the cab and then I realized it's just the bed.

 

Guess I get to learn how to weld lol.

OP, you might be well served to try to grind/sand off that rust and see if there's still good metal down there. It looks like there might be. That would be less involved than removing the bed to cut and weld.

 

yikes...gotta remove my bedliner to check!

 

The drop in liners are the worest because they trap water under them. They also rub and wear away the paint so that the trapped water has a good place to start the rust. I bought my truck from Virgina Beach 2 years ago and had rust under the liner. I had it fixed and Line Xed.

 

The 2nd gen had a tsb for the rust in the places you have. I was out of warranty when I found mine so I had to fix it out of pocket. The 3rd post down on this thread is my pictures after the fix. I didn't have a drop in liner, had a bed rug with a cover. The rust comes from the bottom up from what I have read. I think Toyota did not seam seal something under the bed and water gets trapped and starts rusting below. https://www.tundras.com/threads/rust-repair-recommendations.38038/

 

If it is terribly bad as Blacksheep shows, I would look for a replacement bed. While the bed is off the truck you can fix any rust below also.
I know I have seen them on craiglist on occasion.

 

Unfortunately the drop-in liners have nothing to do with the bed rusting for THIS issue. I have the same rust on my 2010 and its had a spray-in liner since new! The rust is caused by poor manufacturing and not sealing the underside properly causing moisture to get in where the bed attaches to the frame. Thus rusting from the underside up! You can see the rust pushing the line-x up in all 4 corners of my bed. My quick fix so I didn't see it every time i accessed my bed was to put in a drop in bed liner...out of site kind of out of mind.

 

I just recently bought a used 2007 Tundra was cleaning it out and deciding how to apply fluid film to the frame to preserve it.

Next I wanted to check out the bed, I removed the bed liner and noticed the usual rust along the supporting frame in the front and back of the bed. Must be bad bed design looks like it rusted from under the bed.

My question is do I have to replace the supporting frame and then sand down all the rust and then weld a patch the rusted out areas of the bed frame?

 

I just bought a 2007 Tundra as well and it has a drop in liner too. I didn't think to look under it but after reading this thread I'm a bit nervous. I'm starting to feel some buyers remorse because of all the issues these trucks have. It's enough to worry about the frame even though it had a clean bill of health from a local dealer last year. I haven't really gotten a good look at it yet. A search of the previous service history also turned up two AIP repairs already. This kind of stuff is worrisome.

 

Here is what I found after pulling out the drop in Plastic bed liner. I used a chisel and framing hammer to chip away at the swollen rusted metal to expose the eaten up bed floor.

My frame looks good with only some surface rust. The only bad rust is on the bed floor and only where the cross member is and around where they used the panel glue to build the truck bed floor. I am sure it is a design issue (nothing to do with the plastic bed liner), but the Toyota lawyers did a good job avoiding a recall.

After reading through the site to see how people fixed the rust holes I think the basic procedure is

1. Remove the bed, put it on saw horse's
2. Get Rust removal wheel from Harbor Freight for your 4" Angle Grinder and start sanding out any rust you can find.
3. Take the Bed to your local Auto panel fabricator and patch rusted Support cross members and patch the rusted out holes in your bed.
4. Apply rust inhibitor to the bottom of your bed and any bare newly welded metal showing on the bed surface.
5. Bolt the Bed back in place and drop your plastic Bed liner back in place.

I will have to remind myself to check the condition of the bed under the plastic bed liner at least once a year. Waiting for spring so I can start this project (too cold to work in the Garage...)

If all else fails instead of getting a complete new/used bed I will convert it to a flat bed, maybe add IPE wood floor on top of an Aluminium frame. I dont use the truck for work so just needs to look pretty.

I think I will start a build page to document all the fixes/upgrades/accessories I install along the way. Maybe it will help someone fixing similar issues.

 

Nice reminder. I will be checking mine this spring on my new 07. I could weld my own metal in, but then thinking if your not going to see with the bed liner in....fiberglass could be an option. Remove all rust, spray surrounding area with phosphoric acid, let dry over night. sand down, add piece of metal to large hole. Could rivet, but Fiberglas will hold it. I use Duraglass from NAPA. Kitty hair works good too. Prime with self etching primer, than paint. Removing the bed is an option if it is really bad, might as well do it all and touch up that part of the frame as well. That's were most of the rust issues occur anyway.

 

Dear Toyota, please stop buying pig iron from china, and understand we have a whole lotta salt around this country.

 

I took a look at the back section of my bed under the liner. I found one rust spot the size of a silver dollar near the left side mounting area and a smaller one on the right. This is disappointing. I didn't have a chance to completely pull it out yet because of the tonneau cover. I couldn't see anything from underneath the bed but on another note the frame looks fine.

 

@bleach Its usually bad near the Passenger side front of the bed. I would suggest you remove the liner completely and fully inspect the bed. My frame also only has some surface rust, looks fine. My Bed definitely needs the support cross members to be reinforced and then holes patched.

 

Thats not bad at all. Also dont psych yourself out. These are great trucks with much less flaws than Ford or chevy. Dont even get started on dodge. Mines an 08 as well and of course its not perfect its 12 years old!

 

Any updates you can share?

Thanks in advance!!

 

Yes, I pulled it out and it was plenty ugly. I only cleaned the dirt and debris from the bed and put the liner back. I don't have the ability to repair the rust. I'm really angry at myself for missing this before buying the truck and at Toyota for designing something like this.

 

Just took my liner out today and the bed looks exactly like the pictures posted here! :-| Mine is 2010 4x4 double cab and I'm in MD. I bought it new with liner and it's been garage kept all but 6 months while I built a new house. I've also had an Extang Tonno cover on it the entire time. Hard to believe it's so bad. In one spot I can see the road.

 

2014 tundra with 45,000 miles on it. Had spray in Rhino liner installed when I purchased used in 2017 with 21,000 miles. I have had fluid film sprayed under entire truck every fall. Pennsylvania truck. No rust anywhere on frame and not visible from underneath.

This bed issue is still happening. Toyota dealership knows there are issues and no help. Corporate knows and doesn’t care.

spent 11 hours cutting off the bedliner.

Going to have a welder cut out what he can without removing the bed, but if too bad will remove bed and replace crossbraces.

Complaint went to the “tier 3” representative and after hearing her say Toyota stands behind their product three times I laughed and said ok I will drop it off for a bed replacement on their dime.

Toyota’s response was vehicles rust. I said I understand that but this truck Gen 3 has the same exact issue that the 2007-2012 models had the TSB for.

Anyway a complete waste of time with them. This will be my 1st and last Toyota vehicle. Truck is a POS, had the cam tower leak, front timing chain cover leak and rear main engine seal leak all under 32,000 miles. I had to fight with toyota for every warranty claim.

Done with Toyota.

 

Besides the putty knife any other tools used to cut off the bed liner? Suggestions?

 

Try a heat gun.

 

Have some rust in my bed, 08, with plastic bed liner.
As I know nothing about welding, my plan is to rustoleum paint the area and forget about it

Good luck

 

Harbor freight oscillating tool with scraper on it. Citra strip and heat gun were no help.