Crossmember rust- is my tundra done for?

Hi all,

Purchased a 2008 Toyota Tundra last year as my first car. Payed a professional to carry out a pre purchase inspection and he told me the frame rust was normal for a truck this age.

Anyways, I’m doing an oil change when I notice that the right side of the crossmember is almost completely rusted through (Imgur link at the bottom). The rest of the frame looks ok, so I take it to a Toyota dealer where they say that the crossmember is not replaceable and that I basically need a new frame.

I was under the impression that these crossmembers are bolted and not welded? I’ve seen pictures of people changing them out. Any advice or thoughts? If the truck is screwed, what should I do with it?


https://imgur.com/a/JCRD77R

 

Yikes

 

Depends on the overall condition, cost, insurance coverage, etc.

 

Damn, not sure what kind of "professional" did that inspection but I would have told you to run for the hills on that one, unless the truck was pretty much free.

 

The cross members are neither welded nor bolted, they're riveted. So, in theory you can remove the rivets and replace the CM with one from a junk yard. It might be a lot easier, if the frame rails are good, to create and weld in a fabricated CM. A lot of the long travel trucks completely remove the CMs, box the frame and use tube bracing instead.

 

If the rest of the frame doesn't have similar rust ?????, see post #5 and fix it.
I'd get a THIRD opinion ...... 1st inspection told you "the frame rust was normal for a truck this age"
2nd inspection by Toyota says you need a new frame, Get a 3rd inspection!

 

Aaah if you wanted to keep your truck for at least 4+ years, only very little frame rust is okay.. The one you show in the photo is NOT at all NORMAL.. Hell no.. the inspector was and is a moron.. now sure where is your location, but you should have looked into buying a southern truck...thats all I have to say about that.

 

I'll probably get burned at the stake for saying this, but I would roll with that as long as I wasn't hauling a skid loader or anything similar. It's a cross member so it will be loaded mainly in compression, not torsional or bending stresses. Just keep an eye on it and peak at it at every oil change.

 

You have a fair point. If that’s the crossmember I think it is, under the bed by the wheel well, this is pretty common. There’s a lot of threads here dealing with that.

If it were my truck I would cut that member off, address the mounting points, as those rust between the member and the bed, and slap a replacement on there.

how many miles on the truck and what does the rest of the frame look like?

 

I believe you can just buy a new cross member. From what I can see the frame rails don't look too bad. Do you have any tools? What about a few strong buddies? If so remove the bed and a 4 1/2" grinder will cut right through the rivets like butter. Then just bolt the new one in. A body shop or mechanic will probably charge you a grand to do it.

 

It has about 134,000 miles on it. The main two rails of the frame look fine. Some parts where there’s chipping but no visible holes. Tried to poke through some parts with a screw driver but couldn’t get it through.

 

the problem is it won’t pass the safety inspection it’ll need to do this summer. On top of that it’s causing some wheel alignment issues (rightward bias) that can’t be resolved until the crossmember is fixed.

 

I would take it back to whoever you paid for the inspection and ask them to fix it.

 

Yeah that’s got a lot of life left in it. I would cut that crossmember off and replace it.

 

As long as the rest of the frame or body isn't that rusty, either get another crossmember from a wrecking yard (make sure its not bent from a crash) or order another one from Toyota. I know from a YT'r from NY area that works on Toyota's, crossmembers are commonly replaced with dealer parts.

 

I had the crossmember under the rear end of fuel tank rust out the same way on my '08 a year and a half ago. In order to replace it, the tank had to be removed. I got the crossmember from Toyota, and got all the bolts, nuts, and washers needed to replace the rivets that needed to be cut out to remove the old one. I also got new tank straps since the old ones were in bad shape. Parts totaled about $500. Took it to a local shop, and they dropped tank, cut old crossmember out, installed new one, and reinstalled tank. Job was done in one day, and cost $600 in labor, which included PA inspection which it originally failed because of the bad crossmember. Way cheaper than a total frame swap.

 

this is the correct answer, backed up by some numbers. Thank you good sir.

 

Hi,
Just joined the forum today, I own a 2007 Tundra Crewmax since new, only 160K miles
so decided to do the extensive work to keep it alive. BTW the frame was inspected at the Toyota dealer in 2019 just
before the recall was going to end and they said the frame was good. AhhhYup!

Looking around for frame/Crossmember discussions this one caught my eye as I just replaced this
very crossmember as well as the front fuel tank crossmember since it was on its way out as well.
Here's the parts list for this rear fuel tank crossmember in case you are still shopping around for OEM parts but not dealer prices.

There are 3 rivets and 1 bolt on each side. Bolt goes through front leaf spring bracket into crossmember. The bolts snapped off of course but the rivets were dug in like Alabama ticks to quote Jesse Ventura. I ended up drilling out the rivets with a set of 12" drill bits since I didn't want to lift the bed off. For install I used 7/16" Grade 8 bolts, nuts, flat and lock washers in the rivet holes. Lowes has these.

Got these at Discount Parts Monster

77602-0C150 Fuel Tank Strap $62.00 (with off road pkg, has 2 studs for fuel tank skid plate)
77653-34040 Fuel Tank Strap Pin $6.98
90119-A0077 Bolt W Washer $1.54
90119-A0227 Bolt W Washer $1.34 Qty 2
51205-0C060 Center Cross-Member $335.43

 

Damn!

 

And stop parking IN the bay

 

Omg that is not good Find some one that can weld a sleeve
Over that Might get through inspection and definitely will improve safety

 

So 2007TundraCM, were you also able to replace the FRONT fuel tank crossmember without removing the box and/or cab? In other words, from beneath? I am having a shop replace the rear fuel tank crossmember with new factory parts, as you described. My front fuel tank crossmember looks ok at this time but I was thinking of doing it at the same time as a preemptive measure, since that one also supports the drive shaft.

 

I'm glad I live in a state that does not have safety inspections. However we deal with the same amount of rust repair. The difference is we don't have to pay money to the government for them to tell us our junk is rusted!

 

Lambrayota, fortunately my state does not require safety inspections after you title the vehicle. What got my attention was the sound of the fuel tank strap hanging down and rubbing on the drive shaft. The gas tank strap bracket broke off the rusted crossmember which has some metal loss in that area. This is an ‘08 and was inspected and treated under the frame rust recall by Toyota less than 5 years ago. While there may not have been any holes in the metal at the time, as would have qualified it for frame replacement, I suspect a screwdriver would have poked through this crossmember. Hidden behind the tank, I guess they didnt go looking for trouble or didnt spray up there effectively. Granted any truck 15 years old can have significant rust developing. So word to the wise: if you dont want your gas tank to drop and hit the ground while doing 75 mph, you best check your crossmembers as well as fuel tank straps!

 

TundraFaith
You can replace the front fuel tank/center bearing support crossmember without removing the cab. I found the front crossmember a little easier to replace than the rear.
while I had the fuel tank out I opted to replace both crossmembers and the original center bearing. All work done from underneath.
Worth mentioning to be careful of the fuel pump wire and plastic plug/holder as your removing the tank. I dropped the tank down 6 inches before I saw tension on this wire.
I put a little silicone gasket cement on the sides of the plastic plug to keep it plugged in when installing the gas tank; bummer if this plug works its way loose and fuel pump stops

Good luck

 

Hello,

How did you find the individual frame sections??? I have been doing a LOT of research on 2nd gen frames as the front section of my 2010 is rotted out so bad the power steering rack is no longer bolted to anything and my bumper has fallen off. I need to replace the front cross member and frame section. I can find used. but if i can buy new that would be great.

 

I got all my frame crossmembers from discountpartsmonster.com as the dealership wants way to much money for the same parts.
They sell OEM Toyota parts out of Hollywood florida. I can't get them on the phone as they are online ordering only, but I have
not had any problems with them and they sent the correct parts.
Not sure what exact model Tundra you have but here is an example link to the frame crossmembers for my 07 crewmax

Frame & Components for 2007 Toyota Tundra | DiscMonster (discountpartsmonster.com)

they break out the frame components into 2 drawings.

you can always put your VIN in the search box as well

here's another link to help identify parts with part numbers
FRAME. 2007 Toyota Tundra CrewMax Limited 5.7L 4WD | Toyota Parts Center Online

 

Ok i checked there and the frame for my 2010 reg cab long bed 4.6L 4wd tundra is discontinued. not available.