Frame Rust Opinions

Looking to buy a 2004 crew cab. Have not seen in person, seller sent pics. According to him, Toyota applied frame rust protection as part of recall. Looks like only one real bad spot and perhaps just the product peeling off?

I posted pictures to album Frame Rust...this seems to be worst spot. Location is East Tennessee (Knoxville area).

 

I'm in Knoxville also. In my opinion, you can find one with a better frame than that. It looks like they spray painted over rust. That area isn't even known to be the worst areas on our trucks. I wouldn't be surprised if there are other areas much worse. Is this the only frame pic he sent?

Here is my 02 frame for reference.

 

runnnn!!!

 

He sent 11 pics...they are in an album under my user name. Pic above is by far the worst (at least based on pics).

 

♫♬♪ I wish they all could be California frames ♫♬♪

 

Looks like the first layer peeling off. Ive seen it before. It may still be salvageable, but the frame will be thinner once its ground off. Its not something you should consider unless you're limited in options or money you can spend. You may also want to spend the time getting rid of the Toyota coating since its hurting and not helping by trapping moisture underneath it. That will be a lot of time on your part getting rid of it and treating it properly.

 

I suspect what's under the dealer-applied coating is probably worse, and the frame has been eating itself inside-out under the coating. I wouldn't do it.

 

Its actually not that bad if you take a look at the album he posted. It'll take some work to take most of it off though and treat it correctly.

 

It's not horrible, and I know it's common to see in that spot, but the fact it's (a) coated and (b) looks like that with the coating is what'd have me sketched out.

Especially knowing you could drive to Atlanta a couple hours south today and pick up any of a number of sub-150k mile trucks for under $13-15k with frames that've never been out-of-state. Just doesn't seem worth the risk, but I also don't know what OP is looking at paying for this.

 

Oh - and it's blatantly obvious the seller hit it with black rattle can. WHY?! Add that as (c) on my list. Something hinky going on here...

Took a pretty significant few smacks on that front skid plate too... thing is mangled.

Anyone wanting to see, I'll save you some clicks. https://www.tundras.com/media/albums/frame-rust.12348/

 

Seller indicated truck original owner had in Massachusetts. Original asking price was also high, $18k which I wasn't going to pay anywhere near. He did divulge but not in original ad and not until a few potential buyers pointed it out as an issue. I want to give him benefit of doubt but looks like he was trying to unload it. Oh well ... unfortunate because rest of truck was in great condition! Thanks for everyone's thoughts.

 

Goddammit, I should be selling my truck and I was only thinking $5k for mine.

Run, its not worth even close to $18k unless the frame was rust free to start.

 

Lesson learned, and good on you asking for extra pics. "Lipstick on a pig" is a common tactic.

Piece of advice for future possibles: Ask the seller if they have a CarFax or AutoCheck report they can provide - many states log yearly inspection and/or registration, so you may find a trail of what states the truck has lived in. However, if they don't have one, you can sometimes run the VIN through https://www.vehiclehistory.com/ and see similar info, it's the only free VIN check site I've found that has decent info logging sources, and sometimes you can glean recent sales (at least) to see where it's sold, and sometimes other worthwhile info, like reported accidents and service.

If it's interesting, there's quite a few for sale in the ATL area right now. Here's a quick link to a search that'll pull 00-06 Tundras within a 100mi radius of GA's capitol building, just a couple hours south. The one top result in Snellville is a one-owner 85k mile AC 2WD, which isn't highly desirable drivetrain but in mint shape, only $14.5k! There's also the one being sold by WranglerRanch.net that's DC just over 110k miles at a steep 18k considering it's only 2WD but nicely equipped.

I've found the following sites to be reasonable places to find a vehicle, and many will have reports available, AND you can setup used car alerts (I found my ~60k 4WD AC Limited truck using TrueCar alerts):

• www.truecar.com
• www.cars.com
• www.cargurus.com
• www.autotrader.com
• www.carfax.com (yup, you can buy used here too)

Sometimes using one of these places beats the hell out of checking Craigslist every day ...

 

anybody if you see this on a future truck don’t ask questions just ruuuunnnnnn!!!!!