Frame repair 2001 Minnesota taco

Ok did some major frame work on my tacoma for anybody who lives in the rust belt heres what I did because I missed the frame recall deadline by 2 months so I had no other choice. The worse areas were the rear from the end of the cab on the inside portion of the frame to the leaf spring support on both sides. There was enough good metal to salvage my frame I went around with a ball point hammer and identified areas I needed to fix. I removed the box gas tank and exhaust so I had easy access to these areas where salt and dirt get trapped and eat away your frame. I used 10 gauge steal which is one gauge thicker than the original frame so a little more than 1/8 of an inch. Cost of metal was less than $100 it took me about 4 solid days of grinding and welding. The drivers side was still good from the cab up however I replaced almost all of the passenger side from the leaf spring up on the inside of the frame and the outside and the whole bottom rail please see photos. I cut most of the bad metal out where I could and welded new metal in. I ground every thing down to bare metal or sand blasted it where I could and used rustoleum encapsulate primer and now going to undercoat the shit out of it with some GM undercoating my dad had lying around. I will post the final pics with the undercoating when I'm done. I plan on parking the truck on a hill before winter and running oil through the frame rails and possibly taking a squirt bottle full of used oil and hit the front of the frame where the metal is still good. I also ground down all the rust on my skid plates and gas tank shield. I used undercoating on the gas tank shield and plan on using something harder like box liner for the skid plates.

 

So after driving it for a couple days it feels like a totally different truck I think the frame was flexing alot before on the weak points especially back by the leaf springs. Also put on exhaust from the cat back because I had a small hole in my muffler runs alot smoother and has more power. I bought the bosal replacement pipe off rock auto cost me around $176 which I thought was pretty pricey but realized it was well worth the price now.

 

Nicely done. Sound like the hard work paid off

 

I have a shop in St. Cloud MN quoting unseen $600 a side and one in the cities quoting $1100 a side. My truck only has 87k on it and is in great shape however any opinions on those numbers besides that they kind of suck would be much appreciated.

 

Nice work. My 2000 frame still looks like new. I will be undercoating it later this spring. I don't want to deal with what you had.

 

Good job my friend!

 

Nicely done. Not just anyone would take that on.
Man that frame looks like it's been sitting at the bottom of the ocean, that or subjected to MN winters!

 

Unfortunately had to sell the yota sure miss it had 265000+ miles and still ran like new. Ended up selling it for 4500, with full disclosure on the frame repair 500 less than I bought it for but wish I never would have sold it. Now I'm driving a honda civic . Anyway my advice to anyone looking to fix your frame don't know if its worth spending $1200 to pay someone to do this. I would find a friend with a welder that can weld. All the prep work can be easily done with proper air tools I think if I remember right I even used a big electric sander on most of it. It didn't cost me much to do at all maybe $300 in materials. I am just lucky I guess because my dad had most of the tools. Looking at another truck tomorrow 2001 nissan frontier regular cab 2x4 with only 57000 miles all the truck I need at this moment. every truck I look I thoroughly inspect undercarriage this yota will forever haunt me in that respect.