fierohink

I decided I was going to be proactive and pressure wash the salt off my frame after a pre-christmas squall.... well the results were less than ideal. I knew I had some frame scabbing that I had planned to address over the summer, apparently 120 psi thought I should repair it now.

So this is what I have to work with:

Driver's Side:




And the Passenger's Side:




All the crap that gets hidden by the fuel tank slider reeked havoc on that inner frame rail. Now Comes the fun part of cutting and plating the damage.

So here's my questions to anybody who has done this before:

What gauge metal did you use?
Did you patch and then overplate (double up)?
Did you overplate the opposing side of the frame rail for additional support?

waskillywabbit

iTrader: (-1)

That's almost a do over for what you're going to end up doing. Almost be easier to find a new/used frame in good shape with no rot and swap.

:wabbit2:

fierohink

Thanks for the vote of confidence wabbit!!! I definately thought about a swap, but I have lots of scrap metal and a welder in the garage.

I figure scabbing in 1/8" and then plating over with the whole section with 1/8" will make it crazy stiff. Then POR-15 it, and I'll be good for another 200k. Plus if I get another truck for a swap, it might have a new clutch than the one I've got and I STILL won't have a reason to install yours that's been sitting in my dining room since this Summer.

maniacmotorsports

I def agree, I have been a welder in structural steel and custom fabrication for 30yrs and I can tell you you will be hard pressed to find good enough metal to weld anything back to. I have attempted to do a few and once you start cutting you seem to never stop. Either way you slice it you will burn up an a$$ load of time and supplies to cut it out, both in cut off wheels which does not like to cut that heavy of rust, and or acetelyne and oxygen which is also very challenging with that heavy shale. Not impossible, just a huge massive dirty nasty stinky dusty time and money consuming PITA. You might even save time to build a new frame if you have the tube and cant find another decent frame. Just my 2 cents.

fierohink

My plan was to hack off the two bed perches on the passenger side and basically rebuild that whole uptube with new box. It won't have that curve to it anymore it'll probably just be a 45*.

The driver's side has a few holes but really isn't that bad. I beat on it pretty hard with a hammer to get these holes. So what is left is pretty solid. Like I mentioned before I plan on stitching in a patch and then plating over the whole area.

Plus once it warms up I plan to pull the cab, get the frame soda blasted and tube anything that needs fixed. A weeks worth of time now is a good exchange for no 4wd as a firefighter in the winter when snow may come if my frame fails. Vacay comes pretty easily and it would take me way more time to track down a good frame that doesn't need repairs anyway and do a motor and possibily cab swap.

xxxtreme22r

My leaf spring mount area kinda looked like that, had both sides repaired, but it was not nearly as bad as the rest of yours. Tough call on that one. Good luck.

wyoming9

iTrader: (1)

If you can`t sand blast it now wire wheel it best you can.

To get rid of as much of the loose rust as you can I never patch it unless it is just a small area .

I box the whole frame from good metal to good metal I have done more of these than I care to say I have a few sitting here now to do.

I get 6"x 120"x 1/8" bent into a 2"x4" X 1/8" angle and trim this to fit the areas I need

I guess it all is where your skills lie I know it would take me far longer to swap a frame then to repair one

The odds of finding a better frame in a yard around here slim and none and to pay shipping you may as well buy another vehicle

Beaniam

I'd just cut that garbage off from the cab back and weld the good frame on instead of a total frame swap, save a lot of time and effort.

bobby_duce

i kinda want to see pictures of the frame sanded down now! haha if it was me i wouldnt commit to anything untill i clean up the areas and then take it from there!

fierohink

Well after some grinding and investigating I've decided to push the resto timeline up. It looks like the cab is going to be coming off and UPS is going to stay in business for a little while longer.

A question for anybody who has pulled a cab:

Do you think I'd have a better chance of keeping the cab straight if I left the fenders on, or do you think pulling the fenders would reduce the weight stress and keep my rails straight?

RBX

Can't see your pictures, (work blocks good stuff) but i am guessing this is a pick-up.
Removing the fenders will make no difference other then weight. Doors can come off also.
If you are worried about stuff lining up, take a tape measure and paper and measure your fender bolt holes under the hood in a diagonal pattern and write/draw it on a pad before you dissasemble. Also during reassembly, try to line the bolt holes back up with the paint pattern from the factory.

flg8r22

iTrader: (1)

maybe we are just seeing too much of the bad parts to be impartial? thats a whole lotta work. i pulled my fenders because i'm replacing them anyway, but the cab is sitting nice and cozy on some concrete blocks with a 2x10 wood pad. maybe consider a full custom 3 wheeler with the single wheel in the back.

fierohink

To try to quiet some of the complainers, I was an A&M mechanic and then a auto mechanic for several years. There's not a lot that can't be fixed with a welder. I'm just not the best body man, so that's where a lot of my questions come from.

I figure to pull the cab I'll need to separate brake lines, clutch line, some electrical (I haven't looked yet but there should be a main harness plug somewhere that will separate the cab/computer from the engine compartment), rad, parking brake, etc. Things like the ignition coil and power steering res I was just going to flop on to the motor. Unfortunately the FSM doesn't list removing the cab as a write-up... although it really should for as many of these things get rolled over

ToyMachine88

Hey, my frame had a huge hole in it beside the gas tank with a crack coming off of the hole that ran a little more than halfway up the framerail in front of the leaf hanger. Ive never done this before but my father said hes done about 12 toyotas, datsuns, nissans etc. that all had similar issues so i had a bit of help. This is what we did. well first off i went to the store and bought new grinding discs and cutoff wheels along with some 0.30 gas mig wire - took off box, dropped tank, moved lines - grinded everything down to bare metal- we took some measurements and cut up some pieces of 1/4 inch angle to box in the cracked area, two pieces on outer like this [ then a long flat piece on back to make it boxed - we added a few more pieces here and there to complete the box further up the frame- all of the pieces met up with each other and were welded to each other and the frame where possible but mostly just welding the plates together and then we found the best spots to put some big gnarly welds from the plates to the frame - all looked VERY strong- sprayed the whole thing with Rust fix - mixed up some fiberglass and covered it smoothing out the whole setup - undercoated it - reassembled- well thats it and i believe the rest of the truck would fall apart around me before that setup broke - it may not be the way an experienced frame repair guy would do it i dont know but it worked and is holding up just fine

dropzone

iTrader: (6)

cab removal:
mark all connections and unplug all electrical
mark and unconnect brake lines (also check under the cab floor for various lines)
drain, remove radiator
undo the steering joint
unbolt the cab,
--reinspect everything because you will forget something
lift the cab off

fierohink

Okay thats what I thought. I just never pulled a yota cab and didn't want to find something unexpected. Lots of Ford SuperDuty cabs to put headstuds in, but never a yota.

Terrys87

iTrader: (1)

If you think you might want to try this, I could send you the steps on how to do this. Pulling a Super duty cab is probably far more involved. I have done this in a weekend using basic tools. Just PM me.

FourwheelinVT

I had that same problem, but I got lucky because I bought a Florida yota for $400 and switched frames. My brother in-law had bought the truck for $500 from a friend who moved, and then the motor blew because of the timing chain. I would definitely repair that but plan on more rust in other places! On my truck the lower control arm also rotted out and the cross member broke under the cab (in front of the gas tank).

Terrys87

iTrader: (1)

VT..That Northeast area rust wreaks havoc on you guys. Down here, it usually get the passenger side front spring hanger. The frame from there back looked like swiss cheese. I just bought a Florida 4runner for parts and most of the frame still has paint on the frame. No Rust!! I wish I could get a title for it, but here in Missouri we can switch frames. Its the cab thats the problem. I will find a project for it.

fierohink.. how is your repair going?

Toymachine88.. That is a great looking ride. I think I like the looks of the 84-89 looks the best.

muddpigg

iTrader: (1)

https://www.budbuilt.com/new/frames.html