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Hello, Here's my first forum post.
I'm a welding student and I'm transferring schools from AR to FL in a month so I can move back home. I bought this truck yesterday to make the trip in. I thought I gave it a pretty good looking over but when I got it back I realized that I'd overlooked how rusted out the chassis is at the back of the truck (its fine in the front). No one to blame but myself, although the dealer was lying when he said it was an '85 (as far as I can tell).
Anyways, I won't have access to a real shop until I get to Florida. If you guys want to place bets on whether or not the truck makes it, go ahead and get started.
In the meantime, I'm trying to find access to a shop (anyone in AR or MO?) and brainstorming the best course of action.
Like I said I'm a welding STUDENT - I'm learning AWS D1.1 structural welding code, but I'm assuming this is heat treated steel?*** Can you anneal it with a torch after welding?
Other than that, the engine runs fine but it does some shaking, especially when shutting it off but it was also a pretty bouncy ride. There's just those two mounting brackets that you can see from under the hood, right? I was excited to make this my pet project but now I figure my leaf spring is going to blow through the frame somewhere in Alabama next month...
***edit/update: I made a duplicate of this thread on the weldingweb forum and have thus far heard that this chassis is NOT heat treated, that Toyota introduced heat treated chassis in the late 80's on one of the Helix's. Can anyone confirm that? If that's true, I'm thinking I can patch up on the worst parts for the drive to FL and then fix it for real over the summer.
Last edited by j.mauer; 04-06-2019 at 02:56 PM.
Reason: updated
I can't speak to if the frame is heat treated BUT i can tell you my 82 frame has been welded on by the previous owner & there are probably 50 gazillion Toyota first gen based rock crawlers that have had their frames bobbed / chopped / welded on without frames breaking.
Let's be honest with the rot you've got to deal with welding some good plate steel on it isn't going to hurt your pickup.
If you we're in Oklahoma I'd help you.You'll want to remove the bed & get your frame as clean as possible with a good wire wheel & some carb cleaner after to remove any oil/greece, unhook your battery, run a good 6010/6011 root bead & either fill & cap it with 7018 or a mig & run the heat only hot enough on the stick rod root bead that you don't cold roll your bead, if you go burning it in you'll just blow out that rusty old steel. Once you've got a solid root you can turn up the heat a little on the 7018 or mig & focus your puddle slightly towars the new steel while tying in good to the root bead, do most of your welding at the top & bottom of the frame NOT in the middle if at all there. Once you're finished go drive it like you stole it & don't worry about it anymore
Now that's the kind of advice I needed to hear. Thanks. This thread will be updated as the immanent unfolds.
A couple guys on the welding forum told me to just return it. I mean, even if the salesman wasn't probably laughing at me, that's not what I need to hear right now haha.
Now that's the kind of advice I needed to hear. Thanks. This thread will be updated as the immanent unfolds.
A couple guys on the welding forum told me to just return it. I mean, even if the salesman wasn't probably laughing at me, that's not what I need to hear right now haha.
If returning it's a real world option and you're not up to the job I would, if not then what I suggested will get you by for a while.
A side not I worked for many years as a welder for a big oil service company & have welded a number of winch truck frames from 1 ton fords to a few Mack trucks without any problems afterwards but there's way more involved when you're working on trucks that pickup heavy equipment, what I've suggested is just a glorified bandaid but it'll get you a few more years
sorry, what's the reason for avoiding the middle area?
Several reasons, 1st & mainly it helps prevent cracks from forming, unless you preheat the frame weld it while a friend is keeping a good section hot and correctly/slowly cool the frame back down. On that rust of a frame I'd use 150 temp stick or 175 max on my preheat. 2nd it's slightly thicker where it rolls or bends & with that much rust you're gonna need all you can get.
Throw a soaking wet old blanket over your gas tank while you do the work fyi
Edit: If you choose to preheat make sure you remove any & every Brake line, electrical wire, rubber grommet ect. in the area and keep the blanket over the gas tank soaking wet & a water hose/fire extinguisher close by
The frame on my 81 was worse than that, I think the gas tank was the only thing holding it together. The bed and cab would separate when you accelerated, and touch when you braked. I pulled the bed, and the gas tank. I made plates to follow the contour of the frame, and used an Arc welder to weld it all up. I didn't use a wire feed because of the condition of the original frame. Wire feed likes clean metal, I'm sure it would have worked, but I knew the Arc welder would work too. I boxed the frame from the back of the cab to the middle of the rear axle. It solved my problem. I have notice some rust coming through on the rear most part of the frame now, so I'm going to box it in the same way. I have pictures on here somewhere that I'll try and find for you. Good luck.
I would not want to risk a road trip with those rails, however i have seen guys spray a can of expanding foam in the rotted area to make it more ridgid until they got around to fixing it.
I scrapped a '92 Toyota 4x4 with the same rot. That area is prone to collecting debris causing rot which is why I rinse my frame out annually and spray rust inhibitor oils inside. Big job to repair but as your pics show its doable.
if you have a title that says that is an 85 you more than likely have legal grounds for the dealer refund you money.
If it's titled as an 85 somebody did some funky stuff with the paperwork
Thanks so much for linking to this. If I can get it as good as you did then this thing will get me through school just fine.
The inside of mine also has an inch to two inches of dirt sitting in it now - I'm hoping I can used compressed air and make some kind of giant pipe cleaner and plunge it all out without using water.
It took me all day today to get the bed off but it will be a lot easier next time with new bolts. Now I'm working on borrowing a stick machine.
Thanks so much for linking to this. If I can get it as good as you did then this thing will get me through school just fine.
The inside of mine also has an inch to two inches of dirt sitting in it now - I'm hoping I can used compressed air and make some kind of giant pipe cleaner and plunge it all out without using water.
I recently fixed a similar frame rot issue. The inside was packed full of 40 years of mud and grime. I used a shop vac with a small hose attached, compressed air and most helpful was a dryer vent cleaning brush attached to a drill motor. I had enough extension to reach the entire length of the frame. Worked fantastic. I bought it at Lowes. Then I painted the outside with por15 and the inside with eastwood internal frame coating. There are some pictures in my build thread: https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f197...thread-305994/
I took off the bed and gas tank and started patching the worst looking places with scrap metal from the shop at school. I'm not sure if it was the machine I was using or because the chassis metal was so dang rusted through but I had to set it to about 125 to hold an arc with 1/8" 6010s and 135 or so for the 7018s. In order to avoid blowing out the base metal I had to go almost straight into the edge of the patch material on the first bead, but was then able to build it up with the 7018's. I'm not gonna lie, its a complete hack job. It really looks like crap. Besides using scrap metal covered in practice beads for patches, there were some places where I could hardly get my slag hammer, let alone a grinder, which means I had to blow through a lot of rust too. I wouldn't exactly call it "repaired" but I think its going to hold until I can find a donor pickup. Its been raining for 24 hours so I've only taken one "after" photo so far. The photo is of the only decent looking spot, naturally. I'll take more pictures of the mayhem when it clears up. I have a few weeks to test drive before heading to FL. I appreciate all your advice and criticism, especially people who have been encouraging. You know, I know I'm an amateur but the way I see it, if its not heat treated steel and its a little 4 cylinder truck that doesn't have to move any weight, and it really only needs to last another year considering how bad the rust is, then there's just no need to give it the same treatment as you would a professional repair on a dump truck or something. I mean this thing is basically a radio flyer wagon with an engine in it.
04-06-2019, 12:38 PM
