Tundra trouble

[sammyg2]

About a hundred years ago I had a buddy who had recently moved to So Cal from Wisconsin.
His dad decided to visit and did him a favor by driving his old suburban here to drop it off.

By the time it got here it had lost allot of weight. You could look through the doors and see someone standing on the other side.
No floorboards, no fenders, holes in the doors, windshield ready to pop out due to lack of frame support around it, and it had less than 50k on it.

That was my first real experience with rust and it was hard to believe.

He took it straight to the pick-a-part and donated it.

[sammyg2]

I did an image search for toyota frame rust. It was ugly.
Not for the faint.

[wdfifteen]

What caused the frames to buckle upwards in the middle?

[yel911]

^^^^^
Holy S!!!
Just a thought, since I got my 2012 Ford F150 (5.0) I haven't looked back from owning my 02 Tundra. The Ford has spoiled me... Plush, tight, smooth and quiet. But I only have 32K miles.... fingers are crossed.

[yel911]

[berettafan]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

What caused the frames to buckle upwards in the middle?

torque from the drive wheels?

[yel911]

torque from the drive wheels?

lol!!!

[aigel]

Consider moving to a place w/o snow. So much nicer, not just regarding your vehicles ...

218k on my Sequoia. Only complaint is the trans blowing up OD at 115k. Common problem, especially when towing in OD (P.O. towed ...). Other than that it has held up nicely - especially impressed with the interior and all electronics (minus the stereo).

It is getting long in the tooth:
- Needs another timing belt service
- Balljoints starting to leak up front
- Tires
- Cracked windshield
- Trans mount
- rear hatch shocks

I am torn if I should let it go or repair. Unfortunately, even DIY, the above list is $2.5k. May be better used against a newer one? Problem is that with $2/gal gas, these old gas hogs have become MORE expensive. A 2005 Sequoia with around $100k is easily $15k around here ...

G

[CurtEgerer]

Toyota cars do not seem to suffer from these problems (particularly the rust-through ), do they? They seem to routinely go 300,000+ miles. I wonder what the difference is.

On the reverse side, I have been shocked by the rock-solid reliability of a 2004 Dodge Durango Hemi I bought new. First Chrysler product of any kind for me and wasn't expecting much to be honest. It has never seen the inside of a garage and has been exposed to the worst snow, ice, and salt the rust-belt can throw at it for 10+ years and 198,500 miles (including a sh_t ton of towing miles). I cleared about a foot of snow off it this morning and took it for a drive just because it's been parked for 3-4 weeks. Some surface rust starting on the body in the last year or so is about it.

[speeder]

That's an excellent recommendation, Curt! How bad is the fuel mileage? I know you can't expect much, just wondering how it compares to others.

[RANDY P]

Originally Posted by aigel

Consider moving to a place w/o snow. So much nicer, not just regarding your vehicles ...

218k on my Sequoia. Only complaint is the trans blowing up OD at 115k. Common problem, especially when towing in OD (P.O. towed ...). Other than that it has held up nicely - especially impressed with the interior and all electronics (minus the stereo).

It is getting long in the tooth:
- Needs another timing belt service
- Balljoints starting to leak up front
- Tires
- Cracked windshield
- Trans mount
- rear hatch shocks

I am torn if I should let it go or repair. Unfortunately, even DIY, the above list is $2.5k. May be better used against a newer one? Problem is that with $2/gal gas, these old gas hogs have become MORE expensive. A 2005 Sequoia with around $100k is easily $15k around here ...

G

$2.5K? Where? Especially DIY.

rjp

[Tim Hancock]

Well the frame rust was due to US supplier Dana building a bad batch of frames. The Japan built prior year trucks did not have the frame issue. I ended up having my Tacoma bought back by Toyota for much more than it was worth. I banked a bit and used the rest to buy my trouble free current 02 Tundra.

[aigel]

Originally Posted by RANDY P

$2.5K? Where? Especially DIY.

rjp

Tires $1.1k
Windhshield $.2k
Timing belt $.5k
Suspension and other bits $.3k

Total: 2.1k. So, maybe 2500 is too much, maybe it is $2k? My tires are $$$. I like the BFG all terrain - take this into the woods. The timing belt comes with a new water pump, pulleys and possibly tensioner, also new coolant ($60!), accessory belt, hoses.

G

[aigel]

You know, come to think of this - if I buy all but a new truck, I may need new tires too. I don't like to take road tires on dirt / gravel roads. Maybe I shoud just bite the bullet and repair it all up back to snuff. I do value my time too, of course. $50/h. I take 8h for the timing belt and maybe another 8 for the misc.

G

[RANDY P]

Look the motor over- unless you got that itch for a new ride I'd leakdown the engine give everything a once over, and rock it for another 100K

You probably wouldn't get much for it as-is.

rjp

[Shaun @ Tru6]

George, I did the timing belt on my 01 Tundra a few months ago. It's a fairly easy job. I got an Aisin kit with waterpump, Toyota OEM supplier, for $220. Worth a Saturday.

Ball joints, easy.

Tires, consider a set of take offs (new wheels and tires) on eBay and sell yours on CL, but 4 good tires shipped should be around $700 + M&B. I was going with a set of 2014 FJ Cruiser take offs before I found my CL specials with excellent tires.

I am always amazed at the prices these old trucks get. Nice early 2000s Tundras are $6K to $10K trucks, which seems crazy to me. They do last though.

Originally Posted by aigel

Consider moving to a place w/o snow. So much nicer, not just regarding your vehicles ...

218k on my Sequoia. Only complaint is the trans blowing up OD at 115k. Common problem, especially when towing in OD (P.O. towed ...). Other than that it has held up nicely - especially impressed with the interior and all electronics (minus the stereo).

It is getting long in the tooth:
- Needs another timing belt service
- Balljoints starting to leak up front
- Tires
- Cracked windshield
- Trans mount
- rear hatch shocks

I am torn if I should let it go or repair. Unfortunately, even DIY, the above list is $2.5k. May be better used against a newer one? Problem is that with $2/gal gas, these old gas hogs have become MORE expensive. A 2005 Sequoia with around $100k is easily $15k around here ...

G

[CurtEgerer]

Denis - 15/16MPG average on the Durango. I was able to average 19.5 MPG on the highway at 65 MPH for several hours but I was very consciously trying to see what it would do that day. 12MPG pulling the car on an open trailer. Pulling a 30-foot travel trailer? Pretty sure it's negative MPG ....

[aigel]

I did the timing belt last time already. It was a reasonably enjoyable job overall. I bought this SUV over a Ford partly because of the easy access under the hood. Changing plugs is a breeze - try that on an Expedition!

I really need off road tires with good sidewall ply, so take offs aren't a good idea, unless I get some trail edition BFGs from a late model? I have had several flats with street type tires and never had a flat with the BFG all terrains. It is a pretty amazing difference. Needless to say, being in the boonies changing tires is NOT fun, especially because then you wonder how long the spare will hold ...

You guys just convinced me to go at it, get oil analyzed and do a leak down and redo the stuff. Its been a good vehicle and except an extra gear in the transmission and a warmed over look, the later models don't add much. No rust anywhere of course either - all time CA vehicle. It will have to wait til summer when I have more time, but the timing belt only has 110k and 5 years on it, so I can push it out a little more, right?

G

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by berettafan

I test drove an F150 before buying the tundra. also drove a friends GM 1500 in recent years. as a guy who likes sporty cars (lord you know you're old when you utter a phrase like that) the true magic of this series of Tundra is just how friggin tight and strong it is on the road. The ford and gm products just don't even come close.

That's funny, I went into truck shopping in 2012 thinking I would end up with a Tundra. Ended up with an F150. Stronger engine, better MPG, just as well built, better features, and cheaper. I'm a bit of a Toyota truck fanboy but I was very underwhelmed.

Originally Posted by J P Stein

I think that "rust belt" states must be given free salt by auto makers.

When I was back in Ohio in 1980, the number of "Flappers" (rusted out lower quarter pannels flapping in the breeze) were common. The oldest car in the want ads was a 74 Chevy for 400 bucks.

I shudder to think of what is going to happen to the new Aluminum frame Ford trucks......Whiteish from the waist down, me thinks.

The new Fords are aluminum body, steel frame. So you'll never have any rusted out fenders.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

That's funny, I went into truck shopping in 2012 thinking I would end up with a Tundra. Ended up with an F150. Stronger engine, better MPG, just as well built, better features, and cheaper. I'm a bit of a Toyota truck fanboy but I was very underwhelmed.

I don't like the new generation Tundra either. When they tried to emulate the big, boxy, "hey from up here it feels like I'm driving a semi" feel of Ford/Chevy/Dodge threw away the one advantage they had over the big three.