Hello,
Last year I took out a loan and bought a 2003 Toyota tacoma looking at the frame last year thinking it was fine.
In June of 2014, almost year to date of buying the truck I brought it to my mechanic for brake work and the frame was no good, but he felt that it was repairable. I told him I wouldn’t be able to afford the work until the fall and he said it should be fine until then. I brought the truck back to him last week only to find out that the truck frame is totally shot, completely unsafe and should not be driven…it is totally rotted and it went from repairable to non-repairable in 3 warm weather months.
I still owe just shy of $7,000, Toyota won’t replace the frame and everything else about the truck is awesome. My mechanic quoted a new frame at $4809 not including shipping and it was coming from Japan on top of another maybe $3-5,000 for the work. UGH!!
I’ve started to search for a used frame and I am wondering if others have replaced a 2003 with a used frame and had some luck…and didn’t go broke doing it.
Wondering if others have dealt with this and also curious what the truck is worth at this point…the rest of the truck is still awesome…wondering what I might get if I tried to trade it in or sell it on my own.
Any thoughts or ideas would be appreciated.
Thanks!