What did Toyota get right with the 80 series frame? (1 Viewer)

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

Here is some pics of 80 chassis rail to 79-series chassis rail. 80 is the thin rail.

FB88BE2E-6604-4DDB-A582-FDE9A2D52B79.jpeg
D22FA3C1-419A-4DD3-9AB4-F3E1B89188D8.jpeg
98AE987F-0269-4EFD-BCC0-2C5A7A14D246.jpeg
4B54E441-169E-46E1-8443-8A8E6027829C.jpeg



79 is way beefier.

Cheers
 
That thing looks mint compared to all the first gen tacoma's I have seen.


I had an 04’ Taco, boxed in the back of the frame and beefied it up. Got rear ended in El Salvador by a sedan. Destroyed their car and only had scratches on my Taco bumper. I am aware that Tacos had some issues, even so far as recalls but I had zero issues on mine.

I been west coast my whole life so for me, that 80 frame I just posted a pic of is pretty wasted. I don’t like working on a rusty chassis like that. Since I will be doing welding on it, I want to replace it. Once there is scale, even sand blasting is not good enough for me.

Cheers
 
Anyone know if the metal being used in the above examples is the same? I would guess it is similar but that is just a guess. Those 70 frames are beefy. They probably also weigh a lot too.
 
I believe the rust issues on the Tacoma's ran from 98 - 02
 
New frame replacements in Upstate NY.

My dealer there was doing 20-30 **a month** during the 4 years I was up there. 1 Master mechanic with helper, 2 lifts were able to do a frame swap in less than 20 billable hours. They were being paid 48 warranty billable hours **per truck** (Tacoma/Tundra/Sequoia).

This is just one dealer. Does not include the buy-backs that Toyota offers as an option.


A2040B14-F692-4D3B-A191-F8E5988FF0D2.jpeg



1D37DCC9-B114-46FA-B2F6-2A491DD3CC9F.jpeg


AE125751-5D09-4D9E-8681-E5843C0C3CA6.jpeg
 
New frame replacements in Upstate NY.

My dealer there was doing 20-30 **a month** during the 4 years I was up there. 1 Master mechanic with helper, 2 lifts were able to do a frame swap in less than 20 billable hours. They were being paid 48 warranty billable hours **per truck** (Tacoma/Tundra/Sequoia).

This is just one dealer. Does not include the buy-backs that Toyota offers as an option.


View attachment 3037156


View attachment 3037157

View attachment 3037158

That is impressive!!!!
 
A little. Typical Tacoma. Mexican-produced Dana frame.


2019-04-17 16.24.42.jpg
 
I appreciate the side by side comparison done by @SNLC, but does anyone know if there is a yield/tensile strength (grade) difference in the steels between what @SNLC showed us on the 79/80 frames?

When determining the overall strength of a chassis rail, tube, or pipe, thickness is only one of the variables affecting the overall strength of the member. The yield strength (grade) must also be considered in order for someone to compare apples to apples as to what is "better" or stronger.
 
I appreciate the side by side comparison done by @SNLC, but does anyone know if there is a yield/tensile strength (grade) difference in the steels between what @SNLC showed us on the 79/80 frames?

When determining the overall strength of a chassis rail, tube, or pipe, thickness is only one of the variables affecting the overall strength of the member. The yield strength (grade) must also be considered in order for someone to compare apples to apples as to what is "better" or stronger.

Frames are formed and welded. Nobody would design a mass produced product that is formed and welded from a steel that is difficult to form or weld. That leaves plain old mild steel. Something like A36 HRPO or cold rolled.

You could speculate they could use a HSLA steel like A514, but HSLA steels don't form so easily. They have more springback. You won't get nice square bends without real fancy tooling nobody's going to implement for a pickup frame.

In general, pick the cheapest possible material you could make a frame from. That's what the engineers had to do that designed it.
 
There is not much to deep dive into.

They are pretty much still manufactured as they have always been. Same presses, same plant, etc. The only things that have changed are the technologies used for welding and jig differences for final weld.

The only major changes have been regarding the use of materials in different parts of the frame to accommodate crumple zones for impact (regulatory changes, basically) and the use of high-tensile steel in certain areas of the frame.

Otherwise, the 70 series frame, for example, hasn't really changed much from the "minor changes" introduced in 2007 to accommodate the 1VD-FTV.
When you're driving an 80, I figure the other guy brings your crumple zone with him...
 
Last edited:
Good to know. Which years?
The recall years. I do not remember the range. Most of that went down after I retired. In addition I was in New Mexico and it was not an issue there.
 
@OGBeno said:

New frame replacements in Upstate NY.

My dealer there was doing 20-30 **a month** during the 4 years I was up there. 1 Master mechanic with helper, 2 lifts were able to do a frame swap in less than 20 billable hours. They were being paid 48 warranty billable hours **per truck** (Tacoma/Tundra/Sequoia).

Different beast to be sure, but how long does it take to do an LC frame swap? @SNLC?
 
You should see the frame on a 70-series, significantly more beefy.

Older frames were riveted. This contributes to rust imho.

Cheers
How does the 70 series frame compare to 100/200?
 
I'm impressed by the 80 frame, or at least the one i ended up with. Mine was a NJ truck and the rear quarter body has rust and the rear section of frame looked bad from 20yrs of salt. I thought the rear subframe is a goner but surprised it was still solid behind all that surface rust (installed a 4x4labs so i cut the rear section). I even reused the frame i cut off as the frame for a jerry can holder project. As noted above, the 80 frame is not specially thick/heavy duty, it cut easily haha.

I know of at least one who needed frame rust fix on their 100. Tacos and 4R frame patching is a common thing here in the upper midwest. It's pretty scary seeing those rotten frames.

Maybe most 80 just leaks oil and helps preserve the frame 😂.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom