Originally Posted by chewybtc

The weather has not been great here in PA the last couple weeks since I picked the frame up from Kenworth so I have not been able to do anything to it. But it's starting to warm up a bit (and the snow is finally all melted) so my plan is to get it cleaned up and stripped of anything I don't need (which Kenworth pretty much did already).

I've done some research, and even though the frame is in GREAT shape, I am going to do some preventative painting since the body is off and everything is easily accessible now. There is a Eastwood retail store about an hour from me, and luck would have it that they are having a rust repair clinic this week. So I'll be going there to get some expert advice on the proper way to really prepare this frame and make it last for 20 years!

Most likely going to use POR15, or the Eastwood equivalent, to paint the outside of the frame and even though Kenworth already sprayed Eastwood internal frame coating a while back, I'm going to do it again, just to make sure everything is really well coated on the inside of the rails.

We have a plan to go over my T4R this coming weekend at Kenworth's place. I'm not a mechanic, so I don't know what might need to be replaced on my current T4R. It only has 145,000 miles on it, but it's still a 1997 and I don't have a garage, so it's been outside all of it's life.

So the point of this trip this coming weekend to Kenworth's has two main goals.

The first is to check some of the problem bolts/nuts that might be rusted or seized. The last thing I want is to have major delays getting things apart when we finally do the frame swap. I'm so appreciative of Kenworth for his help, but I don't want to put him out either by having the truck sitting at his house for weeks while we wait for a part to come in that we had to cut off or something crazy like that.

The second is to look for things that have worn out, or will be shortly, and that should be replaced. If we are going to have practically every piece of the truck apart anyway, why put old or worn out parts back on the truck. So since I don't know what I am really looking for, Kenworth is going to help me look everything over with a fine tooth comb to find parts that I need to order so we have them ready for the frame swap.

So if anyone has any pointers for what to look for that might be, or should be replaced at this point, please post a comment!!

There is no major rush to get the frame swap done as I did have a friend weld a couple pieces of 1/8" plate to either side of the frame where the control arm bracket was basically falling off from rust on the passenger side. The frame was pretty bad, but he was able to find some good metal towards the top of the frame.

The frame is so bad that when we put it on the lift to do the welding the arms actually pushed into the bottom of the frame right in front of the control arm bracket on both sides!! I take care of my truck and yes I know I live in PA with lots of salt in the winter. But I try to at least run my truck thru the car wash every other week in the winter. So I find it really hard to believe that this rust is because of my lack of care for the truck. I really wish Toyota would have stepped up for us T4R owners like they did for Tacoma and Tundra people!!

Thanks for any input you guys can post about the rust preventative painting of the frame or parts that we should be looking closely at to replace, etc.

Originally Posted by BlackRustBucket

That booth is awesome, sounds like your doing all the right stuff from what I've researched. Can't believe there was a frame in that good of condition in PA. I was going to ask him for it but he said somebody (you) had already claimed it but I'm glad you did cause your making way better use of it. Where in PA are you? I'm in northern harford county MD.