I drove a Tacoma 10 years ago. Lived in Pennsylvania and somehow the geniuses at Toyota screwed up and built a truck frame that would rust like crazy in the frigid Northeast.
Ended up, my mechanics remembered Toyota was recalling this particular line of Tacomas. Toyota ended up paying $14,000 to me to take the truck off my hands.
You may want to check if your ‘97 rusting Tacoma qualifies for that program...
I had it checked out about 10 years ago and the frame was not rusted enough but I will look into it again.
Thanks