Determining if this rust will be an issue (1 Viewer)

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May 4, 2020
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Hi All,

So I'm looking to buy my friend's 1992 land cruiser for cheap ($1500). There are a few issues that I will have to contend with including bringing it up to SMOG regulations in California ( CEL is on and missing O2 sensors + something wrong with cats ). I'll also have to baseline the truck as well and do a knuckle rebuild + convert the A/C or recharge with some R12.

However, one of the things that I'm also looking at is the rust underneath the vehicle as well. I'm pretty sure this is surface rust and will probably treat the underside to a nice wire brush and some coating. However my concern is, there is something in the last image that looks like there a bolt that no longer is there due to it being rusted out. Is that support of concern?

under frame 1.jpg


Under Frame 2.jpg


Under Frame 3.jpg


Under Frame 4.jpg
 
Seen much worse. Some elbow grease should whip that back into shape. How is the rest of the truck?
 
Seen much worse. Some elbow grease should whip that back into shape. How is the rest of the truck?

I'm no mechanic, but plan on learning. The truck itself has 280k miles and no maintenance history on it from my friend.
I'll figure I'll need to get some fender flares on it and another bumper since the one there looks like it's been trimmed.

I've posted some pics of the engine bay as well and it looks like from my research that the EGR is still there which is good because I'll need that in California. I was also told that the last radiator drain flushed a lot of rusty bits out. I plan on using some thermocure to flush it out first to see if it's salvagable. However, not much else I can ascertain from the images.

97356661_909941292786404_1873968207761506304_n.png


Driver 1.jpg


Engine 1.jpg


Engine 2.jpg
 
What rust? :flipoff2:

:edit: looks like the bumper end caps are removed--probably don't need a full bumper.
 
That is already pretty clean. You have to have some perspective here...it's 28 years old and has 280k on it. It'll clean up fine with some elbow grease.
 
It looks like it may be in need of a front axle service (Knuckle rebuild) because the knuckle balls look dry.

Otherwise, for the price, jump on it.

If you choose to get it, only parts from the 91-92 years will work for most things. Fender Flares, engine and transmission parts, axles, and brakes unless you do more serious upgrades.

Also, these are slow and they only get about 12 MPG on a good day, so they are NOT cheap to drive.

What is your intent for the truck?
First car?
Daily Driver?
Beater?
Something to learn how to wrench?

If your intent is to pay others to work on this, it's not for the faint of wallet.
 
Last edited:
For $1500?

Buy buy buy!!! Don’t think twice on it!
 
Appears to need a fan shroud, too. That’s way clean underneath. Buy it.
 
It looks like it may be in need of a front axle service (Knuckle rebuild) because the knuckle balls look dry.

Otherwise, for the price, jump on it.

If you choose to get it, only parts from the 91-92 years will work for most things. Fender Flares, engine and transmission parts, axles, and brakes unless you do more serious upgrades.

Also, these are slow and they only get about 12 MPG on a good day, so they are NOT cheap to drive.

What is your intent for the truck?
First car?
Daily Driver?
Beater?
Something to learn how to wrench?

If your intent is to pay others to work on this, it's not for the faint of wallet.


provided you can honestly answer the above and live with the decision to purchase, your order of spending should be:
1) SAFETY, make it sure it stops when told to.
2) Reliability, make sure it starts and goes where you want it, when you want it and gets you home.
3) cosmetics, depending on monthly budget and how much the other two require, you may get bumper tips and flairs next month or next year or...never.
 
It looks like it may be in need of a front axle service (Knuckle rebuild) because the knuckle balls look dry.

Otherwise, for the price, jump on it.

If you choose to get it, only parts from the 91-92 years will work for most things. Fender Flares, engine and transmission parts, axles, and brakes unless you do more serious upgrades.

Also, these are slow and they only get about 12 MPG on a good day, so they are NOT cheap to drive.

What is your intent for the truck?
First car?
Daily Driver?
Beater?
Something to learn how to wrench?

If your intent is to pay others to work on this, it's not for the faint of wallet.

Thanks for this, how can you tell the knuckle balls are looking dry and what are they supposed to look like?

The intent for this truck is to mainly be a weekend truck that I'm looking to have some fun with and learning how to wrench. I figure if it's something I can learn easily without having to worry too much as opposed to something newer. I'll also have another car as a daily driver so it's not a concern of mine if this is sitting in the garage nonoperational for periods of time.

I'll plan to work on cosmetics later as well ( perhaps new armored bumper/ winch / RTT )
 
Thanks for this, how can you tell the knuckle balls are looking dry and what are they supposed to look like?

The intent for this truck is to mainly be a weekend truck that I'm looking to have some fun with and learning how to wrench. I figure if it's something I can learn easily without having to worry too much as opposed to something newer. I'll also have another car as a daily driver so it's not a concern of mine if this is sitting in the garage nonoperational for periods of time.

I'll plan to work on cosmetics later as well ( perhaps new armored bumper/ winch / RTT )
There is a felt "wiper", if the knuckle has grease it creates a very thing film around the ball. Most scenarios for a front rebuild (messy not hard) are dry or leaking.
 
Haha, yea I guess I'm just used to seeing super clean undercarriages from all my research :)
yeah you never looked here in the mid west.... all rust you find a level that you can live with and run it. again its only a $1500 vehicle, so enjoy it.
 
Thanks for this, how can you tell the knuckle balls are looking dry and what are they supposed to look like?

The intent for this truck is to mainly be a weekend truck that I'm looking to have some fun with and learning how to wrench. I figure if it's something I can learn easily without having to worry too much as opposed to something newer. I'll also have another car as a daily driver so it's not a concern of mine if this is sitting in the garage nonoperational for periods of time.

I'll plan to work on cosmetics later as well ( perhaps new armored bumper/ winch / RTT )
3rd pic down in your first post shows the inner side of the LF wheel and the knuckle. The large ball that the knuckle rotates on is dry, has some "rusty" kind of areas. That area should be slick with grease or shiny and wet. There is a square plug on the upper right of that knuckle (in that picture) that gets removed and you pump grease into that hole. It needs to be a moly grease such as Valvoline Palladium.

If there was oil dripping out of that area, we would tell you that you have "birf soup" and need new internal seals. You may still need that, there's just not enough grease or oil in there to produce either condition.

So....Check ALL fluid levels and do a complete baseline of the truck of changing all fluids and filters to create a "new" baseline. Make sure you keep records of what you do and when you did it and what part numbers you use. And DON'T use a WIX oil filter or a NAPA Gold.
 
3rd pic down in your first post shows the inner side of the LF wheel and the knuckle. The large ball that the knuckle rotates on is dry, has some "rusty" kind of areas. That area should be slick with grease or shiny and wet. There is a square plug on the upper right of that knuckle (in that picture) that gets removed and you pump grease into that hole. It needs to be a moly grease such as Valvoline Palladium.

If there was oil dripping out of that area, we would tell you that you have "birf soup" and need new internal seals. You may still need that, there's just not enough grease or oil in there to produce either condition.

So....Check ALL fluid levels and do a complete baseline of the truck of changing all fluids and filters to create a "new" baseline. Make sure you keep records of what you do and when you did it and what part numbers you use. And DON'T use a WIX oil filter or a NAPA Gold.


Cool - thanks for that. Will definitely do so. I do plan to go OEM for the filter, but any reason not go with Wix or NAPA?
 

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