God I hate being the new guy on a forum (1 Viewer)

[joshAUST]

Looks clean.
Turn the steering wheel full left and check steering rack for leaks, then turn it the other way and check.
Try driving while steering full left and listen for any noises/clicks etc from the cv joints.
Check floor area on driver side and passenger side, esp. near side wall for signs of water leaks - usually from rusted roof rack bolts leaking.
Check left and right side of windscreen. Should be four rivets each side holding the side trims on. If they ar screws, the windscreen has been replaced, and the screws may leak. The leaks can get into the circuit boards and corrode them or burn them out.
Check brake rotors for rust- they'll give a good indication on the rust in the vehicle.
Also check the top rear door hinge for rust.
Check for signs of dodgy repairs and collision damage.
Check for any engine/abs etc error lights or codes.
Engage centre diff and test that as well, not just rear wheel drive.
Etc,to,etc.

 

[Ammobro]

Got some under carriage pics from the guy. Tell me what you guys think.

I also had it all worked out to get it inspected at a reputable shop that has been recommended on this forum. Guy cant miss any work and the shop is only open 730-530. So I offer to meet him in the morning, give him the keys to my car, let him get a photo of two forms of ID and then I will drive the Cruiser 15 minutes to the shop, get it inspected, and then bring it back to him. He is all about it, I clear my calendar and schedule the inspection with the shop.

Then he says his wife doesn't want me taking the car without him.......and the plan falls apart. Dude really isn't a motivated seller.

 

[Ammobro]

Also an engine bay shot to keep you animals satisfied.

 

[DJCloz]

That’s rust looks minimal to me.

 

[joshAUST]

The rust on the main fuel tank bash plate is worrying, as is the rust on the cross member in the first pic.
I've got a lc100 that I picked up 2nd hand that had a fair bit of rust. I ended up replacing the fuel tank cover plate, bash plate, spare type bracket and assembly, rotors, calipurs, etc, etc, etc - all due to rust.

In the process of replacing the fuel tank bash plate, I sheared off one of the bolts, which was fun, and it will become a common event if the rust is similar to mine.

I could be wrong, but some of the rust looks like someone might have cleaned it up with a wire brush, etc, and then sprayed it with a converter, or perhaps they sprayed on some kind of protective layer?
hard to tell from the photos though.
That fuel tank bash plate should be smooth steel - I suspect its largely held together with rust.

I wouldn't recommend it.
Don't buy it, unless you can get someone who knows 100 series to look at it first.

Surely his wife can drive him to work, or he can take an arvo off?

Avoid being 'rushed' into it - there's usually a reason they are rushing you.

 

[Ammobro]

I will not be rushed on it. This guy will get it together and let me get it to the specialty shop or he can find someone else to pawn this off on.

 

[csw266]

good answer, patience is key

 

[Dwight S]

That exterior and interior look pretty good. That's little to no rust on that under carriage. My cross member and fuel tank cover looks worse than that and my truck is a SE truck it's whole life. Is there any MUD members locally who could accompany you to look at it. Second opinion at a minimum... If you can't work out the inspection for your piece of mind, then move on. There will be more

 

[Fitzo]

I agree with Josh 4 posts up. To me, that looks like painted over rust of some sort. Looks like someone was trying to hide the rust to me.

 

[Julian Stead]

That is a good amount of rust under there, it looks like it has been covered with waxoil. It wouldn't worry me to much as that is a typical UK vehicle, mine was like that, but over 2 months of wire wheeling, cutting and welding it is 90% good, just some covers need replacing in time. If I lived in the US, I would not buy that, my time is better spent elsewhere than getting covered in rust under a truck. Plus to treat, weld and paint after is expensive if you don't just want to do a cover up.

 

[Julian Stead]

Sorry, the more I look at the pictures the more it puts me off, the center silencer is rusted through. What has happened to the CAT, has it overheated. I just replaced my CAT's and even my bad one didn't look that bad. It looks like the chassis has been repaired at the sway bar mount, so the chassis frame has been affected, so it is worse than mine, my frame is solid. Lucky he doesn't have photoshop,haha.

 

[DJCloz]

oooh , now seeing these pics on my computer instead of my phone. definitely not "minimal rust". Its still worth looking at in person.

 

[lhommec13]

Do you know where the truck has been registered/driven through the years? That might help answer some of the rust questions. Do you have a VIN#?

 

[Ammobro]

That exterior and interior look pretty good. That's little to no rust on that under carriage. My cross member and fuel tank cover looks worse than that and my truck is a SE truck it's whole life. Is there any MUD members locally who could accompany you to look at it. Second opinion at a minimum... If you can't work out the inspection for your piece of mind, then move on. There will be more

Thanks Dwight.

Do you know where the truck has been registered/driven through the years? That might help answer some of the rust questions. Do you have a VIN#?

PA and OH for virtually all its life. I pulled the CARFAX on it. Maintenance looked great but location left something to be desired.

 

[RyanStl]

That's a low price for the miles and when I was looking a couple years ago that would have been hard to pass up unless it had a lot of rust around the windshield or had a rotted rear hatch. The undercarriage rust does have that look of covered up problem. However, mine isn't all that rusty and I have considered coating it to keep rust at bay. If I did that, then someone would make the same comments about mine. I believe it depends on what you want to do with it. If you want to do a build where you'll be replacing a bunch of stuff underneath, maybe you would want something cleaner. However, lower price gives more money for mods. If you just want to daily drive, it should probably be fine.

 

[Runner2aCruiser]

Undercarriage looks like it has been sprayed over

 

[RyanStl]

Undercarriage looks like it has been sprayed over

Is that bad or just preventive maintenance before too much cancer set in?

 

[Julian Stead]

^^ Preventative maintanence is what I done by removing it, that above is a cover up. The rust is still there. If you catch it early enough maybe, but when it starts building up and flaking you really need to get it off and treat it. You need to clean it until it is pitted not expanded as rust eats metal not grow it, so the swollen bits is pure rust. Sand blasting is the best way but a wire wheel, cold chisel and a rust converter will do. For the rust converter to work you need to expose it back to surface rust and not just put it on the old flakey stuff as the active rust stays untouched. It is just some time and money, but it would be some time and money well spent if keeping the vehicle for a long period.

 

[joshAUST]

As Julian Stead says above, it looks like they've covered over the existing rust, without removing it.
Its most obvious on the main tank bash plate, which should be smooth.

With my car, all the bash plates were badly rusty - I could stick my finger in the holes of the petrol tank bash plate and break bits off by hand.
The chassis seemed to be a lot better - whatever factory treatment seemed to be holding up well.

I tried a few methods, but found a needle scaler gun worked the best.
There's plenty of you tube videos demonstrating them, eg:

I didn't use that particular one in the above video, but they are all pretty similar. I think I paid about $200 AUD (around $150 USD) for it - so not really cheap, but worth it in the time it saved.

Its actually really enjoyable to use.
It takes of thick layers of rust exceptionally easy, and you can get the needles in and around tight areas you couldn't get to with a wire wheel.
I also found the wire wheel had a tendency to smooth the rust out, without digging through it quick enough.

All up I spend about 3 days with the car raised off the ground, needlegunned every area of rust, then hit the whole undercarriage with a spray on acid cleaner, left it a bit, and then high pressure washed it with near 100 degrees C water.
Its also worth flushing out all the frame boxing, especially if its been at the beach. Mine poured out a couple of buckets of sand from the chassis frame alone. It took ages flushing with a high pressure hose in each and every hole to get as much as possible out, until the water draining ran clear.
Once I'd flushed them as clean as practicable, I went over any remaining bits with a wire brush, cleaned again and then used numerous cans of matt black rust converter everywhere.
I also fashioned a nozzle so I could spray the inside of the chassis frame and pumped in heaps of rust converter.
Then, replaced the bash plates, and good to go, fingers crossed.

 

[Julian Stead]

That tool looks fantastic, I wish I knew about it when I done mine, as It looks like a real time saver. I used a cold chisel and hammer for the worst bit, but that tool takes it straight off.