100 Series Rust Rating? (1 Viewer)

[hankk]

Hello all,
I have been reading this forum for a few weeks now and finally bought a 100 Series last week. MY 2000, 155,000 miles, long term owner for 19 years. The car was previously in the north east for 5 years and then spent the rest of its life garage kept in South Western Virginia. I am wondering what your opinions are on my rust situation. None of it looks extremely concerning and all appears to be surface level rust. There is 0 rust to be found on any of the body panels. The paint and interior are extremely clean with almost no signs of damage. Wondering if I should try and clean up some of the rust and then coat it to protect it from further deterioration? Any help would be very much appreciated! (I am aware there are a couple of leaks that will need to be taken care of)

 

[hankk]

More photos

 

[hankk]

Exterior photos for reference

 

[whitec13]

This is nothing. Fluid film once a year and keep cruising.

Edit: you do have the standard hole about to start in the rear crossmember though.
I am from Michigan, the land of no salt water, but 100x saltier roads. If I posted a picture on here of the under carriage of Blue (00 LC), I would assume to see villagers with pitchforks outside my window.

 

[hankk]

This is nothing. Fluid film once a year and keep cruising.

Edit: you do have the standard hole about to start in the rear crossmember though.
I am from Michigan, the land of no salt water, but 100x saltier roads. If I posted a picture on here of the under carriage of Blue (00 LC), I would assume to see villagers with pitchforks outside my window.

I appreciate the peace of mind haha. I didn’t think my situation was too bad but I see people from Texas and California on here saying run away when they see the smallest signs of rust.

 

[whitec13]

I appreciate the peace of mind haha. I didn’t think my situation was too bad but I see people from Texas and California on here saying run away when they see the smallest signs of rust.

Personally, people on here are a bit too fussy about rust, but if you’ve never grown up/lived in a rusty area, I can understand why. I have grown up working on rusty 4Runners and it’s nothing new to me. It is a head ache at times, but nothing a torch, PB, and 30”s of breaker bar can’t take care of

 

[brophyse04]

Nice buy! That's super clean, and practically no rust to speak of! If you have the time, treat the heavier spots with pitting and bubbling, its only going to get worse. Preventative maintenance on rust is the way to go. I had great success with the Eastwood Products: Rust Converter and Encapsulator. I'm in New England and get my undercarriage coated with WoolWax yearly. Any action taken now to protect from rust, you will thank yourself further down the road.

 

[hankk]

Nice buy! That's super clean, and practically no rust to speak of! If you have the time, treat the heavier spots with pitting and bubbling, its only going to get worse. Preventative maintenance on rust is the way to go. I had great success with the Eastwood Products: Rust Converter and Encapsulator. I'm in New England and get my undercarriage coated with WoolWax yearly. Any action taken now to protect from rust, you will thank yourself further down the road.

Thank you very much! I appreciate the product advice as well. I plan to spend some time soon treating the problem areas. I definitely agree I would rather get ahead of them now before they get worse. I will definitely look into the wool wax undercarriage coating also!

 

[brophyse04]

Thank you very much! I appreciate the product advice as well. I plan to spend some time soon treating the problem areas. I definitely agree I would rather get ahead of them now before they get worse. I will definitely look into the wool wax undercarriage coating also!

WoolWax is a natural based undercoating (lanolin) and its a black, wet coating so it drips and is a mess when doing repairs. Its unnecessary for you. A dry coating would be best for your LC since you have minimal rust. WaxOil or Fluidfilm are good examples.

 

[hankk]

WoolWax is a natural based undercoating (lanolin) and its a black, wet coating so it drips and is a mess when doing repairs. Its unnecessary for you. A dry coating would be best for your LC since you have minimal rust. WaxOil or Fluidfilm are good examples.

I appreciate the clarification here

 

[delz05]

I deal with rust/rot frame repair daily here in the Boston area... Frame restoration on the Toyota/Lexus platforms is very common.
Your frame is in very good condition. May require about 15 to 20 hours of labor... As such, my order of repair:
Buy a NEW transmission crossmember (51204-60150) and transmission mount. Not worth the labor time to clean and repair the one on the truck. Starting from the rear, drop the spare tire and remove the carrier crossmember. Ditch the hitch to clean up the trapped corrosion that will be hidden, (keep it off unless there is a need) Descale (needle gun), grind and clean the entire area. I always remove the rear bumper cover (and front) to accomplish the best possible result. Opens up the whole area for inspection an/or repair. Treat with a rust kill treatment to pevent further oxidation build up, which leads to the corrosion. Grind, sand, prime with a rust resolver primer and then paint...

If you want to go indepth... blow out the internal frame sections and vaccuum out the debris that has most certainly built up over the years. Descale and clean every area you can access. Then apply WoolWax treatment internally via spraygun and wand. I usually use about 4 quarts total to do all the internal frame and crossmembers. I even spray it into the body/floor openings that are all over the underside of the truck.

You can descale the entire frame in about 8 hours (yours looks like it will be significantly less time consuming) grind, sand, prime and paint.

If you plan on any suspension work, do each section as that repair work will follow (rear shocks/endlinks) (fronts), exhaust, etc...

You certainly CAN use WoolWax to coat the ENTIRE frame and suspension, but I suggest just the internal invasive application. My shop uses a "hard coat" for the external application, which is applied over the final paint.

Good luck! Nice truck!

 

[lexuslandcruiser]

You're in good shape here. I had a 2000 LX470 that was so crusty you could tap the frame with a hammer and get a shower of rust raining down.
Depsite that, I lifted it and took it across the country twice with absolutely zero major issues. Went all over trails in Colorado and had an amazing time.

I had normal problems like a bad alternator, made more difficult by the bolt being rusted and snapping off, but other than that it was fine. Lifting it was much more difficult because I had to cut off the upper control arm bolts and buy new ones, but again still doable.

I sold that rig and bought a newer, no rust LC and I still have a special place in my heart for the LX470 because it treated me so well. Your rig is probably 15% of the rust on my LX.

Enjoy it!

 

[jLB]

I see people from Texas and California on here saying run away when they see the smallest signs of rust.

Personally, people on here are a bit too fussy about rust, but if you’ve never grown up/lived in a rusty area, I can understand why.

Maybe overly sensitive, but as a long term owner, and if you don’t have to deal with the hassle, why inflict pain on yourself? If I lived in the rust belt, where it’s just a fact of life, I’d probably have a different viewpoint.

10 years ago, when I was looking for a LC for my son, we looked at a vehicle from Wisconsin, one look underneath and we were heading to my vehicle. The salesman was chasing us asking how much of a discount it would take for us to buy it today, while I was thinking you couldn’t pay me enough to deal with that s***…

 

[hankk]

I deal with rust/rot frame repair daily here in the Boston area... Frame restoration on the Toyota/Lexus platforms is very common.
Your frame is in very good condition. May require about 15 to 20 hours of labor... As such, my order of repair:
Buy a NEW transmission crossmember (51204-60150) and transmission mount. Not worth the labor time to clean and repair the one on the truck. Starting from the rear, drop the spare tire and remove the carrier crossmember. Ditch the hitch to clean up the trapped corrosion that will be hidden, (keep it off unless there is a need) Descale (needle gun), grind and clean the entire area. I always remove the rear bumper cover (and front) to accomplish the best possible result. Opens up the whole area for inspection an/or repair. Treat with a rust kill treatment to pevent further oxidation build up, which leads to the corrosion. Grind, sand, prime with a rust resolver primer and then paint...

If you want to go indepth... blow out the internal frame sections and vaccuum out the debris that has most certainly built up over the years. Descale and clean every area you can access. Then apply WoolWax treatment internally via spraygun and wand. I usually use about 4 quarts total to do all the internal frame and crossmembers. I even spray it into the body/floor openings that are all over the underside of the truck.

You can descale the entire frame in about 8 hours (yours looks like it will be significantly less time consuming) grind, sand, prime and paint.

If you plan on any suspension work, do each section as that repair work will follow (rear shocks/endlinks) (fronts), exhaust, etc...

You certainly CAN use WoolWax to coat the ENTIRE frame and suspension, but I suggest just the internal invasive application. My shop uses a "hard coat" for the external application, which is applied over the final paint.

Good luck! Nice truck!

Thank you for the extreme detail here! I will definitely plan on ordering a new transmission crossmember. I plan to spend some hours working on it in the near future and will reference the process you listed in this reply.

 

[hankk]

You're in good shape here. I had a 2000 LX470 that was so crusty you could tap the frame with a hammer and get a shower of rust raining down.
Depsite that, I lifted it and took it across the country twice with absolutely zero major issues. Went all over trails in Colorado and had an amazing time.

I had normal problems like a bad alternator, made more difficult by the bolt being rusted and snapping off, but other than that it was fine. Lifting it was much more difficult because I had to cut off the upper control arm bolts and buy new ones, but again still doable.

I sold that rig and bought a newer, no rust LC and I still have a special place in my heart for the LX470 because it treated me so well. Your rig is probably 15% of the rust on my LX.

Enjoy it!

Thanks for the reply! I’m glad most folks are saying it’s not a big issue. I don’t plan to lift the truck but I definitely do plan to take it on some long trips and do some moderate off-roading. Very excited to put some miles on her!

 

[hankk]

Maybe overly sensitive, but as a long term owner, and if you don’t have to deal with the hassle, why inflict pain on yourself? If I lived in the rust belt, where it’s just a fact of life, I’d probably have a different viewpoint.

10 years ago, when I was looking for a LC for my son, we looked at a vehicle from Wisconsin, one look underneath and we were heading to my vehicle. The salesman was chasing us asking how much of a discount it would take for us to buy it today, while I was thinking you couldn’t pay me enough to deal with that s***…

Are you saying the level of rust on my specific LC would cause you to run? Maybe it’s because I’m from Maryland but personally I did not find it to be concerning enough to walk away with how clean the exterior and interior were. I most likely would have had to fly out somewhere to find one with no rust. Wasn’t sure that was something I wanted to commit to.

 

[jLB]

Are you saying the level of rust on my specific LC would cause you to run? Maybe it’s because I’m from Maryland but personally I did not find it to be concerning enough to walk away with how clean the exterior and interior were. I most likely would have had to fly out somewhere to find one with no rust. Wasn’t sure that was something I wanted to commit to.

In my market area (Texas), yes, but I’m accustomed to not having to deal with that level of rust. I don’t think it’s that bad compared to some that I’ve seen posted, but it is well above average in my market.

 

[delz05]

Thank you for the extreme detail here! I will definitely plan on ordering a new transmission crossmember. I plan to spend some hours working on it in the near future and will reference the process you listed in this reply.

Reach out any time and I will gladly offer tips and insite... Enjoy the fun!

 

[Exiled]

I'm in a rust-free area but even I look at this truck and see very few rust issues, at least nothing structural or that can't be easily remedied. Truck looks good overall to me!

 

[delz05]

Just noticed I never listed the hardware needed... 8 bolts that hold up the crossmember... 90119-10586...