Another "is this too much rust" thread... (1 Viewer)

[JustRon]

Looking for your input... I'm new here (looking to buy a 470), and I made a huge mistake years ago when I bought a 4Runner that was undercoated. I even paid for a PPI and the shop didn't think it was rotted underneath. Well, it was. One time I hit the brakes and the control arm ripped out of the frame and the front axle hit the road. Luckily, I was only going 5mph.
So, I'm paying MUCH more attention to rust this time around (and won't even consider a vehicle that has any undercoating/paint, except maybe oil).
This one has rust on the welds, but I'm wondering what are your thoughts on this GX470 from the NorthEast (where I live)...

 

[Rednexus]

Hard to say from those pictures, as they are a bit dark. But it does not look terrible, and the fact that the fuel tank skid and exhaust both look decent are encouraging, especially for a vehicle from the NE.

I would suggest checking the following:

1. Drop the spare tire and inspect the rear frame rails and crossmember. The rear crossmember in particular can get pretty crusty.
2. The radiator core support bottom can also get pretty bad. I'd check that are for structural rust.
3. The worst of all is the passenger side frame rail, just behind the front tire. You need to look inside the frame here. You can poke a small pen light into the frame and look around. It will rust from the inside out due to the AC drip line discharging onto the frame. Or use an inspection camera and look inside the frame everywhere.
4. Probe around with a screwdriver and verify that the rust is surface rust. If you're able to pull of flakes of metal, I'd pass. The frames on these are only around 1/8" thick, so a small metal flake is a pretty large reduction in strength.

 

[rommelrommel]

Those pics are pretty dark and low res, but it looks promising.

Surface rust on welds is nearly unavoidable in most climates.