How Much Should I Worry About This Undercarriage Rust? (1 Viewer)

[bfeister]

Hi everyone!

This is my first time posting, apologies if I'm breaking any rules with the content here.

I'm looking into buying my first Land Cruiser and I'm shopping around on Craigslist. I found a 2001 with great low mileage (137K) so I'm excited that it might be a good buy with alot of life left in it (I'm aware they can easily go to 500K miles).

Can anyone with more experience with these 100 series Land Cruisers weigh in on whether or not this rust is "average" or "better than average" or "worse than average"?

Just trying to decide how much I should consider the car OK for a long journey to 500K, presuming I take care of it and things go well.

 

[Dparo]

If it were me I’d walk away from that one.

There are plenty of southern LC that are much much better.

 

[spaber05]

Agreed, I'd walk way from that one as well and I live in MA where rust is omnipresent. I'm sure there are cleaner ones to be found if you keep hunting.

 

[Dparo]

I booked a round trip ticket to Jacksonville for a Florida LC for $300, so if it didn’t work out I got a weekend on the beach in early March. Ended up driving it back and Southwest credited me the one way fare for a future flight. Zero rust. I live near Chicago.

 

[bfeister]

@spaber05 and @Dparo - thanks to both of you! Question while you're here, did you both find those vehicles on Craigslist or is there a better listing site I should be checking? Ebay? Just looking to make sure I'm checking the right places.

 

[November Sun]

Don't by that truck. I found mine on Autotrader.

 

[Dparo]

Found mine on Autotrader. Paid a premium but no rust for a 2007 with 105k. I had an 01 that was an Ohio vehicle but it was starting to get some surface rust over the welds around the frame. Take your time, one will pop up. I looked for three months for this 07.

 

[Dparo]

You can also plug in the VIN on the Toyota website to check service history.

This link helped me when I started.

Slee Off-Road 100 Series Newbie Guide

 

[spaber05]

@bfeister - I forget where I found my '06, probably autotrader. It was down in PA but it was worth the drive as it had minimal rust (VA for most its life).

However keep an out on the classifieds here on 'Mud and use Carfax as well. You could even use ebaymotors and reach out to the dealer/seller directly instead of bidding (they usually have a "vehicle may be sold locally" line in their auction listing. The right one will pop up, you just have to be patient and check sites often.

 

[FLWookie]

Finally someone found another LC with rust as bad as the LX I bought! I say buy it, a nice angle grinder, some bulk wire wheels and flap discs from one of the forum sponsors, a full case of PB Blaster (its cheaper than a single bottle on Amazon), some Naval Jelly, POR 15, safety goggles, and a dust mask.

Buy a couple cases of beer and have yourself a grand ol' weekend scrubbing and scraping that rust away.



*end sarcasm* WHAT HAVE I DONE! My truck leaves a trail of rust down the highway and a small prius sized pile everywhere I park. Ash to ash and RUST to dust!

 

[skhochay]

I have 2001 LC but noting like that , that is bad , stay away - as each components like cat-converter, will cost you $1500 each plus much more , so you bee looking about $5000+ to get exhaust system in shape

 

[Ohthetrees]

Nightmare. Don’t touch. Every time you would have to undo a fastener would be a total nightmare. Just be patient, keep doing searches on auto trader and craigslist aggregator sites like search tempest, and wait for a good one. I looked for three months in 1000 mile radius, and Eventually found a zero rust clean machine in my own city.

 

[Ohthetrees]

Also, condition and service history is way more important than miles on these trucks. I would happily buy a clean, well-maintained 300,000 mile rig with a good service history and Carfax, before the rust bucket you posted.

 

[RyanStl]

@spaber05 and @Dparo - thanks to both of you! Question while you're here, did you both find those vehicles on Craigslist or is there a better listing site I should be checking? Ebay? Just looking to make sure I'm checking the right places.

Besides the classified on Mud I used Autotempest. You do one search and it searches other sites, including Craigslist.

 

[Evan Kapel]

I agree with the previous opinions (except Wookie), keep looking but be aware that the SE is now full of flood cars
so do your due diligence

 

[Spike555]

Don't be afraid to buy a higher mileage truck with less rust, rust will kill it before mileage will.

 

[Kabanstva]

Anything that's local to the Northeast is probably not going to look much better than that to be honest.

All the local 100's I've seen in the Chicago area have a ton of rust underneath. Actually, ANY 10+ year old truck does.

 

[Riviera]

That would be a parts vehicle at best, if you had a place to park it, depending on the interior. I would not buy that as any kind of a driver.

 

[Live to Ski]

Run......don't hide

 

[TXLX100]

It's a no for me.