LC 100 undercarriage rust
- Thread starter Moe123
- Start date
-
- Tags
- lc100 rust undercarriage
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
I never looked at the frames of 4runner and LC at the time I bought it, but boy I am so lucky that both got pristine frames.
I paid 5k for 1/2 the rust and I'm still regretting
the real question is, what's it worth to you? Some people don't want to hassle with shopping out of town, and some are willing to wait for the perfect ride. I've gotten some gems sight unseen, and have been burned too.
Do you plan to work on it yourself, just drive the crap out of it every day, have someone else service it, etc? Will it be parked outside, modified? These are all relevant questions to consider when looking at it. As you know, most cars driven in the winter in Chicago look like that. Is it pretty? no. Is it going to last another 30 years? no. Is it going to fall apart or crumble into a heap in the next 5 years. no. And if it's going to be parked outside, even if you spend the cash on a rust free southern car, it will look just like that one in a few years. LC frames rust- it's just a fact of chemistry. The welds from the factory get ugly pretty quick (unless you live in dry climates). Rust does make working on the undercarriage more difficult. Things break. But Chicago mechanics are used to it. If you're looking for something to keep pristine for 20 years, walk away. If you want something reliable to drive till 2023, it may not be bad.
But back to my original question. What's it worth to you?
If you want to have the bottom cleaned up, plan to spend about 3-4k on remediation of rust and replacing some of those parts. It wont be perfect, but it will help. So if it's otherwise perfect, is it worth 18-19k to you? If not, adjust the price accordingly or pass.
With regular maintenance, rust is really the only thing that can kill the LC other than unintentional intervention like a collision. Just gauge how long you plan to have it in your life vs how long it can continue living
Do you plan to work on it yourself, just drive the crap out of it every day, have someone else service it, etc? Will it be parked outside, modified? These are all relevant questions to consider when looking at it. As you know, most cars driven in the winter in Chicago look like that. Is it pretty? no. Is it going to last another 30 years? no. Is it going to fall apart or crumble into a heap in the next 5 years. no. And if it's going to be parked outside, even if you spend the cash on a rust free southern car, it will look just like that one in a few years. LC frames rust- it's just a fact of chemistry. The welds from the factory get ugly pretty quick (unless you live in dry climates). Rust does make working on the undercarriage more difficult. Things break. But Chicago mechanics are used to it. If you're looking for something to keep pristine for 20 years, walk away. If you want something reliable to drive till 2023, it may not be bad.
But back to my original question. What's it worth to you?
If you want to have the bottom cleaned up, plan to spend about 3-4k on remediation of rust and replacing some of those parts. It wont be perfect, but it will help. So if it's otherwise perfect, is it worth 18-19k to you? If not, adjust the price accordingly or pass.
With regular maintenance, rust is really the only thing that can kill the LC other than unintentional intervention like a collision. Just gauge how long you plan to have it in your life vs how long it can continue living
Pass. I paid 16K for a 1 owner 2000 with 63K, zero rust (west coast car). Flew to Arizona and drove it back east. Be patient- she will come to you. It took 6 months of actively searching before I found her, the wait was worth it.
- Thread starter
- #26
After a lot of research I got this 06 195K miles, 3 owners, w/o factory AHC, clean Carfax, no service history. I got it from dealer in a small town in Missouri, and the car is mechanically brand new. Minimal surface rust in the rear, but clean from the front. Probably the mechanic who worked on this car, never entered the services in the Carfax report. Driver side fender is replaced, probably for cosmetics. Paid 10.5K
Week1 update - drove it into a car wash and broke the oem antenna
Took it to my mechanic, and all he said was front bearing hub needs tiny bit of work, timing belt was recently done and after market shocks were put in about 50k miles ago. So thumbs up from him.
Week1 update - drove it into a car wash and broke the oem antenna
Took it to my mechanic, and all he said was front bearing hub needs tiny bit of work, timing belt was recently done and after market shocks were put in about 50k miles ago. So thumbs up from him.
Last edited:
Much better deal, that's a great price for the year and mileage. You should do some preventive trust treatment to this if you want to keep it for a long time. For starter, take a grinder and hit the weld spots on the frame until bare metal then clean it up and apply POR15 onto it. Then after everything is dry, spray fluid film inside the frame where there's an access hole, that way it'll slow down the rust.
I agree with Kabanstva.... I'm looking into an 06 currently in central VA underbody pics pending... crossing fingers that it is clean... we'll see...