Opinions on rust

[tobyson21]

Hello,

I've been searching far and wide for a cruiser There's one just a few miles from my house that looks like a potential. 2002, 129K miles, mechanically sound....but......has rust.

Here's a picture of the lower quarter panel, near the running board by the rear wheel. Also, the hatch has some rust and there's a spot on the pillar (passanger side) rear.

In comparison to other trucks, is this rust bad? Is it fixable? I've had people say sand it down and paint it. I've also had a body shop say they wouldn't even work on it. I'm confused now!

What say Mudders?

Thanks!
Todd

 

[natvet]

Rust never sleeps. It is like cancer(metal cancer) you don't want it. Buy one from down south somewhere.

 

[jonharis]

Being from CO. I don't really know what rust is but to me that looks like a bad sign. It would be typical of a 20-30 year old vehicle out here. The darker spots look like it may extend beyond the surface, If that has happened, sanding and painting won't help and it will spread and keep spreading. If it is truly limited to the surface than your sand/paint idea may work. Personally I've never seen a 100 that looks like that. Plenty of 60s and 80s but never a 100.

 

[Manhattan]

Next!

Seriously - run from that one. I'd rather have a rust-free 100 with a locked up 4.7!

 

[Trunk Monkey]

Nope. The rust on the tail gate is coming from the inside out. It will get bad.

 

[2000UZJ]

Use the rust issue to drive the price down, is it just the hatch? Or is the rust all over the place?

Deep down inside I would say run...rust is not friendly.

 

[Nottajeep]

RUN FAR AWAY unless you will drive it on salt roads and let it rust away anyway

 

[Roverrad95]

Is that truck in Illinois? I looked at a 02 in IL a few months back and that was the reason I didn't want it.

The hatch rust is normal in the rust belt. That actually can be repaired pretty easily and isn't terrible expensive. It will come back in a few years though if it stays in the rust belt (especially if you don't wipe it down regularly). The one spot near the running board is what I don't like personally.

 

[Gottagetone]

Patience is a virtue...Run and wait, you will find the perfect one.

 

[tobyson21]

Hi all,

Thanks for all the advice, I think I'll pass on this one. The truck is in new England so it will continue to live in the rust belt. The search goes on!

Thanks!
Todd

 

[patrickfinley]

I wonder if the upper rear hatch is prone to rusting. My rig is nothing like that, but my bolts have a bit of rust on the top of the hatch. The bolts on the lower half are pristine.

 

[zooyork263]

Umm... speaking of New England... Vermont is brutal...







The tail gate is my fault i didn't notice the gasket was a goner, but anything else is due to the ridiculous amount of road salt they use in Vermont. Like others before me stated forget that one and buy a southern cruiser its going to save you money in the long run.

 

[Eric Winkworth]

It's amazing what phosphoric acid a wire wheel and some paint can do for trouble spots as long as they are still solid...

I strongly disagree with all the above posts on rust... All of the replies must be from people that don't live in a rust belt and have little or no experience dealing with rust properly...

You can stop rust with the proper oil undercoatings and knowing when to clean your truck and when it's okay to let salt sit on it.... Phosphoric acid eats rust and not clean metal....

If there aren't gaping holes in the tub or frame it's golden!

It's a f'in toyota, ahh s*** I'm not on the 70 forum anyway!

Cheers

 

[super90]

Get a truck from dry country and you will be very happy you did ! I would not even consider a truck like that. When it comes to doing your own repairs, rustfree will save you lots of extra, unwarranted frustration.

All my trucks have been from Texas, Arizona, Southern California, or Oklahoma.

 

[re_guderian]

Get a truck from dry country and you will be very happy you did ! I would not even consider a truck like that. When it comes to doing your own repairs, rustfree will save you lots of extra, unwarranted frustration...

^ This x a bazillion...

Frankly, I don't give a crap about body rust on a truck that will be wheeled. But if it's that bad on the body, every single stinkin' bolt you try to turn will stick so bad, even simple jobs turn into nightmares.

True, I'm not an expert at dealing with rust, but after owning a PA/MD FZJ-80, I don't want anything to do with rust again.

Glad you came to your senses.

 

[KlausVanWinkle]

Mine is older than that one and from PA with way less rust. The tailgate handle is common because the gaskets for the lights and handle are open cell foam that soaks up water. I guess the whole thing can't be expertly engineered. I've yet to fix that on mine. But mine's not that bad.

Check underneath with a good flash light. Especially the rear upper shock mount area. If the body is that rusted, then I bet you'll find another good surprise underneath.

Find a rust free one. It'll at minimum save you the trouble of buying a tap and die set, milling drill bits, left handed drill bits, extractor bits, center punches and a nice drill.

 

[KlausVanWinkle]

It's amazing what phosphoric acid a wire wheel and some paint can do for trouble spots as long as they are still solid...

I strongly disagree with all the above posts on rust... All of the replies must be from people that don't live in a rust belt and have little or no experience dealing with rust properly...

You can stop rust with the proper oil undercoatings and knowing when to clean your truck and when it's okay to let salt sit on it.... Phosphoric acid eats rust and not clean metal....

If there aren't gaping holes in the tub or frame it's golden!

Cheers

I did what winkworth suggested on some surface rust on my frame and drive line. It was a royal pain in the ass but worth it.

 

[Manhattan]

I strongly disagree with all the above posts on rust... All of the replies must be from people that don't live in a rust belt and have little or no experience dealing with rust properly...

Or... we have experience with rust and know what a HUGE pain in the ass it is. After this picture was taken, this Jeep was disassembled and scraped - body and frame picked up by the recycler. Every time I was under the Jeep - changing the oil or chaining the suspension... I'd see that rust... knowing the Jeep's days were limited. That just sucked.

Rust sucks. After 5 Jeeps - ALL eventually rusting badly - I gave up on Jeep's early attempts at rustproofing (apparently a mixture of sea salt and lotion) and built my own CJ from scratch! NO OLD METAL. Well, except the frame - which was media blasted to raw metal and POR'ed.

 

[Eric Winkworth]

I live in south western ontario it's a really hard area on vehicles as far as rust goes, most vehicles are no more then 10 years, many domestics especially GM vehicles lose their rocker panels after 5 years... I live 10 mins from the great lakes and it's often very humid even in colder temperature. On top of that, roads are salted from the first sign of cold weather... I've dealt with rust my entire life!
Clean oil stops rust in it's tracks... This issue with undercoating is many people go for drip less asphalt based coating that traps rust causing even more problems... Go to any metal warehouse and look at any piece of unpainted steel and run your finger across it, it isn't rusty and it's coated in oil!

The other problem people have is they keep coating the underside of the truck in layers and layers of oil, which is better then it being dry rust, but after 5 or 6 oil sprays you need to degrease the truck because of how much sand/dirt/dust the oil traps it will eventually also start retaining moisture which is why you want to scrap/degrease twice a decade and go back to a clean oiling (It's a s***ty job, but I still prefer it to rust)... Oiling should also be done once a year with a good product made for the job (NOT USED MOTOR OIL) in the spring at the first sign of weather above 0 degrees C you should start being concerned with any salt left on your truck...

Jeeps rust like crazy because there bodies are crap and they are made of metal thin, cruisers have thicker sheet metal and have well engineered bodies... There is no comparison

Anyway unless you can stick your finger through it, it's not rust, it's patina!

If you phosphoric acid wash the area before oiling let it sit on there for a day, it's even better!
Catch ya on the flip side!
Eric

 

[matticus]

I just moved to New England from the West Coast, and find this fascinating.

Are there services that can do the cleaning and oil application for you, or are you better off doing it yourself?