Painting soon, rust on upper hatch repair or replace? (1 Viewer)

[Francis K]

I feel like I’ve been inundating the forum with threads and I apologize for that, I’m trying to do a dozen things at once to finish this “build” before the lease on my GX is up. Please bear with me I’m sure there will be plenty more threads

Going to patch the stock fender holes and drill new ones for kut snake flares soon and then it’s time to paint.

I have some bubbling through rust in the corner of the window on the rear upper hatch, as many of us do, the paint shop is going to surface repair it but it will just come back eventually. Should I simply pick up a used hatch instead?

What do you guys think?

 

[TomH]

Maybe this thread will help you decide.

My slow battle against hatch rust

After a long time neglecting my '91 FJ80, I've decided to begin tackling a few things which need attention. One of the minor issues is the rust around the rear hatch glass which I've been keeping at bay with intermittent applications of POR-15 and white spray paint. I randomly encountered...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[Francis K]

Maybe this thread will help you decide.

My slow battle against hatch rust

After a long time neglecting my '91 FJ80, I've decided to begin tackling a few things which need attention. One of the minor issues is the rust around the rear hatch glass which I've been keeping at bay with intermittent applications of POR-15 and white spray paint. I randomly encountered...

forum.ih8mud.com

Thank you, don’t know how the hell I miss these threads when I search. Looks like replacement it is!

 

[TomH]

Thank you, don’t know how the hell I miss these threads when I search. Looks like replacement it is!

I usually use Google image search. You know what they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.

hatch rust repair site:forum.ih8mud.com - Google Search

www.google.com

 

[gummycarbs]

paint shop is going to surface repair it but it will just come back eventually

Why do you say that it will come back?

 

[Francis K]

Why do you say that it will come back?

Well if there is rust bubbling up from the edge of the window seal then I’m assuming there is a bunch more underneath or inside the panel, wouldn’t it just be a matter of time before the cancer spreads?

Would love to be wrong about that…

 

[FMC80]

Thank you, don’t know how the hell I miss these threads when I search. Looks like replacement it is!

I hardly ever use the forum’s search function because it doesn’t work well for me. Instead I use google and always use key words to narrow my search, for example: “rear hatch rust, 80 series land cruiser”

This will brings up many threads on ih8mud to choose from.

In reference to your rust question, if the rust is localized, your shop can cut it out and it won’t come back. If it’s not localized, then a replacement is probably the right course of action.

 

[gummycarbs]

Well if there is rust bubbling up from the edge of the window seal then I’m assuming there is a bunch more underneath or inside the panel, wouldn’t it just be a matter of time before the cancer spreads?

Would love to be wrong about that…

I'm far from an expert, but I have repainted a few vehicles and done some bodywork.

As I understand it, unless the rust has gotten down between the two pieces of sheet metal that are spot-welded together, there's no reason you can't kill the rust entirely. If it's rusted so much that you have holes, pinholes, or deep enough pitting that the strength is compromised, you'd have to cut out the bad section and weld in a patch panel.

An auto body shop should be able to tell you the best route to take. I hate to see parts wasted, but you can probably find so many rear lift gates that it's not worth doing anything more than wire-wheeling and body filler on your current lift gate.