Rust Damage to Frame - Advice Needed (1 Viewer)

[up5799]

I should have known this was coming after rust took out my muffler, AC line, and gas tank over the last few years, but was always too busy to look into it. This summer for the first time in many years I had the time and ability to do some work in my LC, and here is what I found. While changing the oil, I noticed a small dimple on the front passenger side of the frame. It was soft to the touch, so I tapped it a bit and some rust fell off. I tapped it again and again some more rust fell. This is interesting I thought, let's see how far this goes. Well about 10 minutes later, this was the result:

Obviously this is not good - what would you do if this were your vehicle?

 

[GTV]

I'd move south/west and get a fresh hundy.

 

[sedonut]

There's a lot of factors. How many miles, what condition is the rest of the truck in? If it has a lot of miles and is in average condition, I would say it is a parts car.

The rear is probably worse.

If it were mine I would not drive it with the frame like that.

 

[Kabanstva]

How’s the rest of the frame look?

 

[Trunk Monkey]

It's like 10" of a 18 foot boxed frame, it's not dangerous.

If you intend to keep it for awhile I would treat as much as possible with a rust item like POR-15. For the section(s) of frame like that, that are eaten through I'd probably weld in some plates/sleeves to add structure and rigidity. Keep in mind, if you do weld over it, you're basically hiding the problem, like diamond plate corners on a 40, so I'd thoroughly treat the rust you're covering.

 

[dino1]

Hose clamp is holding up though.

 

[NOSAJ]

I did what trunk monkey said. I welded plates to mine.

 

[up5799]

Here's some more pictures of the frame - other than the rusted out section, rust on rest of frame mainly on pinch joint in the middle. One section of the cross-section has some pretty bad rust where steel in coming apart in layers. Finally gas tank cover has surface rust, but tank itself rusted out a year ago and was replaced.

 

[Trukdiver]

I had a spot on my frame that was looking rough. Not as big a hole, but a good 10-12" section was starting to deteriorate. I went to Auto Rust Technicians in Providence, RI. Dropped the truck off and took the train home to NJ then came back a week later on the train to pick it up. They sell something called "Safe-T-Cap" which they'll ship to you for Jeeps, Tacomas, 4 Runners. For the LC, they had to fabricate the part for me, so that's why I had to take it in. You can get the idea of what they did by looking up Safe-T-Cap.

 

[SteveH]

I would have a shop weld plates (nicely) over the rusted areas, check for any other weak spots, and then put the truck on a lift and have someone apply quality rustproofing (Eastwood sells various grease products) and/or drown every square inch of the frame with Fluid Film. Then, check the frame once/year (every Spring) to see where the FF has worn off and/or rust has started. Get inside the frame, and spray something in there (even ATF) until it's running out.

What you DON'T want to apply is any tar-based product that dries hard to the touch. It will trap rust and promote rust. You want grease-based products that stick, but can be wiped off with your hand. These will soak into the existing rust and prevent future rust. People like tar-based products because they dry hard, but they are pure evil in wet climates.

Rust indeed never sleeps, which is why you need to do a yearly inspection and reapplication.