Rust!! I might’ve made a mistake. (Thread) (1 Viewer)

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Rung what ya brung homie.. I think you and I are in the same boat. Immaculate interior, lowish mileage, no dents, everything works, annnnnnnd the body panels under where the floorboards used to be have deteriorated into jagged tetanus spreaders.. My advice is touch everything. PB blast every bolt that looks like it came off the ocean floor, let the miracle PB penetrate deep, unscrew, rescrew, snap off possibly. You’re going to want to know what you can actually fix or repair trail side. Learn everything about your beloved LC (you’re already in the right place for that). It sounds like you moved out of the rust zone. For that sweet peace of mind, once you’ve got some fresh nuts and bolts in there, go for corroseal. Literally through magicosis and wizardry corroseal turns rust into real metal again.. I’d rather drive my baby across the world with chunks of pinch weld turning into dust after falling off my truck than, some clapped out, played out Jeep….

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Rung what ya brung homie.. I think you and I are in the same boat. Immaculate interior, lowish mileage, no dents, everything works, annnnnnnd the body panels under where the floorboards used to be have deteriorated into jagged tetanus spreaders.. My advice is touch everything. PB blast every bolt that looks like it came off the ocean floor, let the miracle PB penetrate deep, unscrew, rescrew, snap off possibly. You’re going to want to know what you can actually fix or repair trail side. Learn everything about your beloved LC (you’re already in the right place for that). It sounds like you moved out of the rust zone. For that sweet peace of mind, once you’ve got some fresh nuts and bolts in there, go for corroseal. Literally through magicosis and wizardry corroseal turns rust into real metal again.. I’d rather drive my baby across the world with chunks of pinch weld turning into dust after falling off my truck than, some clapped out, played out Jeep….

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I thought my rockers were bad! The frame looks pretty good from that angle. I'd be more concerned with holes in the frame than the rockers. I bought a 99 with 160K miles for 2k. It had a very crusty bottom side. Rockers are Ok (not great). I went thru the frame pretty closley looking for holes, tapping it with a hammer. What I found is that while the armor was rusty (gas tank shield looks just like the OPs), the frame was good. I cleaned it and used POR15 + a spray in lanolin into the frame itself. Put 20K on it last year trouble free.
 
Interested -- My fenders are rusting in front of the wheels and I was looking to replace. Did you go OEM or aftermarket? How was fitment etc?
Used is a good option. I replaced my fenders with used OEM after an animal strike. Aftermarket fenders are cheap because they are of noticeably inferior quality (both materially and fitment) compared to the OEM Araco fenders.
 
Interested -- My fenders are rusting in front of the wheels and I was looking to replace. Did you go OEM or aftermarket? How was fitment etc?
They are after market, New OEM is that per side. I couldn’t find any fenders in my area that didn’t command a similar price of $400-500 with minimal rust already. As @JunkCrzr89 said, the fitment and quality isn’t the best, but I chopped the lower portion off as soon as they were installed. So fitment was a little different for me, but still they have their quirks.
 
This thread has definitely made me feel better about my cruiser. My body rust is absolutely horrible, but it still runs great... Just did a 800 mile trip to chicago and wouldn't hesitate to take it across the country. I have been having the internal debate for years now whether to have my body guy fix up my quarter panels. He has already tackled my windshield area since that was all rusty and my windshield needed to be replaced. I'll probably let it go and just drive this thing into the ground. Up to 253K miles now. FWIW I paid $6k for mine back in 2016 with 205K miles from WV/OH/KY tristate area. Probably slightly overpaid given it needed new tires & timing belt, but it's definitely shown to be worth every penny over the past 6 years. Yeah, it's not pretty, but it still gets the job done.
 
6 100 series and counting all midwest rigs all rust filled to no end. All frames good but by now I know that it is about $4-8K in repairs to get up and fully running so have not paid more then 1500-3000 for them. All needed mostly new calipers, brake lines (just bend own from stock), wheel bearings, steering rack, shocks, torsion bar lamb chops. Suspension as needed (shocks, CV). This is all shop done so save more if you do it yourself. I cap the rear AC with the dorman kit and usually toss the skid plate if it still exists.

Remove the 3rd brake light and if not broken just reseal with rtv. I you don't have to leave the license plate lights alone they will never go back in the same with the tailgate rust

The body holes I just figure are weep holes. Rust is a barrier to oxidation so I usually just spray fluid film to add additional barrier but by the end of a Wisconsin winter I am not sure it does anything.
 
Four pages in and unless I missed it, OP hasn't posted a pic of his truck?
 
Four pages in and unless I missed it, OP hasn't posted a pic of his truck?

He didn’t end up buying it, but it is the green one posted on pg3
I’m new to the forum — does OP mean “Original Poster”? I just realized I never posted a pic of the LC that kicked off this discussion. Wasn’t sure if you guys were referring to me.
 

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